Vehicle Mounts Refined for Year 3

This was a very busy week for Mary the Malibu! We have been inspecting many of the mounts found in our vehicle. We’re doing this to either improve their design or to remake them out of aluminum to shave of some pounds.

The mount to the high voltage distribution box (HVDB) has been redesigned and is now made out of aluminum. Just as it sounds, the HVDB is responsible for distributing the high voltage electricity from the lithium-ion battery modules to the high voltage components under the hood. The HBVD also got a new home and was moved to the top of the P2 inverter to increase serviceability.

New HVDB mount.

We have also been redesigning our Bursa mount, which is found in the trunk of the vehicle. It's responsible for changing the current of charge to the energy storage system. The former mount was made of steel, so we redesigned it and made it out of 6061 T6 aluminum instead! The final product shown on the right.

We are now trying to think up ways to redesign the Micro Auto Box Controller (MAB), which was donated by sponsor dSPACE. The former mount was made out of heavy steel, but with the use of the PlasmaCAMM cutter, we are prototyping ways of light weighting this mount. There isn’t a final product yet, so stay tuned!

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Do you have any experience with light weighting? Help us by leaving a comment below.