Electronic road flare-charging unit

Abstract

A vehicle component (5) for a vehicle (1), the vehicle component (5) comprising an integrated electronic road flare-charging unit (9) suitable for charging a battery (21) of an electronic road flare (

Description

21 08 24 TECHNICAL FIELD 5 The present disclosure relates to an electronic road flare-charging unit. In particular, but not exclusively it relates to an electronic road flare-charging unit integrated into a vehicle component. 10 BACKGROUND Electronic road flares are portable electric lighting devices having a self-contained rechargeable battery, usually utilising an arrangement of LEDs to provide the lighting. They are used as warning markers in emergencies such as breakdowns to warn other drivers of the 15   presence of a stationary vehicle in or at the side of the road. They are suitable for placement on the road, for example in proximity to the stationary vehicle, or attachment to the vehicle, often via magnetic attraction. They are usually formed as either disks or as batons. The timing of emergencies is unpredictable. It is therefore important to ensure that the 20   batteries of the electronic road flares are maintained at a suitable state of charge so that they can perform their function as warning markers by providing lighting in the event of and over the duration of an emergency situation. It is an aim of the present invention to reduce a risk of the road flares being under-charged 25 when it is time for them to be deployed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Aspects and embodiments of the invention provide a vehicle component and vehicle as 30 claimed in the appended claims. According to an aspect of the invention there is provided a vehicle component for a vehicle, the vehicle component comprising an integrated electronic road flare-charging unit suitable for charging a battery of an electronic road flare, the vehicle component comprising one or more 21 08 24 sets of conductive contacts for delivering charge to the battery of the electronic road flare, the one or more sets of conductive contacts being set into a recess in the vehicle component arranged to receive one or more electronic road flares, the one or more sets of conductive contacts being permanently connected to wiring routed within an internal structure of the 5 vehicle component to electrically connect the one or more sets of conductive contacts to the wiring harness of the vehicle. This may provide the advantage that, as a consequence of on-board storage of an electronic road flare in the dedicated recess, charge is delivered to its battery so that it is highly likely to 10 be sufficiently charged for use as a warning marker when the need arises. Sidewalls of the recess comprise one or more locator elements for electronic road flares. Optionally, each locator element is associated with a set of conductive contacts. 15 The one or more locator elements comprise notches in the sidewalls. Optionally, the notches are configured to engage with correspondingly profiled parts of electronic road flare to at least partially orientate an engaged electronic road flare for 20 electrical connection with a set of conductive contacts. Optionally, the recess is dimensioned to receive a plurality of electronic road flares. Optionally, the vehicle component comprises a plurality of sets of conductive contacts. 25 Optionally, the plurality of sets of conductive contacts are regularly spaced. Optionally, the one or more sets of conductive contacts are set into the base of the recess. 30 Optionally, the electronic road flare-charging unit comprises a retention system for retaining an electronic road flare once received within the recess. Optionally, the retention system comprises a ferromagnetic surface, located in association with a set of conductive contacts, for attraction to a magnetic portion of an electronic road. 21 08 24 Optionally, the ferromagnetic surface is provided by a steel washer located between a pair of spring-loaded electrical pins which provide a set of the conductive contacts. 5 Optionally, the vehicle component is a vehicle door and the electronic road flare-charging unit is integrated into an inner panel of the vehicle door. This may provide the advantage that a charged electronic road flare will be readily accessible to a vehicle user when the need to deploy that road flare arises. 10 According to an aspect of the invention there is provided a vehicle comprising the vehicle component described in the foregoing paragraphs. Optionally, the vehicle component or vehicle described in the foregoing paragraphs comprises: 15 a battery management system connected to the one or more sets of conductive contacts for determining a state of charge and / or state of health of a battery of an electronic road flare; and one or more output devices providing a human-perceptible indication of the state of charge and / or state of health. 20 This may provide the advantage of allowing faulty or undercharged road flares to be easily identified. This may be of particular use in the operation of fleets of vehicles, such as roadside assistance vehicle for example, where it will be desirable that a check to see if the road flares carried on-board are working and ready for use can be performed quickly. 