Arduino controlled grill vent with Vaccume Actuator.

[gil]

I have been thinking of implementing a automatic grill vent for my Subaru for some time now. I have finally goten the ball rolling and have some aspects of it figured out. I'm going to use an arduino uno to control the opening of the vent according to the water temperature of the engine. Thanks to Daox I copied code from a project that he referred to and with a couple modifications, the code is done.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post391717

For the grill actuation, I'll be using a vaccume actuator of a cruise control system from a Miata. The vaccume action should be strong enough to move the vent against the air pressure. The addition of a Throttle position sensor could make it adjustable opening, just an idea. At the moment the vent will be fully opened or fully closed.

For the actual vent I'm still cooking up ideas. I will be using a 3D printer to print custom hinges and mounting tabs. I will use coroplast at first to create the grill block and vent. For the final product I would like to use clear Plexiglas for aesthetic reasons.

I will update this thread as things get done.


Gil