JPS5946815B2 - Device for determining abnormal mental and physical conditions of vehicle drivers - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for determining a mental and physical abnormal state of a vehicle driver,
The present invention relates to a device for determining an abnormal state of mind and body from a detected value of a driver's grip strength.

When driving a vehicle such as an automobile, a driver is always required to maintain a good mental and physical stability.

There are many factors that can cause a driver's ability to drive to deteriorate, but one of the most important factors is alcohol consumption, as well as the driver's physical condition due to overwork, falling asleep, or illness. .

It is a well-known fact that driving a vehicle is extremely dangerous when the driving operation function is degraded due to factor I mentioned above, and many unfortunate traffic accidents occur due to these factors. It is.

Conventional vehicles have not been equipped with a device to check whether the driver is mentally or physically abnormal, and thus have allowed drivers with abnormal physical and mental conditions to drive the vehicle.

In the past, several theoretical and experimental physical and mental state checking systems have been proposed.

However, some of these conventional technologies impose extremely complicated checking tasks on drivers, and some of them are far from the stage of practical application due to their manufacturing costs. .

In contrast, the present applicant previously applied for patent application No. 50-14662.
From No. 9 (%Kaisei No. 52-71032) Koyuki (1) The detection part in the driver's seat generates a certain grip force.

A method for determining the mental and physical abnormal state of a vehicle driver, which determines driving aptitude by maintaining a constant grip strength for a certain period of time while looking at a display in the driver's seat, and comparing the reaction value with a reference value.

(2) It has a load cell installed in the driver's seat, and electrically detects the grip force applied to the load cell.

A device for determining a mental and physical abnormal state of a vehicle driver, including a detection section that displays the output in a driver's seat, and a processing circuit that compares the output of the detection section with a predetermined reference value and controls an engine lock circuit.

proposed. It is uneconomical to install the load cell in the above device as a new member in the driver's seat, and it is important to keep the operating equipment in the driver's seat as simple as possible to install equipment that is not used when the vehicle is running. It is disadvantageous if you have the viewpoint that it is desirable.

This invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a grip force detection device that is equipped with a load cell without providing any new members.

The present invention has a load cell installed in a grip such as a steering wheel, electrically detects the grip force applied to the load cell, and displays the output along with an irregular grip force adjustment value in the driver's seat. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a grip force detection device and a processing circuit that compares the detection output of the grip force detection device with a predetermined reference value to control the vehicle driving interference device.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

A vehicle driver's mental and physical abnormal state determination device to which the grip force detection device according to the present invention is applied controls the operation of the vehicle's ignition system by an engine lock circuit.

When the engine is stopped, the engine lock circuit locks the ignition system and prevents the engine from starting.

When the driver starts the engine. Participants must undergo a mental and physical abnormal state determination task.

If the result of the mental and physical abnormal state determination task is favorable, the locking effect of the engine lock circuit is released and the engine can be started, but if the result is determined to be abnormal, the lock of the ignition system is continued. , the engine cannot be started.

The mind-body response, known as the static adjustment task, is used in the test to determine the abnormal state of mind and body.

This static coordination task tests the ability to maintain a certain state of tension in a part of the body for a predetermined period of time, and uses the fact that the ability to maintain tension decreases as the stable state of the mind and body is disrupted to detect abnormal states of the body and mind. It is something to detect.

Numerous experiments have shown that this static adjustment task is extremely effective in detecting abnormal states of mind and body.

Especially have drinkers do this test. As a result of investigating the relationship between blood alcohol concentration, which is considered an objective standard for drunk driving, and test results, it was found that drunk driving can be detected at a fairly high rate, and that it is effective in preventing drunk driving. Admitted.

The static adjustment task involves maintaining the driver's grip on a load cell at a predetermined tension state for a predetermined period of time. Changes in the grip force applied to the load cell are electrically detected by changes in the resistance of a strain gauge and are detected by an indicator installed in the driver's seat. be instructed.

A certain adjustment value is set on the indicator, and the driver adjusts his/her grip strength so that the indicated value of the indicator matches the adjustment value.

Changes in grip strength due to adjustment are subjected to suitable processing for determination by an appropriate processing circuit, and the reaction value after a predetermined period of time is compared with a reference value to determine the mental and physical state.

As described above, the determination device to which the grip force detection device of the present invention is applied is formed of a grip force detection device, a processing circuit, and an engine lock circuit, and the grip force detection device includes a load cell, an amplifier, and an indicator operated by the driver. Consists of.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a detection section in which a load cell is incorporated in a shift lever knob 10 in the driver's seat, and the output thereof is read by an indicator 11.

The structure of the load cell is shown in FIG.
The knob 10 fixed to the tip of the handle 2 also serves as a load cell.

