Being part of the UCI Electric Formula Race Car team was one of the most rewarding and educational period while attending university. I was able to create a product I was proud of and met some great people. I chose to be on the team responsible for building the battery box because I wanted to learn more about batteries as they are the weakest link in most electronic products. After some research we were deciding between LiFePo4 Pouch cells, 26650 Li cells, and 18650 Li cells. Pouch cells ended up being too expensive and fragile. 26650 cells would turn out to be heavier than their smaller counterpart 18650 cells.
In the process of manufacturing the battery box I learned to use the Milling and Lathe machines along with welding techniques like MIG and TIG welding. Along with the task of helping my teammates with building the battery box I was in charge of making a part called the Maintenance Plug. The Maintenance Plug is not something used in the electric car industry and I had no other sources to get ideas from. This lack of resources allowed me to be creative and ingenuitive. The purpose of the maintenance plug is to allow the battery box to be safely operated on when they are removed, because the separated battery sections will have a maximum static voltage of less than 120VDC and a maximum energy of 6MJmaking them not lethal to people. After an extended amount of research I found components combined with some 3D printed parts that satisfy the parameter needed.