Method of controlling a vehicle safety device
AssigneeAirbag Systems Company Ltd.
InventorKunihiro Takeuchi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A control system for a vehicle safety device comprises an operation circuit in which a main switching element, an activator, and a safety switch are connected, in series, to a condenser for accumulating electric power. When a vehicle collision has occurred, the safety switch is turned on and the main switching element is turned on in response to a vehicle collision judgment which is made in accordance with a signal from an acceleration sensor. As a result, electric current is supplied to the activator to activate the vehicle safety device. The main switching element is turned off when a time period where an output of an operation instruction signal for actuating the main switching element and the ON-state of the safety switch are realized reaches a preset time period.
Claims4
A method of controlling a vehicle safety device, comprising:
- detecting acceleration acting on a vehicle and generating corresponding acceleration data;
- judging whether or not a vehicle collision has occurred in accordance with the acceleration data;
- outputting an operation instruction signal in response to said judging;
- operating (i) a main switcher in response to the operation instruction signal, and (ii) a safety switch in response to an impact of the vehicle;
- detecting an operating condition of the safety switch;
- counting a time period during which (i) the operation instruction signal is being output, and (ii) the safety switch is detected as being in an ON-state;
- providing the counted time period as an electric current supplying time period;
- and
- turning off the main switcher when the electric current supplying time period reaches a preset time period.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.