Formula Electric Belgium uses CN Rood equipment for charging and reliability testing

17 augustus 2022 door C.N. Rood

Formula Electric Belgium is a team of 48 motivated engineering students from KU Leuven and Thomas More. Every year, the team designs and builds an electric race car to participate in the Formula Student competitions in the summer. CN Rood supports Formula Electric Belgium with equipment to charge the car and make the car more reliable. We spoke with Wout Vanderwegen (Formula Electric Belgium team member) about the challenges and the cooperation with CN Rood.

Goals for this year
At the beginning of the year, Formula Electric Belgium set three goals. Wout Vanderwegen: "First of all we want to make sure we build a race car that is reliable, both the whole electrical system and the mechanical set-up. Secondly, our aim was to finish in the top five at a race this summer. Finally, this year we have also put a lot of energy into sharing our knowledge with young people to get them excited about a future in engineering. With our newly developed package, we have already reached over 900 students this year."

New chips for increased reliability
The biggest challenge was to increase the reliability.
Wout Vanderwegen: "The previous team had a lot of small new features in their car (Aurora MkII). For instance a semi-active suspension system, DRS and a self-designed Engine Control Unit. These things were beautiful on paper and attracted a lot of attention from the jury during the design presentations. Unfortunately, because of this complexity, the car was not reliable enough and did not finish many races. This year's car, called Titan, is the opposite of Aurora in this respect. Titan is a car where we have placed the greatest emphasis on reliability. Therefore, the Titan does not contain any new features, but all systems are fully functional. An example of this are our engine controllers, this year we have the same engine controllers as in Aurora, but a lot of research has been done to optimise the huge matrix of different parameters. This gives us a much better idea of how the motors are controlled. Besides, we have made a big improvement by integrating new chips. Due to the chip shortage, we simply could not adopt last year's chips. Since we had to replace chips anyway, we took the opportunity to switch to a better chip series. So now we can proudly say that our own-designed electronics are 8 times faster and we can make 4 times more accurate measurements."

CN Rood's T&M devices crucial for testing
To analyse the electronics and ensure reliability, the team used various test equipment from CN Rood. Wout Vanderwegen: "We use CN Rood's Pico oscilloscope to test our electronics before putting them in the car. We also used a Tektronix RSA306B spectrum analyser. This allowed us to detect and solve one of the biggest problems of the Aurora MkII. With the help of the spectrum analyser we found out that our motor controllers caused a lot of noise. This noise was transferred to the battery and disturbed the communication of our battery management system. Since this is a safety-critical signal, this interference caused the car to go into safety mode and not to drive. Using the spectrum analyser, we could see the effect of adding different types of filters. In the end, it turned out that adding some Y-caps was enough to filter out the noise."

Formula Electric Belgium Testing

Delta Elektronica power supplies for charging
Formula Electric Belgium has not one but two cars this year. Besides the Titan, the Nova (2017) will be reconstructed into a driverless car.
Wout Vanderwegen: �We have two Delta power supplies from CN Rood. The first one is the Delta SM1500-CP-30, which we use to charge the battery of our electric racing car at 600V. We have built this power supply into our big battery cart. This allows us to fully recharge our battery very quickly, so that even between different dynamic events at the competition we do not have any battery problems. Besides we also recently got the Delta SM660-AR-11. This power supply is used for our new driverless car. Since this year we also have an electric racing car that is made completely autonomous. With several sensors and actuators combined with a big computer and smart algorithms, our driverless department ensures that Nova (2017) can drive completely autonomously.�

Excellent collaboration with CN Rood
Wout Vanderwegen is very pleased with the cooperation with CN Rood. "The cooperation with CN Rood is going very well. Both Ivo Kauffmann and Steven Martens are always available and come up with a solution to the problem. We are being helped very quickly and very well. We are very happy to have CN Rood as a partner!

Email: info@cnrood.com
Website: http://cnrood.com

C.N. Rood

Degelijk.� Betrouwbaar. Kennispartner.

De CN Rood groep is koploper in kennis en oplossingen op het gebied van test- en meetapparatuur. We onderscheiden ons met een persoonlijke en klantgerichte aanpak. Onze klanten zoeken vaak niet een product, maar een oplossing en wij hebben allemaal de gedrevenheid om mee te werken aan die oplossing. Wat wij het liefste doen: continu bezig zijn met de nieuwste ontwikkelingen op het gebied van test- en meetapparatuur. Nu, en in de toekomst. Want daar ligt nu eenmaal onze passie: het precies willen weten. Zo kunnen we onze klanten optimaal verder helpen.

