POLICY PLAN HANZE RACING DIVISION STICHTING

RSIN: 823019330

 

Content: The foundation’s current policy plan, board composition, remuneration policy,

current activities and state of accounts.

hanze racing division

The foundation is called “Hanze Racing Division Stichting” (HARD) and aims to offer students and other interested parties the opportunity and means to develop and use racecars and other technologies in a sustainable way to transfer knowledge aimed at practical aspects, to stimulate innovation and education, specifically in the areas of mechanical and electrical engineering. The funds of the foundation are acquired through donations, subsidies, gifts, sponsorship or prizes won in competitions or events. The foundation does not intend to make a profit.

In practice, this means that students join HARD to build race cars to participate in Formula Student events. In 2023, HARD will finish work on its first electric race car: the HRD05-2. We will compete in the Formula Student Netherlands competition with the HRD05-2 in Assen (NL) in July 2023.

Our sponsors help us realize this engineering feat by donating money, parts, knowledge and tools. An overview of our sponsors can be found on our website.

The HRD06 will be the successor to the HRD05-2. It will make use of the same battery pack as the HRD05-2, but the drivetrain will be completely revised. It is expected to race in the 2023-2024 academic year, but development will start this year, in september. The board of HARD manages the funds of the foundation. Our board consists of at least three members and up to seven members; currently there are six. The board members are either students or sponsors of HARD.

Our board

The board members make plans for and coordinate the development of our cars and ensure sufficient funds, parts and tools are available. The board also handles membership applications. Board members are not entitled to benefits paid from the foundation’s funds, although they are entitled to be reimbursed for expenses which they incurred while acting on behalf of the foundation. Members of the foundation are not eligible for remuneration.

Sasha Vasiliu is the team manager and chairman of the board. He oversees and coordinates the mechanical, electrical and driverless engineering departments and the communication department. The chairman also leads the board meetings.

Ruben van der Ploeg is the treasurer, she oversees the finances and makes payments up to €10,000.00. Legal acts with higher stakes require separate authorization from the rest of the board.

Sven van der Heide is the secretary of the board, see supports the team manager in administration work and takes minutes during board meetings.

Max de Jonge is the chief engineer. He oversees our three engineering departments.

Ruben Kuiper oversees the communication department, which handles external relations with our sponsors, organization of events and recruitment of new members

 

 

Progress, activities and financial results per year

Progress and activities

In the spring of 2022 the team was brought together again to start up working and finish up the HRD05-2. 
The team attended the Formula Student Netherlands competition in July and went through the scrutineering of the mechanical car that has been produced thus far. Some of the electrical systems has been taken a look at by the scrutineers as well as the first prototype of the accumulator container.

As the individual printed circuit board were tested the next step has been taken into making the systems work in their full circuit. The high voltage circuit of the HRD05-2 has been produced and are ready to go through the first test in January 2023. Next to that the production of the wire harness has started and progress has been made on the communications systems. 

The development on the mechanical engineering has been foremost with the accumulator container. The designs of the battery pack has been finished and a first prototype has been produced. Also projects like the fire wall have been looked and the first ideas put to the test.

The driverless team has made steps towards their goal to make the HRD05-2 driverless. However due to difficulties with the mechanical and electrical designs of the car, without driverless systems, the team has been forced to work with an electrical kart first to produce and test their software and hardware.

Financial results

Coming soon

Progress and activities

Due to the covid-pandemic the progress within the engineering teams has been slow throughout the year, but the team worked towards the goal to have the HRD05-2 driving. The development of the battery pack has started and the pedal box was assembled.

On the electrical side of the car a lot of testing of the individual printed circuit boards has been done as the designs were finalised. After multiple rounds of testing and redesigning the full circuits are designed and ready for producing and testing. 

The driverless team has made steady progress and are ready to test their software on a real life radio controlled car. With the implementation of a LiDAR the scaled car could notice cones and drive a round between it. These successful tests of the software let to the step of a bigger car, which is why the team decided to implement their software next on an electrical kart. 