25 According to an aspect of the invention there is provided a vehicle door comprising an electronic road flare-charging unit integrated into an inner panel of the vehicle door, the electronic road flare-charging unit comprising one or more sets of conductive contacts for delivering charge to a battery of an electronic road flare, the one or more sets of conductive contacts being set into a recess in the inner panel for receiving one or more electronic road 30 flares, the one or more sets of conductive contacts being permanently connected to wiring routed within an internal structure of the vehicle door to electrically connect the one or more sets of conductive contacts to the door wiring harness. According to an aspect of the invention there is provided a supplementary charging unit, sized to be received by a recess of an electronic road flare-charging unit, comprising: a magnet for attracting a ferromagnetic surface comprised within the recess; conductive contacts for receiving charge from one or more sets of conductive contacts of the electronic road flare-5 charging unit; at least one of: a plug, a socket, or an induction coil, configured to deliver charge to portable electronic devices; and circuitry to transmit charge received at the conductive contacts to the at least one of: the plug, the socket, or the induction coil. Within the scope of this application, it is expressly intended that the various aspects, 10 embodiments, examples and alternatives set out in the preceding paragraphs, in the claims and / or in the following description and drawings, and in particular the individual features thereof, may be taken independently or in any combination that falls within the scope of the appended claims. That is, all embodiments and / or features of any embodiment can be combined in any way and / or combination that falls within the scope of the appended claims, 15 unless such features are incompatible. The applicant reserves the right to change any originally filed claim or file any new claim accordingly, including the right to amend any originally filed claim to depend from and / or incorporate any feature of any other claim although CM not originally claimed in that manner. 00 O20 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 1— CM One or more embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 25 FIG 1 illustrates an example of a vehicle; FIG 2 illustrates an example of a vehicle component comprising an integrated electronic road flare-charging unit; FIG 3 illustrates an example of a vehicle door comprising an integrated electronic road flarecharging unit; 30 FIG 4A and 4B illustrates an example of an electronic road flare-charging unit; FIG 5 illustrates an example of a battery management system; and FIG 6 illustrates an example of a supplementary charging unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION 21 08 24 FIG 1 illustrates an example of a vehicle 1 in which embodiments of the invention can be implemented. In some, but not necessarily all examples, the vehicle 1 is a passenger vehicle, 5 also referred to as a passenger car or as an automobile. In other examples, embodiments of the invention can be implemented for other applications, such as commercial vehicles. The vehicle 1 comprises a battery 3 which supplies electrical power to various vehicle components 5 or electrical parts thereof via the vehicle wiring harness 7. 10 FIG 2 illustrates an example of a vehicle component 5 for the vehicle 1 which comprises an integrated electronic road flare-charging unit 9 suitable for charging a battery 21 of an electronic road flare 19. 15 The vehicle component 5 accordingly comprises one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 for delivering charge to the battery 21 of the electronic road flare 19. The one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are set into a recess 13 in the vehicle component 5 which is arranged to receive one or more electronic road flares 19. 20 As can be seen in the illustrated example, the electronic road flares 19 will have a corresponding set of conductive contacts 23 through which charge can pass into the electronic road flares 19 when brought into contact with a set of the conductive contacts 11 set into the recess 13 in the vehicle component 5. Bringing the two sets of conductive contacts 11, 23 25 into contact involves inserting the electronic road flare 19 into the recess 13 in the vehicle component 5. The one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are permanently connected to wiring 15 routed within an internal structure 17 of the vehicle component 5 to electrically connect the one or 30 more sets of conductive contacts 11 to the wiring harness 7 of the vehicle 1. The one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are permanently connected to the wiring 15 is so far as the connection will remain indefinitely unbroken except by damage, fault, wear, or similar. It will be understood that the connection can be broken but this will result in damage and reconnection will require repair. Permanent connection will be understood in contrast to temporary or releasable connections, such as plug and socket connectors, which are configured to enable disconnection, usually, though not exclusively, without the use of tools. Permanent connection can be provided by, for example, a soldered joint. Accordingly, in some 5 implementations the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are soldered to the wiring 15. Although the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are permanently connected to wiring 15 which provides an electrical connection through to the wiring