Title of Invention

"A NEW BLINKER SYSTEM FOR TWO-WHEELMERS WITH AUTO-CANCELLATION MECHANISM"

Abstract

new blinker system for two wheelers with auto cancellation mechanism, which is based on the concept of an electromechanical process and which compresses of a digital sequetial eloctrom containing microprocessor as logically pragramed device timing circuit (crystal oscillator) power supply circuit & slgngal Input elrwt (optalsplator); elactical on/off switehes (relays). It has characteristics features like utilization of handle bar of two wheelers for fixing the device; mechanism of canceling the blinlcer automatically on straightening of the handle-bar; additional provision of manual cancellation in main/subsidiary circuit and/or components is possible. The concept of self'cancellation blinking system for two-wheeler is an electro-mechanical process, states that during operation the initial phase of the blinking system is mechanical i.e. the input signal regarding the turning is manually fed through switching on the blinker to the microprocessor - the logic unit of the circuit, which fetches the instruction from memory, decodes and executes by performing certain logical operations and then the output signal is finally fed to amplifying unit so as to raise the strength of the output signal, i.e., the instruction of canceling the blinker on straightening of the handle-bar.

Full Text

INTRODUCTION In automobiles indicators blinkers are used these days to indicate the movement of vehicles. Indictors/blinkers have great role in regulating the traffic on road, guiding the people and avoiding accidents. At present the blinker is operated manually through the switch on the handle bar, in case of two-wheeler and the switch near the steering, in case of four wheeler. In fact there is a self-cancellation facility in the blinker used in the four wheeler -the driver need not make any effort to stop the blinking action of blinker, once its duty is over. But this is not the case with two-wheeler. In case of two-wheeler the motorist activates the blinker through the switch on the handle bar and then has to cancel it through the same switch. In the present consumer market there is no availability of self-cancellation blinker for two-wheelers. All the reputed two-wheeler companies like Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki etc. are still using the manually operated blinker systems in their two-wheeler bikes. The existing manually operated blinking system has certain complications. The major one are as follow: (i) In case the motorist forgets to switch off the blinker, it would continue to blink even after taking the turn, leading to confusion among the vehicle-drivers who are nearly him/her (moving towards him/her or following him/her). This may lead to accidents. (ii) Cancelling the blinker through the same switch leads to a disturbance in the concentration of bike-rider, mainly during high traffic and may cause accidents. (iii) In such switches, when the motorists manually cancels the blinker-action the other blinker may accidentally get activated and the motorist remains unaware of it. This can also cause confusion in the traffic and cause any unwanted situation or even cause accidents. Not only these, some other problems are also associated with this blinker's use in the vehicles, such as: (a) In two wheelers the transmission of power is direct, i.e. from handle-bar to the front-wheel. The plains of movement of the handle and the wheel is same. The position of the switches on the handle is at a large distance from the centre of handle-bar. Thus a mechanical arrangement linking the switch to the movement of the handle-bar is not feasible. (b) In four wheelers only the steering-column is rotated whereas the switch remains stationary. As a result the cancellation gets a stationary part with which it can engage and disengage. In a two- wheeler, the switch is also rotated along with the handlebar and as a result it does not get any stationary part with which it can engage. (c) In existing motor vehicles (four wheelers), where self-cancellation blinker is used, switch is mounted on the steering-column (this torates and turns the wheel). It is rack and pinion arrangement. The plane of rotation of the steering-wheel (for turning the vehicle) and the actual wheel is different. The transmission of power from the steering-wheel to the wheel of the vehicle is not direct., i.e. it is transmitted from the steering-wheel to the steering-column, to the wheel-axle and finally to the front wheels through the rack and pinion arrangement. Taking all these above-mentioned problems into consideration and to get rid of them, the present blinking system needs a modification. Therefore a new blinking system with auto-cancellation facility is given in this write-up, substantially. The major benefits of newly inverted Blinker system (i) This blinker-system can be successfully used in two-wheelers and it will perform its auto-cancellation action well. (ii) The new concept uses an electronic device, which cancels the blinker automatically on straightening of the handle-bar of two-wheeler. Hence the interaction of man and machine will be reduced considerably leading to lesser probability of accidents. (iii) Due to the automatic cancellation, the manual faults will not prevail. (iv) In case of wrong manual signal given from switch, there is no need to cancel signal with turning handle-bar and is required to cancel signal without turning handle-bar, i.e. the given wrong signal can be cancelled immediately by manually pressing the switch again. The Concept of new blinker system (for two-wheeler) The new concept of self-cancellation blinking system for two-wheelers is an electro-mechanical process. During operation, the initial phase of the blinking system is mechanical, that is the input or the signal regarding the turning