Murata Partnership Gives Boost to Indy 500 Champ Tony Kanaan and KV Racing Technology

July 17, 2013 – Murata and Mouser Electronics are showing their support for Tony Kanaan as co-sponsors of the 2013 KV Racing Technology team. This powerful partnership is helping provide Kanaan and his team with a competitive advantage in the pit and on the track in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

The Mouser racing program provides a high-tech platform to showcase the newest technologies and connect with industry’s leading automotive electronic design engineers and buyers. The KV Racing Technology Team of engineers for Kanaan’s #11 IndyCar, led by Technical Director Eric Cowdin, depend on Murata’s products for the race cars driven by Kanaan and his KV Racing teammate, Simona De Silvestro.

Murata is the market-leading manufacturer and supplier of sensitive (low-g) acceleration and inclination sensors to the automotive industry. The manufacturer offers a variety of MEMS sensor solutions designed to boost automobile performance. 

Murata’s 12g sensors (such as SCA100T-D07-1) measure the wheel’s vertical movement and the 4g dual axis sensor measures the car’s body motion (lateral and longitudinal acceleration) and feed this back to a closed loop measurement and control system.  Active suspension increases the car’s performance significantly by providing better contact from tires to the race track. The damping coefficient can be adjusted, based on comparing the difference between the wheel vibration and the car frame vibration.

Stability control is another area where Murata’s sensor solutions lead the way. The stability system senses when something is about to go wrong. Murata’s Combo sensor (combined angular rate and acceleration sensor, such as SCC1300-D04) provides vehicle-stability-system sensor needs.  An IndyCar is very different compared to typical passenger automobile applications and the sensor needs to be able to accommodate at a higher dynamic range.

A dynamics recorder for a racecar’s driving dynamics is fed with data from Murata’s sensors. The information from this “black box” system is used for telemetry and for additional tuning of the car dynamics and provides valuable information on any accident conditions should they occur. The black box includes “6DOF” (6 Degrees of Freedom = 3 x gyro + 3 x accelerometer) measurement to provide accurate information of the motion status of the vehicle under all conditions.  To learn more about the newest MEMS devices from Murata, visit  http://www.mouser.com/new/murataelectronics/Murata-MEMS/ 

Racing Data Engineer Josh Fults and Engineering Assistant Matt Cummings depend on the durability of the Murata’s products to achieve an advantage on the race track, where performance can be the difference between crossing the finish line first or not at all. Since every advanced, sophisticated component that goes into an IndyCar is all about precision and gaining a performance edge out on the track, IndyCar provides the perfect vehicle to build top-of-mind awareness for Mouser and its partner Murata.

Tony Kanaan and KV Racing Technology captured Kanaan’s first-ever Indianapolis 500 victory in May. The upcoming schedule for the KV Racing Technology team is highlighted by the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on August 25. To view video clips of Tony Kanaan for Murata, visit http://youtu.be/HqfppA0Qd0Y   and http://youtu.be/hoanO3u54e0.

For more information about Mouser’s racing program and Tony Kanaan, visit http://www.mouser.com/indy-racing.

With its broad product line and unsurpassed customer service, Mouser caters to design engineers and buyers by delivering What’s Next in advanced technologies. Mouser offers customers 19 global support locations and stocks the world’s widest selection of the latest semiconductors and electronic components for the newest design projects. Mouser Electronics’ website is updated daily and searches more than 10 million products to locate over 4 million orderable part numbers available for easy online purchase.  Mouser.com also houses an industry-first interactive catalog, data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design information, and engineering tools.