JPH05288837A - Rear-end-collision preventing sensor for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a rear-end-collision preventing sensor, for vehicle use, wherein it is detached in normal travelling, it is mounted in the bad weather when the visibility is bad due to a dense fog or the like, it can avoid a rear-end- collision, its cost is low and it can be carried when it is detached. CONSTITUTION:A sensor 1 is constituted of the following: a housing 2 provided with an infrared sensor part 21 at the front; an attraction part 3 which is installed at the lower side of the housing 2 and which fixes the housing 2 to a vehicle by means of a powerful magnetic force or the like so as to be detachable; and a power-supply terminal part 4 which is connected to the housing 2 by means of a cord 4a, which is inserted in a cigarette-lighter socket at the vehicle and from which a power supply for the housing 2 is taken. The infrared sensor part 21 detects infrared rays which are emitted form an exhaust part at a vehicle in front, displays the distance between the vehicle and the preceeding vehicle by means of an LED display part at the back face of the housing 2 and informs the driver in the vehicle.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention can be mounted on the hood of a vehicle or the like, and is particularly used in bad weather such as dense fog or when driving on a highway to prevent a rear-end collision sensor for a rear-vehicle collision. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle rear-end collision prevention sensor emits a radio wave forward, receives a reflected wave of the radio wave, etc., and measures the time from the transmission to the reception of the front vehicle. It is known that the driver of the own vehicle is notified of the inter-vehicle distance and the risk of a rear-end collision with the preceding vehicle depending on the inter-vehicle distance.

Such vehicle prevention sensors are usually
It is installed in the vehicle first or later, and is always equipped.

[0004]

However, such a conventional vehicle rear-end collision prevention sensor is expensive because it is of the radio wave reflection type as described above, and it is mounted on the vehicle at all times and is always mounted. It is often not installed in ordinary vehicles because it is time-consuming and cannot be easily removed with one touch when trying to remove this sensor because it is not always necessary during general driving.

Therefore, in the case of a vehicle which is not equipped with this sensor, there is a problem that a rear-end collision / collision accident is likely to occur during bad weather such as dense fog and the like in which the forward visibility is bad or when traveling on a highway.

Therefore, the present invention has been made by paying attention to such a problem, and while it is removed during general driving,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and removable rear-end collision prevention sensor for a vehicle, which can be mounted to prevent a rear-end collision when the vehicle is in bad weather such as a thick fog with bad forward visibility.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an infrared sensor portion which is provided on a front side of a housing in a vehicle traveling direction and detects infrared rays emitted from an exhaust portion of a vehicle ahead, and a vehicle traveling direction. Provided on the rear side of the housing in the direction of, and displaying a vehicle-to-vehicle distance information between the preceding vehicle and the vehicle in accordance with the detection output of the infrared sensor section, and provided on the lower surface side of the housing, A suction part that removably adsorbs onto the bonnet, etc.,
It is characterized by including.

[0008]

In the present invention, the infrared sensor section detects infrared rays emitted from the exhaust section of the front vehicle, and the display section displays the inter-vehicle distance information between the vehicle and the front vehicle according to the detection output. The suction unit removably fixes the sensor on the hood of the vehicle.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a vehicle rear-end collision prevention sensor according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the present sensor 1.

This sensor 1 is provided with a housing 2 provided on the front surface of an infrared sensor portion 21 for detecting infrared rays emitted from an exhaust portion (exhaust muffler) of a vehicle in front and a lower surface side of the housing 2, and is similar to a patrol light or the like. And a suction part 3 for removably fixing the housing 2 by adsorbing it to a vehicle (not shown) with a strong magnetic force or a suction plate, and connecting the housing 2 and the cord 4a to the cigarette lighter socket of the vehicle. And a power supply terminal portion 4 for taking the power supply of the housing 2 from the in-vehicle battery of the vehicle.

In the present embodiment, the infrared sensor section 21a is set so that its detection frequency can detect, among infrared rays, far infrared rays having a large thermal energy emitted from a heat source such as an exhaust section.

FIG. 2 shows the back surface of the sensor 1.

On the back side of the sensor 1, that is, on the side facing the front side on which the infrared sensor section 21 is mounted, and on the side facing the windshield of the vehicle when the sensor 1 is mounted, the display color will be described later. The LED display unit 24 is provided to notify the driver of the vehicle of the inter-vehicle distance information by changing the three levels.

Here, a circuit in the housing 2 for changing the display color of the LED display section 24 according to the detection output of the infrared sensor section 21 is well known, but an example of the circuit is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, an amplifier circuit 22 for amplifying the detection output of the infrared sensor section 21 in the housing 2 and a discrimination circuit 23 for discriminating the detection output amplified by the amplification circuit 22 into three stages according to the inter-vehicle distance. And LEDs that are lit in "blue", "yellow", and "red" by the output of the discrimination circuit 23, respectively.
The LED display unit 24 including 1 to 3 is provided.

The discrimination circuit 23 is a transistor which performs switching operation by two comparators, each of which is six comparators C1 to C6 and comparators C1 to C6, which distribute the light emission voltages of the LEDs 1 to 3 according to the size of the inter-vehicle distance. O due to conduction of Tr 1 to 3 and each transistor Tr 1 to 3
It is configured by connecting phototransistor couplers FTC 1 to 3 for turning on / off and respectively supplying current to LEDs 1 to 3, and various resistors.

