Email: post@revolve.no
From student to engineer in a year
Revolve NTNU is an independent student organization at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The team consists of 67 members who work voluntarily parallel to full time engineering studies. The members are from 21 different fields of study and are from all years of study.
To develop and build a race car from scratch in one year is a challenging task that demands numerous engineering fields, extraordinary dedication and hard earned resources. Every year a new team of students take on the complex and comprehensive project to make the transition from students to fully capable engineers.
What we do
In a year the team complete a full product development process in order to produce a capable race car to compete in one of the largest engineering competitions for students in the world, Formula Student.
At project start the leader group maps out overall plans, focus areas, needed competence, organizational structure and budgets, in addition to recruiting highly motivated students. The design process starts with problem identification and concept development of all systems, before proceeding to simulation and design. When all designs are finished production and assembly starts. 8 months into the project testing and continous improvement to prepare for the competition commences. The project is finalized in the summer on competitions in Europe.
The result
The hard work results in a highly complex product, a proper racecar. The car offers innovative solutions and complex design in order to optimize traction, aerodynamic properties, data aquisition, vehicle control and minimize weight in order to achieve the best on track performance.
In addition to the car, the result is students with unique experience and skills. Among these are product development, project management, marketing and team work. In addition our members acquire vast knowledge of other engineering fields and their way of problem solving and communication. Overall our members go from students to rounded, capable engineers that are prepared to take on the challenges that will meet them in their future career.
Mission and values
Our mission is “From theory to practice”. Even though we develop a complex product, our most important result is students with unique knowledge and skill sets. We believe the interdisciplinary teamwork and endless possibilities that the students face through a year in Revolve NTNU makes the project a perfect arena for personal development.
In few years Revolve NTNU has managed to achieve great results in Formula Student through hard work, professionalism and ambitious goals. We believe our values are essential to the personal development of our members and our journey towards the very top level in Formula Student.
Dedicated
We are dedicated to reach our goals and do whatever necessary to finish what we start. We put in the hours and always put the need of the many ahead of the need of the few.
Innovative
We develop innovative systems and dare to go against general assumptions. We encourage cool, visually appealing designs and extraordinary systems and thrive to take all parts of the organization to the next level.
Ambitious
We set ambitious goals and work with ambitious projects. We dare to fail, but work relentless to succeed. We work together and push ourselves to perform at the best level possible.
The Dream of Building a Car
In the spring of 2010 four students, Steffen Johnsen, Sigbjørn Eriksrud, Simen Johnsen and Øyvind Våland sat down to discuss the possibility of a exciting project to complement their engineering studies. Their goal was to get more practical engineering related to their studies. After hours of research they discovered Formula Student, the perfect arena for putting their engineering knowledge to the test through building a formula race car. This is our history.
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2010
A vast variety of challenges occurred when the four boys started to work towards their dream of developing their very own race car. They had nothing, but needed money, materials, a place to work, production facilities and people to contribute to the development. Partnerships with businesses and NTNU was crucial to make the project feasible. In addition to resources the team also needed dedicated members and a solid structure. From the start the four good friends had formal meetings and followed them to the letter. This built a solid foundation for the identity and professionalism of the organization in the years to follow. In autumn 2010, they were ready to take in more members who constituted the management team of Revolve NTNU. A lot of hours were spent on the office planning the development of a high tech race car. November 6th 2010 Revolve NTNU was officially registered as an organization with the purpose to be NTNU´s participant in Formula Student! This was a big milestone for the organization, the foundation of a solid project was created.
2011
The year started with recruiting new team members who would constitute the first team of Revolve NTNU. After a strict selection process 23 new members were admitted to the organization and students from all years of study and 6 different engineering departments were ready to take on the challenge. With a good organization structure and motivated students the real development work started. No one had ever built a race car before, so the challenges were many. However, through hard work and dedication we managed to find solutions to the problems we met. April 7th 2011 we signed Kongsberg Automotive as our main sponsor. This was a major step towards actually building the race car and was a stepping stone for us towards getting more partnerships. The knowledge base in Kongsberg Automotive also led to the project taking solutions and targets to the next level.
2012
The first complete Revolve team started their journey towards participation in Formula Student. The learning curve was steep, but the team made good progress. In January, most parts had finished designs and were ready for production. The hours required to design everything from scratch was immense, but the effort to take the designs from the computer into a fully working race car was still remaining. All metal parts and body moulds had to be machined, electrical components and PCBs produced and carbon fiber parts casted. Many partners helped to do advanced processes in addition to the production which was done in labs at NTNU. When parts started to arrive and assembly commenced it occurred to the team that their dream was closing in on reality.
May 3rd 2012 the team finally revealed the result of more than 30.000 hours of hard work. In excess of 500 students took part in the event which included speeches from World Rally Champion Petter Solberg and CEO Kongsberg Automotive Hans Peter Havdal in addition to the roll out of KA Borealis R, our first race car!
