Bolted Motor Mount

I designed and FEA-tested this bolted motor mount to secure the electric motor to the car’s chassis. The design must have a safety factor of at least 2 and must be waterjet-able; hence, a single planar design is used. The thickness must be at least 0.5”, and AN bolts must be used for regulation compliance. Bolt justification is required.

Project Highlights

• The design went through more than 7 iterations before achieving the desired strengths, clearances, and weight-savings.

• The weight was reduced by 9% from the original design while achieving the desired shape and strengths (0.8 lbs to 0.72 lbs).

• The final design has a safety factor of 2.90 which provides ample strength during operation.

• Calculated the load on the individual bolt holes, inferred the load on the reaction bolts, and chose AN3 bolts.

Tools

SolidWorks | ANSYS Mechanical | SpaceClaim | Excel

The calculation of loads on each motor bolts.

FEA of the latest 6 iterations. The shape changed to accommodate different motor’s placements and bolt clearances.

Calculations of the loads on the left and right mount, therefore deriving at the right bearing to use