Formula Student Vitoria in 2022

This season 2022/23, Formula Student Vitoria is grateful to announce to have extended their partnership with Eurocircuits.

The electronic component of the project is a key part, due to the high-technique and the application of today’s changing automotive industry. For our team, Eurocircuits is a crucial partner since all the management of the cars electronics is made through their PCBs.

FSV started in 2018 with a few students of the automotive engineering degree trying to make a formula student car. We add that FSV goes beyond the merely tangible. Our goal is to bring the electric vehicle closer to real life, creating a local collaboration network with companies, institutions, vocational training centres and schools.

Today we are with 43 people in the team, and we went to compete in the summer of 2022. Our first competition was a huge success inside the concept class. The first time we visited Silverstone was an absolute astonishing event, where we obtained a podium in the Design Event. We finished P2 in one of the most important events, as the design event values how we did the car considering material, theoretical concepts and how much efficiency is obtained from the engineering process. We stepped to the overall fifth position, in front of our competitors with much more experience and resources.

After the first race, our goal in 2023 is to be able to move the car and take part in the acceleration, endurance and skidpad event. For that aim, Eurocircuits is essential since their PCBs will make the electronic parts of the work and be ready to hit the Silverstone track again. Now, we are going to take a brief look at some of the collaborations between Eurocircuits and Formula Student Vitoria in the complex and advanced world of electronics.

Stack Temperature Measurement PCB

Among other PCBs which are part of the electrical system of Bizkor01, there is a Stack Temperature Measurement PCB. This is used to measure the temperature of the cells inside of the battery accumulator. This is highly important if the battery would reach more than 60ºC, it becomes dangerous, so this PCB makes it possible to know if our battery accumulator reaches a safety condition.

The aim of this PCB is to connect the NTC that are inside the battery accumulator with the BMS (battery management system). For that aim the NFC are connected to the different connection points of the PCBs. Through these points the connections guide to a final connector which can be connected to the BMS in a more efficient way.

Thanks to this PCB we save the wiring of that section, which helps to have a cleaner and a safer accumulator. That car battery accumulator is highly powerfull with a capacity of 6.5 KWh and a maximal power of 107 KW.

BSPD PCB

Among other PCBs which are part of the electrical system of Bizkor01, there is the BSPD. This PCB is the one in charge of checking the plausibility of the brake system of the car, so it makes the car switch off in case there is a failure in the mentioned system.

It works measuring two types of implausibility in the brake system. We measure the pressure apply on the brake, if it is higher than 30 bar, we will need to switch off the tractive system. The second is when both the throttle and the brake are pressured for more than 500 ms, in this case the car will be switched off too, since it could be a dangerous situation if the driver is activating both pedals.

TSAL PCB

Among other PCBs which are part of the electrical system of Bizkor01, there is the TSAL. This PCB is in charge of ensuring that the car is safe for the driver. This PCB is connected to the TSAL Lights PCB, which is illuminated in a red light if the High voltage system is connected or in a green light if the low voltage is connected but the high voltage one is disconnected.

We consider a high voltage area the one which is above 60 V DC. The only aim of this PCB is to secure if the tractive system is connected or not, in order to know if the car is safe or not.

TSAL Lights PCB

As it has been mentioned in the TSAL PCB, this PBC is in charge of showing the luminal signal of the state of the electrical condition of the car. It is highly important, since we need it to know how to manipulate the car in case it is fully connected or only partially connected.

For that aim this PCB is composed by six led diodes in order to make the situation of the car the most visible as possible. These led can be illuminated in green and in red light, each one having a concrete interpretation given by the rules of the competition.