A VEHICULAR ANTI-SKIDDING SYSTEM AND METHOD

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of vehicle safety.

More particularly, the invention relates to a vehicular anti- skidding system and method.

Background of the Invention

Safe, timely braking is one of the most important functions a motor vehicle has to perform. Failure to stop a vehicle may result in injury to its passengers and damage to the vehicle and stationary objects. Consequently, a great deal of effort has been directed over the last decades to improve the vehicle brake systems.

Skidding of a vehicle strongly depends on the friction between the tires of the vehicle and the road. If for any reason the tire loses its adhesion to the road while the brakes are applied, friction of the brakes against the drums or rotors locks the wheel and the tire begins skidding across the road. In this situation, the braking force of that wheel depends on the sliding friction between the tire and the road, which is much less than the static friction.

Under wet or icy conditions, the sliding friction is reduced even further, resulting in significantly longer distances before reaching a stop. In addition, when the front wheels are in this

situation, they cannot be used to steer the vehicle, regardless of their angle, and the vehicle continues to skid in the direction of its momentum until either the driver releases the brakes or the vehicle collides with something solid enough to bring it to a halt.

Drivers use to handle this situation by quickly applying and releasing, or pumping, the brakes during skidding. However, the major drawback of this method is that a panicked driver may not use it.

An automatic solution for the skidding problem is known as ABS. ABS, the acronym of Anti-lock Braking System, a system on motor vehicles which prevents the wheels from locking or skidding while braking on hard stops or wet or icy roads. It allows a driver to maintain steering control under heavy braking conditions and, in most situations, to shorten braking distances by allowing the driver to hit the brake fully without fear of skidding or loss of control.

The most significant drawbacks of ABS are the increased braking distances under certain conditions and the creation of a "false sense of security" among drivers who do not understand the operation and limitations of ABS.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular anti" skidding system and method, which overcomes drawbacks of the prior art.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

^

Summary of the Invention

The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems, tools and methods, which are meant to be merely illustrative, not limiting in scope. In various embodiments, one or more of the above- described problems have been reduced or eliminated, while other embodiments are directed to other advantages or improvements.

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a vehicular antrskidding system, comprising^

- at least one container, for storing an antr skidding substance!

- at least one dispenser (i.e., a mechanism for dispensing the substance from the container); and

- an activator, for activating the dispensing.

The system may further comprise a skidding detector.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the skidding detector comprises :

- a first sensor for indicating whether the vehicle is moving or standing still;

- a second sensor for indicating whether a wheel of the vehicle is rotating or standing still;

- circuitry, for indicating skidding if one of the sensors indicates movement while another sensor indicates a stationary position.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the skidding detector comprises :

- a first sensor for indicating the angle of the front wheels of the vehicle; - a second sensor, for indicating the direction of the vehicle! and

- circuitry, for indicating skidding if the angle of the front wheels and the direction of the vehicle do not correspond.

The activator may be adapted to activate the dispensing upon receiving the directive from a user thereof, upon detection of skidding by the skidding detector, and so forth.

The skidding detector may comprise a signal transmitter and a signal receiver of an infrared signal, a laser signal, and so forth.

The indication of movement / standing still may be carried out by indicating if a received signal is variant / constant during a time period. For example, if the received signal is converted to current, and if the intensity of the current is constant during a time period, it indicates that the surface which returned the signal (e.g., a vehicle) is not moving.

In one embodiment, the outlet of the dispenser is disposed in front of a vehicle wheel. Of course, a plurality of outlets may be used, such as for the front wheels, for the rear wheels, for all the wheels, etc.

- D -

The activator may be activated / deactivated by a user by pressing two buttons (of the user interface thereof) simultaneously.

The substance may comprise solid objects, powder, liquid, gas, sand, salt, water, and so forth.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the dispenser is adapted to scatter the dispensed substance. According to another embodiment of the invention, the dispenser is adapted to pour the dispensed substance.

