U.S. patent application number 10/457411 was filed with the patent office on 2004-12-16 for roadway shoulder rumble strips apparatus.
Invention is credited to Wang, Michael C., Wang, Shyh-Jye, Wang, Sung-En.
Application Number | 20040253053 10/457411 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 33510450 |
Filed Date | 2004-12-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040253053 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wang, Shyh-Jye ; et
al. |
December 16, 2004 |
Roadway shoulder rumble strips apparatus
Abstract
Rumble strips slow down the speed of tires that are crossing the
rumble strips that the vehicle tends to turn its direction toward
the shoulder. Also, a component of the reaction force from the
rumble strips pushes the vehicle further away from its normal path.
These two effects cause potential danger to the driver. The current
invention shows a rumble strips apparatus that are capable of
providing a guiding force to guide the vehicle back to its normal
path and in the mean time, providing vibration as conventional
rumble strips do.
Inventors: |
Wang, Shyh-Jye; (Irvine,
CA) ; Wang, Michael C.; (Irvine, CA) ; Wang,
Sung-En; (Irvine, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Shyh-Jye Wang
6 Redwood Tree Lane
Irvine
CA
92612
US
|
Family ID: |
33510450 |
Appl. No.: |
10/457411 |
Filed: |
June 10, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
404/71 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E01F 9/529 20160201 |
Class at
Publication: |
404/071 |
International
Class: |
E01C 007/00 |
Claims
We claim:
1. (cancelled)
2. (cancelled)
3. (cancelled)
4. (cancelled)
5. A roadway shoulder rumble strips comprising: a rightmost travel
lane; a right edge line lies on the right of said rightmost travel
lane; a right shoulder located on the right of said right edge
line; and a plurality of curved rumble strips lies in the said
right shoulder where the two ends of each of said plurality of
curved rumble strips form a virtual line and the said virtual line
and said right edge line form an angle of approximately
5-15.degree..
6. An apparatus as in claim 5, where the most part of each of the
said curved rumble strips are on the left side of each of the said
virtual line.
7. An apparatus as in claim 5, where the most part of each of the
said curved rumble strips are on the right side of each of the said
virtual line.
8. A roadway shoulder rumble strips comprising: a leftmost travel
lane; a left edge line lies on the left of said leftmost travel
lane; a left shoulder located on the left of said left edge line;
and a plurality of curved rumble strips lies in the said left
shoulder where the two ends of each of said plurality of curved
rumble strips form a virtual line and the said virtual line and
said left edge line form an angle of approximately
5-15.degree..
9. An apparatus as in claim 8, where the most part of each of the
said curved rumble strips are on the right side of each of the said
virtual line.
10. An apparatus as in claim 8, where the most part of each of the
said curved rumble strips are on the left side of each of the said
virtual line.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] (Not Applicable)
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] (Not Applicable)
REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM
LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX
[0003] (Not Applicable)
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Rumble strips usually refer to a series of spaced, generally
parallel grooves, depressions, or ribs in the surface of a roadway
shoulder. Rumble strips can be created by cutting, grinding, or
impressing the surface of the roadway in a pattern designed to
alert the driver of a vehicle to a potential danger or change in
conditions ahead. As used herein, the term roadway refers to the
hard surface of a road or highway (including an interstate highway)
that is intended for vehicular traffic. The term roadway shoulder
refers to the edges of a roadway.
[0005] The use of rumble strips on the surface of the roadway
shoulder is well known. As a vehicle's tires travel across the
rumble strips on the surface of a roadway shoulder, a significant
vibration is created which may be both felt and heard by the
driver. However, rumble strips slow down the speed of tires that
are crossing the rumble strips due to the resistance between the
tires and the rough surface of the rumble strips. On the other
hand, the speed of tires on the other side of the vehicle is not
reduced. Therefore, under these unequal speeds, the vehicle tends
to turn its direction toward the shoulder. Besides, a part of the
reaction force from the rumble strips pushes the vehicle further
away from its normal path. These two effects cause potential danger
to the driver.
