Integrated Jack System Design

[meggs521]

First off- I hope this is the right section to be posting this in. It is kind of about other cars, but mainly I’m just in need of some advice on how to go about getting information, but feel freee to move it if need be. And secondly, I don’t want you guys thinking I’m just being lazy by asking for help, I’m not expecting anyone to do this for me, I’m just wanting some input since we have to make it marketable and I have very limited knowledge in this area.

For my component design class, we have a final project where we are supposed to design an integrated jack system for a BMW 3 Series (as an aftermarket add-on). If you were looking for an integrated jack system for your car, what would you want in it? Like compressed air vs. hydraulics? Or anything else you think would be something that either definitely should or should not be included.

Right now we’re starting to design a system using compressed air, but some people I’ve talked to have said that hydraulics would be a better option. Would you agree with this?

Thanks ahead of time!!!

~Meg

 

[IJ.]

Something failsafe with a mechanical lock in case you lose pressure in the system Meggs.

 

[whudafux]

Actually that would be a good idea to have in a car. Maybe something that would mount to the frame rails to fold away and be the standard human powered jack as somewhat more of a failsafe system like Ian mentioned before.

 

[mcpcola]

air is the way to go it you develop a leak which will happen over time air with have no mess and can easily be fixed. One small pump in a remote location like under hood and 4 air cylinders centerly mounted two up fron and two rear like behind the axle and up front near the tranny this would allow complete front and rear lift or just front and just rear. I would assume this would be for changing of tires like the F1 cars do. At least with air the leak is slow and you just lose air unlike hydralic with go out fast and make a mess.

 

[cwapface]

I just finished watching a race from 91 where the cars come into pits with those cool compressed air jacks, they are so cool. As an aftermarket add-on it would have to be fairly idiot proof unless you want to kill someone when they screw it up. Disclaimer: I am far from an engineer. See what you think about a 2 valve system...you pull the car into the garage or pits, put compressed air into valve A and the car jacks up and clicks its own safety locks into place. To dismount, you have to apply air to valve B and it will riase the car slightly and pull in the safety locks, then you can fill lin the blanks with somethign that lets you lower the car slowly and safely, or drop it if you need to in a race situation.

I vote for air because undercar hydraulics would be hell to repair, running a new air hose once in a while shouldn't be that big of a deal to fix the system.

 

[Shawndude]

A jack system for wheel changes during emergencies, or to keep the suspension level? Seems like a strange exercise.

Assuming it's for wheel changes during emergencies, here is what I would look into:

A mechanical scissor jack just like most cars have. The screw would be driven by a DC motor resembling an electrical impact driver in shape and function (looks like a gun). It would be powered by a retracting cord from the cigarette lighter. The electric motor would turn the screw of the jack and lift the vehicle via trigger switch. As you know the screw design is self locking and very reliable.

The electric portion of the motor will be made removable from the scissor jack frame via a simple hand actuated cam lock. An attachment will then be locked onto this motor housing that will have the proper lug nut size. This same DC motor/impact driver then will be used to remove and install the lug nuts.

Cheap, simple, compact, self contained with no other hardware to retrofit onto the car, off the shelf parts, applicable to many models, relatively light, and requires no muscle power apart from hauling the wheels around. It gets rid of the two crappy jobs of sweating to raise the car, and busting knuckles to remove lug nuts.

I'd buy one.

 

[meggs521]

It wasn't really specified what the jack would be used for, but we're assuming it's for changing tires like the F1 cars do or other emergencies where the car might need to be jacked up.

And it is a weird exercise, but my teacher knows someone that's looking into trying to create something similar and he wanted the class to throw out starting ideas for him. Or something like that. The guy's weird.

And thanks for all the imput! I really really appreciate it!

 

[lanky189]

why not make a system that, instead of lifting the hole car...lifts just one tire...at a time...

take a look at the old impala's and stuff that are capable of 3 wheeling etc...maybe there's a viable option in that market that would help in your situation meggs

 

[GrimJack]

Actually, I think this type of thing is already available. Look into the jacks used on the larger, self leveling RVs. I think they are electric, but it's been so long since I used one that I can't recall anymore.

 

[meggs521]

Very important update:

I went to the BMW dealership today to get some more information and they gave me a hat and a t-shirt... I'm totally in love with the hat. And everyone was very very helpful...

...

...BUT... they thought I was in high school!!!!!

 

[lanky189]

aw...its ok meggs...we know you're older than that....what kind of info did they give you?

 

[meggs521]

First we talked to the teacher and found out that this is definitely NOT for a racing car. Which everyone in my group thinks is kind of a pointless application because it's not like you get that many flat tires, and if you did and were the kind of person to put on one of these systems, you'd probably already have AAA or something to come change you're tire for you. But whatever...

At the dealership we just talked to a mechanic who assured us that the system we're looking at using will in fact fit inside the car (around the wheel base). And we got some diagrams of where the various parts go which kind of gave us a better idea of the frame and where we could put the system.

Right now we're looking at doing an air jack system (there's one company with this type of design for racing), with 4 cylinders- one for each wheel. And then we're hoping to put them in place of the lift pads (per the mechanic's suggestion). So ya... we'll see where that gets us.