In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for inhibiting vehicular skidding, the method comprising the steps of

- providing to a vehicle a container for storing anti- skidding substance;

- providing to the vehicle a dispenser, for dispensing the substance in front of the vehicle; - upon indicating skidding danger by a driver of the vehicle or indicating skidding by a skidding detector installed on the vehicle, activating the dispenser to dispense the antrskidding substance.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the detector indicates skidding by the steps of:

- indicating whether the vehicle is moving or stationary;

- indicating whether a vehicle wheel is rotating or standing still; and

- indicating skidding if one of the sensors indicates movement while the other sensors indicate standing- still.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the detector indicates skidding by the steps o£

- indicating the angle of the front wheels of the vehicle;

- indicating the direction of the vehicle; and

- indicating skidding if the angle of the front wheels and the direction of the vehicle do not correspond.

In yet another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for keeping powder anti- skidding substance dry, the method comprising^

- pouring the substance into a substantially-sealed bag, such as a plastic bag; and sealing the bag.

In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference to the figures and by study of the following detailed description.

- o -

Brief Description of the Drawings

The objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 pictorially illustrates a vehicle utilizing an anti- skidding system, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a broken view of an anti- skidding system installed in a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a zoom of the broken view of Fig. 2, illustrating more details of the anti- skidding system.

Fig. 4 is a top view of a vehicle in which an anti" skidding system is installed, according to one embodiment of the invention. It illustrates a deployment of the parts thereof.

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a gauge for metering the remaining substance in a container of an antrskidding system, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 schematically illustrates the dashboard of a vehicle in which an anti- skidding system is installed, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

Reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well- known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail, so as not to obscure the present disclosure.

A possible reason for vehicle skidding is a loss of traction, especially during braking or turning the wheels. It is known that scattering a powder, such as sand and the like, increases the traction effect between wheels and road, and thereby decreases or even eliminates the skidding.

Another example is a vehicle moving on sandy ground. In this case, the vehicle may also skid. However, scattering liquid, such as water and the like, in front of the vehicle increases the traction effect between wheels and ground, and as a result, the skidding effect is decreased or even eliminated.

Thus, on a wet road, sand acts as an anti- skidding substance, while on sandy ground, sand has no anti-skidding effect. Water acts as anti-skidding substance on sandy ground, but on a wet road, water has no anti-skidding effect.

The term "anti- skidding substance" refers herein to a substance which decreases the possibility of skidding under certain road conditions.

Fig. 1 pictorially illustrates a vehicle utilizing an anti- skidding system, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In this figure is illustrated a road 8 which comprises a fluid splash 4, due to which vehicle 2 may skid. In order to prevent skidding, the antrskidding system installed on vehicle 2 scatters sand 6 in front of the wheels of vehicle 2.

Fig. 2 is a broken view of an anti- skidding system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, installed in a vehicle.

The vehicular anti- skidding system comprises a container 16 for storing the sand, and an outlet 14 through which the sand is dispensed.

Preferably, during a hard brake, the sand is dispensed in front of vehicle 2. However, when vehicle 2 starts to move from parking on an icy ground, the dispensing may be around the vehicle's wheels 12, or even on the back side thereof, especially if the vehicle moves backwards, e.g., in order to exit from a parking space.

Fig. 3 is a zoom of the broken view of Fig. 2, illustrating more details of the anti" skidding system.

A pipe 26 connects container 16 with the dispensing outlet 14. The opening of outlet 14 is controlled by a motor 20, such as an electrical motor.

Dispensing the sand may be carried out by letting the sand fall due to gravity, and additionally shipping the sand from container 16 towards the outlet 14. The shipping can be carried out, for example, by a rotating screw, like in a drill or manually operated meat mincer.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that embedding a motor in shipping sand and other absorbing substances from container 16 to outlet 14 can be carried out by additional techniques. A shipping technique may depend on the absorbing substance. For example, a technique suitable for shipping sand may be different than a technique for shipping fluid, and a technique for shipping gas.