harness 7 of the vehicle 1, it is to be appreciated that the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 need not also be 10 permanently connected to the wiring harness 7 of the vehicle 1 via the wiring 15. That is, the wiring 15 need not be permanently connected to the wiring harness 7 of the vehicle 1. The wiring 15 may instead, in some examples, connect with the wiring harness 7 via a plug and socket connector or other suitable releasable electrical connector. In other examples a permanent connection between the wiring 15 and the wiring harness 7 is provided and 15 accordingly the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are permanently connected to the wiring harness 7 of the vehicle 1. The recess 13 provides on-board storage location for the electronic road flares 19. Insertion of the electronic road flares 19 into the recess 13 results in electrical connection with the set 20 of conductive contacts 11 which deliver charge to the battery 21 of the electronic road flare 19. Therefore, provided electronic road flares 19 are properly stored on board the vehicle 1, charge will be delivered to their batteries 21 and it is highly likely that these electronic road flares 19 which are available to the vehicle user will then be sufficiently charged for use as warning markers when needed. 25 The vehicle component 5 either is part of or secures to a body of the vehicle 1. For the avoidance of doubt, the means of securing the vehicle component 5 to the body of the vehicle 1 are other than the wiring 15 which facilitates connection with the wiring harness 7 of the vehicle 1. 30 In some examples the vehicle component 5 is comprised within an accessible compartment within the body of the vehicle 1 or in a boundary of said compartment. Said compartment is accessible without disassembly requiring the use of tools. Examples of said compartment include the occupant compartment (cabin) or load compartment (boot) or additional storage compartments such as under the floor of the load compartment. Examples of components which provide a boundary of said compartments include doors, both 5 side doors and rear doors, or walls of the load compartment, including those provided by the back of the seats. The electronic road flare-charging unit 9 may be integrated into inboard sides of said components such as the inner panel 27 of a door 25 (see the example of FIG 3). Examples of components comprised within said compartments include seats. For example, 10 the electronic road flare-charging unit 9 may be integrated into the back of a seat. The vehicle component 5 into which the electronic road flare-charging unit 9 is integrated may be one which is located so as to be readily accessible to a vehicle occupant or a person outside but beside the vehicle 1. It may be preferable for location to be unobstructed by other vehicle 15 components or by luggage stowed in spaces expressly provided for it. FIG 3 illustrates an example in which the electronic road flare-charging unit 9 is integrated into CM      a vehicle door 25. Specifically, the vehicle door 25 comprising an electronic road flare- co      charging unit 9 integrated into an inner panel 27 of the vehicle door 25. ^^20 1—      As in the foregoing examples, the electronic road flare-charging unit 9 comprises the one or CM      more sets of conductive contacts 11 for delivering charge to the battery 21 of an electronic road flare 19. 25 The one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are set into a recess 13 which in this example is formed in the inner panel 27 of the vehicle door 25. As before, this recess 13 is capable of receiving one or more electronic road flares 19 therein, particularly such that the conductive contacts 23 of the electronic road flares 19 can make contact with the conductive contacts 11 set therein. 30 The one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are permanently connected to wiring (not shown) routed within the internal structure (not shown) of the vehicle door 25 to electrically connect the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 to the door wiring harness (not shown). The door wiring harness passes out of the internal structure of the door 25 and into the internal 21 08 24 structure of the body of the vehicle 1 where it joins with the rest of the wiring harness 7 of the vehicle 1. The vehicle door 25 can be a rear door (tailgate), providing access, and a boundary, to a load 5 compartment of the vehicle 1. The rear door may be side-opening. The vehicle door 25 can be a side door, providing access, and a boundary, to an occupant compartment of the vehicle 1. 10 FIG 4A illustrates details of an example integrated electronic road flare-charging unit 9. FIG 4B illustrates the same example with example electronic road flares 19 received within the recess 13 such that they are able to undergo charging. Though the example integrated electronic road flare-charging unit 9 illustrated in these FIGS 15 is adapted for disk-shaped electronic road flares 19 of the precise form illustrated in FIG 4B, it will be appreciated that the principles herein described are applicable to road flares of any shape or size. The illustrated example the integrated electronic road flare-charging unit 9 comprises a 20 plurality of sets of conductive contacts 11 set into the recess 13. It is therefore suitable for delivering charge to the batteries 21 of an equivalent plurality of electronic road flares 19. The recess 13 