has to be fed mechanically by switching on the blinker. After taking the turn, the cancellation of the blinker is done by the digital electronic circuit and no effort from the rider of two-wheeler is required. That is why, the concept termed as SELF-CANCELLATION or AUTO-CANCELLATION BLINKER. The new thing present in this system is the introduction of electronic part. Till today, the blinkers available in the consumer market are totally mechanical both the switching on and switching off of the blinking system are to be done manually, which is responsible for so many precarious situations already mentioned. The newly developed concept basically uses a digital electronic circuit: A sequential logic circuit, which cancels the blinker automatically on straightening of the handle bar. The underlying principle of this digital electronics is a set of sequential logic circuit- a logic circuit (with feedback) whose output depends on the external inputs as well as on the present sate of its outputs which are fed back to the inputs and so have memory. The building block of the digital electronic circuit is the microprocessor. The peripheral circuits of the proposed digital electronic circuit are timing circuit, amplying circuit, oscillator circuit, power supply circuit, signal input and output circuits and the processor initiation circuit. In the new device, the signal is manually fed to the microprocessor -the logic unit of the circuit, which fatches the instruction form memory, decodes and executes, that is it performs certain logical operations. The output signal is being fed to amplifying unit so as to raise the strength of the output signal i.e., the instruction of canceling the blinker on straightening of the handle bar. Blinker / turn-signal given when handle-bar is in straight position. Handle-bar is in straight position initially, rider gives indication to turn form switch and the blinking starts. The blinking continues while the handle-bar of the two-wheeler is turned or angled. When the handle bar is straightened after a particular time or turn (fixed initially, say > x sec), then the blinker stops automatically. If the handle bar is straightened before x sec, the blinking continues. Description of Components Used in the Circuit (1) Optoisolator: It is an optical isolating device or optical isolator or optoisolator that bridges the gap between incompatible wire communication systems. It contains an input amplifier, a light emitting decide, a photodiode and an output amplifier (see Fig-2, in Signal input unit). Actual an optoisolator (ISO) is a semiconductor device that allows signals to be transferred between circuits or systems, while keeping those circuits or systems electrically isolated from each other. In its simplest form, an (ISO) consists of a photodiode such as LED (Light emitting diode), IRED (Infrared-emitting diode), for signal transmission and a photosensor for signal reception. The "transmitter" takes the electrical signal and converts it into a beam of modulated visible light. This beam travel across a transparent gap and is picked up by the "reviver" which converts the modulated light back into an electrical signal. The electrical output wave form is identical to the electrical input waveforms, although the input and the out amplitudes (signal strength) often differ. The optoisolator (ISO) is enclosed in a single package, and has the appearance of an integrated circuit or a transistor with extra leads. (2) RC-circuit: (Supervising circuit keeps the microprocessor under control). The RC circuit is used to give a positive pulse whenever the microprocessor starts executing. The circuit job is to protect the microprocessor from less-than -perfect power-ups, but it relies on supply voltage to rise quickly enough for that purpose. The RC circuit causes reset to be held law after the supply voltage starts to come up. If the voltage rises quickly enough, reset will be sufficiently low to hold the microprocessor in resent, allowing its circuiting to settle down before normal operation is resumed (see in figure 2, RC in microprocessor circuit). (3) Relays: A relay is a device which functions as an electrically operated switch. In response to an electrical signal, the relay opens or closes its which contacts in some prearranged and fixed continuations. The contacts may be in the same circuit as the operating signal or in another circuit (see) in signal output unit of Fig. 2). Flexibility: Varieties of relays are available in market and the manufacturer is free for using any of them, according to convenience. For example: Elecromagnetic relay, solid state relay. (4) Microprocessor: It is a digital device on a chip which can fetch instructions from a memory, decode and execute them i.e., it performs certain arithmetic and logical operations, accepts data from input devices, and sends results to output devices. Therefore, a microprocessor is interfaced with memory and input/output (I/O) devices (see MP in microprocessor circuit of figure-2). Operation of microprocessor Basically a microprocessor performs the following operations: (a) FETCHES an instruction from memory, (b) EXECUTE the instruction (a) The microprocessor (MP) places the address of the 1st byte of instruction on the address bus along with the control signal to read from the addressed memory location. Then the MP gets this data on the data bus. This byte is called OPCODE (Operation code) and the operation of fetching this byte from the memory is called OPCODE FETCH. The OPCODE is decoded and the necessary controls signals are generated. In case of a multi-byte instruction, they are read from the memory one by one by following the above steps. The operation of fetching instruction bytes from the memory is called instruction fetch. Executive Operation: After the MP gets the complete instruction it performs the operation specified