Vehicle Airborne Detection via Vertical Acceleration Thresholds
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing airbag trigger systems fail to detect airborne situations of vehicles effectively, which are critical for passenger safety during crashes, as they do not account for the unique dynamics of free fall and its impact on injury severity.
Innovation Solution
A method and control device that detect an airborne situation by monitoring vertical acceleration signals, exceeding a predetermined threshold value to trigger passenger protection systems such as airbags, and utilize wheel speed differences to confirm the detection, allowing for timely and robust activation of safety measures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If wheel speed monitoring is used for detecting airborne situations, then the detection can be integrated into existing systems, but the detection accuracy and reliability are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the airborne situation detection into multiple independent evaluation criteria: vertical acceleration threshold evaluation, wheel speed difference evaluation, and airborne time evaluation. Each criterion independently assesses a different aspect of the airborne condition, and their combined evaluation significantly improves detection reliability while maintaining system integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device acts as an intermediary that receives data from multiple sensors (acceleration sensors and wheel speed sensors), processes this information through multiple evaluation criteria, and generates the final airborne situation detection result. This intermediary processing layer integrates information from different sources to improve overall detection reliability.
2Reliability
If multiple detection criteria are used to improve airborne situation detection accuracy, then the detection reliability increases, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control device performs multiple functions: it monitors vertical acceleration, monitors wheel speeds, evaluates multiple detection criteria, determines airborne situation, and controls airbag triggering. By making the control device universal and multi-functional, the patent improves detection accuracy without requiring separate dedicated systems for each function, thus managing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple detection approaches (acceleration-based detection and wheel speed-based detection) into a unified evaluation system. The control device merges these different detection streams and evaluates them together through multiple criteria, achieving improved reliability while avoiding the complexity of completely separate detection systems.
3Reliability
If airbags are triggered immediately upon detecting airborne situation, then passenger protection is improved, but false triggering in non-accident situations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary evaluation through multiple criteria (vertical acceleration threshold, wheel speed difference, airborne time) before triggering the airbags. This preliminary action filters out false positives by requiring multiple conditions to be met simultaneously, ensuring that airbags are only triggered when a genuine airborne accident situation is detected.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device continuously monitors multiple parameters and uses feedback from these measurements to adjust the triggering decision. The system evaluates whether the measured values meet the predetermined criteria for airborne situation, and only triggers airbags when the feedback from multiple sensors confirms a genuine accident condition, thereby reducing false triggering.
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
Enables fast and accurate detection of airborne situations, allowing for immediate and appropriate activation of airbags and other safety devices, thereby enhancing passenger protection during impacts by determining the severity of the expected accident and adjusting trigger thresholds accordingly.
Implementation Method 1
receiving an acceleration signal representing a substantially vertical acceleration of the vehicle
Implementation Method 2
wheel speed sensors producing the rotation signals of the wheels
Data Source
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Figure 6
AI summary
What is proposed is a method (100) for detecting an airborne situation of a vehicle (200), which comprises a step of receiving (110) an acceleration signal (411) representing a substantially vertical acceleration of the vehicle (200) and a step of checking (120) whether the acceleration signal (411) exceeds a predetermined acceleration threshold value (412) as well as of detecting the airborne situation of the vehicle (200) when the acceleration signal (411) exceeds the predetermined acceleration threshold value (412).