Design, Analysis and Experimental Testing of Composite Leaf Spring for Application in Electric Vehicle

Abstract

In electric vehicle segment it is significantly observed that the excess weight of batteries (>10% of overall weight) reduces the travel range of electric vehicle. This excess weight of the batteries causes higher compression of the springs & also reduce the space available for suspension travel which reduces the life of suspension & comfort to the passenger. To overcome these issues, suspension needs to be reconfigured in terms of geometry & material of the suspension. Considering above changes in suspension system, Leaf Spring can be considered due to its proven history. Leaf spring has high load bearing capacity & can handle high loads at less deflection resulting in smoother ride. In this study glass fiber is used to analyze the application of leaf spring for excess weight in electric vehicle. The main objective of this study is to investigate feasibility of composite material for leaf spring to withstand the excess load in Electric vehicle. Rear leaf spring of TATA Sumo passenger vehicle is considered as case study model, which is semi-elliptical laminated type. The CAD model was created in CATIA & imported to ANSYS. Analytical, Experimental and Finite Element Analysis were carried out on composite prototype. Weight optimization of 67.70% for GFRP is observed in comparison to EN 46 material. For deflection 3.93%, for stiffness 4.06%, for energy absorbed 3.94% and for natural frequency is 5.25% difference is observed.