Communications: electrical – Land vehicle alarms or indicators – External alarm or indicator of movement
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-18
2001-11-13
Lieu, Julie (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Land vehicle alarms or indicators
External alarm or indicator of movement
C340S468000, C340S469000, C340S479000, C362S543000, C362S544000, C362S545000, C362S800000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06317038
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an installation for signalling the deceleration of a motor vehicle, comprising a signal lamp having an illuminating area which lights up in the event of deceleration of the vehicle, this illuminating area being divided into lighting sections, each section being equipped with its own light source, and means for controlling the lighting of a number of light sources which increases with the deceleration of the vehicle so as to obtain a lit surface of the illuminating area representative of this deceleration.
The stop lamps placed at the rear of a vehicle light up when the brake pedal is actuated. They thus allow the driver of a following vehicle to anticipate a slowing-down and to react to it. In contrast, these lamps give no information on the strength of the braking. For this reason stop lamps have been envisaged (DE 195 06 621), particularly complementary lamps, the illuminating area of which is divided into a certain number of sections. The greater the deceleration of the vehicle, the higher the number of sections lit up. The surface of the illuminating area increases in size as a function of the deceleration and thus supplies an indication representative thereof. This allows the driver of a following vehicle to be informed as to the strength of the braking.
However, in a known lamp of this type, each section of the illuminating area emits a luminous flux of constant intensity. The overall intensity of the lamp is thus equal to the arithmetic sum of the intensities of each of the sections, such that it varies very greatly. It is a minimum when only one section is lit and a maximum when all the sections are. However, the luminous intensity of the lamp should not exceed a maximum value fixed by the regulations. If this value is not exceeded when all the sections are lit, the lamp will be difficult to discern when only one single section is lit since its luminous intensity will be weak. If the luminous intensity of a single section is sufficient to be discerned clearly, the amplitude of the variation of the signal, proportional to the total number of sections of the lamp, will have to be low so that the intensity of the lamp does not exceed the maximum value when all the sections are lit. Hence the known lamps do not make it possible fully to transmit a signal representative of the deceleration, which has the outcome either of late braking by the following vehicle, or of over-braking followed by acceleration.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The precise subject of the invention is an installation for signalling the deceleration of a motor vehicle which remedies these drawbacks. It should make it possible to deliver a signal representative of the deceleration which can vary by a large amplitude while being perceptible at low deceleration, and do so without the intensity of the lamp exceeding the regulatory standards when the lamp is fully lit.
This result is achieved, in accordance with the invention, by the fact that the luminous intensity of the illuminating area remains substantially constant whatever the number of lighting sections lit.
The constant luminous intensity of the illuminating area is preferably obtained by supplying the light sources with substantially constant power.
By virtue of this characteristic, the lamp delivers a signal which can vary by a large amplitude while being perceptible even for a slight deceleration, this being so without the intensity of the lamp exceeding the regulatory standards when the lamp is fully lit.
According to one particular embodiment, the light sources are such that the voltage at their terminals is largely independent of the strength of the current which is passing through them, the substantially constant luminous intensity of the illuminating area being obtained by supplying the light sources with an electric current of substantially constant strength. These light sources consist, for example, of a plurality of light-emitting diodes.
The means for controlling the lighting of a number of light sources which increases with the deceleration of the vehicle preferably comprise a deceleration sensor which measures the deceleration of the vehicle, and connection means which selectively link the light sources to an electrical-energy source as a function of an output signal from the deceleration sensor.
The connection means preferably comprise, for each light source, a transistor mounted on the circuit for supplying power to the source and a comparator, receiving an output signal from the deceleration sensor and linked to the transistor, which changes over when the output signal from the deceleration sensor becomes higher than a reference voltage, which makes the transistor conduct.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3501742 (1970-03-01), Ellison
patent: 5150098 (1992-09-01), Rakow
patent: 5594416 (1997-01-01), Gerhaher
patent: 5828319 (1998-10-01), Tonkin et al.
patent: 5896084 (1999-04-01), Weiss et al.
patent: 6163256 (2000-12-01), Brown
patent: 32 20 442 (1983-04-01), None
patent: 195 36 627 (1997-03-01), None
patent: 2 536 710 (1984-06-01), None
International Search Report dated Jan. 18, 2000.
Leleve Joel
Rit Jean
Lieu Julie
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
Valeo Vision
LandOfFree
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