Wij denken mee, adviseren en begeleiden onze klanten in het maken van de juiste keuze in hun test- en meetapparatuur. Mensen in verschillende sectoren vertrouwen op onze expertise en ons advies. We werken voor overheid, wetenschap, onderwijs, lucht- en ruimtevaart- en auto-industrie in Noord-Europa en de Benelux. Daaronder bevinden zich vele prestigieuze en vooraanstaande organisaties. Vanuit locaties in Zweden, Nederland en Belgi� werken meer dan zestig toegewijde professionals aan oplossingen vari�rend van communicatie-testapparatuur en algemene test- en meetinstrumenten tot apparatuur voor data-acquisitie, logistieke automatisering, aangevuld met consultancy, training en turnkeyoplossingen.

We hebben een historie die teruggaat tot 1938. Onze oprichter, Cornelis Nicolaas Rood, was destijds een pionier in moderne elektronica. Onze mensen bevinden zich ook anno nu graag in de frontlinie van technologische ontwikkelingen. Op onze eigen manier leveren we zo een bijdrage aan belangrijke maatschappelijke vraagstukken. Bijvoorbeeld in energietransitie, quantum computing, medische technologie, de zelfrijdende auto, de auto op zonne-energie, de energie transitie en alle andere deeptech die bijdraagt aan de schonere en betere wereld van morgen.

Daarom letten we ook op onze eigen impact op het milieu en klimaat. Aangezien wij vooral een adviserende functie hebben is onze eigen milieu-footprint gering. Vanzelfsprekend zien we wel toe op een zo duurzaam mogelijke productie van de apparatuur die wij verkopen en zorgen we voor een maatschappelijk verantwoorde bedrijfsvoering. Al onze producten kopen we uitsluitend in bij gecertificeerde fabrikanten die werken met herleidbare en verantwoorde grondstoffen. Gebruikte apparatuur wordt kosteloos opgehaald en gerecycled.

Het zijn maar een paar voorbeelden om duidelijk te maken dat we hechten aan een langetermijnvisie op de wereld om ons heen. Want juist met een geschiedenis van meer dan tachtig jaar kun je goed vooruitkijken. Daarom blijven we ook vooroplopen. Onze brede en diepe technische kennis van test- en meetapparatuur, in combinatie met onze persoonlijke connectie met onze klanten, maken ons uniek in de markt. De CN Rood groep is uw degelijke en betrouwbare kennispartner voor test- en meetapparatuur!

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Dependable. Reliable. Knowledge Partner.

The CN Rood Group is a leader in knowledge and solutions in the field of test and measurement equipment. We distinguish ourselves with a personal and customer-oriented approach. Our customers often seek not a product but a solution, and we all have the drive to contribute to that solution. What we like doing best: continuously working on the latest developments in test and measurement equipment. Now, and in the future. Because that's where our passion lies: wanting to know exactly what is going on. That way, we can help our customers in the best possible way.

We think along, advise and guide our customers in making the right choice of test and measurement equipment. People in various sectors rely on our expertise and advice. We work for government, science, education, aerospace and automotive industries in Northern Europe and the Benelux. These include many prestigious and leading organisations. From locations in Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium, more than sixty dedicated professionals work on solutions ranging from communication test equipment and general test and measurement instruments to data acquisition equipment, logistics automation, complemented by consultancy, training and turnkey solutions.

We have a history dating back to 1938. At the time, our founder, Cornelis Nicolaas Rood, was a pioneer in modern electronics. Even today, our people enjoy being at the forefront of technological developments. In our own way, we contribute to important social issues. For instance, in energy transition, quantum computing, medical technology, the self-driving car, the solar car, the energy transition and all other deep-tech that contributes to the cleaner and better world of tomorrow.

Therefore, we also pay attention to our own impact on the environment and climate. Since we mainly have an advisory function, our own environmental footprint is small. Naturally, we do see to it that the equipment we sell is produced as sustainably as possible and we ensure socially responsible business practices. We purchase all our products exclusively from certified manufacturers working with traceable and responsible raw materials. Used equipment is collected and recycled free of charge.

These are just a few examples to make it clear that we value a long-term view of the world around us. Because it is precisely with a history of more than eighty years that it is easy to look ahead. That's why we stay ahead. Our broad and deep technical knowledge of test and measurement equipment, combined with our personal connection with our customers, make us unique in the market. The CN Rood group is your solid and reliable knowledge partner for test and measurement equipment!

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