That is, four strain gauges 15, 16, 17, 18 are attached around a cylindrical shaft 14 fixed to a hemispherical base 13, and a hemispherical cover 19 is fixed to the end of the shaft 14. ing.

Since the shaft 14 is flexible, when the driver grasps the knob 10, the shaft 14 is slightly strained, causing strain gauges 15, 16, 1
The resistance values of 7 and 18 change.

The strain gauges 15, 16, 17, 18 are connected to form the bridge circuit shown in FIG.

A constant voltage is supplied to the bridge circuit in order to extract electrical changes.

The output of the bridge circuit is adjusted by an amplifier 20 and displayed on an indicator 11.

In addition to the strain gauges 15 to 18, piezoelectric elements may be used.

In this case, there is no need to supply power to obtain electrical changes.

The indicator 11 may be any device that can display electrical changes, such as a DC ammeter or a DC voltmeter.

As shown in FIG. 1, the indicator instrument 11 is arranged near the steering wheel 21 at a position where it does not interfere with other meters, and is configured so that the driver can easily read the indicated value.

The indicator 111 is engraved with an adjustment value 22 as shown in FIG. 4, indicating the adjustment position of the pointer 23.

It is also possible to use an instrument already installed in the vehicle, such as a speedometer, without having to provide a separate indicator instrument as described above.

The resistance value of each strain gauge is set so that the output of the bridge circuit is zero when no grip force is applied to the load cell.

In this case, it is preferable to insert an adjustment variable resistor into the bridge circuit in order to obtain a balanced state of the bridge.

When the driver grips the knob 10 and applies grip force to the load cell, the resistance value of the strain gauge changes.

The balance of the bridge circuit is broken and a change in voltage or current occurs.

This voltage or current change is displayed on the indicator 11.

The grip force is finely adjusted for a predetermined period of time so that the pointer 23 of the indicator 11 of the driver 1j matches the adjustment value 22 and remains stationary.

Hereinafter, the force explained in the case where the shift lever knob 10 is also used as a load cell may be any force that the driver holds when normally operating the vehicle. As shown below, the steering wheel/L72
1, or the turn signal lever 24I as shown at 10B, or the parking brake bundle 251 as shown at 10C.

In this case, the load cell 1 steering wheel 21,
Turn signal lever 24. As shown in FIG. 5, a coaxial elastic member 26 is provided inside the portion of the parking brake bundle 25 where grip force is applied.

Strain gauges 15 to 18. Alternatively, it is configured by providing a piezoelectric element.

If a constant adjustment value is always used here, there is a risk that the driver will make a false prediction or that the load cell portion may be wrapped with tape.

To prevent this, you can make adjustments so that the required grip strength value changes each time.

One possible solution is to appropriately change the output sensitivity of the load cell.

Specifically, one example is shown in FIG. 6, which applies the operating principle of a vehicle totalizer.

The rotation of the speedometer cable is transmitted to the gear 30 through a worm gear mechanism f consisting of a worm 28 and a worm wheel 29.

A gear 30 is a driving gear for the totalizer, and rotates a coaxially fixed ring 31 to sequentially display a predetermined number of kilometers traveled.

Utilizing this principle, the rotation of the speedometer cable is similarly transmitted to a worm gear mechanism consisting of a worm 28 and a worm wheel 32, thereby causing the single gear 33 to rotate.

A rotating shaft 341 of a gear 3311 and a potentiometer is attached, and as a result, the potentiometer rotates according to the rotation of the speedometer, and the resistance changes.

It is a potentiometer 11 endless type, and if its resistance value is used as the resistance value that is related to the output sensitivity of the rotor set, the necessary adjustment grip force will be determined by the resistance value at the time the vehicle stops. .

This means that the driver is required to have an undefined grip strength, making it difficult to predict.

Note that the gear ratio between the worm wheel 32 and the gear 33 is selected as appropriate.

As a method of changing the adjustment value, the adjustment value may be changed multiple times within one test period.

In this case, the adjustment value is determined by providing a lamp 36 along the scale 35 of the indicator 11 as shown in FIG.

The lamp 36 lights up and the pointer 23 is aligned with the scale at the 1st position, and the lamp 36 is set to 1. For example, for the first 15 seconds, the adjustment value is "5", for the next 20 seconds, the adjustment value is "3", and the first 20 seconds.
For 1 second, rub the adjustment value "8" so that the lights turn on in sequence.

Further, the adjustment value may be indicated using a digital display 37 as shown in FIG.

Next, a processing circuit for electrically processing the test device output for the static adjustment task described above to determine the mental and physical state will be described.

A preferred embodiment of the processing circuit is shown in FIG.

