Perfectly supplied at any speed.
BLOCK sponsors power supplies for the TU Darmstadt Racing Team (DART).
DART is a non-profit association and a university group of the TU Darmstadt and is dedicated to the promotion of science, research and education in the field of automotive engineering. Currently, the association consists of about 60 active students from various departments, especially Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Industrial Engineering. In addition, a large network of alumni is available for the active members in their projects with advice and support. Together they share the enthusiasm for racing and engineering.
DART is particularly dedicated to current issues and trends in the automotive industry. As early as 2011, the team designed its first all-electric racing car and has been able to continuously develop its technology and drive system ever since. In the 2017 season, the team also dedicated itself to autonomous driving and was able to present the myD2017 to the public, the first fully autonomous race car in the club's history.
Through practice-oriented consolidation of study-relevant topics as well as realistic working conditions, the members not only pursue their interests, but also actively prepare themselves for their career entry.
The team's goal is to design, manufacture, commission and validate two race cars within one year and to prevail against strong competition from Germany and abroad at the international #FormulaStudent competitions. In addition to dynamic disciplines, design quality, cost planning, sales concept and energy consumption of the race car are included in the overall ranking.
The club has already taken part in numerous competitions in the past, including Hockenheim/Germany, Silverstone/England, Varano de' Melegari/Italy, Spielberg/Austria, Barcelona/Spain and other smaller race tracks. Last year, the association developed its own electric drive train consisting of inverters and permanently excited synchronous motors. The two assemblies were each simulated in several final theses; for the validation of the simulation, a motor test stand for electric motors was created at the same time. On this test stand, the real characteristic values of the inverter/electric motor are to be compared with the calculated values.
The control and monitoring of the test stand are realized by a PLC, which – like the cooling system – is supplied by a BLOCK switched mode power supply. Decisive for the selection of BLOCK products were the compact dimensions combined with the robustness against high ambient temperatures. In addition, the possibility of operating several power supplies in parallel keeps the 24 V power supply flexibly adaptable for possible future changes to the test stand design.
Above all, BLOCK's application-oriented cooperation with science and research ensures that the high level of quality and the competitive edge are continuously expanded and become a real advantage in the competition for innovations.