by the instruction and this process is called execution. (5) Diode: An ideal diode can be approximate to an automatic switch, which is closed when a diode is forward biased and open when it is reverse biased. A real diode doesn't pass any current until the applied voltage exceeds the knee voltage or the cut-in voltage when it is forward biased. Similarly when it is reversed biased, it doesn't behave like an open switch because of the reverse saturation current (see (D) in signal input unit & signal-output unit and power supply circuit of figure-2). Application: (1) Rectifier (AC→DC) in power supply (2) Switch in logic circuit. (3) Signal communication. (6) Transistor (Transfer of resistor): It's a 3-terminal device whose output current, voltage and/or power are controlled by its input (see (T) in signal output unit in figure-2). Application: Amplification: raise the strength of the weak signal (7) Capacitor: A capacitor consists of two conducting plates separated by a dielectric. The dielectric is an insulating material in which an electric field can be established with little on no leakage current. The dielectrics commonly used in actual practice are air, mica, paper, plastic, aluminum, tantalum etc. This component has an ability to charge or store energy, which neither a resistance nor an inductor can do. It opposes any change of voltage in the circuit in which it is connected. A capacitor is used in a number of applications, which are highly specialized. Some of the important applications of a capacitor are in starting motors, blocking direct current, passing alternate current, filtering unwanted signal, tuning circuit to a specific frequency, coupling electronic circuits, bypassing signals etc. the capacitance of a capacitor is specified in either microfarads (MF) or picofarads (pf). (8) Crystal Oscillator - Timer Circuit: It is basically a tuned oscillator. The crystal oscillator uses a piezoelectric crystal as a resonant tank circuit. The crystal is, usually, made of quartz material and provides a high degree of frequency stability and accuracy, which in turn provides a proper timing circuit (see (C) in microprocessor circuit of figure-2). Operation: A quartz crystal has a very peculiar property known as piezoelectric effect. According to this effect, when an a.c. voltage is applied across a quartz crystal, it vibrates at the frequency of the applied voltage. Conversely, if a mechanical force is applied to vibrate a quartz crystal, it generates an a.c. voltage. Other materials, which exhibit the piezoelectric effect are Rochelle salt and tourmaline. The quartz material is preferred because it is inexpensive and readily available in nature. Moreover, its properties lie in between those of Rochelle salt and tourmaline. When the crystal is placed across an alternating current source, it starts vibrating. The amount of vibration depends upon the frequency of the applied voltage. By changing the frequency, we can find a frequency at which crystal vibrations reach a maximum value. The frequency, at which it happens, is called resonant frequency of the crystal. The frequency of the crystal oscillator tends to change slightly with time. This change in frequency with time is called frequency drift. In a crystal oscillator, the frequency drift is very small that is less than 0.0001% (1 part in 106) per day. It is because of this fact that crystals are used as a basic liming device in digital electronic circuits. The Circuit in Detail: (According to the main circuit, figure no. 2). By compilation of the above-mentioned components, we get an special circuit which act as auto-cancellation blinker. The detail of this very circuit is as followed (see Figure no. 1 and 2). The input electric signal is given by putting the switch on, mechanically. The impact electric signal is fed to the optoisolator enclosed in a single package consisting of a diode and a photosensor. The diode transmits the electric signal. The transmitter takes the electric signal and converts it into a beam of modulated visible light. This beam travels across a transparent gap and is picked up by the receiver, the "photosensor", which converts the modulated light back into an electrical signal. The output electrical signal from the optoisolator is fed to the microprocessor. The microprocessor is already set with the timer circuit (the crystal oscillator) which decides the time for which the blinker will be on. The microprocessor is also set up with the RC circuit, which provide as a live 5V pulse for the initial execution of the microprocessor from the beginning. The microprocessor fetches the instructions from the memory set up and executes logically. The output signal from the microprocessor is fed to the transistors for the amplification. The transistor raises the strength of the signal or amplifies it. The transistor output signal is fed to the relay - an electrically operated switching circuit. In response to the electrical signal the relay opens or closes its switch contacts at the terminals 4 and 5 which results in the switch on or switch off of the Flesh light. The operation of the circuit can be elucidated with the help of the given figure (figure no. 2) by denoting the components by alpha numeric values. Battery = Switches = ; Diodes = Optoisolators = ; Integrated circuit = Crystal = Microprocessor = Flasher left = Transistor = Flasher right = The , the emf source derives the circuit. One of the terminals of is grounded with respect to other. The ungrounded terminal of is connected to IN5408 which acts as a switch and allows the current to the integrated circuit. The output is found to be + 5V which is required for the drive of the circuit, also required at the input of . The input signal operation starts with the manual switching on of or . The signal from or is fed to the (ISO1) or (ISO2) respectively. In (ISO) the electrical