Page 1 of 5 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE INVENTION APPLICATIONS COMBINED DIRECTION INDICATORS AND HAZARD WARNING LIGHTS This invention is described in the following statements: TITLE TECHNICAL FIELD BACKGROUND SUMMARY DESCRIPTION ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF INVENTION SCHEMATIC DRAWING 1 SCHEMATIC DRAWING 2 SCHEMATIC DRAWING 3 ABSTRACT CLAIM TITLE: Combined Direction Indicators And Hazard Warning Lights: DIHAZ. TECHNICAL FIELD: [0001] Electronic directional signalling and hazard warning device for all vehicles using lights. BACKGROUND of INVENTION [0002] I was travelling about 100 metres behind a road sweeper truck that had its hazard lights going. It turned into a side street and there was no signal given that he was going to turn as the hazard lights were going. With the hazard lights on you are not able to use the turn indicators. I realized that it was a potential hazard or danger not having an indicator showing where he/she was turning. I then wondered what I could do about this potential hazard or dangerous situation. I then came up with this invention which is an electronic control unit attached to the existing wiring of the vehicle for the turn indicators. [0003] I first made the unit out of 5 normal relays, 2 diodes and an old switch and it worked fine. It is still working fine. However when it came to production it was too big, bulky and costs were too high. I then went "Electronic" and this is what I ended up with.
Page 2 of 5 SUMMARY of INVENTION [0004] This invention; Directional Hazard Warning Lights hereafter called "DIHAZ" is another electronic mechanism that is joined into the existing wiring system that is connected to the normal turn indicator lights, fitted to all vehicles. It works like this; when you want to turn say to your left, for example, you use the normal signal indicator as normal and the left hand lights keep flashing but the right hand lights turn off and vice versa when turning to the right. The main concept is the vehicle now has the added advantage of directional hazard lights. [0005] All new manufacturers have to do is to modify the turn indicator switch as shown in Drawing 2. The 2 Diodes I used stopped the current crossing over to the other side. The switches can be an integral part of the multifunction switch used by new manufacturers. On vehicles that are computer controlled the modification can be just a change to the computer program. [0006] On vehicles that do not have the modified turn indicator switch or computer program modified as in [0005] above, the vehicle will need to have the electronic control in Drawing 1. [0007] This device allows the turn signals to be used in conjunction with the hazard lights which until now has not been possible. Until now it has only been possible to use either the turn signals or the hazard lights not the two at the same time. [0008] Turn signals, formally called "directional indicators" or "directional signals" and informally known as "blinkers", "indicators" or "flashers" are blinking amber lamps mounted near the left and right front and rear corners of a vehicle and sometimes on the side. They are activated by the driver of the vehicle using the normal turn indicator/lever switch mounted just below the steering wheel. [0009] DIHAZ is switched on or off with the aid of a "3 pole on-on switch". If the switch is in the normal/off position the current flows through the normal wiring to the turn indicator lights and works as normal, as if nothing has changed. However if the 3 pole on-on switch in the DIHAZ/on position the current then flows to DIHAZ. DIHAZ then starts all turn indicator lights flashing; that is left, right, sides, front and back lights. (Hazard lights) [0010] With all warning lights flashing as above, in paragraph [0009], the unit then waits for input from the driver of the vehicle, machine, truck, bus, car etc. The input is from the normal Page 3 of 5 turn indicator switch/lever. If the driver intends to make a turn to shall we say the left then the driver moves the normal turn indicator lever/switch to make a turn to the left and the lights on the right hand stop flashing leaving only the lights on the left hand side flashing and vice versa when turning to the right, making it clear the driver intends to make a turn. When the driver straightens the vehicle up after turning, the turn indicator lever cancels out and all the lights start flashing again. (Hazard lights) DESCRIPITON of INVENTION [0011] DIHAZ is switched on or off with the aid of a "3 pole on-on switch". If the switch is in the normal/off position (See Drawing 3 the top part marked OFF) the current flow is: Pin 2 is Power in, goes to pin 1 which is not connected, so DIHAZ is turned off. Pin 5 is from turn indicator switch for R/H indicator lights, goes to pin 4 back out to R/H lights so there is no change. Pin 8 is from turn indicator switch for L/H indicator lights, goes to pin 7 and back out to L/H lights so there is no change. [0012] However in drawing 3, bottom part marked ON, Pin 2 is connected to pin 3 the power to DIHAZ, therefore DIHAZ is on and all lights are on and flashing. Pin 5 to pin 6 to DIHAZ for R/H lights. Pin 8 to pin 9 to DIHAZ for L/H Lights. DIHAZ then starts all turn indicator lights flashing; that is left, right, sides, front