CA2537316A1 - Vehicle motion indicating device - Google Patents
Vehicle motion indicating device Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2537316A1 CA2537316A1 CA 2537316 CA2537316A CA2537316A1 CA 2537316 A1 CA2537316 A1 CA 2537316A1 CA 2537316 CA2537316 CA 2537316 CA 2537316 A CA2537316 A CA 2537316A CA 2537316 A1 CA2537316 A1 CA 2537316A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- vehicle
- acceleration
- indicator
- condition
- controller
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
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Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A42—HEADWEAR
- A42B—HATS; HEAD COVERINGS
- A42B3/00—Helmets; Helmet covers ; Other protective head coverings
- A42B3/04—Parts, details or accessories of helmets
- A42B3/0406—Accessories for helmets
- A42B3/0433—Detecting, signalling or lighting devices
- A42B3/0453—Signalling devices, e.g. auxiliary brake or indicator lights
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
- B60Q—ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALLING OR LIGHTING DEVICES, THE MOUNTING OR SUPPORTING THEREOF OR CIRCUITS THEREFOR, FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL
- B60Q1/00—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor
- B60Q1/26—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic
- B60Q1/2661—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic mounted on parts having other functions
- B60Q1/2673—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic mounted on parts having other functions on parts worn by the driver, e.g. clothes, gloves or bags, specially adapted to provide auxiliary vehicle signalling
- B60Q1/2676—Helmets
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
- B60Q—ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALLING OR LIGHTING DEVICES, THE MOUNTING OR SUPPORTING THEREOF OR CIRCUITS THEREFOR, FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL
- B60Q1/00—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor
- B60Q1/26—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic
- B60Q1/44—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic for indicating braking action or preparation for braking, e.g. by detection of the foot approaching the brake pedal
- B60Q1/444—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic for indicating braking action or preparation for braking, e.g. by detection of the foot approaching the brake pedal with indication of the braking strength or speed changes, e.g. by changing shape or intensity of the indication
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Lighting Device Outwards From Vehicle And Optical Signal (AREA)
Abstract
A vehicle motion indicating device includes a first indicator responsive to an acceleration condition, a second indicator responsive to a deceleration condition and a third indicator responsive to a coasting condition. A controller determines the acceleration condition when the vehicle acceleration exceeds an acceleration limit, the deceleration condition when the deceleration of the vehicle exceeds a deceleration limit and the coasting condition when the vehicle is operated between the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit.
Description
VEHICLE MOTION INDICATING DEVICE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for indicating the condition of motion of a vehicle, and more particularly relates to a device which provides an indication to operators of other vehicles that the vehicle is either in an accelerating condition, a decelerating condition or a coasting condition.
BACKGROUND
Various motor vehicles are commonly provided with brake indicators in the form of red indicator lights which are illuminated at the rear of the vehicle when the brakes of the vehicle are applied. On smaller vehicles in which occupants are known to wear helmets, it is also known to provide brake indicator lights on the rear of the helmet body itself. Brake light indicators alone however are often not enough to provide sufficient warning to operators of other vehicles following the vehicle in question.
US patents 2,275,695 to Stafford, 4,224,598 to Ostrowski, 4,956,752 to Foglietti and 4,812,807 to Davis et al. disclose various examples of indicators for indicating to operators of others vehicles the motion condition of a given vehicle. The known systems typically rely on contact of the operator with the brake actuator or accelerator in order to assess an acceleration condition of the vehicle.
Installation of such a system which requires monitoring the position of the brake actuator and accelerator, is both complex and costly while being limited to use on one specific vehicle once installed. Furthermore reliance on the position of a brake actuator or an accelerator does not provide a true indication of the actual speed or acceleration of the vehicle as such systems cannot distinguish between a slight aceeleration, a heavy acceleration or coasting when only contact with an accelerator is considered.
Similar problems arise when estimating a rate of deceleration by considering only the actuation of the brakes of the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a vehicle motion indicating device comprising:
a sensor for sensing an acceleration of a vehicle;
a controller including an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit, the controller being arranged to determine an accelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises an acceleration rate which is greater than the acceleration limit, a decelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises a deceleration rate which is greater than the deceleration limif, and a coasting condition when the acceleration of the vehicle is between the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit;
a first indicator responsive to the acceleration condition;
a second indicator resppnsive to the deceleration condition; and a third indicator responsive to the coasting condition.
