Turbo-charged vehicle engine sound simulator
OwnerArthur Glandianinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A turbo-charged vehicle engine sound simulator (10) that is designed to function in combination with a vehicle having a coil (92), a tachometer (94), an alternator (96), an engine manifold (98) having a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor (100), and a battery (90). The simulator (10) utilizes an engine RPM source (12), a vacuum pressure switch (14), a turbo-sound storage unit (28), a power amplifier (30), a loudspeaker (32) and a regulated power supply (34) to accurately reproduce the sound that is heard from a blow-off valve on a turbo-charged engine. The simulator (10) allows a person to provide the appearance that his/her vehicle is equipped with a turbo-charger.
Claims20
A turbo-charged vehicle engine sound simulator adapted to function in combination with a turbo-charged vehicle-engine having a coil, a tachometer, an alternator, an engine manifold having a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor, and a vehicle battery, said simulator comprising:
- a) an engine revolutions-per-minute (RPM) source having means for producing an engine RPM signal,
- b) a vacuum pressure switch having means for being set to a vacuum pressure corresponding to a selected engine RPM and having further means for receiving the engine RPM signal and for producing an RPM signal corresponding to the set RPM,
- c) a turbo-sound storage unit having means for receiving and processing the RPM signal and producing a turbo-sound signal that simulates the sound of a blow-off valve that is connected to the turbo-charged vehicle engine,
- d) a power amplifier having means for receiving and amplifying the turbo-sound signal and producing a loudspeaker drive signal,
- e) a loudspeaker having means for receiving the loudspeaker drive signal and producing the sound of the blow-off valve that is heard within and outside the confirms of the vehicle, and
- f) a regulated power supply designed to provide the required voltage and current to operate said simulator, wherein said power supply has an input derived from the vehicle battery.
A turbo-charged vehicle engine sound simulator adapted to function in combination with a turbo-charged vehicle engine having a coil, a tachometer, an alternator, an engine manifold having a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor, and a vehicle battery, said simulator comprising:
- a) an engine RPM source having means for producing an engine RPM signal corresponding to the vehicle engine RPM,
- b) a vacuum pressure switch having means for being set to a vacuum pressure corresponding to a selected engine RPM and further means for receiving the engine RPM signal and for producing an RPM signal corresponding to the set RPM,
- c) an RPM interface circuit having means for receiving and converting the RPM signal to a corresponding RPM digital signal,
- d) an RPM signal conditioning circuit having means for receiving and converting the RPM digital signal to a pulse-width modulated signal,
- e) an RPM threshold circuit having means for producing an RPM threshold logic signal,
- f) a manual turbo-sound activator having means for producing an RPM trigger signal,
- g) a microcontroller having a first input that is applied the pulse-width modulated signal from said RPM conditioning circuit, and a second input that is applied the RPM threshold logic signal from said RPM threshold circuit, wherein said microcontroller having means for processing the two input signals and producing a logic control signal,
- h) a turbo-sound storage unit having means for receiving the logic control signal from said microcontroller and producing a turbo-sound signal that simulates the sound of a blow-off valve that is attached to a turbo-charged vehicle engine,
- i) a power amplifier having means for receiving and amplifying the turbo-sound signal and producing a loudspeaker drive signal,
- j) a loudspeaker having means for receiving the loudspeaker drive signal and producing the sound of the blow-off valve that is heard within and outside the confines of the vehicle, and
- k) a regulated power supply designed to provide the required voltage and current to operate said simulator, wherein said power supply has an input derived from the vehicle battery.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.