During the first half of the year, Mike Visser, a Dutch automotive engineering student was at Bottpower carrying out his thesis about motorcycle dynamics. For us, it was a great experience to have Mike, who approached his thesis in a very serious and professional way.
We have had similarly positive experiences in the past, such as with Rémy Roland, an industrial designer who did an internship with us and who continues to collaborate with us today.
Let Mike tell us what his experience at Bottpower was like:
“The past semester I had the opportunity to carry out my thesis project at Bottpower in Valencia, Spain. My thesis topic was motorcycle dynamics, where I simulated a motorcycle (Kawasaki ZX-10R) in MATLAB/Simulink in order to simulate the dynamic behavior of the bike.
In this simulation, the maximum velocity, acceleration, forces, and weight transfer is calculated and can be analyzed. Using this simulation as a tool, Bottpower can now analyze the dynamic behavior of a motorcycle before designing it, which is a huge advantage for the development stage. I started this simulation by developing a longitudinal model, which includes a gearbox, weight transfer, acceleration limits for wheeling, and maximum tractive force and top speed. Adjusting the parameter and drivetrain MATLAB scripts to desired inputs (or analyzing the outputs and changing the important parameters) the motorcycle is simulated. The lateral simulation model consists of several equations in which the velocity through a corner is simulated. This part of the simulation model requires further research to fully develop a simulation model for cornering.
During this thesis, I learned a lot from David about motorcycle engineering. Presenting and discussing results from the simulation model with him increased the accuracy and simulation flow of the model. One example is the way that tractive force is calculated to the wheel from the gearbox, this showed some errors that I had made in my first approach and were quickly fixed due to his expertise as a motorcycle engineer.
During this half-year time, I had a great experience with David and Bottpower, where I was even invited into the pit box of Finetwork Mir Racing Team to watch David work as data engineer for the JuniorGP class. For me, this was a great experience where I saw a great bond within the team. Also, living abroad in Valencia was a very nice experience, going to Circuit Ricardo Tormo every day, and eating my lunch in the sun with either race cars or motorcycles on the track was amazing. Motorcycle engineering is something I would want to do for my professional career, and I am looking forward to the challenges ahead.“
The model created by Mike will be very useful to us because it allows us to virtually test many different configurations, including comparing electric motorcycles with petrol-engine motorcycles, etc.
One task we want to carry out is to run thousands of simulations varying the input parameters in an automatic way and then use genetic algorithms to help us choose the best combination of parameters to achieve a given result.
Thank you very much Mike for doing your thesis at Bottpower! It has been a pleasure having you with us! 😊