is dimensioned to receive these plurality of electronic road flares 19. The sets of conductive contacts 11 can be regularly spaced. For example, the sets of 25 conductive contacts 11 can be arranged in a linear array, resulting in an elongate recess 13 (as shown in FIG 4A). Alternatively, the sets of conductive contacts 11 can be arranged in a rectangular array. In some examples, the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 are set into the base 29 of 30 the recess 13. The recess 13 is therefore dimensioned to receive electronic road flares 19 inserted base-first so that conductive contacts 23 on the base of the electronic road flares 19 can form an electrical connection with the conductive contacts 11 of the integrated electronic road flare-charging unit 9. In such examples, the sidewalls 31 of the recess 31 may comprise one or more locator elements 33 for the electronic road flares 19. Each locator element 33 is associated with a set of conductive contacts 11. More than one locator element 33 may be associated with a single set of conductive contacts 11. For example, a single set of conductive contacts 11 may 5 be associated with a pair of locator element 33 in opposing sidewalls 31. The locator elements 33 can comprise notches in the sidewalls 31, protrusions from the sidewalls 31, or a combination. The notches (or protrusions) are configured to engage with correspondingly profiled parts 35 (protrusions or notches respectively) of electronic road flare 19 to orientate an engaged electronic road flare 19 for electrical connection with a set of conductive contacts 10    11. In the illustrated example it will be appreciated that it is possible to insert the example electronic road flare 19 into the example recess 13 in only one orientation, by virtue of the round shape of one recess 33 and corresponding round shape of protrusion 35. A single orientation ensures not only that the conductive contacts 11 are in engagement with the corresponding conductive contacts 23 on the base of the electronic road flares 19, but also 15 that the correct polarity of the connection is assured. It would be feasible to not include an orientation mechanism such as this if, for example, the contacts 11 and 23 were concentrically disposed in the recess and on the road flare respectively, and centred on an axis of orientation CM of the road flare 19 within the recess 31. 00 ^^20 In some other examples, the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 can be set into the 1—      sidewalls 31 of the recess 13. The recess 13 is therefore dimensioned to receive electronic CM      road flares 19 inserted edge-first so that conductive contacts 23 on the base of the electronic road flares 19 can form an electrical connection with the conductive contacts 11 of the integrated electronic road flare-charging unit 9. This can result in a deeper but narrower 25 recess 13 which may be more suitable for integration into some vehicle components 5. In the illustrated example, but not necessarily all examples, a set of conductive contacts 11 comprises a pair of spring-loaded electrical pins projecting from a base of the recess. The pair of spring-loaded electrical pins are biased into contact with an electronic road flare 19 30 when it is received within the recess 13. The electronic road flare-charging unit 9 comprises a retention system for retaining an electronic road flare 19 once received within the recess 13. In the illustrated example, the retention system comprises a ferromagnetic surface 37, such as may be provided by a steel washer for example, located between the pair of spring-loaded electrical pins (a set of conductive contacts 11). The ferromagnetic surface 37 is attracted to the magnetic portion 39 of the electronic road flare 19, the same portion which enables the electronic road flare 19 to be attached to a vehicle body as a warning marker. An equivalent number of ferromagnetic 5 surfaces 37, thusly arranged, to the sets of conductive contacts 11 are provided. It will be appreciated that the retention system can comprise other arrangements of the same or different ferromagnetic material(s), located in association with at least one set of conductive contacts 11, for attraction to the magnetic portion 39 of the electronic road flare 19. For example, the base 29 of the recess 13 can be provided by a ferromagnetic plate such as a 10 steel plate. In other examples the retention system may involve mechanisms other than magnetic attraction. The sidewalls 31 can be resiliently deflectable, deflecting outwards upon insertion of an electronic road flare 19 and, due to their resilience, exerting a countering, inward gripping 15 force on the inserted electronic road flare 19. The recess 13 can be provided a detachable or otherwise openable cover. Though the illustrated recess 13 is sized to receive multiple electronic road flares 19, the 20 electronic road flare-charging unit 9 could comprise multiple recesses 13, each comprising a single set of conductive contacts 11 for delivering charge to a single electronic road flare 19. FIG 5 illustrates an example battery management system (BMS) 100 connected to the one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 for determining a state of charge and / or state of health of 25 the batteries 21 of the electronic road flares 19 which are electrically connected to the conductive contacts 11. The BMS 100 comprises at least one controller 101 and one or more sensors 115 for measuring parameters from which at least a state of charge and / or state of health of the 30 batteries 21 can be derived. The BMS 100 may provide a human-perceptible indication of the state of charge and / or state of health of the batteries 21 via one or more output devices 117. The, or each, controller 101 may have an interface 103 comprising an electrical input / output I / O, or an electrical input 111, or an electrical output 113, for receiving information and interacting with external components such as one or more sensors 115 and the one or more output devices 117. The interface 103 can in some examples receive power from the vehicle battery 3 via the wiring harness 7. 