Title of Invention

AUTOMOBILE SAFETY GADGET

Abstract

Safety rules & regulations, comprehensive-driving tests, strict licensing procedures - in spite of so many precautions, accidents do occur daily We have some safety arrangements such as crunch zones, seat belts, bumpers and air bags. But these are grossly insufficient to protect the lives of the passengers during head on collision. £7have developed a new design concept"}AUTOMOBILE SAFETY GADGET^ to save the passengers' lives. It mainly comprises of a Collision Energy Absorber (CEA), Impact Grill, Adaptor and a Medium CEA absorbs the collision energy instantaneously. Impact Grill transfers effectively the impact force to CEA Adaptor facilitates adoption of the ASG for various models of vehicles and prevents telescoping action of the colliding vehicle which is the main cause of fatality Medium shears and neutralizes the impact force.

Full Text

AUTOMOBILE SAFETY GADGET 1. Preface: Safety rules and regulations, comprehensive-driving tests, strict licensing procedures... in spite of so many precautions, automobile accidents do occur daily. There is loss of valuable human lives and properties. Accidents cannot be entirely eliminated though they can be reduced. This is a bitter fact. We have already some safety arrangements such as crunch zones, seat belts, bumpers and air bags. But these are grossly insufficient to protect the lives of the automobile passengers during head on collision accidents and there is stillroom for improvement. Can we minimise the damages? Can we bring down the loss of life? Why not? 2. Analysis: I analyse the cause of damage. A moving vehicle gathers Kinetic Energy (K.E). While braking, this K.E is gradually converted into heat energy at the brake linings, over a period of time and traveling through a safe distance. Thus there is no damage. But in the case of accidents, this K.E is converted into Strain Energy suddenly within a fraction of a second and within a very short displacement of vehicle. There is a great impact force that causes a telescoping action. Thus heavy destruction is caused to the structure of the vehicle resulting in loss of lives. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) and The International Harmonization Research Activity (IHRA) have identified this trend and increased the extent of their research in Vehicle-to-Vehicle Compatibility. The European Enhanced Vehicle Safety Committee (EEVC) has carried out extensive research for several years. The main activity of Technical Working Group 15 (WG15) is to investigate compatibility between passenger cars. The case-by-case accident analysis in combination with crash tests (car to car) gave the following result i. The lighter car is over crushed by a heavier car. The compartment intrusion is the main source of severe and fatal injuries ii. When the front-end structures collide they had not stayed aligned as expected by the design resulting in over-riding / under-riding. iii. The accidents result in vehicle damage where the front-end structures are not completely and ideally deformed (overall bending instead of buckling of the structure) and where at least one of the two car's compartment has collapsed. This results in poor energy absorption, which means the cars' structure, have not worked as designed. iv. Over-riding was frequently found in accidents and the result was that it generated an over crush of the upper part of the over ridden car compartment. This resulted in worst injury levels than what could be expected. v. Even if cars of same brand collide head on, structural compatibility is not there because their datum reference lines do not stay aligned. A fuse carrier in an electric circuit protects the electrical appliances when a surge voltage is applied, by blowing itself out A similar safety gadget is developed for automobiles that absorbs the entire ' collision energy instantaneously by destroying itself, to protect the passengers and minimize the damage. 3. Categories: I divide the accidents into 4 major categories. Collisions of: a) Heavy vehicle to heavy vehicle (lorry/bus to lorry/bus) b) Heavy vehicle to light vehicle (lorry/bus to car or van) c) Light vehicle to light vehicle (car or van to car or van) d) Vehicles to a static object 4. Desirable properties: The desirable properties of the safety gadget are: 1. It should be the first point of contact in a collision. 2. It should absorb the entire collision energy instantaneously. 3. It should be simple to manufacture 4. It should be easy to maintain or no maintenance 5. It should be cheap say 3 % or 4% of the total cost of the vehicle 6. It should ensure Vehicle - Compatibility during accident I have developed a new design concept incorporating all these desirable properties. It is the "AUTOMOBILE SAFETY GADGET". 