SAE India TKMCE Collegiate Club: Learning Through Projects

TKM College of Engineering, established in 1958 is the oldest and the the best engineering college in Kerala. The institution has inspired many social and technological transformations and produced several brilliant engineers who are stalwarts in their fields across the globe.
The mission of the college includes enhancing knowledge through cutting-edge research and collaborative projects with industry. It also emphasizes the development of creativity, self-learning, and interpersonal skills of its students. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE TKMCE) is a student organization that aids the institute in achieving these missions.

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE India TKMCE): An Introduction

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE IndiaTKMCE) is a student organization that helps aspiring engineers grow and develop with a deeper understanding of the engineering profession. The organization acts as a link between academia and industry through its various activities.
These activities include field trips to engineering and research firms, meetings with practicing engineers, student project sponsorships, and participation in the activities of the SAEINDIA Section. The organization would be a great learning platform for individuals passionate about innovation and engineering and presently it is open to all engineering students of TKM College of Engineering who are members of SAE INDIA.

How Innovation and Hands-on Learning Happen Through SAE India Club TKMCE Activities?

Since 2016, SAE TKMCE activities have nurtured our students' skills, including leadership, project management, time management, organization, and more, by offering them an experience mimicking the running of a business.
One of the most noticeable SAE TKMCE activities is the SAEISS Aero Design Challenge competition, in which teams of graduate and undergraduate engineering students imagine, design, and develop a prototype of a fixed-wing UAV. This design challenge promotes the experience and expertise of engineering students in colleges and universities in unmanned systems technologies. This vehicle design project also emphasized safety considerations.
Another significant event is the SAE Tractor Design Challenge (SAE TDC), in which students design, engineer, and prototype a tractor for municipal use, small farming, and recreation purposes. A 17 HP general-purpose chassis-based agricultural tractor was used for this project.

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE India TKMCE) Teams

The following are the major teams under SAE Club TKMCE:

● BAJA

BAJA is a premier engineering event by SAE India launched in 2007. In the event, our XLR8 racing team built all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) based on their designs and raced them. Our team competed against teams from 400 other participating colleges excelling in both mBAJA and eBAJA categories.

○ M Baja

A racing team of our college students, XLR8, formed in 2016, participated in this conventional category of BAJA events with a single-seater multi-terrain vehicle they developed. The team bagged top positions in Kerala and secured AIR 45, AIR 5, and AIR 61. The team also adapted well and participated in the virtual event, Mega ATV Championship, during the pandemic.

Also read: XLR8 Formula - Igniting Passion for Automotive Engineering

○ E BAJA

E BAJA is the electric vehicle version of BAJA events launched by SAEINDIA in 2014 to promote greener mobility. Electric-powered ATVs with fully automatic transmission, 48V traction motors, and 110 Ah battery packs were used in this event. The participation of our XLR8 team in this event was in the form of attending an online workshop in 2022. Our team has also undertaken building a car for this electric vehicle event in 2024.

BAJA Achievements

● 2016-17

○ - Virtuals: 1st place in Kerala, 32nd position All India
○ - Main Event: Participated in Pithampur, Indore

● 2017-18

○ - Virtuals: 61st position All India at Chitkara University, Chandigarh
○ - Main Event: All India rank of 45, 1st position in Kerala at Pithampur, Indore

● 2018-19

○ - Virtuals: 181st position at Chitkara University, Chandigarh
○ - Main Event: All India Rank of 5, 1st position in Kerala at IIT Ropar, Punjab

● 2019-20

○ - Virtuals: 47th position at Chitkara University, Chandigarh

● 2020-21

○ - Virtuals: 60th position in online event
○ - Virtual Dynamic Event: All India Rank of 61, 2nd position in Kerala

● XLR8FST

Our team was one of the few first-time teams who incorporated custom pushrods and springs into the design in the Formula Bharat competition for college and university students. However, the team was able to clear a few static rounds.

Achievements:

● AIR 40 in Formula Bharat 2020
● AIR 28 in Formula Bharat 2021
● AIR 16 in Formula Bharat 2022
● AIR 31 in Formula Bharat 2023
● AIR 15 in Formula Imperial 2023
● AIR 19 in Formula Bharat 2024

● VEGHA

Our VEGHA team participated in the SAE Electric Two Wheeler Design Competition 2019 and designed, prototyped, engineered, and demonstrated an Electric two-wheeler. The price tag decided for the two-wheeler was ₹60000, and its annual sale was fixed at 25000 units per year.

Achievements:

● Secured All India Rank (AIR) 3 for technical presentation in the 2018-19 season.
● Team Vegha secured Third Place in the competition for innovative approaches to innovation and 3D modelling in 2023-24.

