Electrical transmission or interconnection systems – Vehicle mounted systems – Automobile
Patent
1992-12-07
1994-07-05
Pellinen, A. D.
Electrical transmission or interconnection systems
Vehicle mounted systems
Automobile
180282, 280735, 340438, B60R 2132
Patent
active
053270142
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Firing control devices for triggering a passenger restraint system of a vehicle, that is to say for example for triggering an explosive charge of an air bag and/or roll bar and/or safety belt retractor system of a motor vehicle by electrically firing one or more firing pellets are known per se in large numbers.
The invention is based on the specific firing control device which is known from European reference EP-A2-027 747 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,829. However, the invention can be used not only on the firing control device described in this publication, and the further developments of this device, but also on all firing control devices as defined above.
A similar firing control device which however does not contain a memory for storing the data which is determined in the event of a crash by means of a measuring resistor of a measuring unit is described for example by means of the non-prepublished PCT Application PCT/DE 90/00125=WO 91/05680 (corresponding to U.S. Ser. No. 844,642 filed Mar. 31, 1992.
In addition, accident data printers for vehicles, in particular for airplanes, are generally known.
Although the invention was developed in particular for a motor vehicle, for which it is particularly suitable, it has become evident that the invention is also suitable for other vehicles which are equipped with a passenger restraint system which is to be triggered electrically.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The objective is as follows: triggering brought about by a crash, so securely that, subsequently, the stored data can no longer be readily secretly falsified by tampering--for example by subsequent firing or by subsequent simulation of a crash criterion, to be made available for example to judges, traffic experts, motor vehicle manufacturers, motor vehicle suppliers and road planners and to permit subsequently falsified data to be recognized as such.
The object of the present invention is achieved by a firing control device for triggering a passenger restraint system of a vehicle by electrically firing one or more firing pellets, having: triggering from the output signals of one or more crash sensors; example voltages) which depends on the firing current flowing through the respective firing pellet; the firing circuit of the firing pellet in order to determine data relating to the variation of the firing current flowing across this resistor during triggering or data which is dependent thereon; is determined in the case of a crash and from which it can later be detected whether and how the passenger restraint system triggered during the crash, namely for storing at least some of the data determined which relate to the criteria derived by the processor during a crash, and at least some of the data determined by means of the measuring unit/units; the firing pellet/pellets in such a way that it is usually not directly accessible from the outside via external terminals of the housing of the firing control device; and pellet and also no explosive charge of the passenger restraint system, being mounted in the housing which survives a crash intact and which cannot be opened without leaving behind detectable damage.
Therefore, the objective of the invention has two main aspects: firstly, data relating to the crash and to the triggering of the passenger restraint system is to be correctly detected or measured and then permanently stored and, secondly, subsequent secret tampering with the stored data is to be made as difficult as possible or made impossible. The following are advantageous developments of the present invention.
The housing has external electrical terminals, specifically the terminals of the power supply of the components provided in the housing and the terminals via which the pellet/pellets are fired. However, these are not terminals via which the data relating to a crash and stored in the PROM memory can be falsified directly, or indirectly (for example via a measuring unit mounted in the housing) from outside the housing without leaving behind data in the PROM me
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Huber Anton
Neugebauer Dieter
Swart Marten
Elms Richard T.
Pellinen A. D.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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