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US 12,623,642 B2Granted
Collision avoidance/brake system
OwnerWagih S. Girgisinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vacuum booster has a shiftable diaphragm within a fixed housing. The fixed housing has forward and rearward ends. A piston and a vacuum port extend through the forward end of the housing for air to flow to and from the fixed housing. A quantity of brake fluid is within a master cylinder. A sensor is adapted to send an electronic signal in response to identified potentially damaging movement. A motion imparter is adapted to be activated in response to the electronic signal. The motion imparter is adapted to shift the shiftable diaphragm forwardly from a retracted orientation to an advanced orientation to advance the piston and convey brake fluid to the brakes for stopping the vehicle independent of driver involvement.
Claims4
A collision avoidance and brake system (10) for sensing a potential vehicle collision, braking the vehicle in response to the sensing, and stopping the vehicle prior to a collision, the sensing, the braking, and the stopping being done without driver intervention, the system comprising:
- a vehicle (14) having a brake assembly (16), the brake assembly including brakes, a driver controlled pedal (18), a lever (20) supporting the pedal, a rod (22) axially reciprocable in response to the driver depressing the pedal (18) and thereby pivoting the lever (20) and advancing the rod (22);
- a vacuum booster (26) including a fixed housing (28) and a shiftable diaphragm (30) within the fixed housing (28), the fixed housing (28) having a forward end (32) and a rearward end (34), the rod (22) extending through the rearward end of the fixed housing (28) and coupling the shiftable diaphragm (30) to the lever (20), thereby allowing diaphragm (30) to be shifted in response to the driver depressing the pedal (18), a vacuum port (38) extending through the forward end of the fixed housing (28) for exhausting air from the fixed housing (28) in response to forward movement of the shiftable diaphragm (30);
- a supplemental solenoid (64) positioned within the fixed housing (28) and functioning to drive the rod (22) and move the shiftable diaphragm (30) in response to a signal;
- a master cylinder (42), a quantity of brake fluid within the master cylinder (42), a reservoir (44) of brake fluid operatively coupled to the master cylinder (42), four lines (46) coupled to the master cylinder (42), the four lines adapted to convey brake fluid from the master cylinder (42) to the brakes of the vehicle upon the driver depressing the pedal (18) to stop the vehicle (14);
- an anti-lock braking system (50) whereby when the brakes of the vehicle are applied, with or without driver intervention, a rapidly pulsating application of force will abate the locking up of the brakes;
- a front sensor (52) and a rear sensor (54), the front sensor (52) and the rear sensor (54) adapted to identify damaging movement of an adjacent vehicle which if unchecked would result in a collision, a processor (56) operatively coupled to the front sensor (54) and to the rear sensor (54) adapted to send an electronic signal in response to identify potentially damaging movement, an electromagnet (58) with a positive pole (60) and a negative pole (62), the positive pole being attached to the forward end of the fixed housing (28), the negative pole being attached to the rod (22) and the shiftable diaphragm (30) of the fixed housing (28), the electromagnet (58) adapted to be activated and the negative pole magnetically shifted from a retracted orientation to an advanced orientation to advance the rod (22) and convey brake fluid to the brakes for stopping the vehicle (14) without driver intervention;
- an audible alarm (66) in the vehicle, the audible alarm operatively coupled to the processor to generate an audible sound of warning to the driver upon the sending of the electronic signal;
- and
- an ON/OFF switch (70) under control of a driver whereby the system (10) may be activated or inactivated at the discretion of the driver.
6 more elements
A collision avoidance/brake system (200) for a vehicle (14) having brakes, the system (200) comprising:
- a primary vacuum booster (204) having a primary fixed housing (206) and a primary shiftable diaphragm (208) within the primary fixed housing (206), the primary fixed housing (206) having a forward end and a rearward end, a piston (36) extending through the forward end of the primary fixed housing (206), a vacuum port (38) extending through the forward end of the primary fixed housing (206) for the flow of air to and from the primary fixed housing (206);
- and
- a primary master cylinder (212), a quantity of brake fluid within the primary master cylinder (212), sensors (214) (216) adapted to send an electronic signal in response to identified potentially damaging movement;
- an electromagnetic motion imparter (218) in the form of an electromagnet that is physically interconnected to the primary shiftable diaphragm (208), the electromagnetic motion imparter adapted to be activated in response to the electronic signal and shift the primary shiftable diaphragm (208) forwardly from a retracted orientation to an advanced orientation and convey brake fluid to the vehicle brakes for stopping independent of driver involvement, the electromagnet including a positive pole (234) and a negative pole (236), the positive pole being attached to the forward end of the primary fixed housing, the negative pole being attached to the shiftable diaphragm of the primary fixed housing;
- a secondary brake assembly (220), the secondary brake assembly including a driver controlled pedal (222), a lever (224) supporting the pedal, a rod 226 axially reciprocable in response to the driver depressing the pedal (222) thereby pivoting the lever (224) and advancing the rod (226) to shift the primary shiftable diaphragm (208) forwardly from a retracted orientation to an advanced orientation and thereby advance the rod (226) and convey brake fluid to the brakes through driver involvement.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.