[0006] FIG. 1 shows a conventional rumble strips arrangement. In
FIG. 1, the traffic in the rightmost (outer) travel lane 1 and the
leftmost (inner) travel lane 2 are all moving in the same travel
direction 4, which is toward the upper side of the paper. The
rightmost travel lane 1 and the leftmost travel lane 2 are
separated by a lane line 3. On the right of the rightmost travel
lane 1 is a right edge line 12. On the right of the right edge line
12 is a right shoulder 13. In the right shoulder 13, there lies a
plurality of rumble strips 14 which are substantial perpendicular
to the right edge line 12. Similarly, on the left of the leftmost
travel lane 2 is a left edge line 22. On the left of the left edge
line 22 is a left shoulder 23. In the left shoulder 23, there lies
a plurality of rumble strips 24 which are substantial
perpendicularly to the left edge line 22.
[0007] The problems of the conventional rumble strips as shown in
FIG. 1 can be illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. In FIG. 2, a
vehicle is traveling through the rightmost travel lane 1 in the
direction of travel direction 4. When the vehicle is driving off
road in a first position 15, shown in dotted line, where the
vehicle is crossing the right edge line 12 and its right front
wheel hit on the surface of the rumble strips 14, the vehicle is
now in its first direction 17. Since the rough surface of the
rumble strips 14 provide much more resistance than the regular road
surface of the rightmost travel lane 1 does, the right side of the
vehicle tends to slow down while the left side of the vehicle keep
on its regular speed. These different speeds of the movement on
different sides of the same vehicle cause the vehicle to turn
toward the right shoulder 13. There is yet another problem. The
rough surface of the rumble strips 14 provides a reaction force 170
back to the vehicle. The reaction force 170 has a direction
perpendicular to the rumble strips 14. The reaction force 170 can
be decomposed into a first component 170x and a second component
170y. Where the second component 170y has a direction opposite to
the first direction 17 and therefore, it cancels out some force
from the vehicle and reduce the speed on the right front wheel. On
the other hand, the first component 170x is a force that has a
direction to the right and is parallel to the rumble strips 14. The
force of the first component 170x, therefore, pushes the vehicle
further away from its normal travel direction 4. The vehicle is now
in a second position 16 and a second direction 18 which is further
away from its normal travel direction 4. Now both the right front
wheel and the right rear wheel hit on the rumble strips 14. Rumble
strips 14 provide even more resistance back to the right side of
the vehicle that reduces more speed on the right side of the
vehicle. The reactions force 180 provided by the rumble strips 14
have a first component 180x and a second component 180y. Where the
second component 180y has a direction opposite to the second
direction 18 and therefore, it cancels out some force from the
vehicle and reduce the speed on the right wheels. On the other
hand, the first component 180x has a direction to the right and is
a force that is parallel to the rumble strips 14. Since the first
component 180x is larger than the first component 170x due to a
larger angle between the vehicle's direction and the perpendicular
line of the rumble strips. The force of the first component 180x
pushes the vehicle even further away from its normal travel
direction 4. Before the driver take control of the wheel and turn
it back to its normal path, the vehicle is driving toward a
direction further away from its normal travel direction 4. We
discovered that this change of direction is the side effect of the
conventional rumble strips 14.
[0008] The side effects of the conventional rumble strips happens
on the rightmost travel lane 1 also happens on the leftmost travel
lane 2 only that it mirrors the corresponding parts. A reader
should be able to understand the details shown in FIG. 3 by
understanding the details described in the previous paragraph.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a
roadway shoulder rumble strips which is capable of providing a
guiding force to guide the vehicle back to its normal path and in
the mean time, providing vibration as conventional rumble strips
do.
[0010] A rumble strips apparatus in the surface of a roadway
shoulder is provided. