Integrated vehicle crash sensing system and method

• US 20080046147A1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aptiv Technologies AG (Aptiv PLC)
• Original Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc. (BorgWarner Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cluff, Charles A., Constable, Robert K., McConnell, Robert R., Stavroff, Brian M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0002 Type of accident
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01332 by frequency or waveform analysis
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01336 using filtering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/04 related to roll-over prevention

Abstract

A vehicle crash sensing system and method are provided for sensing a vehicle crash event. The system includes a linear acceleration sensor located on a vehicle for sensing linear acceleration along a first sensing axis and generating a linear acceleration signal. The system has linear crash sensing logic for determining a crash event along the first sensing axis as a function of the sensed linear acceleration. The system also has signal processing circuitry for processing the linear acceleration signal and generating a processed linear acceleration signal. The system has an angular rate sensor located on the vehicle for sensing an angular roll rate of the vehicle about a second sensing axis and generating a roll rate signal. The system further includes rollover crash sensing logic for determining a rollover event of the vehicle about the second sensing axis as a function of the processed linear acceleration signal and the roll rate signal.

Claims

1. An integrated vehicle crash sensing system comprising:

a linear acceleration sensor located on a vehicle for sensing linear acceleration along a first sensing axis and generating a linear acceleration signal;

crash sensing logic for determining a crash event along the first sensing axis as a function of the sensed linear acceleration signal;

signal processing circuitry for processing the linear acceleration signal and generating a processed linear acceleration signal;

an angular rate sensor located on the vehicle for sensing an angular roll rate of the vehicle about a second sensing axis and generating a roll rate signal; and

rollover crash sensing logic for determining a rollover event of the vehicle about the second sensing axis as a function of the processed linear acceleration signal and the angular roll rate signal.

2. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuitry comprises an amplifier for amplifying the sensed linear acceleration signal to generate the processed linear acceleration signal.

3. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 2, wherein the signal processing circuitry further comprises a filter for filtering the amplified linear acceleration signal.

4. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 3, wherein the filter comprises a band-pass filter.

5. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 4, wherein the band-pass filter has a pass band frequency ranging from about 0.1 Hz to 50 Hz.

6. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuitry comprises a filter for filtering the sensed acceleration signal.

7. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 1, wherein the linear acceleration sensor is oriented to sense linear acceleration along a lateral axis of the vehicle, and the crash sensing logic senses a side impact with the vehicle along the lateral axis of the vehicle.

8. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 1, wherein the linear acceleration sensor comprises a first accelerometer oriented to sense linear acceleration at an angle offset from both a lateral axis and a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and a second accelerometer oriented to sense linear acceleration at an angle offset from the lateral axis and the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, wherein the first and second accelerometers each sense acceleration components along both the longitudinal axis and the lateral axis of the vehicle.

9. The crash sensing system as defined in claim 8, wherein the signal processing circuitry further comprises arithmetic logic for performing one of summing and subtracting the outputs of the first and second accelerometers.

17. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the step of sensing linear acceleration comprises sensing a first linear acceleration with a first accelerometer oriented at an angle offset from a longitudinal axis and a lateral axis of the vehicle and sensing a second linear acceleration with a second accelerometer oriented at an angle offset from the longitudinal axis and the lateral axis of the vehicle, wherein the first and second accelerations each comprise components of linear acceleration in both the lateral axis and the longitudinal axis.

18. The method as defined in claim 17 further comprising the step of arithmetically summing or subtracting the first and second acceleration signals to generate a signal indicative of the linear acceleration sensed along the first sensing axis.

10. A method of detecting a crash event of a vehicle due to at least one of an impact crash event and a rollover event of the vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

sensing linear acceleration along a first sensing axis of the vehicle with a linear acceleration sensor and generating a sensed linear acceleration signal;

sensing a crash event along the first sensing axis as a function of the sensed linear acceleration;

processing the sensed linear acceleration signal with signal processing circuitry to generate a processed linear acceleration signal;

sensing an angular roll rate of the vehicle about a second sensing axis and generating a roll rate signal; and

determining a rollover event of the vehicle about the second sensing axis as a function of the processed linear acceleration signal and the roll rate signal.

11. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the step of processing the sensed linear acceleration signal comprises the step of amplifying the sensed linear acceleration signal to generate the processed linear acceleration signal.

12. The method as defined in claim 11, wherein the step of processing the sensed linear acceleration further comprises the step of filtering the amplified linear acceleration signal.

13. The method as defined in claim 12, wherein the step of filtering comprises band-pass filtering the amplified linear acceleration signal to filter out low frequency and high frequency noise.

14. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of filtering comprises filtering signals outside of a pass band in the range of about 0.1 to 50 Hz.

15. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the step of processing the sensed linear acceleration signal comprises the step of filtering the sensed linear acceleration signal.

16. The method as defined in claim 10, wherein the step of sensing linear acceleration comprises sensing linear acceleration along a lateral axis of the vehicle, and the step of sensing a crash event along the first sensing axis comprises sensing a side impact crash event of the vehicle along the lateral axis of the vehicle.