Driver Core Temperature Regulation for Alertness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional safety systems only temporarily increase alertness in vehicle drivers and can become ineffective due to desensitization, failing to sustainably prevent drowsiness during prolonged vehicle operation, leading to increased accident risks.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses a temperature sensor and regulator to monitor and reduce a vehicle driver's core temperature by cooling specific areas like the venous plexuses and arteriovenous anastomoses, maintaining alertness by mimicking the natural temperature nadir associated with wakefulness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional safety systems use alarms or alerts to increase driver alertness, then driver alertness is improved temporarily, but the effectiveness is reduced over time due to desensitization and short duration of action
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the physiological parameter of core body temperature to induce alertness. By cooling the driver's core temperature using a cooling device that contacts the body (e.g., seat or steering wheel), the system mimics the natural temperature drop that occurs during wakefulness, thereby extending alertness duration beyond what conventional alerts can achieve.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the psychological/mechanical alert system (alarms, visual alerts) with a physiological control system that directly influences the driver's alertness state through temperature regulation. This substitution addresses the desensitization problem by acting on a different physiological mechanism rather than relying on sensory alerts.
2Reliability
If conventional safety systems repeatedly alert the driver, then alertness is maintained briefly, but the driver becomes desensitized reducing long-term effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces repeated psychological alerts with a single or limited-duration physiological intervention (temperature control). This substitution prevents desensitization by acting on a different physiological pathway that does not suffer from the same adaptation issues as sensory alerts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system leverages the driver's own physiological response to temperature changes to maintain alertness. By cooling the core temperature, the driver's body naturally responds with increased alertness without requiring external stimuli, thereby avoiding the desensitization that occurs with repeated external alerts.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach effectively prolongs wakefulness by maintaining alertness and reducing the likelihood of drowsiness, enhancing driver safety during long vehicle operations without causing rapid temperature defense mechanisms.
Implementation Method 1
the temperature regulator cools a material which physically contacts a surface of the vehicle driver, such as the vehicle driver's palms
Implementation Method 2
the temperature regulator also includes a vacuum source which reduces the pressure in an area surrounding the cooled surface to further decrease the time needed to cool the driver by increasing the vehicle driver blood flow through the surface of the vehicle driver
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for reducing a vehicle driver's core temperature to offset drowsiness. In one embodiment, a temperature sensor records data describing a vehicle driver core temperature and communicates the data describing the vehicle driver core temperature to a temperature regulator. The temperature regulator determines whether the vehicle driver core temperature is similar to one or more circadian temperatures associated with wakefulness. If the vehicle driver core temperature is similar to a circadian temperature associated with sleep, the temperature regulator reduces the vehicle driver core temperature. In an embodiment the temperature regulator cools a material physically contacting the venous plexuses or arteriovenous anastomoses to cool the portions of the vehicle driver's anatomy which most efficiently cool the vehicle driver.