SENSORS IN AUTOMOBILES

sensors

A sensor is an object whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment, and then provide a corresponding output. A sensor is a type of transducer; sensors may provide various types of output, but typically use electrical or optical signals.

ADVANTAGES OF SENSOR

• Sensors help in monitoring the system/component precisely.

• Sensor helps in attaining high control over machines and provide high performance.

• Sensors help eradicate error, hazards and faults of the system.

• Sensors helps in automatic operation of equipment with less human efforts.

Sensors used in vehicle• Steering angle sensor• Air bag sensor

• Brake pedal position sensor• Accelerator pedal position sensor

• Blind spot sensor• Adaptive Headlight sensor

• Throttle position sensor• Rain sensor

• Parking sensor• Passive wheel speed sensor

STEERING ANGLE SENSOR

The steering angle sensor is a critical part of the electronic stability computer system that measures the steering wheel position angle and rate of turn. A scan tool can be used to obtain this data in degrees. The SAS is located in a sensor cluster in the steering column.

AIR BAG SENSOR

An airbag is a type of vehicle safety device. It is designed to inflate extremely rapidly the quickly deflate during a collision or impact with a surface. It consists of the air bag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, inflated module and impact sensor.

PARKING SENSOR

Parking sensors are proximity sensors for road vehicles designed to alert the driver to obstacles while driving. These systems feature ultrasonic proximity detectors to measure the distances to the nearby object via sensors located in the front and rear bumpers fascias or virtually minimized within adjacent grills.

PASSIVE WHEEL SPEED SENSOR

The passive speed sensor creates its own AC signal that changes frequency with wheel speed.This signal is only present while the wheel is turning at a rate fast enough to create the AC signal. Vehicles equipped with passive wheel speed sensors generally do not read below 2mph coming from a dead stop. During a wheel spin condition or under a condition where one wheel is turning slower than other three wheels the system will reduce hydraulic brake pressure to allow that wheel to regain its traction with the road surface.

BRAKE PEDAL POSITION SENSOR

When depressing the brake pedal, the auto’s hydraulics engage and slow or stop the vehicle.  In addition, two other functions can also occur, one of which is critical to the operation of the vehicle- disengaging of the cruise control.  The other function is to switch on the brake lights to alert other vehicles that the car is slowing down and/or is going to stop. 

ACCELERATION PEDAL POSITION SENSOR

The APP sensor is fixed to the throttle body of the electronic throttle control system with intelligence (ETCSi). The functional principle to the AAP sensor involves conversion of the accelerator pedal movement into a voltage signal.The accelerator position information is transferred to the throttle actuator control (TAC) module and the powertrain control module (PCM). The accelerator position sensor is made up of two individual sensors, with both sensors designed to have individual sensor return wiring and each have a varying voltage range.

BLIND SPOT SENSOR

Radar sensors in the rear monitor the area behind and alongside the vehicle. This allows, within the system’s limits, vehicles to be detected over a range of 20 meters.The Blind Spot sensor works from 15 km/h and can alert the driver by means of an LED indicator in the exterior mirror where another vehicle or object is located in the warning area. The system points out the potential hazard to the driver by causing an LED to come on in the particular exterior mirror. If the driver nevertheless signals to change lane, the same LED starts to flash more brightly and draws the driver’s attention to the hazard.

ADAPTIVE HEADLIGHT SENSOR

Automatic headlight range control ensures the best headlight setting for illumination of the road ahead. It automatically adjusts the angle of the beam to compensate for your car’s load, stopping your lights dazzling oncoming traffic. The control function automatically adjusts the headlights’ angle of inclination depending on the current vehicle load. 

THROTTLE POSITION SENSOR(TPS)A TPS is a sensor used to monitor the throttle position of a vehicle.The sensor is usually located on the butterfly spindle /shaft so that it can directly monitor the position of the throttle.

RAIN SENSOR

The rain sensor automatically regulates the windscreen wiper speed according to the intensity of the rain.The sensor is housed in the mount of the interior mirror. It consists of a number of infrared LEDs and a central photodiode. The light emitted by the LEDs is reflected by the windscreen onto the photo sensor. The more drops of water there are on the windscreen, the less light the sensor receives. This information is relayed to an electronic control unit, which adapts the wiper interval accordingly. There is also a selector switch for individually adjusting the sensitivity of the sensor.

CONCLUSION

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