The output of the detection section is obtained as a reaction waveform indicated by g10A10C.

The waveform in FIG. 10A (with time on the horizontal axis and output voltage value on the vertical axis) represents the change in grip force with respect to the adjustment value '0''.

This output is plus from the adjusted value. The voltage is applied to a frequency measuring circuit 41 that counts the number of times the reaction waveform crosses a level set at a constant voltage value width in the negative direction (one force).

FIG. 10B shows an example of a reaction waveform corresponding to each level. The range from level '0' to level '1' is an acceptable level, and waveforms in between are not subject to frequency measurement.

1lOB diagram shows level 'l' and reverso and level'
3" is shown, but the level setting is selected as appropriate.

The measurement of frequency is performed within a preset time, and this predetermined time is the fixed time during which the static adjustment task is imposed, and the fixed time during which the static adjustment task is imposed.
A time of about seconds was suitable.

In this way, the frequency of each level measured within a certain period of time is calculated by the calculation circuit 42, which weights each level and calculates the total, thereby solving the driver's stationary adjustment problem. The reaction value at one stage is determined.

The weighting coefficient for each level is arbitrarily set, and is set so that the coefficient 1 for levers far from the adjustment value is extremely large and that if this level is crossed even once, the reaction value will exceed the appropriate value.

The reaction value which is the output of the arithmetic circuit 42 is sent to the judgment circuit 43, and the reference value provided in the 1 judgment circuit 43 is compared with the reaction value.

The reference value is an experimentally determined value and can serve as a good guideline for almost all drivers.

This is a general-purpose device. However, if it is desired to further eliminate individual differences, the reference value in one judgment circuit may be set to a reference value that can be applied only to each individual driver.

This becomes a personal slag device.

Furthermore, if it is difficult to set standard values for each person, standard values can be classified and set experimentally.

If the 1 reaction value in the determination circuit 43 is below the reference value, the output of the determination circuit releases the locking action of the engine lock circuit 44, allowing the engine to start.

However, if the 1 reaction value is greater than or equal to the reference value, the engine lock circuit 44 is not unlocked and the vehicle engine cannot be started.

FIG. 11 schematically shows another embodiment of the processing circuit according to the present invention, and since it is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 9, detailed explanation will be omitted.

In this example. A clipper circuit 101 extracts a waveform of a predetermined voltage from the amplified output of the detection section.

FIG. 12 shows a line of reaction waveforms, and the part (bunching part) exceeding the predetermined voltage value indicated by the broken line is the clipper circuit 101.
It means that it is taken out by.

The voltage range within the dashed line corresponds to the tolerance level described for frequency measurements.

The output of the clipper circuit 101 is integrated by an integrating circuit 102, and the output is sent to a determining circuit 103I, where it is compared with a reference value similarly to the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 to determine the mental and physical state of the driver.

It is also preferable to integrate all outputs from the detection section (bunching section) as shown in FIG. 12B without using a clipper circuit.

As described above, the present invention has a load cell installed in a grip such as a steering wheel, electrically detects the grip force applied to the load cell, and transmits the output along with an unspecified grip force adjustment value in the driver's seat. a grip force detection device that displays
This is because a device including a processing circuit that compares the detection output of the grip force detection device with a predetermined reference value to control the vehicle driving interference device determines the mental and physical abnormal state of the vehicle driver.

Since a load cell can be installed in the driver's seat without installing a new operation unit, it becomes difficult for the driver to predict the grip force adjustment value, and it is possible to accurately determine the driver's mental and physical abnormal state. It has this effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a general view of a driver's seat incorporating a grip force detection device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the load cell shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of the detection device. , FIG. 4 is a front view of the indicator shown in FIG. 1. Fig. 5 is a partially cross-sectional perspective view showing another embodiment of the load cell; Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the reference value variable device of the detection device; Fig. 7 is a front view showing another embodiment of the indicator; FIG. 8 is a front view showing an adjustment value indicator, FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the present invention, and FIG. 10A. FIG. 10B is a waveform diagram of FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing another actual m11FIJ of the processing circuit according to the present invention. 12A and 12B are reaction waveform diagrams of FIG. 11. 10...Shift lever knob (grip part), 10A
...Steering wheel, 10B...
・Blinker lever, 10C... Parking brake bundle %11... Indicator, 43...
...Judgment circuit, 44...Engine block circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A load cell is provided in a grip part of a steering wheel, etc., and the grip force applied to the load cell is electrically detected, and its output is displayed in the driver's seat along with an unspecified grip force adjustment value. and a processing circuit that compares a detection output of the grip force detection device with a predetermined reference value to control a vehicle driving interference device. An apparatus for determining abnormal mental and physical conditions of a vehicle driver, comprising: