Study for a development of an electromechanical Automatic Mode Engagement for Automatic Gearboxes

This Thesis of Master of Science Degree in Automotive Engineering attained at “Politecnico di Torino” is carried out in collaboration with Silatech S.r.l. Company, based in Orbassano (TO), inside the Innovation Department (R&D). The argument of my MSc Thesis is the mechanical design, precisely the study and development of an ‘Automatic Mode Engagement’ (actuator) for shift-by-wire and shift-by-cable automatic transmissions, starting from a set of specifications and rules provided by the customer. Benchmarking procedures are applied during the study, in particular the kinematics of the spring retention system, nevertheless each component is verified and dimensioned and in some cases solutions to increase the performance and reliability of the components are provided. In order to expand the research beyond the purely mechanical design phase, according to my Company Tutor Mr. Edoardo Mongarli, I wanted to supply different alternatives to assemble the component in the vehicle in order to create the most flexible and versatile possible actuator, highlighting the mechanical properties of the push/pull cable and shift-by-wire system. The idea is to illustrate the pro & cons and criticalities of each positioning inside the vehicle chassis.