VEHICLE ROLLOVER DETECTION AND PREVENTION SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A system for detecting a vehicle rollover condition, comprising:
- an accelerator operative to determine vehicle speed and lateral G force;
a processor for dynamically computing the center of mass of the vehicle by correlating the lateral G force produced while the vehicle is turning; and
an alert that is activated if the speed is exceeded or if the turn radius is reduced beyond safety limits indicative of potential rollover of the vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An intelligent system and method detects and prevents vehicle rollover conditions. An accelerator determines vehicle speed and lateral G force, a processor computes the center of mass of the vehicle by correlating the lateral G force produced while the vehicle is turning, and an alert that is activated if the speed is exceeded or if the turn radius is reduced beyond safety limits indicative of potential rollover of the vehicle. The preferred embodiment further includes a gyroscope operative to sense lateral yaw rate excursions of the vehicle, enabling the processor to correlate the yaw rate excursions at a given speed with the lateral G forces produced while the vehicle is turning. The accelerator may further be operative to determine vertical acceleration at a given speed along a third axis, and augment rollover alarm conditions on rough road surfaces. The processor may additionally be operative to compute the absolute maximum lateral angle of vehicle stability for a given center of mass, and trigger the alert if this value is approached during vehicle operation or when vehicle speed is zero.
14 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system for detecting a vehicle rollover condition, comprising:
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an accelerator operative to determine vehicle speed and lateral G force; a processor for dynamically computing the center of mass of the vehicle by correlating the lateral G force produced while the vehicle is turning; and an alert that is activated if the speed is exceeded or if the turn radius is reduced beyond safety limits indicative of potential rollover of the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification