Sliding Operation Bar for Intuitive Manual Brake-Accelerator Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing driver assistance systems for physically impaired individuals with lower limb disorders are inefficient as they require rotating operation levers, leading to a mismatch between the operation direction and the driver's intuitive sense, and often result in displacement components not aligned with the vehicle's advancing direction, making operations difficult to recognize and perform.
Innovation Solution
A driver assistance system featuring an operation bar that slides in a consistent direction (front-down for brake and rear-up for accelerator) along its axis, supported by the vehicle body, with a link mechanism for the brake and an accelerator-by-wire mechanism, ensuring the operation direction aligns with the vehicle's advancing direction and maintaining a constant posture regardless of the operation amount, thus improving intuitive operation and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the operation lever is rotated to perform brake or accelerator operations, then the operation can be performed manually in a seated state, but the displacement component not along the vehicle advancing direction becomes larger than the displacement component along the advancing direction, making the operation direction difficult to recognize intuitively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional rotated operation lever with a linearly movable operation bar that slides in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. This substitution changes the mechanical movement from rotational to linear translation, aligning the operation direction with the vehicle's advancing direction and making it more intuitive for the driver to recognize and perform operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the movement parameter of the operation mechanism from rotational angle to linear displacement. The operation bar moves linearly in the front-down and rear-up directions, transforming the operational parameter from angular rotation to straight-line displacement, which matches the driver's intuitive sense of vehicle motion.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the operation lever posture varies by degree of tilting during operation, then the operation range can be adjusted, but the operation direction does not match the driver's sense and is not easily recognized intuitively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the tilted and rotated operation lever with a linearly sliding operation bar that maintains a constant posture. The operation bar moves only in the front-rear direction without tilting or rotating, providing a stable and intuitive operational interface that matches the driver's sense of vehicle motion while maintaining operational versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the operation bar movable in a linear direction while maintaining a fixed posture. The operation bar can slide forward and backward along its axis, providing dynamic operational range adjustment without changing its orientation, thus maintaining both adaptability and intuitive recognition.
Data Source
AI summary
A driver assistance system enables brake and accelerator operation by an operation bar in a manner close to a sense of a driver of a vehicle, regardless of the degree of operation of the operation bar. Embodiments include an operation bar extending downward toward a vehicle floor panel from a manual operation area where a seated driver manually operates the operation bar, and whose lower portion is supported in a slidingly displaceable manner along an axial direction in a front-down, rear-up tilted state. The operation bar includes a brake actuation section, below the manual operation area, that actuates a brake mechanism by sliding displacement of the operation bar in a front-down direction; and an accelerator actuation section that actuates an acceleration mechanism by sliding displacement of the operation bar in a rear-up direction that is a reverse direction on the same axis from the sliding displacement in the front-down direction.