Intake Restrictor
OCT 2022 - PRESENT
As a powertrain engineer on the Duke Motorsports FSAE team, one of my projects concerned designing an intake restrictor for the club’s 2023 competition vehicle.
Per FSAE rules, air entering the engine must pass through a circular restrictor with a maximum diameter of 20.0 mm. In order to allow for proper installation of the restrictor onto our engine, the restrictor’s outlet diameter needs to match the diameter of the engine’s intake manifold, which was determined to be 40.2 mm.
After conducting research into literature on the topic, I generated several designs and conducted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis on each model in SolidWorks.
To execute CFD, I ran simulations with environmental pressure at the inlet and a pressure of 65 kPa at the outlet. I then used a surface parameter at the outlet to determine the mass flow rate through the restrictor. Larger mass flow rate values are desirable because higher values demonstrate that more air is getting through the restrictor due to the pressure gradient inputted.
I also analyzed different fluid dynamics properties in each model by generating pressure and velocity cut plots, where flow separation and back flow were issues I observed in some of the designs. The fifth design yielded the highest mass flow rate of the current models. A large pressure drop is observed prior to the 20mm throat, after which a pressure recovery occurs between the throat and the outlet.
Below are images of a restrictor I created using teflon stock, which essentially used stock that was machined using a CNC lathe. My future plans are focused on machining designs using delrin for increased strength and durability.
To Be Continued... 😃