System and method for dampening impact to a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11820306-B2
Application number	US-202117327896-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2021
Priority date	Jun 4, 2018
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for dampening impact to a vehicle. The system may include a vehicle frame component; a plurality of adjustable exterior vehicle body components coupled to the frame component, wherein the vehicle body components are on different sides of a vehicle and are configurable to dampen an external force exerted on the vehicle; a plurality of actuator components configured to adjust physical configurations of the vehicle body components relative to the frame component; a component configured to collect data representing an external environment of the vehicle; and one or more processors configured to detect, by processing the data, an external driving condition, wherein the external driving condition is an impending collision between the vehicle and one or more objects external to the vehicle, and when the external driving condition is detected, cause the actuator components to correspondingly adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system for dampening impact to a vehicle, the system comprising:
a vehicle frame component;
a plurality of adjustable exterior vehicle body components coupled to the vehicle frame component, wherein the vehicle body components partially surround a vehicle and are configurable to absorb an external force exerted on the vehicle;
a plurality of actuator components configured to adjust physical configurations of the vehicle body components relative to the vehicle frame component;
an external communication component configured to actively scan an external environment of the vehicle for one or more external objects; and
one or more processors configured to:
detect, by processing the driving environment data, an external driving condition, wherein the external driving condition is an impending collision between the vehicle and one or more objects external to the vehicle, and
when the external driving condition is detected, cause the actuator components to correspondingly adjust in near real-time the physical configurations of the vehicle body components relative to the vehicle frame component in order for the exterior vehicle body component to absorb the maximum amount of an external force exerted on the vehicle during a collision.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to detect the impending collision by at least one of (i) determining a closing speed between the vehicle and the one or more objects external to the vehicle, or (ii) determining a distance between the vehicle and the one or more objects external to the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to detect the impending collision by determining at least one of (i) a predicted trajectory of the vehicle, or (ii) a predicted trajectory of the one or more objects external to the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the external communication component configured to collect the driving environment data is at least one of (i) a sensor configured to sense the external environment of the vehicle, or (ii) a transceiver configured to collect data from one or more sources external to the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the actuator components are configured to adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components by adjusting at least one of yaw angles, pitch angles, or roll angles of the vehicle body components relative to the vehicle frame component.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the actuator components are configured to adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components by moving the external vehicle body components in at least one of forward, backward, upward, downward, clockwise, counterclockwise, or lateral directions relative to the vehicle frame component.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of frame coupling components configured to couple the vehicle body components to the vehicle frame component, wherein the actuator components include gear assemblies that are coupled to the frame coupling components and are configured to cause the vehicle body components to move relative to the vehicle frame component.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the actuator components to correspondingly adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components by:
determining, based on the driving environment data, impact absorption physical configurations of the vehicle body components that would cause the vehicle body components to absorb the external force exerted on the vehicle; and
causing the gear assemblies to adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components to the impact absorption physical configurations.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein a first vehicle body component of the vehicle body components includes at least one of a mechanical spring, a rotary platform, polyurethane material, a hydraulic fluid system, a telescoping apparatus, a piston strut, or a shock absorber.

10. A method for dampening impact to a vehicle, the method comprising:
scanning, via an external communication component, an external environment of the vehicle for one or more external objects;
receiving, via one or more processors, data representing the external environment of the vehicle;
detecting, by processing the data using the one or more processors, an external driving condition, wherein the external driving condition is an impending collision between the vehicle and the one or more objects external to the vehicle; and
adjusting in near real-time, via a plurality of actuator components, a physical configuration of a plurality of adjustable exterior vehicle body components that partially surround a vehicle frame component, wherein the exterior vehicle body components absorb a maximum amount of an external force exerted on the vehicle resulting from a collision.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein detecting the impending collision includes at least one of (i) determining a closing speed between the vehicle and the one or more objects external to the vehicle, or (ii) determining a distance between the vehicle and the one or more objects external to the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein detecting the impending collision includes determining at least one of (i) a predicted trajectory of the vehicle, or (ii) a predicted trajectory of the one or more objects external to the vehicle.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising detecting the data with at least one of (i) a sensor configured to sense the external environment of the vehicle, or (ii) a transceiver configured to collect the data from one or more sources external to the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the actuator components are configured to adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components by adjusting at least one of yaw angles, pitch angles, or roll angles of the vehicle body components relative to a vehicle frame component.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the actuator components are configured to adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components by moving the vehicle body components in at least one of forward, backward, upward, downward, clockwise, counterclockwise, or lateral directions relative to the vehicle frame component.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the vehicle body components are coupled to the vehicle frame components by a plurality of frame coupling components, and the actuator components include gear assemblies that are coupled to the frame coupling components and are configured to cause the vehicle body components to move relative to the vehicle frame component.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
determining, based on the data, impact absorption physical configurations of the vehicle body components that would cause the vehicle body components to absorb the external force exerted on the vehicle; and
causing the gear assemblies to adjust the physical configurations of the vehicle body components to the impact absorption physical configurations.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein a first vehicle body component of the vehicle body components includes at least one of a mechanical spring, a rotary platform, polyurethane material, a hydraulic fluid system, a telescoping apparatus, a piston strut, or a shock absorber.

Assignees

• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co

Inventors

• Christensen Scott T
• Fields Brian M
• Prevatt Stephen R
• Roberson Steve

Classifications

• B60R19/00 Primary

  Wheel guards; Radiator guards, {e.g. grilles}; Obstruction removers; Fittings damping bouncing force in collisions ({reinforcement elements for side doors B60J5/0412; } mudguards B62D) · CPC title

• B60R21/0132

  responsive to vehicle motion parameters {, e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value} · CPC title

• B60R21/0134

  responsive to imminent contact with an obstacle {, e.g. using radar systems} · CPC title

• B60W30/08

  Active safety systems} predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision {or attempting to minimise its consequences · CPC title

• B60W30/095

  Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision · CPC title