Activating the dispensing operation may be carried out by a manual activation, or automatic activation.

A driver may decide on manual activation when he observes that the road conditions require such an intervention; for example, when driving on an icy road.

Alternatively, a driver may instruct the system to automatically activate dispensing upon indication that the vehicle skids. When the system is activated automatically, an indication signal may be played, such as an audio signal (e.g., a beep sound), thereby warning the driver that the antr skidding system has been activated. Alternatively or additionally, a visual indication, such as of a lamp or LED (Light Emission Diode), may also displayed.

Skidding detection

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, skidding is detected by a first sensor for sensing that the vehicle is moving, and a second sensor for sensing that a wheel is moving. In a non- skidding situation, both, the vehicle and its wheels, are either moving or standing still. In a skidding situation, one of the sensors indicates movement, while the other indicates a stand-still.

Referring again to Fig. 3, sensor 22 indicates if wheel 12 is moving or stands still, and sensor 24 indicates if the vehicle 2 is moving or stands still.

A simple mechanism that can be used for indicating movement is the one used in an optical mouse. A certain type of optical mouse uses a light- emitting diode and photodiodes to detect movement relative to the underlying surface. Presently, a computer mouse can detect relative motion on a wide variety of surfaces, translating the movement of the mouse into the

movement of the pointer and eliminating the need for a special mouse-pad. This advance paved the way for widespread adoption of optical mice.

Modern surface-independent optical mice work by using an optoelectronic sensor to take successive pictures of the surface on which the mouse operates. Most of these mice use LEDs to illuminate the surface that is being tracked. Changes between one frame and the next are processed by the image processing part of a chip and translated into movement on the two axes using an optical flow estimation algorithm. For example, the Agilent Technologies ADNS-2610 optical mouse sensor processes 1512 frames per second: each frame is a rectangular array of 18x18 pixels, and each pixel can sense 64 different levels of gray.

As early as 1998, Sun Microsystems provided a laser mouse with their Sun SPARC station servers and workstations. However, laser mice did not enter the mainstream market until 2004, when Logitech, in partnership with Agilent Technologies, introduced the laser mouse with its MX 1000 model. This mouse uses a small infrared laser instead of an LED, which increases the resolution of the image taken by the mouse. This leads to around 2Ox more sensitivity to the surface features used for navigation compared to conventional optical mice, via interference effects.

Since the light provided by a LED may not be adequate for outdoor purposes, as in the present invention, other forms of light source may be used, such as laser and infrared.

_{^ ^}

Thus, using nowadays technologies not only movement can be indicated, but also a movement direction.

In another embodiment of the invention, a single sensor may be used for indicating movement, and in the case of movement indicating the movement direction. In addition, the direction of the front wheels may be retrieved from the vehicle's systems. If the movement direction does not correspond to the direction of the front wheels, it may indicate skidding. For example, if the front wheels are turned in Xf degrees, then it is expected that the movement direction of the vehicle X _v will be less than Xf, i.e., X _v <Xf. Thus, if this inequality does not sustain, for example X _v >Xf, then it might indicate skidding.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, skidding is detected by indicating a substantial difference between the rotation-speed of at least two wheels of a vehicle. In this case in at least two speed gauges should be added, e.g., at the left front wheels.

Fig. 4 is a top view of a vehicle in which an antr skidding system is installed, according to one embodiment of the invention. It illustrates a deployment of the parts thereof.

Numerals 12a and 12b denote the front wheels of the vehicle 2, and numerals 12c and 12d denote the front wheels of the vehicle 2. Container 16i provides sand to wheel 12i through pipe 26i and outlet 14i, where i goes from _a to d. Thus, according

to this embodiment of the invention each wheel has a separate container.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the front wheels share the same container, and the rear wheels share another container.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention, all the wheels share a single container.

