One more second until collision. The cameras integrated in the doors have long identified the car that will cause the accident. Radar sensors in the car wings measure how far away the other car still is. 200 milliseconds before the crash, the new side-impact protection system is activated. The occupants are reliably protected at the crucial moment.
The intelligent side-impact protection system is a product of the EU project APROSYS – short for Advanced Protection Systems. The technology was developed by Fraunhofer researchers in cooperation with various universities, car manufacturers and suppliers.
“Our goal was to improve the active crash safety of motor vehicles – that is, to adapt the technical properties of the car body in such a way that it absorbs energy at the crucial moment and thus protects the occupants,” says project manager Björn Seipel of the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF.
But how do you get the car body to change its properties? And how does the car know when its occupants need protection? The researchers have devised a kind of sixth sense for cars that anticipates accidents and emits the necessary impulse to activate the side-impact protection system.
Stereo cameras and radar sensors continually scan the environment, and a central computer analyzes the data. “During the journey, the system has to distinguish moving objects – meaning other cars that could potentially cause an accident – from stationary objects such as houses or trees,” explains Dr. Dieter Willersinn of the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing IITB.
His team has developed a software program capable of predicting a lateral collision just in time – about 200 milliseconds before the crash. The impulse from the central computer releases a surge of electricity that heats a wire made of a shape memory alloy. This wire is the actual trigger.
“We opted for this solution because it is faster than any conventional solenoid switch,” says Seipel. The heat bends the wire, which then releases a spring. The spring slackens and pushes a steel bolt, which is integrated in the seat, towards the door. At the same time a stable metal body in the door is brought into position to support the steel bolt.
“The system of the bolt and the metal box stabilizes the car door and absorbs energy on collision,” explains Seipel. To prove that the new side-impact protection system actually works in a real crash situation, he will carry out a crash test in Spain on March 7. The passenger cell will be on display at the Hannover trade fair on April 21 through 25.
Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Related stories:
The technology to make 'Speed Racer' cars
The opening of the new “Speed Racer” movie coming out nationally on May 9 has meant weeks of fast-paced fun for 8 juniors in the University of Cincinnati’s internationally recognized School of Design, part of UC’s top-ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Road safety: the uncrashable car?
The largest road safety research project ever launched in Europe will usher in a series of powerful road-safety systems for European cars. But, in the long term, its basic, experimental research could lead to a car that is virtually uncrashable.
Chemicals used as fire retardants could be harmful, researchers say
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), chemicals used as fire retardants, can be found in numerous items in the home, such as the television, computer, toaster and the sofa. Now, as reported in a
KNBC story on Nov. 28, they are being found in alarming concentrations, in human blood and breast milk – a potentially major concern for human health.
Driving on the wrong side of the road -- the myth of Japanese efficiency in car manufacturing
The real culprit for the collapse of Rover Group under the ownership of BMW was a misconceived attempt to emulate Japanese production methods that pre-dated ownership by the German car giant, a new book shows. Based on research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the book reveals that rather than helping the fortunes of the Rover Group, "Japanese practices" introduced prior to the BMW takeover undermined its growing success.
Ewwwww! UCLA anthropologist studies evolution's disgusting side
Behind every wave of disgust that comes your way may be a biological imperative much greater than the urge to lose your lunch, according to a growing body of research by a UCLA anthropologist.
Robotics, laser and wireless technologies make driving safer for wheelchair users
Engineers at Lehigh and Carnegie Mellon universities, working with a Philadelphia-based start-up, have integrated robotics, laser and wireless technologies into a new system that promises to make it safer and cheaper for wheelchair users to drive a car.
Microcapsules like it Hot and Salty
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have presented a new method with which to precisely control the permeability of microcapsules using the salt content and the temperature of the solution. In order to accomplish this, the researchers developed a theoretical model which exactly describes the processes in the polymer shell of the capsules. This means that is possible to predict, without any experimental investigations, how the properties of the hollow spheres will change if the temperature and salt content are altered (
Physical Review Letters, November 3, 2006).
Driverless transport in big cities
While traffic problems in major cities have been familiar for a long time, the measures needed to deal with them have still to be put into effect. However, in its 6th Framework Programme, the EU is beating the big drum and looking for more efficient transport solutions in big cities, as well as more rational use of motor traffic. New traffic solutions such as completely automated vehicles moving on tracks, cars in defined corridors (cybercars) and bi-modal vehicles that can alternate between automatic and manual control, will aim to reduce traffic queues and pollution.
