EARLIEST PRIORITY DATE:

This Application claims priority from a patent application filed in India having Patent Application No. 202121034207, filed on July 29, 2021 and titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HAZARD LIGHT ACTUATION”

FIELD OF INVENTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of automobiles and more particularly to a system and method for hazard light actuation. BACKGROUND

Along with an increase in population and developing economy, number of vehicles are also increasing. Many countries may not have enough infrastructure to accommodate increasing number of vehicles. The infrastructure may include roads, parking lots and the like. The increasing number of vehicles also contributes to traffic congestions and accidents. The accidents may happen because of various reasons such as over speeding, drunken driving, non adherence to lane driving, and careless parking. The careless parking may include parking vehicles on a roadside which may eventually cause an accident. Narrow roads and nighttime may increase probability of the accidents in such a scenario.

Hazard lights may play an important role for avoiding the accidents by warning other drivers. Even though automobile manufacturers are constantly improving several features of the vehicles being produced, possibilities of using the hazard lights for avoiding the accidents are still left unexplored completely. In existing systems, the hazard lights may be manually operated, or the hazard lights may be operated automatically during sudden braking of the vehicles. Automatic operation of the hazard light requires an ignition switch to be in on position. Complete controllability of the hazard lights are lacking in the existing system when the ignition switch is in OFF position.

Hence, there is a need for an improved system and method for hazard light actuation to address the aforementioned issue(s). BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a system for hazard light actuation is provided. The system includes an optical sensor located on a vehicle. The optical sensor includes one or more light dependent resistors configured to detect light from an incoming vehicle. The optical sensor also includes an optical housing. The optical housing includes a converging lens arranged at a distal end of the optical housing. The converging lens is configured to converge the light from the incoming vehicle on the one or more light dependent resistors. The system also includes a sensor circuit. The sensor circuit includes one or more relays coupled to the optical sensor. The one or more relays are configured to complete a relay circuit by closing one or more contacts of the one or more relays when the light from the incoming vehicle is detected by the one or more light dependent resistors. The system further includes a hazard light actuation unit operatively coupled to the sensor circuit. The hazard light actuation unit includes one or more contacts configured to actuate one or more hazard light of the vehicle when the relay circuit is completed.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for hazard light actuation is provided. The method includes detecting, by one or more light sensors, light from an incoming vehicle. The method also includes converging, by a converging lens, the light from the incoming vehicle on the one or more light dependent resistors. The method also includes completing, by one or more relays, a relay circuit by closing one or more contacts of the one or more relays when the light from the incoming vehicle is detected by the one or more light dependent resistors. The method also includes actuating, by one or more contacts, one or more hazard light of the vehicle when the relay circuit is completed.

To further clarify the advantages and features of the present disclosure, a more particular description of the disclosure will follow by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the appended figures. It is to be appreciated that these figures depict only typical embodiments of the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting in scope. The disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the appended figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying figures in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of a system for hazard light activation in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1(a) is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the system of FIG. 1 depicting operational arrangement of an optical sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1(b) is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the system of FIG. 1 depicting a circuit diagram of the optical sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1(c) is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the system of FIG. 1 depicting an optical housing of the optical sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1(d) is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the system of FIG.l depicting a detailed circuit diagram of a sensor circuit and a hazard light actuation unit in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 2 is a flow chart representing the steps involved in a method for hazard light actuation in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the figures by conventional symbols, and the figures may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the figures with details that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the figures and specific language will be used to describe them. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the disclosure as would normally occur to those skilled in the art are to be construed as being within the scope of the present disclosure.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such a process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures or components preceded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices, sub-systems, elements, structures, components, additional devices, additional sub-systems, additional elements, additional structures, or additional components. Appearances of the phrase "in an embodiment", "in another embodiment" and similar language throughout this specification may, but not necessarily do, all refer to the same embodiment.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are only illustrative and not intended to be limiting.

In the following specification and the claims, reference will be made to a number of terms, which shall be defined to have the following meanings. The singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a system for hazard light actuation. The system includes an optical sensor located on a vehicle. The optical sensor includes one or more light dependent resistors configured to detect light from an incoming vehicle. The optical sensor also includes an optical housing. The optical housing includes a converging lens arranged at a distal end of the optical housing. The converging lens is configured to converge the light from the incoming vehicle on the one or more light dependent resistors. The system also includes a sensor circuit. The sensor circuit includes one or more relays coupled to the optical sensor. The one or more relays are configured to complete a relay circuit by closing one or more contacts of the one or more relays when the light from the incoming vehicle is detected by the one or more light dependent resistors. The system further includes a hazard light actuation unit operatively coupled to the sensor circuit. The hazard light actuation unit includes one or more contacts configured to actuate one or more hazard light of the vehicle when the relay circuit is completed. FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation of a system (10) for hazard light activation in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The system (10) includes an optical sensor (20) located on a vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110). In some embodiment, the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) may be a car, bus, truck two wheelers and the like. In one embodiment, the optical sensor (20) may be positioned behind the front and rear wind screen of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110). In a specific embodiment, the optical sensor (20) may be positioned anywhere on the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) in such a way that the optical sensor (20) may receive a light from an incoming vehicle. The optical sensor (20) includes one or more light dependent resistors (30) which is configured to detect the light from the incoming vehicle. In some embodiment, the one or more light dependent resistors (30) may have adjustable sensitivity.

