Conserved energy metrics for frontal impact sensing algorithm enhancement in motor vehicles
First Claim
1. A method of operating a motor vehicle having a deployable occupant protection device comprising:
- (a) producing a forward crash signal and a central crash signal in response to a frontal crash stimulus, wherein the forward crash signal varies between positive and negative values over time during the frontal crash stimulus;
(b) processing the central crash signal with a crash determining algorithm, defining a primary crash metric value;
(c) converting the negative values of the forward crash signal to positive values, defining a conditioned crash signal;
(d) processing the conditioned crash signal with a crash determining algorithm, defining a conserved energy metric value; and
(e) making a deployment decision for the deployable occupant protection device based on the primary and conserved energy metric values.
18 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A motor vehicle is provided that has a deployable occupant protection device, a controller that manages deployment activity, and a sensor located in a forward portion of the vehicle that produces a forward crash signal in response to crash stimulus. The forward crash signal varies between positive and negative values over time. At least some of the negative values are converted to positive values, defining a conditioned crash signal which is processed with an integrating algorithm, defining a conserved energy crash metric value that supplements processing of a central crash signal while evaluating a potential crash event(s). The conserved energy crash metric value can be used as a confirmatory factor, influencing whether to deploy the deployable occupant protection device. Or, for deployable occupant protection devices having multiple deployment stages, the conserved energy crash metric value can be used in determining whether to initiate one or more of the deployment stages.
14 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A method of operating a motor vehicle having a deployable occupant protection device comprising:
-
(a) producing a forward crash signal and a central crash signal in response to a frontal crash stimulus, wherein the forward crash signal varies between positive and negative values over time during the frontal crash stimulus; (b) processing the central crash signal with a crash determining algorithm, defining a primary crash metric value; (c) converting the negative values of the forward crash signal to positive values, defining a conditioned crash signal; (d) processing the conditioned crash signal with a crash determining algorithm, defining a conserved energy metric value; and (e) making a deployment decision for the deployable occupant protection device based on the primary and conserved energy metric values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A motor vehicle comprising:
-
(a) a first sensor which provides a forward crash signal in response to a crash stimulus; (b) a second sensor which provides a central crash signal in response to a crash stimulus; (c) a deployable occupant protection device; and (d) an occupant protection system controller that processes the forward and central crash signals with a crash determining algorithm that evaluates whether a crash has occurred, wherein the forward crash signal varies between positive and negative values over time and at least some of the negative values are converted to positive values, defining a conditioned crash signal, for processing by the occupant protection system controller. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method of operating a motor vehicle having a deployable occupant protection device comprising:
-
defining a primary crash metric value by; sensing crash stimulus at a central portion of a motor vehicle during a crash event and producing a central crash signal; and processing the central crash signal with a crash determining algorithm; defining a conserved energy metric value by; sensing crash stimulus at a forward portion of the motor vehicle during the crash event and producing a forward crash signal that varies between positive and negative values during the crash event with the first sensor, the forward crash signal varying between positive and negative values during the crash event; and defining a conditioned crash signal by converting negative values of the forward crash signal to positive values using at least one of an absolute value function and a squaring function; and processing the conditioned crash signal with the crash determining algorithm; and making a deployment decision for deploying a deployable occupant protection device based on the primary and conserved energy metric values. - View Dependent Claims (22)
-
Specification