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Collision determination apparatus for vehicle

  • US 8,935,087 B2
  • Filed: 06/11/2009
  • Issued: 01/13/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A collision determination apparatus for a vehicle having a bumper, the collision determination apparatus being coupled with a protection apparatus mounted to the vehicle, the collision determination apparatus comprising:

  • a chamber member that is arranged in the bumper and has therein a chamber space;

    a main sensor and a safing sensor that are two pressure sensors and individually sense a pressure change of the same chamber space of the chamber member, wherein the main sensor and the safing sensor provide a first pressure sensing result and a second pressure sensing result, respectively;

    a vehicle speed sensor that senses a speed of the vehicle, thereby providing a speed sensing result; and

    a collision determination unit that is configured to detect an occurrence of a collision between an object and the bumper, and configured to determine whether or not the collision necessitates activation of the protection apparatus based on the first pressure sensing result, the second pressure sensing result and the speed sensing result,wherein the collision determination unit includes;

    a first determination part configured to make a first determination of whether or not the collision necessitates the activation of the protection apparatus by determining whether or not an effective mass of the colliding object is in a predetermined mass range and the speed of the vehicle at the collision is in a predetermined speed range, wherein by making the first determination, the first determination part provides a first determination result, wherein the first determination part calculates the effective mass of the colliding object from the first pressure sensing result and the speed sensing result, wherein the first determination part obtains the effective mass of the colliding object by using the pressure sensed by the main sensor and the vehicle speed sensed by the vehicle speed sensor, wherein the first determination is based on the first pressure sensing result and the speed sensing result;

    a second determination part configured to make, independently of the first determination part, a second determination of whether or not the collision necessitates the activation of the protection apparatus by comparing only the second pressure sensing result with a predetermined threshold, wherein by making the second determination, the second determination part provides a second determination result, wherein the second determination is based on only the second pressure sensing result, wherein the second determination part identifies a type of the colliding object based on the peak value of the changing pressure sensed by the safing sensor; and

    an AND circuit configured to perform a logical AND operation between(i) the first determination result, which is a result of the first determination made by the first determination part based not on the pressure change sensed with the safing sensor but on the pressure change sensed with the main sensor, and(ii) the second determination result, which is a result of the second determination made by the second determination part based not on the pressure change sensed with the main sensor but on the pressure change sensed with the safing sensor, andactivate the protection apparatus when a result of the logical AND operation is true.

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