Formula Wheel Hubs

At the start of the 2022-2023 season, the team decided to switch the wheel setup to centerlock Magnesium wheels. This created the need for redesigned wheel hubs to accommodate the center lock design.

Design

Like all designs, the design for the wheel hubs started as just a sketch. From some basic loading information provided by the team, I was able to compute hand calculations and predict areas of concern regarding static failure and fatigue failure. From this preliminary analysis, a CAD model was formed.

There were two configurations for the wheel hub, one where the wheel threads were right-hand threaded and one where the wheel threads were left-hand threaded. This was done so that each wheel would tighten under acceleration when installed on the vehicle.

This CAD model was iterated as design requirements continued to be provided and was eventually used in FEA simulations to verify the hand calculations mentioned earlier.

It turned out that the Matlab script I created allowing for hand calculations at different parts of the design was 2% off of FEA results.

Using FEA results and engineering judgment, the team decided to pursue this design as Plan A for the competition season.

The design features considerations for serviceability of brakes with the pattern of bores on the outer ring of the brake carrier, allowing for many different bobbin positions around the hub for rotor attachment.

Along with designing custom wheel hubs, we designed custom wheel nuts to match the profile of the wheels on one side, and the profile of the hex socket we chose to use on the other side.