Side-Mounted LED Strip for Long Vehicle Turn Warning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Long vehicles pose a risk to vulnerable road users due to limited visibility and information overload for drivers, particularly when maneuvering in tight spaces, leading to potential collisions with cyclists and pedestrians, and existing side repeater indicators provide inadequate warnings.
Innovation Solution
A direction indicator light system comprising a flexible, impact-resistant lighting strip with LED elements mounted along the side of the vehicle, synchronized with the front and rear indicators, which provides a visual warning through a flashing pattern and adjustable brightness, ensuring visibility for adjacent road users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If sensors and cameras are fitted to provide the driver with more information about road users, then the driver receives more information, but the driver experiences information overload and may not make full use of the information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical/cognitive system of the driver processing visual information from mirrors and cameras with an automated optical signaling system. The direction indicator light automatically provides turn intention information to road users without requiring the driver to process and communicate this information manually, thus eliminating information overload while maintaining complete information transfer.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary device (direction indicator light) between the driver's turning action and the road users. This intermediary automatically communicates the driver's intention optically, serving as a mediator that transfers information without burdening the driver's information processing capacity.
2Ease of operation
If side repeater indicators are mounted on the side of the cab, then the indicators are positioned on the vehicle, but they provide very poor warning to or illumination of the cyclist next to a rearward part of the vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the direction indicator function into multiple distributed light sources along the lateral length of the vehicle. Instead of a single indicator on the cab, multiple LEDs are spaced along the side, ensuring that each section of the vehicle (front, middle, rear) provides appropriate warning to road users in that zone, thereby expanding effective coverage area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extends the indicator system from a single-point location (cab side) to a distributed linear arrangement along the vehicle's lateral dimension. This dimensional expansion ensures that the warning signal is visible to road users at various positions along the vehicle's length, not just near the cab.
3Speed
If a long vehicle makes a tight turn to the near side, then the vehicle completes the turn, but the cyclist may become trapped between the side of the long vehicle and the kerb and be unable to avoid a collision
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by providing advance visual warning of the vehicle's turning intention through the direction indicator light before the actual turn begins or as it initiates. This allows cyclists and pedestrians sufficient time to react and adjust their position, preventing the harmful outcome of being trapped against the kerb.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by counteracting the potential harmful effect (cyclist being trapped) before it occurs. The direction indicator light provides early warning that enables road users to take defensive actions, effectively preempting the collision risk that would otherwise result from the vehicle's turning movement.
4Ease of operation
If the driver of the long vehicle has limited visibility of the cyclist in the vehicle's near-side mirrors, then the driver maintains normal operation, but the cyclist remains undetected until it is too late
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary optical warning system that communicates the vehicle's turning intention directly to road users without requiring the driver to have direct visual contact with them. This intermediary system bridges the visibility gap created by mirror limitations, allowing the driver to operate normally while road users receive adequate warning.
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
The system effectively alerts adjacent road users of the vehicle's intentions, reducing the risk of collisions by providing a clear and conspicuous visual warning, enhancing driver awareness and allowing cyclists and pedestrians to take defensive actions.
Implementation Method 1
A direction indicator light system comprising a flexible, impact-resistant lighting strip with LED elements
Data Source
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AI summary
A direction indicator light is described for mounting along the side of a long road vehicle. The direction indicator light comprises a longitudinal lighting strip (1) comprising multiple lighting elements (3) located in a recess or cavity (6) in a protective housing profile (2). The lighting strip (1) flashes when the long road vehicle makes a turn, thereby warning cyclists or other road users adjacent to the vehicle, and the housing profile (2) protects the lighting elements (3) against side impacts from fork-lift trucks or the like.