● SPOX

Team SPOX designs an ergonomically comfortable, manually propelled road bike for a bicycle design competition by following Indian Standards for bicycle design. The design should also be aesthetically appealing and capable of carrying an average human being with its mechanical strength.

Achievements:

● 2023-24 - All India 16th rank, All Kerala 4th rank
● 2024-25 - All India 1st rank in Best Dynamic Performance

● AERO

Teams participating in the SAE Aero Design competition design, build, and test radio-controlled aircraft in Regular and Micro classes. These aircraft should meet the mission requirements that simulate challenges in real-life engineering. Our first team to participate in this design challenge was the Autobots team in 2019.
This was followed by the participation of teams SPIT FIRE, and FALCON in 2020. Later, the online presentations during the pandemic enhanced the skills of our four teams including Zeus, SPIT FIRE, FALCON, and AREX in Ansys and Solidworks. They also showcased excellence in presentation, aircraft design, and disaster management.

Also read: Innovation Takes Flight: TKMCE's Aero Design Club

Achievements:

● SPIT FIRE: Commendable marks in the presentation section
● FALCON: 20th position in the competition (2020)
● Team Zeus:
○ AIR 21st rank
○ Design report: AIR 7

● DRONA

Aero Design Challenge or the Drone Development Challenge (DDC) aims to build the skills of students in comprehending technical concepts, designing, and testing real aircraft. Our DRONA team that participated in the challenge had 10 members skilled in using software including Fusion 360, SOLIDWORKS, XFLR5, and ANSYS. These members who also study different branches of engineering attended workshops like ANSYS Fluent Fundamentals, Envision-3D Modeling & Printing, and DDC Hands-on-Workshop as a preparation for the competition.

Achievements:

● 2024: AIR 1st for best innovative design category.

Why Should You Join the SAE India Club TKMCE?

SAE India Club is a valuable platform for students of automotive engineering as it offers practical experience in engineering through project-based learning, design competitions, and networking with industry specialists.
SAE India Club TKMCE projects aim to help students build a strong foundation for an automotive sector job by imparting critical skills like teamwork, project management, and leadership. Further, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE India TKMCE) also offers the following advantages to members:

● An opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge to solve automotive challenges in Formula SAE race car competitions and other design and build projects.
● Networking opportunities with industry experts and a deep understanding of contemporary trends in the automotive industry.
● Collaborative projects to develop skills in teamwork, problem-solving, project management, leadership, and communication
● Access to different publications and other technical resources to stay updated on the latest technologies in the automotive sector.
● Collaborative learning environment to connect and share ideas with others passionate about automotive engineering.

Team SPOX

Team MISFITS

Team VEGHA

Team XLR8

TKMCE SAE India Club

Faculty Coordinators

Executive Committee Members

● Total number of Student members : 218

2023-24 Review of the Club’s Activities:

The year 2023-24 has been exceptional for TKMCE SAE India Club because of its milestones and other achievements. The year started with the formation of an Executive committee in August 2023. Later in November of that year the club also created its Documentation & Media Team and welcomed first-year students.
The club conducted a membership drive from December 2023 to January 2024 followed by additional drives for Formula Design Competition, Electric Two-Wheeler Design Competition, and Aerex. The excellence in the Spox Bicycle Design Competition and CFD Competition and the progress made by the XLR8 Student Formula Team and in Electric Two-Wheeler Design were some of the outstanding accomplishments of the club in the year.
The key events we hosted during 2023-24 included different tire events, the Eureka Ideation Program, workshops on ANSYS Fluent Fundamentals, and the Insta Quiz.

Our notable achievements in 2023-24 include:

● Third place was won by our team, “Vegha,” in the Design Competition for Electric Two-Wheeler.
● Club members came second in the CFD Competition held at the national level
● 16th place in the Design Competition for SPOX Bicycle
● AIR 15 in Formula Imperial
● AIR 19 in Formula Bharath

Further, the club’s XLR8 Formula Student Team built single-seater race cars based on their design for prestigious events like SAE Supra, Curiosumtech Formula Bharat, and ISIE Formula Imperial. TKMCE SAE India Club as an organization also planned and organized several technical competitions, workshops, and events like the EUREKA Ideation Program. All the progress made by the club in automotive engineering, showing our commitment to innovation and excellence has been featured in our technical journal, Tesseract II.

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE TKMCE): Driving the Future of Automotive Engineering

SAE TKMCE is a professional association that is globally active in developing standards of Engineering professionals in different industries. It provides our students with a framework to start engineering activities with bootstrapping.
The national & inter-collegiate competitions, add-on courses, workshops, seminars, expert talks, and more conducted by the club prepares are a platform for our students to showcase their talent and various skills through practical exposure to the industry.
So if you are already a member or student member of SAEINDIA and is interested in the SAE TKMCE projects, join the club today to leverage it full advantages and exposure.