Safety bumper assembly and robotic vehicle comprising the same
AssigneeGUSS Automation LLC
InventorsDavid Crinklaw, Chase Schapansky, Gary Thompson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A safety bumper assembly for a vehicle shutting off a vehicle engine when the vehicle hits an obstacle, particularly an autonomous vehicle used for agricultural purposes. The assembly includes bumper shafts holding a bumper bar at a distance from a support structure of the vehicle and shuts off the vehicle engine in such fashion that the vehicle comes to a full stop before the bumper has reached its most inward position closer to the vehicle body. A vehicle equipped with the safety bumper assembly has vehicle frame integrating a support structure of the safety bumper assembly.
Claims15
A safety bumper assembly for a vehicle shutting off a vehicle engine when the vehicles hits an obstacle, said safety bumper assembly comprising:
- a bumper bar;
- at least a first bumper shaft and a second bumper shaft, each of which having an outer bumper shaft portion with an outer shaft end and an inner bumper shaft portion spaced from the outer bumper shaft portion and having an inner shaft end, wherein said outer bumper shaft portion is hinged to the bumper bar;
- a support structure accommodating the at least first and second bumper shafts at their respective inner bumper shaft portions in a movable fashion;
- a first resistance element biasing the first bumper shaft and a second resistance element biasing the second bumper shaft to respective outermost positions where said outer bumper shaft ends are spaced by a first distance from the support structure;
- and
- a switch actuated by inward movement of at least one of the first and second bumper shafts when at least one of the outer bumper shaft ends of the least one of the first and second bumper shafts has reached an inner position that is located at a second distance from the support structure that is shorter than said first distance;
- wherein the first bumper shaft and the second bumper shaft are movable relative to each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.