Scope
Led the end-to-end design and manufacturing of the High Voltage Inverter Housing for the Wisconsin Racing 223e Formula SAE electric vehicle. The housing integrated and protected critical electrical systems including the Battery Main Board, Discharge Circuit, DC-DC converter, bulk capacitors, and three-phase inverters.
The project required full ownership of mechanical architecture, electrical packaging integration, thermal management considerations, sealing strategy, structural mounting, and manufacturing execution - all within aggressive competition timelines.
Design
Directed the mechanical design of the inverter enclosure in close collaboration with the electrical and structures teams to ensure proper component accessibility, mounting strategy, and seamless chassis integration.
Key design considerations included:
- Thermal management for high-power inverters and DC-DC converter
- High-voltage isolation and electrical integration
- Environmental sealing and structural rigidity
- Serviceability and packaging efficiency
Additionally, I led the design and sizing of the high-voltage copper bus bars connecting the DC input, bulk capacitors, inverters, and three-phase outputs. Through geometry optimization and packaging refinement, this resulted in over a 50% reduction in bus bar mass compared to the previous design while maintaining current-carrying capacity and system reliability.
Manufacturing
The inverter housing chassis was fabricated from bent and welded aluminum sheet metal. I generated production-ready flat patterns and coordinated with manufacturers to ensure dimensional accuracy and proper weld sequencing.
For the high-voltage bus bars, I led the full manufacturing process, including:
- Waterjet cutting
- Forming and bending
- Masking and plating
- Powder coating for electrical insulation and fire rating compliance
The most complex manufacturing component was the liquid-cooled cold plate used to regulate inverter temperature. Due to time constraints and lack of sponsor availability, I independently:
- Earned CNC machining certifications in the UW-Madison machine shop
- Learned MasterCAM for toolpath programming
- Procured raw material stock
- Programmed and machined the cold plate myself
Summary
The inverter housing assembly was completed ahead of the team`s first drive deadline, enabling multiple weeks of vehicle testing prior to competition. The integrated electrical and mechanical system performed reliably throughout validation and contributed to an 11th place finish out of 75+ international teams.
This project strengthened my expertise in electro-mechanical system integration, lightweight optimization, thermal packaging, and manufacturing execution under schedule-critical constraints, demonstrating full lifecycle ownership from concept through fabrication.