The optical sensor (20) further includes an optical housing (50). The optical housing (FIG. 1(c), 50) includes a converging lens (FIG. 1(c), 240) arranged at a distal end of the optical housing (FIG. 1(c), 50). In a specific embodiment, one or more sides of the optical housing (FIG. 1(c), 50) is made opaque to restrict ambient lights entering the optical housing (FIG. 1(c), 50). In some embodiment, the converging lens (FIG. 1(c), 240) is configured to converge the light from the incoming vehicle on the one or more light dependent resistors (FIG. 1(c), 30). In one embodiment, the converging lens (FIG. 1(c), 240) may include a plano-convex lens, double convex lens, concave-convex lens, and the like. In a specific embodiment, the one or more light dependent resistors (FIG. 1(c), 30) may be placed at a principle focus of the converging lens (FIG. 1(c), 240). A detailed schematic representation of the optical sensor (20) may be seen in FIG.1(b).

In detail, the optical sensor (20) may be described as follows. The optical sensor (20) includes a first resistor (120) connected in series with the one or more light dependent resistors (30). The first resistor (120) and the one or more light dependent resistors (30) are forming a first parallel path between two terminals of a power supply. In an exemplary embodiment, the first resistor (120) may be a 47k variable pot and the one or more light dependent resistors (30) may be connected in series between a direct current (DC) power supply (not shown in FIG. 1(b)). The optical sensor (20) also includes a second resistor (130) and a third resistor (140) connected in series forming a second parallel path between the two terminals of the power supply. In an exemplary embodiment, the second resistor (130) and the third resistor (140) may be a 10k resistors. The optical sensor (20) further includes an op-amp (150) which is configured to be operated as a comparator. An inverting terminal (160) of the op-amp (150) is connected to a midpoint of the first parallel path and a non-inverting terminal (170) of the op-amp (150) is connected to the midpoint of the second parallel path. The op-amp (150) may provide a positive output signal when a voltage at the inverting terminal (160) of the op-amp (150) is lower than that of the voltage at the non-inverting terminal (170) of the op-amp (150). In an exemplary embodiment, the op-amp (150) may be a LM311 op-amp. Output terminal (180) of the op-amp (150) may be connected to a base terminal (190) of a transistor (200) via a fourth resistor (210). In one embodiment, the transistor (200) may be an NPN transistor. In an exemplary embodiment, the transistor (200) may be a BC107 transistor, and the fourth resistor (210) may be a lk resistor. Collector terminal (220) of the transistor (200) may be connected to the one or more relays (40). In one embodiment, the transistor (200) may be replaced by any components which may act as a switch. The one or more relays (40) may have a normally open contact when the one or more relays (40) are de-energized. In an exemplary embodiment, the one or more relays (40) may be a single pole single throw (SPST) relay or a double pole double throw (DPDT) relay.

In operation, when the light from the incoming vehicle falls on the one or more light dependent resistors (30), resistance of the one or more light dependent resistors (30) decreases thereby reducing the voltage at the inverting terminal (160) of the op-amp (150). Whenever the voltage at the inverting terminal (160) is lower than that of the voltage at the non-inverting terminal (170), the op-amp (150) may provide the positive output signal to the base terminal (190) of the transistor (200) through the fourth resister (210) thereby turning ON the transistor (200). When the transistor (200) is turned on, the one or more relays (40) may be energized by a current flow from the collector terminal (220) to an emitter terminal (230). When the one or more relays (40) are energized, the one or more contacts of the the one or more relays (40) may be closed thereby completing the relay circuit.

Referring back to the FIG.l, the system also includes a sensor circuit (60). The sensor circuit (60) includes one or more relays (40) coupled to the optical sensor (20). In one embodiment, the one or more relays (40) may include electromagnetic relays, latching relays, reed relays, electronic relays, and the like. The one or more relays (40) are configured to complete a relay circuit by closing one or more contacts of the one or more relays (40) when the light from the incoming vehicle is detected by the one or more light dependent resistors (30). In one embodiment, the sensor circuit (60) may be deactivated when an ignition system (FIG. 1(d), 250) of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) is turned on. In some embodiment, the sensor circuit (60) may include a first relay (260) and a second relay (270). The first relay (260) may be configured to energize the second relay (270) when the relay circuit is completed. The second relay (270) may be configured to close the one or more contacts (90) upon energized.