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a gauge for metering the substance remaining in a container of an antrskidding system, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Numerals 36a to 36f are infrared transmitters, and numeral 38a to 38f are their corresponding receivers. Numeral 36a transmits a focused beam which can be sensed only by receiver 36a, and the same stands for the other transmitters and receivers. Both a transmitter and its corresponding receiver are at the same level from the ground.

Container 16 is filled with substance 34, which acts as an obstacle between a transmitter and its corresponding receiver. If a receiver 38i indicates the signal transmitted from the corresponding transmitter 36i, it means that at the transmitter / receiver level there is no substance 24.

A gauge 44 at the dashboard of vehicle 2 (shown in Fig. 6) comprises LEDs corresponding to the receivers 36i. Thus, a user can indicate by gauge 44 the level of substance in a container.

According to one embodiment of the invention, each container 16i has a corresponding gauge 44i. According to another embodiment of the invention, a single gauge 44 is used for indicating the volume of substance in all the containers. Assuming each of the containers comprises the same amount of substance, indicators 36i and 38i can be used in a single container.

In one embodiment of the invention, powder anti- skidding substance is distributed in bags, such as plastic bags in order to keep the substance dry, thereby increasing its efficiency.

Fig. 6 schematically illustrates the dashboard of a vehicle in which an antr skidding system is installed, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

According to this embodiment, activating the system requires pressing two buttons at the same time. In this illustration, buttons 46 and 48, which are deployed at the steering wheel 40, are used for manual activation of the antr skidding system (i.e., to dispense substance 34 until deactivating the system), and buttons 50 and 52 are used for automatic activation of the system (i.e., dispensing the substance only upon skidding indication).

- Io -

Although in the examples herein the reference has been mainly to sand, it should be noted that other forms of substance can be used, such as salt.

In the description and illustrations herein, the following numerals have been mentioned:

- Numeral 2 denotes a vehicle in which an anti-skidding system is installed; - Numeral 4 denotes a pool of fluid, such as oil, rain, and so forth;

- Numeral 6 denotes anti-skidding substance;

- Numeral 8 denotes a road;

- Numeral 12 denotes a wheel of a vehicle; - Numeral 14 denotes an outlet through which anti- skidding substance is dispensed;

- Numeral 16 denotes a container for storing anti-skidding substance;

- Numeral 18 denotes a mechanism for opening the outlet 14 and/or scattering the substance;

- Numeral 22 denotes a sensor for sensing whether a wheel stands still, rotates, rotation speed, and so forth;

- Numeral 24 denotes a sensor for sensing whether the vehicle stands still, moves, its speed, and so forth; - Numeral 26 denotes a pipe for conveying substance from the container 16 to the outlet 145

- Numeral 28 denotes circuitry of the receivers 38i (such as infrared receivers);

^

- Numeral 30 denotes circuitry of the transmitters 36i (such as infrared transmitters);

- Numeral 32 indicates a lid on the inlet 10 of container 16!

- Numeral 34 denotes anti- skidding substance, such as sand;

- Each of numerals 36i (i=a to f) denotes a signal transmitter, such as of infrared transmitter;

- Each of numerals 38i (i=a to f) denotes a signal receiver, such as of infrared receiver; - Numeral 40 denotes a steering wheel;

- Numeral 42 denotes a dashboard;

- Numeral 44 denotes a gauge for indicating the amount of substance in container 16;

- Numerals 46 and 48 denote buttons for setting the anti- skidding system to operate "manually" (i.e., to constantly dispense the antrskidding substance); and

- Numerals 50 and 52 denote buttons for setting the anti" skidding system to be activated "automatically" (i.e., upon detecting skidding).

While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, the invention can be embodied in other forms, ways, modifications, substitutions, changes, equivalents, and so forth. The embodiments described herein should be considered as illustrative and not restrictive.