Electromechanical grill block gizmo - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Piwoslaw · 07-06-2009, 02:41 AM

I'd like to ask for help. I'm thinking about making an electromechanical grill block, but I'm not too hot with the electromechanical part. I do know a little about electricity and even less about electrics, so let's assume I'm starting from zero.

What I'd like to know is how to make a device that will slide to the open position when a current is turned on, and slides closed when it turns off. Let's say I want to use an electric motor from an RC toy car, and the voltage will be 12VDC.

The more help (diagrams, pictures, etc.) the better, but any help will be good.

Thanks,
--Adam

vtec-e · 07-06-2009, 03:16 AM

Someone here mentioned using a central locking motor. It would only be fully open or fully closed so you wouldn't have the level of control to maintain a certain temp. But if you are just using it to improve warm up times then it should work very well. Plus, it's made for use in a car with its mounting points and also designed to work with a cars voltage. As for the wiring? Probably a live feed with two neutrals, one for switching the motor each way. I have one in the shed so i'll have a look at it later.

ollie

Bicycle Bob · 07-06-2009, 03:22 AM

There are other discussions of this general problem here that will probably help. To get that action from a rotary motor, you could have it drive a threaded rod with a nut to move the shutter. For the automatic return with power off, you could have the electric motor wind up a rubber motor. However, there may be problems with the motor trying to hold the shutter open while not turning. That burns them out, except for shaded pole (AC clock) motors.

SVOboy · 07-06-2009, 03:47 AM

Tim (Daox) has one that is working right now except for a bit on the actual blocking design, so hopefully he can chime in. I dont know where the tread is right now though.

Piwoslaw · 07-06-2009, 08:57 AM

The reason I started this thread is because I couldn't find anything close enough, though I do seem to remember reading something similar. If this just doubles another thread, then please go ahead and delete this one, or merge them, or whatever else can done.

Another use for this gizmo is a kammback extension mechanism. The extension "hides" inside the normal kammy and slides out at highway speeds. This is just a project for the far, far future.

Daox · 07-06-2009, 09:37 AM

Here is the thread I started on the setup I made. As SVOboy said, its all done, but the mechanical end of my setup didn't work out so great (the door was binding and not actuating properly). So, that part needs to be redesigned. But, other than that, it seems to work great. Also note I never actually had it hooked up to the car yet to dial it all in to coolant temps, but that is relatively easy.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...lock-6767.html

Piwoslaw · 07-06-2009, 10:15 AM

Thanks Tim

I got to the third paragraph of the first post and was already lost in H-bridges, Arduinos, etc. Looks like I'm even worse at electronics than you, but I'm determined to make this work, so I'm reading on.

evolutionmovement · 07-06-2009, 11:06 AM

I'm just going to run a throttle control cable from a boat to actuate mine. Push a button or push/pull a cable makes no difference to me.

Daox · 07-06-2009, 11:16 AM

With my setup there are no buttons, its fully automatic. It was going to go on my Matrix which the wife drives, so it needed to be automatic.

Piwoslaw · 07-06-2009, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daox

With my setup there are no buttons, its fully automatic. It was going to go on my Matrix which the wife drives, so it needed to be automatic.

Ha!! That sounds like a "You know you're an Ecomodder if..." story.