Brake Pedal

Owned by Devon Copeland
Last updated: Mar 31, 2017 by Kaitlyn McCluskie (Deactivated)

Overview

Project team:
Project supervisor(s):

Devon Copeland

Stakeholders:
JIRA Link:

Vision

Background Information

In MSXI, there were numerous deficiencies with the driver controls. In particular, MSXII used a paddle on the steering wheel as the accelerator which made it difficult to control the car while cornering. There were also issues meeting requirement for the redundant braking system. 

Goal

Design, build and test a brake pedal. The intent is that this pedal will be used on MSXII, but it should be versatile enough to be used on any solar car.  The pedal should house two master cylinders for the redundant braking system. Work with the electrical team to develop a way to communicate the brake input signal to the driver controls system (rotary potentiometer or other...) for regenerative braking. 

Project Requirements

Rayce Regulations

These are requirements driven by the Rayce regulations. 

  • FSGP: The brake pedal must be placed under the drivers right foot.
  • WSC: No apparent regulations regarding the pedal

Real Car Regulations

Canadian Council of Motor Train Administrators: National Safety Code (https://ccmta.ca/images/pdf-documents-english/CCMTA-PMVI-Report-Feb.pdf)

  • No regulations listed to determine distance from acceleration pedal to brake pedal

Transport Canada, Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations (http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._1038/page-2.html#h-8)

  • Nothing mentioned in regards to brake pedal

Internal Requirements

These are requirements driven by Midnight Sun. 

  • Work closely with the gas pedal team to ensure that the pedals don't interfere with each other ergonomically. 
  • The pedal should be aesthetically appealing but easily manufacturable.
  • There must not be any chance of the gas pedal getting stuck at any point during it's stroke.
  • Must have an integrated analog sensor to communicate regenerative braking signal to the driver controls system.
  • The pedal should be easily mountable on a steel space frame, mounting points on the pedal must be included in the design.  

Soft requirements

These criteria would be nice to have but not critical to the project's success: 

  • Adjustable pedal position for drivers of different sizes. 

Brake Distances

  • Kaitlyns Friends Car 
  • Kaitlyns other friends car
  • Toni Li (Deactivated)'s car has a middle to middle pedal distance of approximately 12.5-13 cm
  • Moral: Kaitlyn has at least two friends, and we should make the distance middle to middle about 5"

Designs

Come up with at least three designs and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each. Include sketches and screenshots of CAD models where applicable.