JPH0891159A - Contact accident preventive device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To call attention of a driver of one's own vehicle, and beforehand prevent a contact accident with an adjacent vehicle existing in a dead angle by prohibiting a traffic lane change of one's own vehicle, that is, by automatically cancelling actuation of a direction indicator, or increasing in weight of an operation load of steering when the adjacent vehicle exists in a dead angle such as the side of one's own vehicle. CONSTITUTION: A contact accident preventive device is provided with a proximity sensor 1 having a detecting area at least on the side of a vehicle and a control circuit 2 to generate a traffic lane change prohibiting signal in response to a side object detecting signal from the proximity sensor 1. The control circuit 2 is connected to a direction indicator 3 and a power steering system 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a vehicle contact accident prevention device for detecting an obstacle around the vehicle to prevent a contact accident.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of technology has been described in, for example,
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59162, there is a structure in which an obstacle around the vehicle is detected and the passenger is informed accordingly.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the past,
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the adjacent vehicle C disappears outside the visual field b1 of the bag mirror B1 of the own vehicle A, that is, when it disappears due to a blind spot, for example, the adjacent vehicle C on the right side in FIG. If C changes lane to a running lane, there is a risk that the host vehicle A may contact the adjacent vehicle C.
Even if the presence of an obstacle is informed by the above-mentioned conventional technology, if the vehicle is unfamiliar to the occupant, it may not be possible to instantly determine what the notification is, and there is concern that the notification does not make sense. Was done.

[0004]

The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and prohibits the lane change of the own vehicle when there is an adjacent vehicle in a blind spot such as a side of the own vehicle, that is, The purpose is to automatically cancel the operation of the direction indicator or increase the steering operation load to call attention to the driver of the own vehicle and prevent contact accidents with adjacent vehicles in blind spots. It was done.

That is, the present invention comprises a proximity sensor having a detection area at least on the side of the vehicle, and a control circuit for generating a lane change prohibition signal in response to a side object detection signal from the proximity sensor. A contact accident prevention device for a vehicle characterized by the above.

Further, in the above invention, the control circuit is connected to the turn signal in order to introduce the lane change prohibition signal to the turn signal in response to the side object detection signal from the proximity sensor. A contact accident prevention device for a vehicle is provided.

Further, in the above invention, the control circuit is connected to the power steering system in order to introduce the lane change prohibition signal to the power steering system in response to the side object detection signal from the proximity sensor. A contact accident prevention device for a vehicle is provided.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be explained based on. In the drawings, 1 is a proximity sensor, 2 is a control circuit, 3 is a direction indicator, 4 is a power steering system, 5 is a light switch, 6 is a turn signal switch, 7 is a wiper switch, 8 is a steering angle sensor, and 9 is a wiper motor. Reference numeral 10 is a turn signal lamp, 11 is a small lamp, 12 is a headlight, and 13 is a vehicle speed sensor. Hereinafter, each of these configurations will be described.

First, the proximity sensor 1 is, as shown in FIG.
A sensor having at least the detection areas D1 and D2 on the side of the host vehicle A. When the turn signal switch 6 is operated to the right turn side or the left turn side, the turn signal operation signal is received from the control circuit 2 to perform a detection function. Is configured to work. The proximity sensor 1 may be an ultrasonic type or a microwave type, but an optical type will be described here.

The proximity sensor 1 includes a calculation unit 1A and an alarm device 1.
B, a light transmission pulse generating circuit 1C, a sampling clock generator 1D, a sampling circuit 1E, an amplifier 1F, transistors 1G and 1K, a light emitting diode 1H, a light receiving diode 1M, and resistors 1I, 1J and 1L. In addition, lenses 1N and 1O are arranged in front of the light emitting diode 1H and the light receiving diode 1M. The control circuit 2 and the vehicle speed sensor 13 are connected to the computing unit 1A of the proximity sensor 1.

Next, the control circuit 2 is a circuit for generating a lane change prohibition signal in response to the side object detection signal from the proximity sensor 1. The lane change prohibition signal referred to here is a signal introduced into the direction indicator 3 and the power steering system 4 in order to automatically cancel the operation of the direction indicator 3 or to increase the steering operation load. The control circuit 2 not only introduces a lane change prohibition signal to the direction indicator 3 and the power steering system 4 in response to the side object detection signal from the proximity sensor 1, but also the light switch 5 and the turn signal switch 6 , Wiper switch 7, and operation angle sensor 8 to receive signals, wiper motor 9, turn signal lamp 10, small lamp 11,
The control signal is also derived to the headlamp 12.