By providing both an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit, the coasting condition can instead be defined as a range of normal driving Conditions including vary slight accelerations or decelerations in addition to maintaining a constant speed even if the brake actuator or accelerator are contacted slightly.
Furthermore by providing a sensor which senses the actual acceleration of the vehicle rather than an estimation based on contact with an accelerator or brake actuator, the acceleration or deceleration conditions which are displayed by the indicators is thus much more reliable than the prior art examples. Use of a sensor rather than contacts which must engage either the brake actuator or the accelerator, permits the device to be assembled in a portable housing which can be carried with the operator from one vehicle to another unlike the prior art examples which require fixed mounting to the controls of the vehicle.
The sensor preferably comprises a multi-axis accelerometer for sensing the acceleration of the vehicle.
When the controller comprises a processor, the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit preferably comprise programmable and adjustable set point values. Both the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit can be set to have a non-zero magnitude.
In a preferred embodiment, the first indicator comprises a green light, the second indicator comprises a red light and the third indicator comprises an amber or yellow light.
The indicators are may be supported directly on a helmet by being integrally formed on the helmet or by being supported on a portable housing which is selectively secured to the helmet using fasteners or adhesive.
There may be provided an auxiliary sensor for sensing an operating condition of the vehicle and a transmitter for transmitting the sensed operating condition of the vehicle to the controller.
The sensor may comprise both an accelerometer and a device for detecting vehicle engine RPM's. Preferably the controller is arranged to indicate a hazardous condition if acceleration data from the accelerometer and the RPM's of the vehicle are not consistent with one another, The sensor is preferably arranged to determine accelerations of the vehicle in multiple directions with the controller being arranged to indicate a hazardous condition responsive to repeated accelerations transverse to a forward direction of the vehicle.
Preferably the hazard indicator is independent of the first indicator, the second indicator and the third indicator and is also responsive to a manually activated switch.
There may be provided a stop indicator responsive to the vehicle being substantially stopped.
When the controller communicates with the vehicle by radio frequency, there may be provided a lost signal indicator coupled to the controller for indicating when contact is lost between the controller and the vehicle.
Some embodiments of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a schematic view of the components of the vehicle motion indicating device.
Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of the device.
Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the device.
Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the device shown mounted on a helmet.
Figure 5 is a rear elevational view of the device in an alternative embodiment shown mounted integrally on a helmet.
In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to the accompanying figures there is illustrated a vehicle motion indicating device generally indicated by reference numeral 10. The device 10 is particularly suited for indicating a motion condition of a vehicle to operators of other vehicles in the vicinity. In particular the device indicates an acceleration condition if the vehicle is quickly accelerating, a deceleration condition if the vehicle is quickly decelerating or a coasting condition if the vehicle is substantially at a constant speed 5 or is only slowly accelerating or slowly deceleration.
The primary components of the device, as shown in Figure 1, are supported within a portable housing 12. In the embodiment of Figures 2 through 4, the housing 12 is arranged for mounting onto an existing helmet 14 using suitable fasteners or glue and the like. In an altemative embodiment the components of the device are supported in a housing 12 which is formed integrally within the helmet 14.
In either embodiment, mounted with the housing, the device 10 includes a plurality of multi-axis accelerometers 16 which are arranged to determine the acceleration of the vehicle. The accelerometers 16 input the sensed acceleration forces into a controller 18 having an intemal processor which interprets the data from the acceierometers to determine a path of forward motion of the vehicle and the relative accelerations in the forward motion based upon the sensed data, The controller 18 includes an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit in the form of adjustable set points which are programmable over a range of values.
Using the acceleration data from the accelerometers and the acceleration and deceleration limits, the controller is arranged to determine the accelerating condition, the decelerating condition and the coasting condition.
The acceleration condition is determined when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises an acceleration rate which is greater than the acceleration limit.
The decelerating condition is determined when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises a deceleration rate which is greater than the deceleration limit.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for indicating the condition of motion of a vehicle, and more particularly relates to a device which provides an indication to operators of other vehicles that the vehicle is either in an accelerating condition, a decelerating condition or a coasting condition.
BACKGROUND
Various motor vehicles are commonly provided with brake indicators in the form of red indicator lights which are illuminated at the rear of the vehicle when the brakes of the vehicle are applied. On smaller vehicles in which occupants are known to wear helmets, it is also known to provide brake indicator lights on the rear of the helmet body itself. Brake light indicators alone however are often not enough to provide sufficient warning to operators of other vehicles following the vehicle in question.
US patents 2,275,695 to Stafford, 4,224,598 to Ostrowski, 4,956,752 to Foglietti and 4,812,807 to Davis et al. disclose various examples of indicators for indicating to operators of others vehicles the motion condition of a given vehicle. The known systems typically rely on contact of the operator with the brake actuator or accelerator in order to assess an acceleration condition of the vehicle.
Installation of such a system which requires monitoring the position of the brake actuator and accelerator, is both complex and costly while being limited to use on one specific vehicle once installed. Furthermore reliance on the position of a brake actuator or an accelerator does not provide a true indication of the actual speed or acceleration of the vehicle as such systems cannot distinguish between a slight aceeleration, a heavy acceleration or coasting when only contact with an accelerator is considered.
Similar problems arise when estimating a rate of deceleration by considering only the actuation of the brakes of the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a vehicle motion indicating device comprising:
a sensor for sensing an acceleration of a vehicle;
a controller including an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit, the controller being arranged to determine an accelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises an acceleration rate which is greater than the acceleration limit, a decelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises a deceleration rate which is greater than the deceleration limif, and a coasting condition when the acceleration of the vehicle is between the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit;
a first indicator responsive to the acceleration condition;
a second indicator resppnsive to the deceleration condition; and a third indicator responsive to the coasting condition.
By providing both an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit, the coasting condition can instead be defined as a range of normal driving Conditions including vary slight accelerations or decelerations in addition to maintaining a constant speed even if the brake actuator or accelerator are contacted slightly.
Furthermore by providing a sensor which senses the actual acceleration of the vehicle rather than an estimation based on contact with an accelerator or brake actuator, the acceleration or deceleration conditions which are displayed by the indicators is thus much more reliable than the prior art examples. Use of a sensor rather than contacts which must engage either the brake actuator or the accelerator, permits the device to be assembled in a portable housing which can be carried with the operator from one vehicle to another unlike the prior art examples which require fixed mounting to the controls of the vehicle.
The sensor preferably comprises a multi-axis accelerometer for sensing the acceleration of the vehicle.
When the controller comprises a processor, the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit preferably comprise programmable and adjustable set point values. Both the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit can be set to have a non-zero magnitude.
In a preferred embodiment, the first indicator comprises a green light, the second indicator comprises a red light and the third indicator comprises an amber or yellow light.
The indicators are may be supported directly on a helmet by being integrally formed on the helmet or by being supported on a portable housing which is selectively secured to the helmet using fasteners or adhesive.
There may be provided an auxiliary sensor for sensing an operating condition of the vehicle and a transmitter for transmitting the sensed operating condition of the vehicle to the controller.
The sensor may comprise both an accelerometer and a device for detecting vehicle engine RPM's. Preferably the controller is arranged to indicate a hazardous condition if acceleration data from the accelerometer and the RPM's of the vehicle are not consistent with one another, The sensor is preferably arranged to determine accelerations of the vehicle in multiple directions with the controller being arranged to indicate a hazardous condition responsive to repeated accelerations transverse to a forward direction of the vehicle.
Preferably the hazard indicator is independent of the first indicator, the second indicator and the third indicator and is also responsive to a manually activated switch.
There may be provided a stop indicator responsive to the vehicle being substantially stopped.
When the controller communicates with the vehicle by radio frequency, there may be provided a lost signal indicator coupled to the controller for indicating when contact is lost between the controller and the vehicle.
Some embodiments of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a schematic view of the components of the vehicle motion indicating device.
Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of the device.
Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the device.
Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the device shown mounted on a helmet.
Figure 5 is a rear elevational view of the device in an alternative embodiment shown mounted integrally on a helmet.
In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to the accompanying figures there is illustrated a vehicle motion indicating device generally indicated by reference numeral 10. The device 10 is particularly suited for indicating a motion condition of a vehicle to operators of other vehicles in the vicinity. In particular the device indicates an acceleration condition if the vehicle is quickly accelerating, a deceleration condition if the vehicle is quickly decelerating or a coasting condition if the vehicle is substantially at a constant speed 5 or is only slowly accelerating or slowly deceleration.
The primary components of the device, as shown in Figure 1, are supported within a portable housing 12. In the embodiment of Figures 2 through 4, the housing 12 is arranged for mounting onto an existing helmet 14 using suitable fasteners or glue and the like. In an altemative embodiment the components of the device are supported in a housing 12 which is formed integrally within the helmet 14.
