Design and Development of Body Panel for UTP's Shell Eco-Marathon Vehicle

Shell Eco Marathon Asia is a fuel efficiency competition in which one liter of petrol
is given and the car that travels the furthest is the winner. The goal of this project is
to design and develop the body panel for the UTP's Shell Eco Marathon vehicle
which is lightweight and rigid. Literature review of past designs and material used
has been reviewed and researched to get an idea of suitable lightweight materials and
design to be used and further enhanced. To design the body panel, CATIA V5 R16
was used to simulate the design of the new body panel. Dimensions for the
simulation were taken using the chassis which has been agreed by the team to be
reused. Mould was then developed by using plywood and zinc sheets to deform to
the desired shape of the body parts. After mould was developed, we moved on to the
fibre glass layout process in which the method used was resin infusion. After
infusion done, each part were left to dry under the hot sun for about 6 hrs and then
dry body parts were removed from the mould. Body parts were then fitted to the
chassis with modifications done by cutting excessive fiber glass and finishing was
done by using stickers to make it look better. The result of this project showed a
significant 52% in weight reduction compared to the previous body panel. It also
demonstrated higher rigidity, less thicker panel and higher hardness compared to the
previous body panel. In conclusion, the objective of the project which is to design
body panel which is lightweight, strong and affordable for UTP's Shell EcoMarathon
vehicle and manufacture and assemble parts of the body panel to have a
complete car has been successfully achieved.