Blog 1

 Current intake manifolds for the Scion FR-S experience an issue of having more airflow distributed to the rear cylinders.   The prevailing issue lies in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) intake manifold, which exhibits a noticeable airflow bias towards the rear cylinders, consequently inducing a detrimental power deficiency. Toyota has manufactured this car for the general consumer, however, our group aims to redesign the intake manifold for consumers who specifically want to have an FR-S for performance purposes. Performance drivers seek to have an increase in horsepower to have an optimal car. Redesigning some aspects of the intake manifold will help achieve an increase in horsepower as we will be able to increase the air-to-fuel ratio.  


The main problem our capstone team is trying to address is producing an optimal design that will produce more horsepower than its previous model.  We aim to fabricate the manifold about 1.5 inches taller than the OEM intake manifold. Additionally, we plan to move the throttle body forward 2 inches from its original location. The main reason we plan to have this addressed is so that we can achieve an increase in horsepower while also maintaining unformed air distribution.  The physical constraint that our team has identified is increasing the runners diameters to allow more air intake for combustion. While our team aims to increase its diameter, we also have to ensure that it is in proportion to the engine's size and requirements. If the runner diameter is too large relative to the engine's displacement, it can lead to inefficient airflow and a loss of low-end torque. Additionally, increasing the runner diameter can decrease air velocity, especially at lower engine speeds. This reduction in air velocity can negatively impact low-end torque and throttle response. In order to address these issues, our team must take into account the material we plan to use to meet an overall weight, perform computational fluid dynamics to verify uniformed air distribution through all cylinders, and a dynamometer test to see an increase in horsepower.


Anticipating the manufacturing process presents one of the primary challenges for our team. Our team will be utilizing aluminum as our material of choice, however, consistent manufacturing quality needs to be performed to mitigate variations. We will need to collaborate with CNC machinist to ensure that proper tooling is used and correct offsets are in place. Furthermore, our team aims to manufacture an intake system by utilizing a 3D printer for flow testing. This will help us make adjustments throughout the process before finalizing our design. Another challenge our team faces is achieving precise tuning and calibration. This process involves adjustments to fuel injections, injection timing, and other engine parameters to optimize performance, which will require calibration with a tuner technician. We would also need to monitor the fuel consumption that the car experiences with the new intake manifold. While this is not a major issue for our group, we would want to be aware of how much fuel is being used. As the project progresses, we will have a better understanding of how much fuel our group would want to consume over a certain mile by collecting real-time data.



Figure 1: Example of dyno test chart




Figure 2: Example of CFD in intake manifold 

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