FSAE throttle body

grabcad

An FSAE intake for combustion vehicles has to comply with several rules the most important of which involves the inclusion of a restrictor of 20mm diameter that must be placed downstream of the restrictor but upstream of the engine. This often results in necessity of a large plenum to mitigate the restriction of air flow into the engine. The throttle valve now situated well upstream of the engine inlet, the requirement of the bulky OEM throttle body, containing several ports, sensors as well as a butterfly valve, at the engine inlet is unnecessary.The throttle body at the engine inlet now requires only a fuel inject port and manifold amplitude pressure (map) sensor port. The biggest concern when sealing the ports on an aluminum throttle body is the chances of distortion when attempting to seal the port by welding or with any other method the probability of achieving a long-lasting air-tight seal.The design shown here shows an alternative ktm 390cc throttle body as per FSAE specificatoins and requirements, removing the need to seal an additional ports which would need to be done if using the OEM throttle body. The other main advantage is that there is a considerable amount of weight saving and design flexibility in terms of sensor positions, mounting options, etc. the team may also choose to use a larger injector which in the case can be accommodated. It is also mandated by the competition that the intake manifold be rigidly mounted to the engine block and to the chassis as well using a mounting method that incorporates isolation.The addition of the flange is to make the entire intake manifold of the FSAE vehicle modular so that the team does not require to manufacture a new throttle body for each new intake design. The intake manifold can also be reoriented without needing to change the position of the throttle body.A weight saving of 60% was made in the throttle body from the OEM throttle body provided by KTM.This component was 3D printed using HP's MJF process with Nylon PA12 as the material of choice as this is a common choice for air vessels as suggested by HP themselves. Images of this throttle body as well as the other 2 components of the intake can be seen when not assembled as well as in working condition on the FSAE vehicle we designed and built in the academic year of 2019-2020, at PES University.