Riassunto analitico
Carbon fiber has been in the industry for decades now. Despite this, the material has not been able to find its way into the mass-production automotive sector as much as expected. The traditional perspective of 2- or 3-piece mold has put the technology still at bay. Yet another trend in the modern automotive industry is that of modular chassis developments being limited with emphasis just on the floor and the hard points, but not the safety cell. This thesis presents a study on the possibility of designing a modular chassis platform, constructed utilizing advanced hybrid material and manufacturing technology, with the ability to realize a wide segment of cars. The abstraction of the problem defined the key decision that had to be taken for the development. From this, a systematic design approach beginning with setting up the product target requirements, and defining ergonomic seating and reach of the driver was carried out, which defined the minimum dimensions for the platform. Different concepts were developed through systematic SSS load path studies and the functional carriers were derived. A FEM model was developed to optimize the chassis and define the layup. Through this, the chassis was split into modular components defining a possible modular chassis. Some case studies from the market were made to define the possible manufacturing possibilities for mass production and some conclusions defining the constraints and limitations were derived with possible recommendations for further studies.
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