Next, the direction indicator 3 is provided with a cancel solenoid 31, and when the lane change prohibition signal is received from the control circuit 2, the cancel solenoid 31 is actuated to operate the turn signal switch 6, for example. Alternatively, it has a function of forcibly returning the operation mode from the right / left turning position to the neutral position.

Next, the power steering system 4
A power mechanism in the form of a position servo mechanism is provided in the middle of the steering device, and the power portion follows the steering wheel operation to apply the steering force. For example, a hydraulic mechanism is adopted. In this embodiment, a power steering control unit 41 and an actuator 42 are further provided, and when the lane change prohibition signal is received from the control circuit 2, the power steering control unit 41 is provided.
The actuator 42 is activated by the output from the control unit, and has a function of controlling the hydraulic pressure to increase the steering force of the steering wheel.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
First, when the turn signal switch 6 of the host vehicle A is not operated in either the left or right turn, the turn signal operation signal is not input from the control circuit 2 to the proximity sensor 1. Therefore, at this time, the operation of the proximity sensor 1 is stopped, and even if the adjacent vehicle C is running side by side with respect to the host vehicle A as shown in FIG. 2, the direction indicator 3 and the power steering system 4 have no effect. The signal of is not derived.

Next, for example, when the turn signal switch 6 of the vehicle A is operated to the right turn side to change the lane to the right lane, the turn signal operation signal is input from the control circuit 2 to the proximity sensor 1. Therefore, at this time, the proximity sensor 1 starts to operate, and the calculation unit 1A causes the light transmission pulse generation circuit 1 to operate.
C is controlled to drive the light emitting diode 1H to emit an infrared pulse signal to the detection areas D1 and D2.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, when the adjacent vehicle C is running side by side with respect to the own vehicle A, the infrared pulse signal is reflected by the adjacent vehicle C and is incident on the light receiving diode 1M. After this received signal is amplified by the amplifier 1F,
It is input to the arithmetic unit 1A via the sampling circuit 1E.
As a result, when the calculation unit 1A determines that the adjacent vehicle C is present on the right-turning side, the calculation unit 1A guides the side object detection signal to the control circuit 2.

The control circuit 2 comprises a computing unit 1A of the proximity sensor 1.
When a side object detection signal is received from the vehicle, a lane change prohibition signal is led to the turn signal indicator 3 and the power steering system 4. As a result, the direction indicator 3 operates the cancel solenoid 31 to forcibly return the operation position of the turn signal switch 6 or the operation mode from the right / left turn position to the neutral position. In addition, the power steering system 4
Operates the actuator 42 to control the hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic mechanism to increase the steering force of the steering wheel.

Therefore, when the adjacent vehicle C is in a blind spot such as a side of the own vehicle A, the operation of the direction indicator 3 is automatically canceled or the power steering system 4 is controlled to reduce the steering operation load. This will make the driver heavier and alert the driver of the own vehicle to prevent a contact accident with the adjacent vehicle C at the blind spot.

[0019]

The present invention comprises a proximity sensor having a detection area at least on the side of the vehicle, and a control circuit for generating a lane change prohibition signal in response to a side object detection signal from the proximity sensor. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the driver of the own vehicle from paying attention to the driver rather than simply giving an alarm, and to prevent a contact accident with the adjacent vehicle at the blind spot.

Further, in the above invention, in order to introduce the lane change prohibition signal into the turn signal or the power steering system in response to the side object detection signal from the proximity sensor,
Since the control circuit is connected to the direction indicator or the power steering system, the operation of the direction indicator is automatically canceled or the steering operation load is increased when there is an adjacent vehicle in the blind spot such as the side of the own vehicle. Then, the driver of the own vehicle can be alerted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electric circuit diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[FIG. 2] Own vehicle A and adjacent vehicle C traveling on a three-lane road
It is a top view which illustrated and.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Proximity sensor 2 Control circuit 3 Direction indicator 4 Power steering system

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A proximity sensor (1) having a detection area at least on the side of a vehicle, and a control circuit for generating a lane change prohibition signal in response to a lateral object detection signal from the proximity sensor (1). 2) A contact accident prevention device for a vehicle, comprising: 2. The control circuit according to claim 1, wherein the lane change prohibition signal is introduced into the turn signal indicator (3) in response to a side object detection signal from the proximity sensor (1). A vehicle contact accident prevention device characterized in that 2) is connected to a turn signal indicator (3). 3. The control circuit (1) according to claim 1, wherein the lane change prohibition signal is introduced into the power steering system (4) in response to a side object detection signal from the proximity sensor (1). 2. A vehicle contact accident prevention device characterized in that (2) is connected to a power steering system (4).