TECH ENGINEERING
Electronic Solutions and Support
Motorsport Industry | Automotive | Agriculture
It is more than support, its a passion for the engineering
Systems Design
Track Support
Vehicle Electronics
Embedded Development
You have the project. We have the knowledge and experience to find the solution.
Custom Embedded Projects
Our custom builds bridge the gap where off-the-shelf solutions either aren’t available or aren’t suitable. Tech Engineering can develop small embedded solutions to solve those tricky problems that need a dedicated solution.
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We have solved various tasks with a custom-embedded microcontroller solutions, these often include CAN communications.
Over the years we have developed our TECI series. The Tech Engineering Can Interface is a compact hardware platform ready to be coded to a specific project and can accept small project-specific daughter PCBs. This approach can offer a quicker and therefore cheaper solution as much of the core hardware development is already done.
The standard TECI uses a Pi PICO controller and these are complimented by the smaller PIC 18F based TECI Mini and TECI Power which has dual H-Bridge 13A motor drivers, housed in a Deutsch Enclosure.
Logic and Chassis Power Controllers
From Motorsport to Industry, logic controllers are becoming more demanding every year. A great example is chassis power controller, once it was simply a replacement electronic fuse box, now they are complex programmable controllers on top of the device protection.
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These PCU/PDU/PCM/PDM’s need a methodical approach to the programming, good naming conventions and a thorough understanding of the systems being controlled. We have seen projects where the setup of these devices was thrown to the junior data engineer…it does not always go well! Would you let someone with limited experience ‘have a go’ with your Engine ECU strategy!
MoTec and Cosworth Display Programming
No longer are displays a simple rev counter and temperature gauge. Some like a lean and clean display, others want fully stylised screens with that added ‘Wow’ factor. For this we can draw on graphic artists to provide a unique display to really set your project apart.
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With an in-depth knowledge of both MoTeC and Costworth display development environments, we can build a display from scratch or work with the branding department to ensure your custom fonts and icon alignment are pixel-perfect.
Beyond this, we strongly believe that displays in race and hypercars can be more than just a driver’s aid. We typically integrate a mechanics fireup giving the critical readings for the crew doing the day-to-day support.
Where applicable we also build ‘hidden’ pages that logically lay out many of the system’s channels. If there is a problem, you don’t always need a laptop and system engineer, to access the diagnostics pages and read out the most relevant values.
Steering Wheels
A modern steering wheel is a complex mechanical and electrical assembly. This needs to look amazing, be highly robust and safe. With integrated displays and arrays of switches, rotaries, encoders, etc. many in-house designers see this as a fun challenge but find themselves getting caught in so many of the same traps.
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We have worked with our mechanical design partners to develop and deliver various steering wheels, it is with this combined knowledge we can provide a unique solution but without the extended development dramas and internal drain on limited designed resources.
From carbon bodies, rubberised grips, tactile switch and un-cased displays, we can help you get the solution your project demands.
Training
We are here to support you across your project but sometimes you want to have the knowledge in-house with your permanent staff. We can train your staff in the essential technical aspects and the device-specific software so that you are covered for the basics in-house.
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Don’t be caught out at 9pm on loading day, at least have a key staff member that can fire up the laptop and resend a known working code level.
Event Support
From development to racing, events need support staff that understand events! The travel and hours are not for everyone and when the job needs to be done, it gets done. True event support should go beyond any individual’s prescribed tasks and support others in theirs; be that during set and pack-down as well as the main event, let’s get stuck in.
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When a problem occurs mid event, a solid understand of the project and a methodical approach can help create a calm and focused response, with feedback to mechs and engineers so we can find that electrical gremlin fast!
Super Car and Hyper Car Development
We have worked on various projects over the years and continue to help supercar projects stay on target. Critical in these projects is getting the electrical requirements well defined at the start, fully understanding the demands and selecting hardware to suit.
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We can help from the initial planning, through the development cycle, and beyond rollout. Poor investment in planning always leads to an expensive development process.
Project Management
When you need to get something done, you want a reliable and focused team. We can lead a technical team toward the defined goal and feedback to project leads. We offer a layer between planners and technical staff, ensuring the required flow of information.
