WO1995029076A1

WO1995029076A1 - Emergency circuit for self-powered vehicles in general

Info

Publication number: WO1995029076A1
Application number: PCT/IT1994/000049
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giovanni Strazzabosco
Original assignee: Giovanni Strazzabosco
Priority date: 1994-04-20
Filing date: 1994-04-20
Publication date: 1995-11-02
Also published as: AU6806694A

Abstract

It is made up of a container which can be installed on motor vehicles and which offers protection from chemical or atmospheric conditions and from mechanical action. It contains an autonomous battery and an electrical/electronic circuit connected to sensors. It detects impact and/or any off-course position of the vehicle by activating the acoustic signal and/or turn indicators and/or the supplementary light signals. The circuit can be deactivated by using the button placed directly on the protected box.

Description

TITLE

EMERGENCY CIRCUIT FOR SELF-POWERED VEHICLES IN

GENERAL DESCRIPTION At the present time, whenever it is necessary to signal danger in motor vehicles, there is only one emergency button which simultaneously activates all turn indicators. Such a warning system is not very ftinctional in that it requires manual activation by a person, usually the driver, and it also requires that the electrical system be fully operational, at least the part involving the connections between the battery, the emergency button and the turn indicators. In case of accident, the persons inside the vehicle might not be able to activate the emergency switch (due to being unconscious, wounded, and so on) or the power from the battery to the entire electrical system might be interrupted. In this case, any activation of the existing emergency system would be useless.

In order to resolve the above faults a new autonomous emergency system has been studied and developed.

This new emergency system is essentially made up of a solid, air-tight container which includes an electrical/electromc circuit, position and collision sensors and a battery.

The electrical/electronic circuit is connected to the sensors and the turn indicators of the motor vehicle, as also to the vehicle's battery and the supplementary internal battery. When the motor vehicle undergoes any kind of strong impact in a horizontal direction (rear collision, overtiirning, lateral collision, impact with obstacles, and so on) or if it takes a position or inclination which is definitely off-course (e.g. in a ditch or cliff) this is picked up by the sensors of the electrical/electronic circuit which governs the activation of the flashing lights (orange or red) and/or of the acoustic signals; The regular, standard vehicle battery can contribute to powering the system only if it has not been damaged by the accident. Whenever the vehicle's battery is damaged or at any rate not functional because of the interruption of the electrical connection, the supplementary battery installed inside the air-tight container will power both the emergency circuit and the acoustic signals, the light signals and any supplementary stroboscopic lights that may be present. In order to interrupt the functioning of the emergency circuit, and thus of the light and acoustic signals, it is necessary to use the switch or the button located on the container of the emergency circuit; the presence of a disactivating button is due to the fact that if the driver and/or any passengers are not in need of urgent care, they can certainly intervene to stop the i^ctioning of the emergency circuit. If this is not the case, the emergency circuit continues to operate until someone else arrives to disactivate it.

The air-tight container can be placed anywhere in the vehicle which is normally accessible, e.g. under the bonnet or boot. In the attached table, which illustrates only one of the possible versions, a diagram of the invention is shown. One can clearly see the air-tight container (A) within which are housed the electrical/electronic circuit (B), the impact sensors (Cl) and the position sensors (C2) and the supplementary battery (D). The disactivation button (E) is placed on the air-tight container (A) so as to be activated in a normal manner, without the danger of accidental activation.

The electrical/electronic circuit (B) is connected both to the battery (F) which is standard on the motor vehicle and to the devices for emergency signalling (G), either light and/or acoustic, with which the vehicle was already equipped or which are supplementary.

The above brief indications are sufficient for the realization of the invention by an expert. Thus, when the invention is implemented, variants may be present without however changing the basic innovative concept involved in the invention.

Therefore, with reference to the description and illustration which are attached, the following claims are put forth:

Claims

1) Self-powered emergency system for motor vehicles in general, characterized by the fact that it is made up of a container within which there is an electrical/electronic circuit connected to position and/or impact sensors and to acoustic and/or visual signals of the motor vehicle and/or to supplementary signals. In this system, whenever there is a violent impact and/or the position of the motor vehicle is strongly inclined or off-course, said electrical/electromc circuit activates the above-mentioned acoustic and/or visual signals.

2) Self-powered emergency system for motor vehicles in general as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that a button or switch or similar device governs the interruption of the emergency circuit, and in which said switch or button is placed on the container of the electrical/electronic circuit itself.

3) Self-powered emergency system for motor vehicles in general as per claims 1 and 2, characterized by the fact that a supplementary battery is housed in the interior of the container of the emergency circuit so as to guarantee the operation of the circuit itself and of the acoustic and/or visual signals whenever power is not available from the standard battery with which the motor vehicle is equipped.

4) Self-powered emergency system for motor vehicles as per claim 3, characterized by the fact that it has a circuit board which gives priority to the activation of the primary circuit (powered by the vehicle's standard battery) and disactivates the power.