Financial result 

Coming soon

Progress and activities in 2020

The mechanical design of the HRD05-2 was formally halted by Christmas of 2019 and production was started. By February 2020, the chassis had been welded at Stork. During the Spring of 2020, Staal Straal applied a powder coating and we installed the wheels on the car. As COVID-19 affected the Netherlands, production was halted for a while.

As production slowly resumed over the Summer holiday, the car came along nicely. By then, the suspension and steering system were installed and the production of the accumulator container was finished. Due to difficulties with the welding of the steel plates that make up the accumulator container, a redesign was required. This redesign has been the main focus of the new mechanical engineers, while some of the senior engineers finish production of the bodywork and the pedal box. The final concept of the new accumulator container was completed in December 2020 and design started.

The tractive system electronics of the HRD05-2 have been designed and most of the printed circuit board designs are finalised. Many of them have been through several iterations already, so testing in January of 2021 is expected to demonstrate reliable operation.

The design of the shutdown circuit of the car has been finished as well, but the pedal box and dashboard electronics are still a work in progress. Through a collaboration with Kroon Wire Harnesses, HARD aims to develop a custom wire harness for the HRD05-2 that can ensure reliable operation.

Financial result

Capital

This academic year (2020-2021), the foundation expects to raise at least €20,285.00 from sponsorship arrangements with current partners. Another €3,000.00 will be raised from the members of HARD that want to participate at the Formula Student Netherlands event in 2021. Our bank balance at the start of the year was €7,000.00

HARD expects to spend €5,000.00 to attend FSN2021. We expect to spend €5,000.00 to finish development of the HRD05-2 and €12,000.00 to acquire a new drivetrain for the HRD06. HARD expects to spend €3,550.00 on general costs like marketing, sponsor events, tools, shipping and banking costs.

Including the other expenses for a possible HRD06, this brings the total expenses to €30,050.00. Given our current balance and our expected earnings, we would reduce our balance at the end of the academic year (2020-2021) to €135.00. Therefore, we are working to develop relations with more sponsors so we can deal with unexpected expenses without delaying the development of a new car.

Coming soon

Progress and activities in 2019

By the end of Spring, 2019, the chassis of the HRD05 had been laser cut by LaserWorx and the tubes had been bent by SkidPiping. Welding was done at our workshop, which was well-equipped thanks to a generous donation of tools, equipment and storage cabinets, courtesy of INDI. The chassis and the angled gearboxes did not pass our quality standards, so we cancelled our entry in the Formula Student Spain competition and attended but did not race at Formula Student Netherlands in 2019.

By In the summer of 2019, HARD started developing a simplified version of the previous design. The goal of the design is to produce a reliable car that can race at FSN in 2020 and to reduce complexity at as much as possible.

Therefore, the new concept makes use of a single Combimac E-racer motor which connects to the differential using a chain drive. The simplified design should reduce the time needed to finish the production and testing of the car and improve the reliability of operation. The car can be lighter and more compact, but this is not expected to completely make up for the reduced power output.

As part of the simplification, we switched from an aftermarket liquid-cooled battery pack to a custom, air-cooled battery pack. By designing the pack ourselves, we can ensure compliance with Formula Student rules without complicated retrofitting of safety features. We can also select a more appropriate battery voltage, reducing the current draw and thereby relaxing the requirements on the tractive system cables. The system requires only passive cooling, so the simplicity of the cooling system is improved.

Due to the simplified mechanical design, the complexity of the electronics required to control the car was reduced as well. Motor testing was performed and the final issues with motor-inverter communication were resolved by the end of November. As the effects of COVID-19 in China became increasingly apparent, we found that our supplier would not be able to produce any printed circuit boards. A full redesign of the electronics was started to ensure we would be able to assemble the boards by ourselves.