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Mechanical Engineering Capstone
Quick Attach and Release Mechanism for Tesla Interiors

Tesla generously sponsored our fifth-year engineering design project. 

The Mechanism
Background

The second row center console of the Tesla Model X is an optional add-on, and installed permanently in the factory while your car is being built. With a trend towards fully-autonomous driving, the demand for modular interiors will likely follow suit. Our team of five mechanical engineers was tasked with researching, prototyping, and designing a quick attach and release mechanism that would reliably and safely allow interior components to be attached to and removed from the floor of a vehicle at a customer-level.

Design Criteria

1. Safety​

  • Must follow FMVSS and homologation standards

2. Adaptability

  • Must be applicable to multiple components with console, tables, seats, storage, and work stations in mind

3. Ergonomics

  • Must be intuitive, efficient, and safe for any user to interact with 

4. Craftsmanship

  • Must fit the Tesla "look and feel" standard with a fluid interface and premium materials

5. Manufacturability

  • Must be designed for efficient assembly

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Design Steps

1. Start from scratch

  • We began by brainstorming and benchmarking current market strategies for latching, holding, and releasing

2. Sketch it out

  • Each member flushed out 5 ideas to present to the rest of the group

3. Weigh your options

  • Pros and Cons were made for each idea and were compared in a weighted decision matrix including the above design criteria

4. Narrow the scope

  • Ideas that were considered in any way unsafe or inferior were put on trial and eliminated if deemed unfeasible

  • We were left with a total of 5 ideas

5. Review

  • The top 5 ideas were reviewed with the Tesla advisor

6. Narrow the scope again

  • The top 5 were scrutinized further and the best one was picked to proceed

7. Hand calculations

  • Initial calculations were performed to get an idea for scale of the design and to provide some initial dimensions

8. CAD

  • Initial CAD was made from the hand calculations

9. 3D Print it

  • We wanted parts in hand to get a better feel of the mechanism's size and behavior so we printed the initial CAD model in Nylon

  • This was successful and encouraging

10. FEA

  • FEA was done on the CAD model to see if it would stand up to the crash forces

11. Iterate

  • The FEA showed some necessary changes

12. CAD

  • CAD changes and material specifications were made based on the FEA analysis

13. 3D Print it again

  • The full assembly was printed this time with many changes incorporated

14. Test

  • Physical tests were performed on printed parts

15. Analyze

  • DFMEA was created

  • Tolerance study was created to fine tune gaps and reduce rattling

16. Final 3D print

  • Final 3D print of 3 full assemblies were outsourced

17. Present

  • We presented the assemblies, background research, and analysis to Tesla and Northeastern University

Recommended Design

We settled on a two-part mechanism consisting of the console subsystem and the floor subsystem, both pictured together in the first image above and exploded in the second and third images, respectively. The floor system contains a plunger that, with a touch of the Model X center screen, would rise out of the floor of the car. The console component, attached to the item you wish to secure, would be brought down to mate with the plunger. With a downward push, and an audible click, the sprung pawls will meet cutouts in the plunger, locking the component in place. To detach, the user would press a button on the center screen causing the plunger to rotate. Cam paths in the plunger will push the pawls up and out of the plunger, bringing the system into a disengaged state. The component can then be lifted off and the plungers returned into the floor. 

Advantages

  1. Safety. This design is proven to be robust in FEA testing. Only one would be necessary to attach the console.

  2. Craftsmanship. By separating the console and floor assemblies, a fluid interface was kept with the vehicles floor.

  3. Adaptable. The design is not created specifically for the console and can therefore be used on various components.

  4. Ergonomic. A user presses one button and physically pushes the component down to secure. One button to release.

Recommendations

  1. Reduce the two motor design to one using a barrel cam system.

  2. Use a stepper motor to reduce the number of sensors needed.

  3. Improve the manufacturability of some parts. Due to a strict timeline, some liberty was taken in the design process in terms of manufacturability in order to produce working parts for the demonstration day.

The Final Design and Prototype
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The Team

Acknowledgements

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The Team:

Jordon Halteman

Kenneth Kobetsky

Kevin Liu

Sebastian Herforth

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Our Administration:

Andrew Gouldstone

Bridget Smyser

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Our Sponsor:

Derek Allen

Phil Colman

Therese Hallberg

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