5 The, or each, controller 101 includes at least one electronic processor 105; and at least one memory device 107 electrically coupled to the electronic processor 105 and having instructions (e.g. a computer program 109) stored therein. The at least one memory device 107 and the instructions are configured to, with the at least one processor 105, to receive at the inputs 111 measurements from the one or more sensors 115, determine a state of charge 10 and / or state of health of the batteries 21, and control the one or more outputs 113 to control output devices 117 to provide a human-perceptible indication of the state of charge and / or state of health of the batteries 21. Other values such as time to full charge and expected duration of operation can be determined from the received measurements from the one or more sensors 115 and indicated via the one or more output devices 117. 15 The one or more sensors may comprise any of at least one current sensor, at least one voltage sensor, at least one polarity sensor for example to show if the road flare is installed the right way round, at least one battery charge fault sensor for example to show if there are any charging errors on any one road flare 19 so it can be replaced or repaired as needed, or any other suitable sensor. The one or more output devices 117 can be comprised in the integrated electronic road flarecharging unit 9. Different output devices 117 may be associated with different set of conductive contacts 11. Multiple output devices 117 may be associated with each set of 25 conductive contacts 11, each output device 117 associated with a set of conductive contacts 11 providing a human-perceptible indication of a different value such as state of charge, state of health, time to full charge, expected duration of operation, etc. The one or more output devices 117 may be visual output devices positioned adjacent the recess 13 in alignment with the set of conductive contacts 11 with which they are associated. 30 Additionally or alternatively, the controller 101 may use one or more of these values to determine if the battery 21 of an electronic road flare 19 is faulty and to control an output device 117 associated with the set of conductive contacts 11 to which the faulty electronic road flare 19 is connected to provide a human-perceptible indication that there is a fault. 21 08 24 The one or more output devices 117 therefore enable a user to make a quick assessment of whether the available electronic road flares 19 are working and ready for use. 5 The BMS 100 can be comprised in the vehicle component 5 or otherwise in the vehicle 1. The one or more output devices 117 can be comprised in the vehicle component 5 or otherwise in the vehicle 1. 10 FIG 6 illustrates an example of a supplementary charging unit 200, sized to be received by the recess 13 of the electronic road flare-charging unit 9. The supplementary charging unit 200 can be inserted into the recess 13 in place of one or more electronic road flare 19 to adapt the electronic road flare-charging unit 9 to charge other portable electronic devices. 15 The example supplementary charging unit 200 comprises a magnet 201 for attracting one or more ferromagnetic surfaces 37 or other ferromagnetic material used as a retention system which are comprised within the recess 13. The example supplementary charging unit 200 comprises conductive contacts 203 for 20 receiving charge from one or more sets of conductive contacts 11 of the electronic road flarecharging unit 9. The arrangement of the magnet 201 and conductive contacts 203 may be similar to the arrangement of the magnet 39 and conducive contacts 23 on an electronic road flare 19. 25 The example supplementary charging unit 200 comprises at least one of: a plug 205, a socket (not shown), or an induction coil (not shown), configured to deliver charge to portable electronic devices. 30 Circuitry 207 is provided to transmit charge received at the conductive contacts 203 to the at least one of: the plug 205, the socket, or the induction coil. In some examples the circuitry 207 may comprise a voltage regulator such as IC 7805 to provide a stable DC voltage to the at least one of: the plug 205, the socket, or the induction coil. 10 15 It is to be understood that the or each controller 101 can comprise a control unit or computational device having one or more electronic processors (e.g., a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), and may comprise a single control unit or computational device, or alternatively different functions of the or each controller 101 may be embodied in, or hosted in, different control units or computational devices. As used herein, the term “controller,” “control unit,” or “computational device” will be understood to include a