Safety arrangement in a vehicle

• US 6,421,592 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2000
• Issued: 07/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Veoneer Sweden AB (SSW Partners LP)
• Original Assignee: Autoliv AB (Autoliv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kruse, Dion, Bärgman, Jonas
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gibson, Eric
• Application Number:
  US09/646,286
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 701/45, 180/271, 180/282, 280/756, 280/728.1, 340/440
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0018 Roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01306 monitoring vehicle inclination
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01322 comprising variable thresholds, e.g. depending from other collision parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01327 Angular velocity or angular acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/013 including means for detecting collisions, impending collisions or roll-over
• 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 21/232 Curtain-type airbags deploying mainly in a vertical direction from their top edge

Abstract

A safety arrangement in a motor vehicle comprises a safety device (38) adapted to protect an occupant of the vehicle in the case of a roll-over accident, and a roll sensor arrangement to provide a signal (33) to trigger activation of the safety device. A sensor (30) senses an angular parameter such as angular speed about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, or the actual angle of roll about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. A further sensor (31) senses a velocity parameter relating to the vehicle speed, such as the total velocity of the vehicle, or the velocity of the vehicle in a predetermined direction. A processor (35) senses an angular speed in excess of a predetermined threshold, which activates a timing mechanism (36) which is associated with a processor (34) which compares angular velocity with a threshold, and provides a triggering signal if the threshold is exceeded. The threshold is a function of vehicle speed. The angular velocity is also compared with a further threshold in another processor (32), the threshold in this processor being a function of angle of roll. If this processor generates an output signal, the safety device (38) is activated.

Claims

1. A safety arrangement in a vehicle, the safety arrangement comprising a safety device adapted to protect an occupant of the vehicle in the case of a roll-over accident, and roll sensor arrangement adapted to provide a signal to trigger activation of said safety device, said signal being provided in case a roll or an anticipated roll of the vehicle is detected, the roll sensor arrangement being responsive to both,

a) the angular speed (ω

_x) around the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and

b) a velocity parameter relating to the vehicle speed selected from the total velocity of the vehicle, or the velocity of the vehicle in a predetermined direction, wherein the signal is generated only if the instantaneous angular speed of the vehicle reaches a predetermined threshold, said threshold being a function of the velocity of the vehicle or the velocity of the vehicle in a predetermined direction.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the roll sensor arrangement comprises an angular speed sensor to measure said angular speed (ω

_x) and a speedometer to measure the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle.

3. An arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the said function of vehicle velocity is a function of the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle.

4. An arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the said function of vehicle velocity is a function of the lateral velocity of the vehicle.

5. An arrangement according to claim 4 wherein the angular speed of the vehicle is compared with a predetermined reference angular speed and, if the angular speed of the vehicle exceeds the reference angular speed, timing means are activated to measure a predetermined period of time, the timing means enabling the safety arrangement to permit triggering due to said velocity dependent threshold being reached only during the predetermined period of time.

6. An arrangement according to claim 5 wherein the signal is generated if the angular velocity (ω

_x) exceeds a predetermined threshold which is a function of the total velocity of the vehicle, or a component of the velocity of the vehicle, or if the angular velocity exceeds a threshold which is a function of the existing roll angle of the vehicle.

7. An arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the sensor arrangement comprises means to determine the instantaneous lateral acceleration of the vehicle, the means to inhibit triggering unless the lateral acceleration of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold.

8. A safety arrangement in a vehicle comprising a safety device and a roll sensor arrangement that provides a signal to trigger actuation of the safety device, said roll sensor arrangement comprising:

a first sensor that senses the speed of rotation of the vehicle about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, the speed of rotation being the angular velocity (ω

_x) of the vehicle;

a second sensor provided to sense the initial velocity of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;

a first processor receives the output of the first sensor, the sensed angular velocity (ω

_x) of the vehicle being compared with a first reference value that is a function of the instantaneous angle of roll;

a discriminator additionally receives the output of the first sensor and determines if the angular velocity of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold before outputting a signal that initiates a timer and a second processor where the timer runs for a predetermined period of time during which the timer outputs a signal and the second processor receives the output of the discriminator and additionally receives the output of the second sensor, the second processor comparing the instantaneous angular velocity (ω

_x) with a second reference value that is a function of the initial velocity of the vehicle and outputting a signal; and

a re-set device that receives the output of the first sensor and re-sets the timer when the angular velocity (ω

_x) drops below approximately 0.4 rad/sec where the output signal of the timer is fed together with the output signal of the second processor to an AND gate, and the output of the AND gate and the output of the first sensor are fed to an OR gate which triggers the activation of the safety device.

9. A safety arrangement in a vehicle comprising a safety device and a roll sensor arrangement that provides a signal to trigger actuation of the safety device, said roll sensor arrangement comprising:

a first sensor that senses the speed of rotation of the vehicle about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, the speed of rotation being the angular velocity (ω

_x) of the vehicle;

a second sensor provided to sense the initial velocity of the vehicle in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle;

a first processor receives the output of the first sensor, the sensed angular velocity (ω

_x) of the vehicle being compared with a first reference value that is a function of the instantaneous angle of roll;

a first discriminator additionally receives the output of the first sensor and determines if the angular velocity of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined threshold before outputting a signal that initiates a timer and a second processor where the timer runs for a predetermined period of time during which the timer outputs a signal and the second processor receives the output of the discriminator and additionally receives the output of the second sensor, the second processor comparing the instantaneous angular velocity (ω

_x) with a second reference value that is a function of the initial velocity of the vehicle and outputting a signal;

a sensor arrangement that outputs a sensor signal indicative of lateral acceleration (a_y);

a second discriminator that receives the output of the sensor arrangement and compares the sensor signal indicative of lateral acceleration (a_y) with a predetermined threshold value; and

a re-set device that receives the output of the first sensor and re-sets the timer when the angular velocity (ω

_x) drops below approximately 0.4 rad/sec where the output signal of the timer is fed together with the output signal of the second processor to a first AND gate, the output of the AND gate and the output of the first sensor are fed to an OR gate and if the second discriminator determines that the predetermined threshold is exceeded an output signal is provided to a second AND gate along with the output of the OR gate to trigger the activation of the safety device.