In either embodiment, mounted with the housing, the device 10 includes a plurality of multi-axis accelerometers 16 which are arranged to determine the acceleration of the vehicle. The accelerometers 16 input the sensed acceleration forces into a controller 18 having an intemal processor which interprets the data from the acceierometers to determine a path of forward motion of the vehicle and the relative accelerations in the forward motion based upon the sensed data, The controller 18 includes an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit in the form of adjustable set points which are programmable over a range of values.
Using the acceleration data from the accelerometers and the acceleration and deceleration limits, the controller is arranged to determine the accelerating condition, the decelerating condition and the coasting condition.
The acceleration condition is determined when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises an acceleration rate which is greater than the acceleration limit.
The decelerating condition is determined when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises a deceleration rate which is greater than the deceleration limit.
The coasting condition is determined when the acceleration of the vehicle is between the acceleration and deceleration limits, that is the vehicle is accelerating more slowly than the acceleration limit or is decelerating less than the deceleration limit. When both the acceleration and deceleration limits have a non-zero magnitude the coasting condition is thus determined over a small range of aawleration values rather than only being determined when the acceleration is substantially zero as in the prior art.
The device includes an indicator panel 20 including a plurality of indicators thereon which provide indication to others of the condition of the vehicle.
The indicator panel includes a first indicator 22 in the form of a green light which is responsive to determination of the acceleration condition.
A second indicator 24 is provided which is red and which is responsive to determination of the deceleration condition. The controller is also arranged to indicate a stopped condition of the vehicle by illuminating the second indicator in a flashing pattern responsive to the vehicle being stopped.
A third indicator 26 is amber and is illuminated when the coasting condition is determined.
The housing 12 includes an internal battery power supply 28 for supplying power to the controller 18. A power switch 30 is also connected to the controller for turning the controller on or off as desired.
To enhance the accuracy of the controller in determining the various conditions of the vehicle, the RPM's of the vehicle or some other vehicle condition may be sensed and transmitted by a transmitter 32 mounted on the vehicle which communicates with a receiver 34 supported within the housing 12 of the device.
The receiver 34 relays information from the vehicle to the controller which in turn determines if there is a hazardous condition due to abnormal slippage or loss of traction of the vehicle for example.
In the illustrated example, a sensor 26 is coupled to monitor the pulses of electricity through the leads 38 coupled between the ignition system 40 and the cylinders 42 of the vehicle. Based on the rate of electrical impulses through the leads 38, the revolutions per minute of the vehicle engine can be determined to provide additional information to the controller.
The controller is also connected to a hazard indicator 44 which is also amber in colour and which forms an H-shaped pattern when combined with the third indicator 26. The hazard indicator 44 is automatically illuminated responsive to determination of a hazardous condition by the controller, or the hazard indicator 44 may be indicated by manually activating a hazard swi#ch 46 supported on the housing 12 of the device.
The device is also arranged to determine hazardous conditions if a particular path upon which the vehicle is travelling is excessively bumpy for example.
The accelerators 16 of the device are arranged to sense accelerations both in the direction of forward motion as well as various transverse directions so that excessively bumpy paths causing random accelerations due to the up and down motion of the vehicle permits a hazardous condition to be determined and indicated on the hazard indicator 44 or any of the other indicators by illuminating one or all of the indicators as desired.
The indicators each comprise an LED light which is illuminated when activated responsive to the conditions noted above. The particular arrangement of LED lights on the back of a helmet is shown in the accompanying figures. The LED's can either be inserted into the helmet or an LED light array to provide the mounting means.
As described above, green shows that the rider is accelerating, amber shows that the rider is maintaining speed or accelerating or decelerating slowly, and red shows that the rider is decelerating significantly. The device will also flash the red light intermittently when the rider has stopped completely to give other riders notice that the rider has stopped completely to avoid rear ending at night.
The device will also flash a yellow or amber intermittent light when it remains tumed on and the helmet is either apart from the corresponding vehicle or the vehicle is shut off and the RF receiver 34 can no longer sense a nearby ignition system.
The device will also feature a warning when amber lights flash in the shape of an 'H', on and off intermittently to warn riders behind not to follow for hazardous situations such as bad slush or unsafe ice or other problems are present.
The hazardous indicator can be activated by touching the manual switch on the side of the unit or by the unit sensing the engine RPM through a simple radio and sensing the acceleration forces and relating them to each other. The first and second, go and stop, indicator lights still function if the machine was slowing down or speeding up during the hazardous condition.
