Submerged Obstacle Detection for Flooded Vehicle Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Emergency vehicles navigating flooded areas face hazards from obstacles like bollards, debris, and manholes that are not visible due to turbid water, posing a safety risk as drivers cannot recognize these submerged obstacles.
Innovation Solution
A capture apparatus, such as a scanning apparatus, is mounted on the vehicle with rotatable scanning elements like star wheels or scanning spheres that can roll over and capture the roadway topography, including obstacles, and transmit data to a control unit for vehicle control and driver warning, featuring a trap element for capturing elevations and a display structure for visual feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If emergency vehicles drive through deep water in flooded regions, then the vehicle can reach catastrophe regions, but obstacles below the water surface become undetectable and represent a safety hazard
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces visual detection (mechanical/optical system) with acoustic detection (sonar system). The sonar apparatus emits sound waves that penetrate turbid water to detect obstacles below the surface, converting the detection mechanism from light-based to sound-based to overcome the limitation of water turbidity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces sound waves as an intermediary medium to detect obstacles. The sonar system uses acoustic waves that can travel through and reflect off submerged obstacles, providing indirect detection capability when direct visual inspection is impossible due to turbid water.
2Measurement precision
If the capture element is designed to roll on the roadway topography to capture obstacles, then detection capability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the capture function into multiple independent capture elements (such as multiple scanning wheels or spheres) that can be distributed across the vehicle front. Each element independently captures data from its contact zone, and the combined data provides comprehensive topography mapping without requiring a single complex capture mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional surface scanning to three-dimensional topography capture by using multiple capture elements at different positions and heights. This dimensional approach allows the system to build a comprehensive 3D model of the roadway topography and submerged obstacles.
Data Source
AI summary
A detection device configured to be arranged on a motor vehicle includes at least one bracket construction for mounting on a front of the motor vehicle. The at least one bracket construction has at least one detection element for detecting a road topography in the direction of travel in front of the motor vehicle under a water surface to detect obstacles or a water depth.