Car Throttle Challenge Entry

Last crawled date: 1 year, 11 months ago

When designing an automotive throttle the objective is to have an innovative design while not stepping outside of the bounds of usability. In my design the unique feature is that two sensors are used rather than one. While increasing total cost slightly (relative to an automobile) this could potentially offer more accurate measures of pedal position for the ECU while giving an added bonus to reliability and safety by adding an additional fallback sensor.

While the challenge focuses on economy class cars my design goal is to have an accelerator that may be used in many different types of cars. For sportier cars you have the accuracy and precision expected while economy cars will benefit from the pedal's longevity, lasting as long as the rest of the vehicle does.

The pedal is mounted hanging down in order to keep the electronics as far away from dirt and debris as possible. The flat section on the top of the body is the intended mounting position but it is dependent on the seat positioning in the specific car so this is purposely left vague. The spring is also missing but would hook through the holes inside the assembly in order to provide the needed resistance. While it will stand up to 250 pounds of force the pedal will have slight damage (still functional). While this would be nonideal for a brake the accelerator should be fine. The pedal comes in at around 1.5 pounds with the acetal resin pad and aluminum body. Manufacturing techniques used for production may include milling, 3d printing, and/or injection molding with the casing being welded together at the end. Sensor are press fitted into the body with additional adhesive to ensure placement. The pedal is spec'ed up to 120deg C. This submission is designed as an initial idea realization to be improved upon with both more in-depth R&D as well as manufacturing optimization. Thanks!

TLDR: Look, I made a pedal.

As always ♡'s and comments are appreciated, hope you enjoy my models!