signal is converted into a beam of modulated visible light which travels across a transparent gap and is picked up by the receiver which again converts the modulated light back into an electrical signal. The electrical output waveform from is identical to the electrical input waveform of . The output waveform from the terminal 5 is fed to the . The is initially given a +ve pulse by the circuit for the execution. The through the terminals, 5,4 of decides the time for the signal to be processed, i.e. the blinker's operating time. The feeds a +ve pulse through the pin 1 of . The signal undergoes a digital logic processes in and the output of is fed to the for amplification. The amplified signal from is allowed for an inductive kick back separation process through . The output signal from is fed to for the on or off of the or . Working Mechanism (w.r.t, fig. No. 3). (1) To turn left the switch S1 has to be operated. S1 takes the current from the battery and gives the signal to the optoisolator . The signal is passed from the optoisolator to the microprocessor in which the signal goes under a logical sequencing process with the proper set up instructions from the timer crystal oscillator circuit and the supervisory circuit. The output signal from Is passed to the transistor T for amplification and then to the left flasher relay . The relay closes the circuit and the flasher left turns on. (2) The rider turns the handle bar to left and the bike moves leftward. While turning, the following processes take place: (a) The contact point of the cancellation mechanism moves and breaks the contact with contact point . (b) The above breakage gives a signal to optoisolator . (c) The signal from optoisolator is passed to the microprocessor . (d) The microprocessor is so programmed that there is no change in the circuit and the flasher keeps blinking. (3) Now after the turn the handle straightens and meanwhile the following processes take place: (a) The contact point moves and makes contact with contact point . (b) The above switching process gives a signals to optoisolator . (c) The signal is passed from optoisolator to the microprocessor . (d) The output signal from microprocessor is fed to transistor and then to the left flasher relay . (e) The relay opens and the flasher is turned off. Important Notes The proposed self-cancellation system has small box like structure which encloses the whole circuit. This box has to be fixed on the bar connecting the handle and the wheel because the self-cancellation of the blinker takes place when the handle bar again straightens after the turning. Though this device is for auto-cancellation of the blinker, but there is some provision for manual cancellation is also done. In case of wrong signal given manually, it can be cancelled by manual pressing of the switch again. In figure 1 and 2, a manual cancellation mechanism (CM) is provided which has a role in auto-cancellation and it can work for canceling the wrong signal-command manually. We Claim: 1. A new blinker system for two wheelers with auto-cancellation mechanism, based on the concept of an electromechanical process, comprises of a digital sequential electronic circuit (as shown in figure 2), wherein the said digital sequential electronic circuit comprises of microprocessor, as logically programmed device; timing circuit; power supply circuit & signal input circuit; and electrical on/off switches. 2. A new blinker system for two wheelers with auto-cancellation mechanism as claimed in claim I, wherein the microprocessor is interfaced with memory and input/output devices. 3. A new blinker system for two wheeler with auto-cancellation mechanism, as claimed in claim 1, wherein crystal oscillator is applied as timing circuit and transistors as amplifying circuit in digital electronic circuit. 4. A new blinker system for two wheelers with auto-cancellation mechanisms, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said blinker system is essentially provisioned to be mounted on the handle-bar of a two wheeler. in the most suitable position for fixing the blinker device, though any other part of two-wheeler, which supports auto-cancellation property of blinker, can be chosen for the same purpose. 5. A new blinker system for two wheelers with auto-cancellation mechanism, as claimed in claims 1, wherein quality and type of components of the sequential electronic circuit (viz. Optoisolator, RC-circuit, relays, microprocessor, diodes, transistors, capacitors and crystal oscillator) are optional in nature and wherein the compilation of components optionally involve slight changes in main or subsidiary circuits of blinker, depending on the esthetics and requirement. 6. A new blinker system for two wheeler with auto-cancellation mechanism, as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the size and shape of digital electronic circuit as well as the box in which the device is packed, may change depending upon the place of fixing of device aesthetics and the interest of manufacturer. 7. A new blinker system for two wheeler with auto-cancellation mechanism, as claimed in claim 1, wherein manual cancellation facility is also provided with the blinker system. 8. A new blinker system for two wheeler with auto-cancellation mechanism, substantially as herein described arid illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

935-del-2003-abstract.pdf

935-del-2003-claims.pdf

935-DEL-2003-Correspondence-Others-(25-03-2010).pdf

935-del-2003-correspondence-others.pdf

935-del-2003-correspondence-po.pdf

935-del-2003-description (complete).pdf

935-del-2003-description (provisional).pdf

935-del-2003-drawings.pdf

935-del-2003-form-1.pdf

935-del-2003-form-18.pdf

935-del-2003-form-19.pdf

935-del-2003-form-2.pdf

935-del-2003-form-3.pdf

935-del-2003-form-5.pdf

935-del-2003-form-62.pdf

935-DEL-2003-GPA-(25-03-2010).pdf