and back lights. (Hazard lights) [0013] DIHAZ then waits for input from the driver. If the driver intends to make a turn to shall we say the left then the driver moves the normal turn indicator lever to make a turn to the left. This causes power ( electricity ) to flow to P2, an input pin, then to regulator U4. The volts are reduced to 5; this allows DIHAZ to be connected to 12 or 24 volt system without having to change anything. The current then flows to pin 11 on the hex inverter U6 and leaves through pin 10 as 0 volts. This signals to the right hand NPN transistor Q6 to switch off, the P-Channel MOSFET Transistor marked Q5 on Drawing 1. This leaves only the light on the left hand side flashing making it clear that the driver intends to make a left hand turn. [0014] If the driver intends to make a turn to shall we say the right then the driver moves the normal turn indicator lever to make a turn to the right. This causes the current to flow to P1, an input pin, then to regulator U3. The volts are now reduced to 5. The power then flows to pin 13 on the hex inverter U6 and leaves from pin 12 as 0 volts. This signals to the left hand NPN Page 4 of 5 transistor Q4 to switch off the P-Channel MOSFET Transistor Q3 on Drawing 1. This leaves only the light on the right hand side flashing making it clear that the driver intends to make a right hand turn. [0015] The flashing of the lights is achieved by the use of a IC 555 timer, U5 on Drawing 1. This timer is well documented in text books. The flashing on & off timing is set by charging and discharging a Capacitor C9 through 2 resistors R4 & R6. Pin 3 of the IC 555 timer, U5 on drawing 1 which is turning on and off is connected to the base of a BC459 NPN Transistor Q2. Q2 is used to turn P-Channel MOSFET Transistor (Q1) on and off. [0016] The working of the Hex inverter U6 is if a positive (+) current goes in then a 0 or negative (-) current comes out. That is why when the turn indicator lever is in the centre position no current flows to either left or right, therefore the hex inverter U6 sends a positive (+) current out to the two NPN transistor Q4 and Q6 on the drawing marked 1. This turns the two P-Channel MOSFET Transistors Q3 and Q5 on. The P-Channel MOSFET Transistors act like a relay; it can handle up to 40 volts and 40 amps. [0017] There is 3 P-Channel MOSFET Transistor in the system Q1, Q3 and Q5 on drawing 1. The P-Channel MOSFET Transistor Q1 is turned on and off with a signal from PNP transistor Q2 and it receives it's signal from the PIN 3 of "NE555N" timer U5. [0018] The P-Channel MOSFET Transistor has 3 terminals named Source, Gat and Drain. The power enters the source and leaves via the drain terminal. The current from the PNP transistor enters the gate and turns the transistor on. The source terminal on Q1 is connected to the power in line. The drain terminal is connected to the power rail that in turn goes to Q3 and Q5. The P Channel MOSFET Transistor Q3 is connected to the left hand side lights, while Q5 Transistor is connected to the right hand side lights. [0019] The way DIHAZ is built is that the power supply from the vehicle can be anything from 7 to 30 volts. This is achieved by using 7805 voltage regulator Ul, U2, U3 and U4 on drawing 1. The regulators reduce the volts to 5. All of the internal workings is on 5 volts. The 3 P-Channel MOSFET Transistor ( Q1, Q2 and Q3 ) can take up to 40 Volts and 40 Amps; but the Gat terminal only needs 5 volts from the NPN transistors Q2, Q4 and Q6. The 3 P-Channel MOSFET Transistor acts like a normal relay.
Page 5 of 5 [0020] Regulator U1 is just to drive a LED to show that DIHAZ is on and running. The jumper JP1 is just to have the LED flashing or a steady glowing. ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF INVENTION [0021] This device (DIHAZ) allows the turn signals to be used in conjunction with the hazard lights which until now has not been possible. [0022] The hazard lights that are on all vehicles, at the time of writing the Provisional Patent and this document, cut-out the use of the turn signal and have all the turn indicator lights flashing at the one time that is left, right, side, front and back. Therefore directional indicators are not available. [0023] When the driver straightens the vehicle up after turning, the turn indicator lever/switch cancels out and all the lights start flashing again. The hazard lights are back on without the driver doing anything. [0024] A good example of the advantageous effect of the invention would be the use of DIHAZ on a school bus. When the school bus is travelling with children aboard the hazard lights can be turned on indicating to all around that the driver is approaching a bus zone. The driver can indicate that he/she is approaching the bus stop by simply using the turn indicator without having to do anything else. When the children have alighted from the bus, the driver then signals that he/she is leaving the bus stop by the turn indicator. When the turn indicator stops, the hazard lights automatically come back on without the driver doing anything else. This is a tremendous safety feature, not only for those around the bus but particularly for the children, getting on and off the bus. Another example of the beneficial effects of DIHAZ is Wide Loads and slow moving vehicles.