A New Approach for Development of a High-Performance Intake Manifold for a Single-Cylinder Engine Used in Formula SAE Application

The Formula SAE (FSAE) is an international engineering competition where a Formula style race car is designed and built by students from worldwide universities. According to FSAE regulation, an air restrictor with circular cross section of 20 mm for gasoline-fuelled and 19 mm for E-85-fuelled vehicles is to be incorporated between the throttle valve and engine inlet. The sole purpose of this regulation is to limit the airflow to the engine used. The only sequence allowed is throttle valve, restrictor and engine inlet.

A new approach of combining Ram theory and acoustic theory methods are investigated to increase the performance of the engine by designing an optimized intake runner for a particular engine speed range and an optimized plenum volume in this range. Engine performance characteristics such as brake power, brake torque and volumetric efficiency are taken into considerations. Ricardo WAVE simulation software is used to evaluate the impacts of plenum volume and runner length on engine performance based on the afore-mentioned performance characteristics. Various intake manifold designs are iterated in accordance with the surface envelope rules imposed by FSAE and their characteristic curves are compared. Moreover, the proposed design is also compared with the stock intake manifold, which is usually provided by the manufacturer along with the engine to assess the results obtained. Hence an optimized intake system is designed.

The use of rapid prototyping methods for the manufacturing of the intake system is also discussed in this study. The proposed new intake design is manufactured and tested on a dyno testing facility and the results are discussed.