UPIITA'S IKTAN VEHICLE TRIUMPHS IN BAJA SAE MÉXICO

Rocío Castañeda

Ingenuity, the development of competencies and skills, together with teamwork, placed the Ocelot Racing team, from the Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria en Ingeniería y Tecnologías Avanzadas (UPIITA), as the overall leader in the Baja SAE Mexico 2022 competition, which called on young people from higher education institutions to design and build an all-terrain vehicle.

The students from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) materialized the prototype they called Iktan, a Mayan word meaning ingenious. It is the first 4x4 vehicle to master this encounter in Mexico, which successfully passed the requirements established by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

The UPIITA team won first place overall in the competition, after dominating the slope, design, and sales tests, as well as taking second place in costs and third place in towing.

This meeting, in which 21 teams from private universities and a small percentage from public universities participated, was a great experience for the young IPN students.

Geiser Adrián Cuéllar Cervantes, captain of the team, pointed out that the competition "represented a great learning experience because it makes you face real-world problems and solve them on the spot. Both problem-solving and communication skills are the ones that are most developed and practiced in a competition of this type".

Alan Darío Sánchez Cárdenas and Kevin Figueroa Brito, Mechatronics Engineering students, commented that Baja SAE Mexico was the result of hard work and the accumulation of experiences in previous competitions; it was an experience of integration as a team and a lot of learning, they said.

"The UPIITA supports us a lot with the budget for the competitions both in Mexico and in the United States; however, the construction of the vehicle is on our own and by companies that give us machining, discounts on gas and gear refills, among others," said Cuellar Cervantes, also a student of Mechatronics Engineering.

Ingenious and Lightweight

About twenty IPN students participated in the project to cover the different systems that make up the vehicle: suspension and steering; brakes, power train, chassis, and ergonomics, as well as telemetry. For each system, there is a person in charge of design and manufacturing. The car has four-wheel drive and is the first 4x4 vehicle to be developed at UPIITA. Its design took about a year and its construction took between six and eight months.

With the advice of Professor Alfonso Campos Vásquez, the IPN students reuse components and materials from other projects to reduce costs, since a prototype like Iktan costs more than 150,000 pesos.

Iktan weighs 167 kilos, an important fact because "I would dare to say that it is the lightest 4x4 vehicle in Mexico and this is evident in the results we obtained in acceleration and slope tests. Our designs have always been characterized by being light cars," said team captain Geiser Cuellar Cervantes.

Another fundamental aspect of the competition is the drivers since the final race consists of 4 hours. In this case, the IPN team had three drivers: José Eduardo Martínez Luna, José Rodrigo Salas Hernández and Alan Darío Sánchez Cárdenas, who were in charge of the acceleration tests required by a light driver; for the slope test, where skill is important, and the mud and maneuverability test.

Campos Vásquez, the team's advisor, explained that this extracurricular activity allows Ocelot Racing rookies and veterans to integrate, which results in greater training and feedback, in addition to providing them with experience and positively forging their character.

"This triumph is due to the founding members and all those who have participated in the UPIITA racing team, but above all it is the opportunity to work as a team, to find meaning in what they have learned in the classroom," he added.

The members of Ocelot Racing who had outstanding participation in the 2022 edition were: Abbi María de la Paz Hernández Cortina, John Benjamín Romero Valencia, José Luis Ayala Rodríguez, José Manuel Velázquez Susunaga, Adrián Fernando Jiménez Martínez and Carlos Flores Alvarado.

Next Challenge, United States

The next challenge is to improve the vehicle for the international competition to be held in June in Portland, Oregon.

Starting in 2023, the SAE meeting in the United States will be exclusively 4x4, that is, four-wheel drive, a no minor change that requires variations in all systems and more complex engineering.

For two decades, the Ocelot Racing team of the IPN has demonstrated its capacity, commitment and organization in this type of competition, and will continue in this line to consolidate its name and further enhance its alma mater.