The resistor VR1 is a variable resistor that adjusts the voltage applied to the discrimination circuit 23, and the resistors VR2 to VR7 set the discrimination reference voltage to one input of the comparators C1 to C6, respectively. Each discrimination reference voltage is supplied to the amplifier circuit 22.
It is set according to the output voltage of the infrared sensor unit 21 via the.

That is, for example, when traveling on a highway at a speed of 80 km / h, the output voltage becomes 4.
The output voltage is 5.0 when 0 v and the distance between vehicles is 60 m.
v, when the inter-vehicle distance is almost 0 m and the output voltage is approximately 11.0 v, the values of the resistors VR2 to 7 are adjusted as follows.

VR1 = 0v, VR2 = 4.0v VR3 = 4.0v, VR4 = 5.0v VR5 = 5.0v, VR6 = 12.0v In this way, the distance between vehicles of the blue LED 1 is 80 m.
As described above, when the input voltage from the infrared sensor unit 21 via the amplifier circuit 22 is 4.0 v or less, light is emitted and the yellow LE
D2 has an inter-vehicle distance of 80 to 60 m and the input voltage is 4.0.
Light is emitted when the input voltage is up to 5.0 v, and the red LED 3 emits when the input voltage is 60 m or less and the input voltage is 5.0 v or more.

Next, FIG. 4 shows how the sensor 1 is used.

The sensor 1 is normally carried in the trunk of the vehicle 6 or in the passenger compartment, and is taken out in bad weather such as dense fog or during high-speed traveling, and as shown in FIG.
The LED display section 24 of the sensor 1 is installed on the bonnet 61 or the like so that the driver can see it, and the infrared sensor section 21 can detect the infrared rays emitted from the exhaust section of the vehicle ahead. At the same time, the power supply terminal portion 4 is inserted into the cigarette lighter socket of the vehicle 6.

Then, since the adsorption portion 3 is provided below the main sensor 1, the adsorption portion 3 fixes the main sensor 1 from the bonnet 61 so as not to slip and fall while the vehicle is running. A current is supplied from the vehicle-mounted battery to the infrared sensor section 21 via the socket, the infrared sensor section 21 detects infrared rays emitted from the vehicle in front, and the LED display section 24 displays a message according to the inter-vehicle distance.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and the front vehicle is detected by detecting the infrared rays emitted from the exhaust portion of the front vehicle, and the detection output indicates several steps according to the inter-vehicle distance. As a result, the driver of the vehicle can recognize the approximate inter-vehicle distance, so the configuration is cheaper than when using expensive measurement sensors such as radio wave reflection type, and rear-end collision / collision accidents during bad weather or during highway driving. Is prevented.

The sensor should be removed from the vehicle indoors during general driving, and taken out only during heavy fog, bad weather with poor visibility in the front such as at night or during snowfall, and during high speed driving. If it is used, it is possible to obtain the effect that the time and effort required for mounting are lower than in the case where this sensor is constantly equipped in the vehicle.

In this embodiment, the inside of the housing 2 is closed.
Although it is configured as hardware, the present invention may be configured not only as hardware but also as software. In this case, the output from the infrared sensor is A /
The digital value is once digitized by the D converter, and the digitized value is measured by the program processing in which the processing procedure equivalent to the circuit shown in FIG. 3 is programmed.

Further, in the present embodiment, the power source is described as being taken from the vehicle-mounted battery via the cigarette lighter / socket. However, in the present invention, a dry cell or the like is used without taking the power source from the vehicle-mounted battery. Is also good.

Further, in the present embodiment, the description has been made such that the driver of the vehicle is notified of the inter-vehicle distance information based on the change in the display color in the LED display section. Step display by a level meter provided with a light emitting diode, display of vehicle distance at intervals of 10 m, for example, by 7 segment LED, "safety",
Characters such as "caution" and "danger" may be displayed, and the point is that the driver can be notified of the inter-vehicle distance information.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the infrared rays emitted from the exhaust portion of the front vehicle are detected, and the inter-vehicle distance information between the vehicle and the front vehicle is displayed according to the detection output. Since the driver of the vehicle is informed, an expensive measurement sensor such as a radio wave reflection type is not used, and it is an inexpensive structure, and it is possible to prevent a rear-end collision / collision accident during bad weather such as dense fog with bad forward visibility or during highway driving. ..

Since this sensor is detachably fixed on the vehicle by the adsorption part, it is detached indoors during general driving, and it is used in bad weather such as dense fog with bad forward visibility or high speed driving. If this sensor is used only in the case of 1, the effect is obtained that the labor and cost at the time of mounting are less than the case where this sensor is always equipped in the vehicle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a vehicle rear-end collision prevention sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view showing the rear surface of the sensor 1.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of a housing 2.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a usage state of the sensor 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Vehicle rear-end collision prevention sensor 2 Housing 3 Adsorption part 4 Power supply terminal part 6 Vehicle 21 Infrared sensor part 24 LED display part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An infrared sensor section provided on the front side of the housing in the vehicle traveling direction and for detecting infrared rays emitted from an exhaust section of a vehicle ahead, and an infrared sensor section provided on the rear side of the housing in the vehicle traveling direction, for detecting the infrared sensor section. A display unit that displays the inter-vehicle distance information between the preceding vehicle and the vehicle in accordance with the output, and a suction unit that is provided on the lower surface side of the housing and that detachably adsorbs onto the hood of the vehicle. A vehicle rear-end collision prevention sensor characterized by being provided.