If the vehicle is maintaining speed or decelerating and there is a sudden jump in engine RPM, the hazard indicator will also come on with blinking lights to show that the conditions the operator of the vehicle is encountering are bad, for example really deep snow or slush.
The device would also use the accelerometers to sense significant bumps encountered and provide indication by activating some or all the lights of hte indicators. This would signal riders behind that conditions are rough and to possibly slow down.
The device would incorporate either a 3 or 2 axis accelerometers to sense the forces as well as a small radio to sense the ignition system to directly sense the RPM of the engine. As shown in the accompanying figures, the device may be a contained unit in the rear of the helmet as an add-on device with a 4 AA
battery pack or a built in device in helmets. The device would either glue or fasten to the rear of the helmet.
Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein above described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without department from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.
The device includes an indicator panel 20 including a plurality of indicators thereon which provide indication to others of the condition of the vehicle.
The indicator panel includes a first indicator 22 in the form of a green light which is responsive to determination of the acceleration condition.
A second indicator 24 is provided which is red and which is responsive to determination of the deceleration condition. The controller is also arranged to indicate a stopped condition of the vehicle by illuminating the second indicator in a flashing pattern responsive to the vehicle being stopped.
A third indicator 26 is amber and is illuminated when the coasting condition is determined.
The housing 12 includes an internal battery power supply 28 for supplying power to the controller 18. A power switch 30 is also connected to the controller for turning the controller on or off as desired.
To enhance the accuracy of the controller in determining the various conditions of the vehicle, the RPM's of the vehicle or some other vehicle condition may be sensed and transmitted by a transmitter 32 mounted on the vehicle which communicates with a receiver 34 supported within the housing 12 of the device.
The receiver 34 relays information from the vehicle to the controller which in turn determines if there is a hazardous condition due to abnormal slippage or loss of traction of the vehicle for example.
In the illustrated example, a sensor 26 is coupled to monitor the pulses of electricity through the leads 38 coupled between the ignition system 40 and the cylinders 42 of the vehicle. Based on the rate of electrical impulses through the leads 38, the revolutions per minute of the vehicle engine can be determined to provide additional information to the controller.
The controller is also connected to a hazard indicator 44 which is also amber in colour and which forms an H-shaped pattern when combined with the third indicator 26. The hazard indicator 44 is automatically illuminated responsive to determination of a hazardous condition by the controller, or the hazard indicator 44 may be indicated by manually activating a hazard swi#ch 46 supported on the housing 12 of the device.
The device is also arranged to determine hazardous conditions if a particular path upon which the vehicle is travelling is excessively bumpy for example.
The accelerators 16 of the device are arranged to sense accelerations both in the direction of forward motion as well as various transverse directions so that excessively bumpy paths causing random accelerations due to the up and down motion of the vehicle permits a hazardous condition to be determined and indicated on the hazard indicator 44 or any of the other indicators by illuminating one or all of the indicators as desired.
The indicators each comprise an LED light which is illuminated when activated responsive to the conditions noted above. The particular arrangement of LED lights on the back of a helmet is shown in the accompanying figures. The LED's can either be inserted into the helmet or an LED light array to provide the mounting means.
As described above, green shows that the rider is accelerating, amber shows that the rider is maintaining speed or accelerating or decelerating slowly, and red shows that the rider is decelerating significantly. The device will also flash the red light intermittently when the rider has stopped completely to give other riders notice that the rider has stopped completely to avoid rear ending at night.
The device will also flash a yellow or amber intermittent light when it remains tumed on and the helmet is either apart from the corresponding vehicle or the vehicle is shut off and the RF receiver 34 can no longer sense a nearby ignition system.
The device will also feature a warning when amber lights flash in the shape of an 'H', on and off intermittently to warn riders behind not to follow for hazardous situations such as bad slush or unsafe ice or other problems are present.
The hazardous indicator can be activated by touching the manual switch on the side of the unit or by the unit sensing the engine RPM through a simple radio and sensing the acceleration forces and relating them to each other. The first and second, go and stop, indicator lights still function if the machine was slowing down or speeding up during the hazardous condition.
If the vehicle is maintaining speed or decelerating and there is a sudden jump in engine RPM, the hazard indicator will also come on with blinking lights to show that the conditions the operator of the vehicle is encountering are bad, for example really deep snow or slush.
The device would also use the accelerometers to sense significant bumps encountered and provide indication by activating some or all the lights of hte indicators. This would signal riders behind that conditions are rough and to possibly slow down.