single controller, control unit, or computational device, and a plurality of controllers, control units, or computational devices collectively operating to provide the required control functionality. A set of instructions could be provided which, when executed, cause the controller 101 to implement the control techniques described herein (including some or all of the functionality required for the method described herein). The set of instructions could be embedded in said one or more electronic processors of the controller 101; or alternatively, the set of instructions could be provided as software to be executed in the controller 101. A first controller or control unit may be implemented in software run on one or more processors. One or more other controllers or control units may be implemented in software run on one or more processors, optionally the same one or more processors as the first controller or control unit. Other arrangements are also useful. In the example illustrated in FIG 5, the or each controller 101 comprises at least one electronic processor 105 having one or more electrical input(s) 111 for receiving one or more 25 measurements from the one or more sensors 113, and one or more electrical output(s) 113 for outputting one or more signals to control the one or more output devices 117. The or each controller 101 further comprises at least one memory device 107 electrically coupled to the at least one electronic processor 105 and having instructions 109 stored therein. The at least one electronic processor 105 is configured to access the at least one memory device 107 and 30 execute the instructions 109 thereon so as to determine a state of charge and / or state of health of the batteries 21 of the electronic road flares 19, and optionally other values such as time to full charge and expected duration of operation, and to control the one or more output devices 117 to provide a human-perceptible indication of these values. The, or each, electronic processor 105 may comprise any suitable electronic processor (e.g., a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an ASIC, etc.) that is configured to execute electronic instructions. The, or each, electronic memory device 107 may comprise any suitable memory device and may store a variety of data, information, threshold value(s), lookup tables or other 5 data structures, and / or instructions therein or thereon. In an embodiment, the memory device 107 has information and instructions for software, firmware, programs, algorithms, scripts, applications, etc. stored therein or thereon that may govern all or part of the methodology described herein. The processor, or each, electronic processor 105 may access the memory device 107 and execute and / or use that or those instructions and information to carry out or 10 perform some or all of the functionality and methodology describe herein. The at least one memory device 107 may comprise a computer-readable storage medium (e.g. a non-transitory or non-transient storage medium) that may comprise any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine or electronic processors / computational 15 devices, including, without limitation: a magnetic storage medium (e.g. floppy diskette); optical storage medium (e.g. CD-ROM); magneto optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g. EPROM ad EEPROM); CM flash memory; or electrical or other types of medium for storing such information / instructions. 00 20 Example controllers 101 have been described comprising at least one electronic processor 1—      105 configured to execute electronic instructions stored within at least one memory device CM      107, which when executed causes the electronic processor(s) 105 to carry out the method as hereinbefore described. However, it will be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention can be realised in any suitable form of hardware, software or a combination of 25 hardware and software. For example, it is contemplated that the present invention is not limited to being implemented by way of programmable processing devices, and that at least some of, and in some embodiments all of, the functionality and or method steps of the present invention may equally be implemented by way of non-programmable hardware, such as by way of nonprogrammable ASIC, Boolean logic circuitry, etc. 30 It will be appreciated that various changes and modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the scope of the present application. 21 08 24 Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in the preceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should be appreciated that modifications to the examples given can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed. 5 Features described in the preceding description may be used in combinations other than the combinations explicitly described. Although functions have been described with reference to certain features, those functions may be performable by other features whether described or not. 10 Although features have been described with reference to certain embodiments, those features may also be present in other embodiments whether described or not. Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the 15 invention believed to be of particular importance it should be understood that the Applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and / or shown in the drawings whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