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Highly involved technical topics can be boiled down to more understandable descriptions, whilst critical project planning and budget considerations can be fully appreciated and related to the technical team.
Department Set Up
New team or project, you may have a queue of prospective vehicle engineers but is anyone passionate and allocated to the electrical and systems support? We have set up several electrical departments over our career and specified equipment for many a race truck.
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We have sadly seen big money being spent on a few overpriced Aviation crimp tools but no real idea of what is required to support the project at the event or during the build.
Lean on our years of experience and get us in on a short consultancy, understand your needs, and give you a sliding scale of investment, from an essentials tool kit to a fully kitted electrical workshop, we often know where to get the most effective electrical tools at the best prices.
Industries
With many years supporting projects in a wide range of motorsport disciplines, from LeMans to Dakar, F1 to Formula E. We always enjoy a challenge and have worked with customer in agriculture, forestry and industry.
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The Vehicle or machine might look different but the electrical systems fundamentals stay the same. We bring the ‘can do’ of motorsport to every project we tackle.
CAN Systems and Wiring Design
CAN Controller Area Network is the most prolific datastream found in vehicles, it has very good noise immunity and reliable operation. Despite this robustness, new projects often suffer with CAN related problems due to a poor understanding of how CAN wiring should be implemented in a wiring vehicles loom.
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The rules for CAN wiring are simple but are often poorly adhered to, even in high-end projects. During operation, CAN is so good at dealing with errors these issues can go unnoticed until the system is stress-tested on the event. At this point, the CAN wiring is baked into the chassis loom and no one has the time or funds to fundamentally change it. This almost always seems to happen on race week!
If you do have CAN issues we can use our CAN analysis tools to diagnose the problem and can usually improve the situation using various techniques and hard earnt solutions.
However, the best solution is to have an experienced and knowledgeable Systems Engineer plan and design your wiring loom from the very beginning, allowing for expansion, diagnostics and on-event serviceability.
Modern, Historic Race and Rally Cars
It is always a challenge keeping classic race cars from the 90’s and 2000’s running but often it is that custom 90’s software that stops a project in its tracks. We have worked with customers in sympathetically converting the vehicle to modern ECU and datalogging, whilst retaining the original look and feel.
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A 30-year-old wiring loom often needs to be replaced, integrated with modern electronics but still interfacing with essential period systems.
This is where the breadth of knowledge from Tech Engineering becomes essential.
It should not take a bank of boffins to run your classic and new electronics does not have to mean more complexity for the customer; conversely, a well-designed system will increase reliability and simplify the process of running the vehicle.
We have even worked with 1920’s Bentleys, ensuring ignition reliability for even the most demanding historic rally.
Telemetry and Radio
From conventional voice radio to modern LTE telemetry. Sometimes you just need someone with a knowledge of what is available on the market to help advise for your project. Once your system is installed, it is subtle things like ensuring your antenna is correctly mounted and tuned for the required frequency.
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Like so much in motorsport, quality radio reception can be a game of incremental gains, From experience we have found that many antennae (Telemetry and Radio) and the associated RF cabling are often incorrectly ‘tuned’ and can contribute significantly to poor results.
We can provide RF cable tuning and antenna setup, thus minimising loss and maximising performance. Ground planes are another area that often trouble Carbon LeMans cars but with a little preparation these issues can also be minimised.
About Tech Engineering
Tech Engineering Systems have been providing independent systems engineering support since 2012 and started in motorsport back in the mists of 1998 and the British Rally Championship.
We pride ourselves on our ability to tackle new and diverse projects but we still appreciate the constraints of both budget and time and will endeavour to tailor the end result to your needs.
We take project success seriously, if we do not feel we can provide the products or services that you require we can draw upon our extended family of industry contacts to find someone who can help.
If you wish to discuss a project please send us an email outlining your requirements and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Get In Touch
Your Project
Small or large, get in touch to discuss your requirements. You may already have the project underway and only need additional systems or device integration. Alternatively, we can provide a complete service, taking a project from conception to roll out and event support.
UK Base
Alton, Hampshire, UK
JohnW@TechEngineering.co.uk
Office
+44 (0) 1730 828 268
Mobile
+44 (0)7720 671580