Improvements in ABC Pedal System in Automobile
Year: 2011
Editor: Chakrabarti, A.
Author: Reddy, Venkateswara Gogulamudi; Reddy,Harsha Sree Janga; TM Kumar, Ullas
Section: Applications in Practice
Page(s): 405-413
Abstract
The design research in this paper is improvements of present ABC (Acceleration, Brake, and Clutch) pedal systems in automobiles for better driver comfort and safety. Principles of product design concepts are used to analyze the level of comforts and discomforts for the presentABCpedal systemand to improve its performance.Customers survey has been done to gather the information from different customers to explore the real problems in using the ABC pedals. Customer needs are prioritized using Kano analysis and FAST analysis is applied to understand the functionalities of each component. To set the goals and targets (QFD) Quality function deployment is used.The research question addressed in this paper is to minimize the time and force required to operate the ABC pedals. Intuitive and logical methods are used to develope six different concepts and are evaluated by using the weighted decision matrix and infeasible concepts are eliminated. From weighted decision matrix it was observed that integration of brake pedal to the steering wheel leaving two pedals beneath the feet for clutch and accelerator satisfies the customer requirements in a better way when compared to other concepts
Keywords: ABC-Acceleration Brake Clutch, FAST-Function Analysis and Statistical Technique, QFD-Quality Function Deployment, SAE-Society of Automotive Engineers.