5. The Bqsic Principle: I describe a situation. Parameters are assumed to illustrate an example. A 2-ton automobile van cruising at a speed of 30 meters per second (108 KMPH) collides head-on with a 10-ton lorry moving at the same speed in the opposite direction. What is the impact force? During accident analysis, the maximum structural force detected was 250^000 N at an Energy Equivalent Speed of 55-60 KMPH and the impact range is from 100 KN to 250 KN. The time pulse is between 10 to 50 milli-seconds Can the existing safety equipments provided in the car / van take up this impact force? No, the lorry crushes on to the bumpers and telescopes into the vehicle killing the passengers. The AUTOMOBILE SAFETY GADGET neutralizes the punching force and is capable of absorbing an impact force of 600 tons instantaneously. It acts like an eccentric power press blanking the sheet metal. 6. The Design Details: Please refer drawings enclosed. I give numerical values for an example. These values will vary according to vehicles. Drg ASGV 22 00 00 - This is the general arrangement consisting 4 components. * Item No.4 -an aluminum sheet of size 2 x 200 x 250 mm is placed in position between the front and rear parts of C.E.ABSORBER and secured by bolts, nuts and spring washers. The ADAPTOR channels are welded to longitudinal channels of the van. The size depends on the structure of the vehicle. It is important to strengthen the front-end structure of the van to withstand the great collision force. The stanchions welded to the cross beam of the adaptor, prevent telescoping action of the on coming vehicle The IMPACT GRILL - item 2 is assembled to the 'front part' of C.E.ABSORBER. When the collision occurs, the IMPACT GRILL - which is the very first part to receive the impact- , distributes the forces to C.E ABSORBERs. This force is then transferred to the 'front part' and punches the aluminum sheet against the rear part. There are 10 slots in C.E.ABSORBER - ASGV 22 00 01. We have a shearing surface of 500 mm per slot x 10 slots = 5000 mm multiplied by thickness 2mm = 10,000 sq. mm. Assuming 4 kgs per sq.mm as the 'blanking force' for aluminum, 10,000 x 4 = 40 tons will be absorbed by each C.E.ABSORBER. If we have 15 C.E.ABSORBERs, this AUTOMOBILE SAFETY GADGET can neutralize 600 tons of impact force. Assuming misalignment of 50 % during collision, 300 tons can be effectively neutralized by this gadget. We can choose Brass or Copper sheets as medium and we can vary the sheet thickness. The number of punching slots can also be varied. The blanking operation is planned in steps such that the accidents at various speeds are neutralized. The actual impact force has to be arrived by Laboratory experiments and field trials. To minimise the effect of impact, cushioning of 75/100 mm thick is to be provided in front of the passengers. This can be of foam cushion and or cotton pads. 7. Claims: I claim; ■I i the AUTOMOBILE SAFETY GADGET (ASG) comprises of a Collision Energy Absorber, Impact Grill, Adaptor and a Medium of Aluminum Sheet ii. the Collision Energy Absorber with Front and Rear parts, acts like a Punch and Die of a Power press with a series of punching edges and thus create a large punching surface area, iii. the Impact Grill has longitudinal and cross steel flat-sections welded to form a rigid structure covering the entire surface area of the collision and transfers effectively the impact force to the Collision Energy Absorber iv. the Adaptor facilitates adoption of the ASG for various models of Automobile vehicles. The vertical stanchions welded to the cross channel prevents telescoping action of the colliding vehicle which is the main cause of fatality v. the medium - an Aluminum sheet or similar material shears during accidents and thus neutralizes the impact force, vi. A collision energy absorbing mechanism in which the on-coming vehicle hits the Impact Grill, which in turn distributes the impact force over an area and transfers it to the Collision Energy Absorber where this energy is consumed to punch out the medium. Thus the entire collision energy is neutralized, vii. The Impact Grill according to claim iii covers the entire area of collision. From No-Load bumper height of a heavy vehicle (the highest point from road level) to the Over-load bumper height of a light vehicle (the lowest point from road level) will be the height and the entire width of the vehicle will be the length of the Impact Grill. This span takes care of the possible misalignment of frontal structure during accidents. *******

Documents:

1233-che-2005-abstract.pdf

1233-che-2005-claims.pdf

1233-che-2005-correspondnece-others.pdf

1233-che-2005-correspondnece-po.pdf

1233-che-2005-description(complete).pdf

1233-che-2005-description(provisional).pdf

1233-che-2005-drawings.pdf

1233-che-2005-form 1.pdf

1233-che-2005-form 5.pdf

1233-che-2005-form9.pdf