The device would incorporate either a 3 or 2 axis accelerometers to sense the forces as well as a small radio to sense the ignition system to directly sense the RPM of the engine. As shown in the accompanying figures, the device may be a contained unit in the rear of the helmet as an add-on device with a 4 AA
battery pack or a built in device in helmets. The device would either glue or fasten to the rear of the helmet.
Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein above described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without department from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.
Claims (15)
1. A vehicle motion indicating device comprising:
a sensor for sensing an acceleration of a vehicle;
a controller including an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit, the controller being arranged to determine an accelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises an acceleration rate which is greater than the acceleration limit, a decelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises a deceleration rate which is greater than the deceleration limit, and a coasting condition when the acceleration of the vehicle is between the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit;
a first indicator responsive to the acceleration condition;
a second indicator responsive to the deceleration condition; and a third indicator responsive to the coasting condition.
a sensor for sensing an acceleration of a vehicle;
a controller including an acceleration limit and a deceleration limit, the controller being arranged to determine an accelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises an acceleration rate which is greater than the acceleration limit, a decelerating condition when the acceleration of the vehicle comprises a deceleration rate which is greater than the deceleration limit, and a coasting condition when the acceleration of the vehicle is between the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit;
a first indicator responsive to the acceleration condition;
a second indicator responsive to the deceleration condition; and a third indicator responsive to the coasting condition.
2. The device according to Claim 1 wherein the sensor comprises a multi-axis accelerometer for sensing the acceleration of the vehicle.
3. The device according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the controller comprises a processor and wherein the acceleration limit and the deceleration limit comprise adjustable set point values.
4. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 3 wherein the acceleration limit has a non-zero magnitude.
5. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 4 wherein the deceleration limit has a non-zero magnitude.
6. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 5 wherein the first indicator comprises a green light, the second indicator comprises a red light and the third indicator comprises an amber light.
7. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 6 wherein the indicators are supported on a helmet.
8. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 7 wherein the sensor, the controller and the indicators are supported commonly in a portable housing.
9. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 8 wherein there is provided an auxiliary sensor for sensing an operating condition of the vehicle and a transmitter for transmitting the sensed operating condition of the vehicle to the controller.
10. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 9 wherein the sensor comprises at least one accelerometer and a device for detecting vehicle engine RPM's.
11. The device according to Claim 10 wherein the controller is arranged to indicate a hazardous condition if acceleration data from said at least one accelerometer and the RPM's of the vehicle are not consistent with one another.
12. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 11 wherein the sensor is arranged to determine accelerations of the vehicle in multiple directions and wherein the controller is arranged to indicate a hazardous condition responsive to repeated accelerations transverse to a forward direction of the vehicle.
13. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 12 wherein there is provided a hazard indicator which is independent of the first indicator, the second indicator and the third indicator and which is responsive to a manually activated switch.
14. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 13 wherein there is provided a stop indicator responsive to the vehicle being substantially stopped.
15. The device according to any one of Claims 1 through 14 wherein the controller communicates with the vehicle by radio frequency and wherein there is provided a lost signal indicator coupled to the controller for indicating when contact is lost between the controller and the vehicle.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2537316 CA2537316A1 (en) | 2006-02-15 | 2006-02-15 | Vehicle motion indicating device |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2537316 CA2537316A1 (en) | 2006-02-15 | 2006-02-15 | Vehicle motion indicating device |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2537316A1 true CA2537316A1 (en) | 2007-08-15 |
Family
ID=38421234
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2537316 Abandoned CA2537316A1 (en) | 2006-02-15 | 2006-02-15 | Vehicle motion indicating device |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2537316A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP2589511A1 (en) | 2011-11-03 | 2013-05-08 | Scorpion Sports Europe | Luminous protective helmet |
| WO2016046331A3 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-07-21 | Erwin, William Alexander | A helmet and a lighting system for a helmet |
-
2006
- 2006-02-15 CA CA 2537316 patent/CA2537316A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP2589511A1 (en) | 2011-11-03 | 2013-05-08 | Scorpion Sports Europe | Luminous protective helmet |
| FR2982215A1 (en) * | 2011-11-03 | 2013-05-10 | Scorpion Sports Europ | METHOD FOR LIGHTING LUMINOUS SECURITY ACCESSORY |
| WO2016046331A3 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-07-21 | Erwin, William Alexander | A helmet and a lighting system for a helmet |
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