PEDAL ASSEMBLY HAVING A HYSTERESIS MECHANISM

摘要

A pedal assembly (10) for use in association with a vehicle includes a pedal support (20) adapted for mounting to the vehicle. The pedal support (20) includes a pivot shaft (18) extending along a pivot axis (P) and having an outer bearing surface (19). A pedal arm (12) is rotatably engaged to the pivot shaft (18) to allow pivotal movement of the pedal arm (12) about the pivot axis (P). A clamp arm (14) is pivotally coupled to the pedal arm (12) and has a compression surface (52). A biasing member (22) is engaged between the pedal support (20) and the clamp arm (14) and is arranged to apply a biasing force (F_B) to the clamp arm (14) to pivot the clamp arm (14) relative to the pedal arm (12) and toward the pivot shaft (18). Application of an activation force (F_A) onto the pedal arm (12) pivots the pedal arm (12) about the pivot axis (P), which in turn increases the biasing force (F_B) applied to the clamp arm (14) by the biasing member (22) to correspondingly increase frictional engagement between the compression surface (52) of the clamp arm (14) and the bearing surface (19) of the pivot shaft (18) to provide increased resistance to further pivotal movement of the pedal arm (12).