A lot of testing, driver training and various adjustments remained before we were ready to compete. In the middle of July the entire team arrived at Silverstone, curious, anxious and excited of finally putting the car to the test. The feedback from other teams and judges was very positive and impressed of the performance, quality and design of our first year car. At the track and at presentations things went good as well. The entire team was very pleased with the competition and the result; Best Newcomer Award and 17th position overall!
2013
The success of the first year team led to great interest and many applicants when admission of a new team started. 16 members of the 2012 team stayed with the team, hungry for new challenges and a motivated team of 46 students were ready to develop an all new race car following the legacy created by the previous team. Ambitious plans were made including concepts such as an active aerodynamic package and an adaptive suspension system. The team worked hard throughout the fall. In January most designs was finalizing, and we did a design review at Kongsberg Automotive\’s headquarter to get feedback on our designs. After great progress in January and February parts were getting ready for assembly in March.
Hundreds of problems were discovered and solved in the final assembly of the car. The frame was finished in March, and the body was casted at KONGSBERG\’s factory in mid April. In April was also the first ever “RevolveDagen” event organized, gathering business and students to learn about and from each other. Many late nights were put in as the roll out of the new car was getting closer. Nevertheless the team was highly motivated as their parts started to look like a formula race car. May 6th was a big day for the team as it finally was time to show the rest of the world the result of all the long hours. The current Minister of Education, Kristin Halvorsen and CEO of Kongsberg Automotive held engaging speeches about engineering education and cooperation between business and students. All the members could finally let down their guard and celebrate the achievement.
After testing and improving the car for some weeks we were ready to pack the trailer and head for Silverstone circuit once again. The car and the team received great feedback from the competition and judges this year as well. Pat Clarke, Formula Student design judge, signed the car with “Best second year car EVER at FSUK”. The static and dynamic event went very well with good scores overall. At the last day it was time for the Endurance Event. Half way through the event we had a wing support failure, forcing us to retire from the event. In spite of receiving no points at the event we finished 16th overall and was awarded the National Instruments Measurement and Control Award for the electronic and control system on the car.
2014
After great success with KA Aquilo R and with the premise of building Norway’s first electric racecar, Revolve NTNU saw a large increase in applicants. In the end, Team 2014’s 46 members made some of the greatest advances in Revolve NTNU history building KOG Arctos R.
We started out with an ambitious goal: Lose 80 kilograms, equivalent to a third of the weight compared to last seasons KA Aquilo R. With strict restrictions on power output being a feather weight is essential to be a top contender in Formula Student. This resulted in a new design from the ground up, with numerous innovations and premium materials. The design was finalized by the end of January, featuring a carbon fiber monocoque, in-house designed battery package and titanium laser sintered uprights. All in all, the team achieved an impressive a weight reduction while increasing the power output.
Manufacturing of parts began in February. We sent many of our members to Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace’s facilities to manufacture our carbon fiber parts, as well as manufacturing in-house, and receiving other parts from our sponsors. Assembly began in March, with fewer challenges than with KA Aquilo R. “RevolveDagen” was again hosted during this period, featuring a presentation from Internationally acclaimed industrial designer Bård Eker from Koenigsegg.
We worked tirelessly towards the nearing deadline. The five preceding days before the reveal date was spent continuously working on the car to ensure that it was ready for the big reveal. Finally, on the 13th of May 2014 KOG Arctos R was revealed to a deafening applause. We had successfully built Norway’s first Electric Racecar. The team could now relax briefly before the the testing phase began.
The large advancements also led to numerous challenges, especially during testing. The in-house designed battery package in particular required a significant change in testing practices compared to petrol fuel. Fortunately we adapted well to these changes, and achieved tremendous results. Amongst over a hundred participating teams, we finished 8th place at Formula Student UK, and 9th place at Formula Student Germany. To finish top 10 with our first electric car truly placed us amongst the top teams with over ten years of experience.
2015
The 2014 season gave us a tremendous amount of experience, and after a very successful season, a new team of 49 members were ready to further push the limits of electric racing. Finishing 4th in one of its events, Vilje proved successful despite many great challenges during the season.
With all the great advancements in KOG Arctos R, some would think that only iterative improvements would be required to make a better performing car. But with many rule changes, and a greatly optimized design in KOG Arctos R, a full redesign from the ground up had to be made for the 2015 season. With a highly motivated team that was eager to learn, we had a finished design at the start of 2015. After just over 5 months of hard work, we were ready to begin the manufacturing of Vilje in february and march.
Recognizing the success of the 2014 season, many of our sponsors chose to join us for another year, including our main sponsor Kongsberg Gruppen. Utilizing their facilities, we were able to manufacture high quality carbon fiber parts. During the manufacturing period, we also hosted our very own career fair “RevolveDagen” for the third consecutive year. The main feature this year was a lecture by Daniele Zecchetti, one of the lead engineers in Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari’s Formula 1 team.
28th of April was the official reveal date for the car, the earliest in Revolve NTNU history. This was clearly apparent during the assembly phase, which was rapidly nearing the deadline. Thankfully, we got the car ready for the public in time, and Vilje was met with a deafening applause from a fully packed audience and from numerous online stream-viewers. The team could finally rest for a few days and prepare for the testing season.
In terms of testing and racing, the 2015 season was perhaps one of the most intense, with numerous high stress situations. In a classic “quiet before the storm” fashion, a critical situation occurred the last day of testing before Formula Student UK in july. A motor breakdown rendered the car nonfunctional, and with only a few days before Formula Student UK, we had to travel to UK without a motor. Simultaneously, a team member flew to the motor manufacturer Emrax in Slovenia to get a new one. We arrived one day before the event start at Silverstone. With an enormous effort from the entire team, we managed to work through the night to install the new motor. We were amongst the first teams to pass the technical control. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to tune the new motor, and technical complications led to us not finishing the endurance event at Formula Student UK. Still, we managed to finish 28th place amongst over 120 teams. A good result, but we were determined to do even better at Formula Student Austria.
After an effective testing period between Formula Student UK and Formula Student Austria, we headed towards Red Bull Ring, Spielberg with hopes of top results, but the summer weather in August made the event extremely challenging. With air temperatures reaching over 30 °C, many of the electric teams were wary of reaching the safety threshold for temperatures during racing. In the end, we completed all parts of the competitions and finished an incredible 4th place overall! A top 5 finish brought a lot of attention, and elevated many aspects of our project going into the 2016 season.
2016
In 2015, Revolve NTNU placed 4th in Austria’s Formula Student competition, giving this year’s team the confidence and inspiration to build an even more cutting edge vehicle with further developed technology. Last season, the team consisted of 55 members, 11 of which were master’s students. Ten of these students wrote master’s theses on the competition car, Gnist.
Team 2016 successfully designed, developed and built Scandinavia’s first ever 4WD electric race car. This meant the team had to completely redesign everything about the way we previously produced the our more conventional compression race cars. This lead to innovation in aerodynamics, suspension, the monocoque, torque vectoring, and our (KERS) regenerative braking.
Our main partner, Kongsberg Gruppen, helped us develop and produce our newly designed monocoque while giving our engineers great advice during the process. Besides having great partners working alongside us, we also had speakers like Dirk Ahlborn present great ideas like the development of Elon Musk’s hyperloop concept. This type of collaboration is necessary when producing a sustainable and efficient Formula Student race car.
This is why we make sure to showcase our sponsors at an all-day event called “Revolve Day” where students from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, among others, can learn about what we do and why we do it. But more importantly, we, the Revolve NTNU team along with our sponsors, get to engage with other students to talk about our wonderful experiences in developing northern Europe’s fastest electric race car.
On the 3rd of May, we unveiled our car with Christian Hauglie-Hanssen, the Executive Vice President of Space & Surveillance at Kongsberg Defence Systems. It wasn’t long before our first and largest competition with Formula Student UK at Silverstone. Gnist performed well here, finishing in 6th place out of 130 other teams in the acceleration event. Our exhilaration of accomplishment was unfortunately cut short due to a failure with Gnist’s battery management system. The failure suppressed our power limiter, causing us to draw more power than this event’s 60 kW limit allowed for. Despite this, the managed to win several prizes for its innovative solutions:
Jaguar Land Rover Award For Innovation in Propulsion Systems,
Class 1 Best High Voltage Powertrain Implementation by Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.
At this point, the team had merely one week of testing available before Formula Student Austria. Although our testing timespan was limited, we successfully finished 6th place overall! Gnist had yet to realised its full potential, due to high temperatures in the inverter and distinct grip conditions and we had still come close to winning the competition. We were satisfied with our performance and end result, but we are always looking to improve.
As always, everyone at Red Bull Ring provided a very friendly atmosphere, with fewer teams and a more relaxed attitude building up to the most prestigious competition, Formula Student Germany.
With engineers and great brands and names present (Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Bosch just to name a few). Things to mention here was a stunning 5th place in Engineering Design, which apart from the Endurance event, is considered as the most prestigious event. Unfortunately for us, a DNF in the Endurance event due to technical issues in the gearbox near the end of the stint, caused us to lose potential points in the competition.
The Competition
The concept of Formula Student had its inception in the US in 1979, and held its opening competition two years later. Over the years, it’s popularity grew, and Europe followed. Holding its first event in Warwickshire, England. From there it has developed into the biggest student engineering competition in the world, boasting over 20 events world wide.
Formula Student provides participants with the opportunity to enhance their engineering design and project management skills by applying learned classroom theories in the real world. With heavy industry backing, it has become a well respected stepping stone, developing students into desirable engineers.
To compete, teams from any university comprised of students must design and build a single seat formula race car, with the choice of combustion, electric or the newly added driverless class. The spirit of the competitions touches all aspects of the real world of engineering. Instead of winning based only on lap times, it is scored in relation in different subcategories. Designing and creating a car according to rules and specifications, driver skill and the cars functionality on the track, to the individual choices related to cost, and overall car design.
The dynamic events are scored on lap times, while the rest of the judged and scored by experts from motorsports, automotive, aerospace and supplier industries.