THU Racing Formula SAE Electrical Systems

Low-voltage packaging, cable routing, and power electronics for a Formula SAE race car.

Electrical Systems Engineer | THU Racing Formula SAE Team | Sep 2024 - Jun 2026

THU Racing Formula SAE car cornering on track during competition — THU Racing on track | Formula Student competition

Key figures

Summary

>10 m

Wiring reduction

600 V to 24 V

Converter input/output

450 W

Converter rating

~93%

Simulated efficiency

Role

My role

I integrated the low-voltage hardware and designed its cable routing, then designed and built the converter PCB.

Packaging requirements

Packaging for a shorter chassis

THU Racing designs and builds a Formula SAE student race car. The shortened chassis required me to repackage the low-voltage hardware and reroute the cables. My work covered two related systems: an integrated low-voltage module and a 600 V-to-24 V DC-DC converter board.

THU Racing team gathered around the completed Formula SAE car at its vehicle reveal — **Team and completed car** THU Racing at the vehicle reveal.

Formula SAE shortened rear package with the low-voltage hardware arranged inside the reduced chassis envelope — **Shortened rear package** The shortened rear left less room for the low-voltage hardware.

Formula SAE electrical hardware and wiring before the low-voltage package was integrated — **Before integration** Distributed hardware and long cable runs drove the repackaging work.

Low-voltage packaging

Integrated low-voltage module

I integrated the VCU, fuse box, and low-voltage battery into one module and routed its cables around the shortened chassis; the new layout reduced total wiring by more than 10 m.

Combined the VCU, fuse box, and low-voltage battery into a single module.
Routed the cables to fit the shortened chassis.
Reduced total vehicle wiring by more than 10 m.

Formula SAE low-voltage wiring diagram connecting the VCU, low-voltage box, battery, and vehicle systems — **Vehicle electrical architecture** Signal and power paths for the VCU, low-voltage box, battery, and vehicle systems.

CAD view of the Formula SAE integrated low-voltage module enclosure — **Module enclosure CAD** Interfaces and cable access were checked in the virtual assembly.

Final Formula SAE VCU and low-voltage module installed with the harness routed below — **Final hardware** VCU, enclosure, connectors, and routed harness in the integrated package.

Power electronics

600 V-to-24 V converter PCB

I designed a 600 V-to-24 V, 450 W DC-DC converter PCB in Altium. The PCB was manufactured.

A MATLAB/Simulink simulation predicted approximately 93% efficiency under racing loads.

DesignedIntegrated low-voltage module
Manufactured600 V-to-24 V converter PCB
SimulatedApproximately 93% efficiency under racing loads

Build process

Harness fabrication and installation

I finished the electrical package by fabricating the harness, checking the connectors, and documenting the vehicle installation. The build records show the work moving from the bench to the car.

Built and terminated the harness against the revised module layout.
Checked connector orientation and routing at the vehicle interface.
Created assembly records and build documentation for final vehicle integration.

Robin Gong fabricating a Formula SAE wiring harness at a workshop bench — **Harness build** Hands-on fabrication of the revised low-voltage harness.

Formula SAE harness connector installed at the vehicle electrical system — **Vehicle-side connector** Connector and wire routing at the installed system.

Fabrication record Embedded video from the harness build process.

Methods

Tools

Altium MATLAB/Simulink SolidWorks Onshape 3D printing Vehicle packaging/cable routing Power electronics