21 08 241. A vehicle component for a vehicle, the vehicle component comprising an integrated electronic road flare-charging unit suitable for charging a battery of an electronic road flare, 5          the vehicle component comprising one or more sets of conductive contacts fordelivering charge to the battery of the electronic road flare,the one or more sets of conductive contacts being set into a recess in the vehicle component arranged to receive one or more electronic road flares,the one or more sets of conductive contacts being permanently connected to wiring10 routed within an internal structure of the vehicle component to electrically connect the one or more sets of conductive contacts to the wiring harness of the vehicle;wherein sidewalls of the recess comprise one or more locator elements for electronic road flares;wherein the one or more locator elements comprise notches in the sidewalls.

152. The vehicle component of claim 1, wherein each locator element is associated with a set of conductive contacts.

3. The vehicle component of claim 1, wherein the notches are configured to engage20 with correspondingly profiled parts of electronic road flares to orientate an engaged electronic road flare for electrical connection with a set of conductive contacts.

4. The vehicle component of any preceding claim, wherein the recess is dimensioned to receive a plurality of electronic road flares.

255. The vehicle component of any preceding claim, wherein the vehicle component comprises a plurality of sets of conductive contacts.

6. The vehicle component of claim 5, wherein the plurality of sets of conductive contacts 30 are regularly spaced.

7. The vehicle component of any preceding claim, wherein the one or more sets ofconductive contacts are set into the base of the recess.21 08 248. The vehicle component of any preceding claim, wherein the electronic road flarecharging unit comprises a retention system for retaining an electronic road flare once received within the recess.5   9. The vehicle component of claim 8, wherein the retention system comprises aferromagnetic surface, located in association with a set of conductive contacts, for attraction to a magnetic portion of an electronic road flare.

10. The vehicle component of any preceding claim, wherein the ferromagnetic surface is 10 provided by a steel washer located between a pair of spring-loaded electrical pins which provide a set of the conductive contacts.

11. The vehicle component of any preceding claim, wherein the vehicle component is avehicle door and the electronic road flare-charging unit is integrated into an inner panel of 15 the vehicle door.

12. A vehicle comprising the vehicle component of any preceding claim.

13. The vehicle component of any of claims 1 to 11 or the vehicle of claim 12 comprising:20 a battery management system connected to the one or more sets of conductive contacts for determining a state of charge and / or state of health of a battery of an electronic road flare; and one or more output devices providing a human-perceptible indication of the state of charge and / or state of health.

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