Operation of the sensor circuit (60) may be described using FIG.1(d) as follows. The first relay (260) is connected in series with one or more relay contacts (280) of the one or more relays (FIG.1(b), 40) associated with the optical sensor (20) forming a first branch connecting the two terminals of the power supply. In one embodiment, the one or more relay contacts (280) may be operated by the one or more relays (FIG.1(b), 40) associated with the optical sensor (20) positioned behind the front and rear wind screen of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110). The first relay (260) may have a first relay contact (290). The first relay contact (290) may be closed when the first relay (260) is energized. The first relay contact (290) may be connected in series with a second relay (270) forming a second branch parallel to the first branch. The second relay (270) may be energized and close the one or more contacts (90) when the first relay contact (290) is in a closed position. In an exemplary embodiment, the first relay (260) and the second relay (270) may have two normally open contacts. The sensor circuit (60) may also include a third branch which is parallel to the first branch and the second branch. The third branch may include the ignition system (250) of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) in series with a third relay (300). When the ignition system (250) of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) is turned on, the third relay (300) may be energized thereby opening a third relay contact (310). In an exemplary embodiment, the third relay (300) may have a normally closed contact. The third relay contact (310) may be placed in between the first relay contact (290) and the second relay (270). Such an arrangement enables deactivation of the sensor circuit (60) when the ignition system (250) of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) is turned on.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the system (10) further includes a hazard light actuation unit (80) operatively coupled to the sensor circuit (60). The hazard light actuation unit (80) includes one or more contacts (90) configured to actuate one or more hazard light (FIG. 1(d), 100) of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) when the relay circuit is completed. In some embodiment, the one or more hazard light (FIG. 1(d), 100) of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) may include direction lamps, braking lamps, emergency lamps and the like. In one embodiment, the one or more hazard light (FIG. 1(d), 100) may be mounted at various locations of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110) such as front side, rear side, lateral side, and the like. In a specific embodiment, the one or more contacts (FIG. 1(d), 90) may be a contact of the second relay (FIG. 1(d), 270). In a specific embodiment, the hazard light actuation unit (80) may be connected in parallel to a hazard light pushbutton (FIG. 1(d), 320) of the vehicle (FIG. 1(a), 110).

FIG. 2 is a flow chart representing the steps involved in a method (500) for hazard light actuation in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method (500) includes converging the light from the incoming vehicle on the one or more light dependent resistors in step 510. In one embodiment, converging the light from the incoming vehicle on the one or more light dependent resistors includes converging the light from the incoming vehicle on the one or more light dependent resistors by a converging lens. In a specific embodiment, one or more sides of the optical housing is made opaque to restrict ambient lights entering the optical housing. In one embodiment, the converging lens may include a plano convex lens, double convex lens, concave-convex lens, and the like. In a specific embodiment, the one or more light dependent resistors may be placed at a principle focus of the converging lens.

The method (500) also includes detecting light from an incoming vehicle in step 520. In one embodiment, detecting light from an incoming vehicle includes detecting light from an incoming vehicle by one or more light dependent resistors. In some embodiment, the one or more light dependent resistors may have adjustable sensitivity.

The method (500) further includes completing a relay circuit by closing one or more contacts of the one or more relays when the light from the incoming vehicle is detected by the one or more light dependent resistors in step 530. In one embodiment, completing a relay circuit by closing one or more contacts of the one or more relays when the light from the incoming vehicle is detected by the one or more light dependent resistors includes completing a relay circuit by closing one or more contacts of the one or more relays when the light from the incoming vehicle is detected by the one or more light dependent resistors by one or more relays. In one embodiment, the one or more relays may include electromagnetic relays, latching relays, reed relays, electronic relays, and the like.

The method (500) also includes actuating one or more hazard light of the vehicle when the relay circuit is completed in step 540. In one embodiment, actuating one or more hazard light of the vehicle when the relay circuit is completed includes actuating one or more hazard light of the vehicle when the relay circuit is completed by one or more contacts. In some embodiment, the one or more hazard light of the vehicle may include direction lamps, braking lamps, emergency lamps and the like. In one embodiment, the one or more hazard lights may be mounted at various positions of the vehicle such as front side, rear side, lateral side, and the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the one or more contacts may be a contact operated by the second relay. In some embodiment, the one or more contacts may include electromagnetic relays, electronic relays, reed relays, latching relays and the like. In a specific embodiment, the hazard light actuation unit may be connected in parallel to a hazard light push button of the vehicle

Various embodiments of the system for hazard light actuation described above enable various advantages. The system includes readily available components which enables cost effectiveness. Absence of complex mechanisms makes the system robust and easy to install. The system also enables complete controllability of the hazard lights even when the ignition system of the vehicle is in OFF state.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the disclosure and are not intended to be restrictive thereof. While specific language has been used to describe the disclosure, any limitations arising on account of the same are not intended.

While specific language has been used to describe the disclosure, any limitations arising on account of the same are not intended. As would be apparent to a person skilled in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein.

The figures and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, the order of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all the acts need to be necessarily performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples.