Burla (Sambalpur): Students of Vir Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla in Odisha’s Sambalpur district have come up with flying colours for designing of a new off-road vehicle which has won top national level awards in two categories.
“We won the awards in two categories. We were declared all-India winner in cost-effect design category and another in the endurance test category. As per rules, each vehicle has to complete four hours of continuous race. The vehicle which makes the highest number of time lapse, wins the first prize. In this category, we came second,” P Purushottam, a final year Mechanical Engineering student of VSSUT and the team leader, told OTV.
He said a national-level event on the designing of new vehicle is held every year. This year, the event was held in New Delhi.
“This is a round-the-year project for which the work generally begins around June. In the first two months, we prepare the design of the vehicle. This year we have designed an off-road and all-terrain vehicle which can move easily in all types of surfaces like the sand, mud and hilly roads. Besides, this vehicle can move in steep inclination. We have a 30-member team from the Mechanical, Production and Electrical Engineering departments for designing of the vehicle. This is our fifth iteration of vehicle. After designing part is complete, there is a virtual round to check the compatibility of the vehicle so that a company can go for production of the vehicle in large numbers. On the basis of the compatibility of the vehicle, around 50-100 teams are selected in the all-India level. This year, they had selected 50 teams on Rule Book basis.
As far the assembly of the vehicle is concerned, Purushottam said “For manufacturing of the vehicle, we usually procure some engine and CVT parts from Canada and Australia while we manufacture the remaining parts of the vehicle in our institution and get the design parts from the local manufacturers.”
Talking about the specifications of the newly designed vehicle, Purushottam said it is a 305cc vehicle having a 10 HP engine with a mileage of 17 km per litre with an acceleration of 0-40 km in five seconds. The vehicle can move at a top speed of 70 kmph and can take the inclination up to 30 degree in hilly terrain.
“We have designed and manufactured the hub, chassis, gear box and knuckles which are fitted in the wheel,” he informed.
Ashiya Das, a second year Mechanical Engineering student and one of the members of the team, said this was her first participation in the event.
Sharing her experience with her team members in the designing of the off-road vehicle, she said it was a pleasure to work with the team members who were very cooperative.
About her participation in the event, she said “Normally girls do not go and take part in the event. But this year, we got a very good platform to participate in the event”.
Referring to the team work, she said though each department was assigned with specific job, in the final round, all departments had a final check of vehicle.
“This was the national event which was held at Buddh International Circuit (BIC) at Noida in New Delhi. We will try for the international event which will be held at Indore next year for which we start our work very soon.
Asked about the financial support to the team, she said “We have some problems this regard. But as there is positive response and we have got very good rank this year, we will appeal for more support and hope we will get it”.
Sekhar Suman Behera, a pre-final year student and a member of the team, said after the design of the vehicle is completed, we put our vehicle for a through test in the off-loading track.
“If we find any fault analysis during the test, we rectify in our data equation system to ensure no fault in the vehicle so that it will have no problem in the main track which happened at the BIC this year. While most of the vehicles had problems during the test, there was no problem in our vehicle which successfully went through the endurance drive test,” Behera said.