Vehicle Cabin Ceiling Sensor Mount for Blind-Spot Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing in-cabin sensors in vehicles have blind spots, making it difficult to detect occupants in various positions within the vehicle cabin, such as children crouching down or seated in rear seats or the baggage compartment.
Innovation Solution
An attachment structure for a vehicular module, including a design member with a securing portion, a downward protrusion, and a design constituent, which supports an in-cabin millimeter-wave sensor in an inclined posture, allowing it to detect a wide range of the vehicle cabin while being securely attached to the ceiling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the in-cabin sensor is disposed on the ceiling of the vehicle cabin, then the sensor can detect occupants in the vehicle cabin, but blind spots remain making it difficult to detect occupants in various positions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a new spatial dimension by extending a support portion downward from the ceiling to position the sensor. This vertical dimensionality change allows the sensor to be disposed away from the ceiling surface, enabling detection of occupants in various positions including previously undetectable blind spots, thereby improving detection coverage without compromising installation feasibility
2Device complexity
If the sensor is attached directly to the ceiling, then the attachment structure is simple, but the sensor cannot detect a wide range of the vehicle cabin
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment structure is segmented into distinct functional portions: a ceiling-mounted securing portion and a downward-extending support portion. This segmentation allows the sensor to be positioned at an optimal detection angle away from the ceiling while maintaining a relatively simple overall attachment structure, thus achieving both simplicity and wide detection range
3Stability of the object's composition
If the design member is made rigid for secure attachment, then the attachment is stable, but impact during collisions cannot be absorbed
Solution Approach 1:
The material parameter of the design member is changed to exhibit viscoelastic properties, allowing it to display rigidity under normal conditions for stable attachment while becoming deformable under collision impacts to absorb harmful forces. This parameter change enables the single component to satisfy both contradictory requirements
Data Source
AI summary
An attachment structure of a vehicular module to a ceiling of a vehicle cabin of a vehicle includes a design member. The design member is configured to attach, to the ceiling, the module including an in-cabin sensor configured to perform detection in the vehicle cabin, and includes a securing portion configured to be secured to a vehicle-body ceiling member of the vehicle or an interior ceiling member disposed on a vehicle cabin side of the vehicle-body ceiling member, a downward protrusion protruding downward from the securing portion, and a design constituent extending from the downward protrusion and covering the securing portion. In an accommodating space defined between the downward protrusion and the design constituent, the in-cabin sensor is supported by the design member in such a manner that, above the accommodating space, a gap is left between the in-cabin sensor and the vehicle-body ceiling member or the interior ceiling member.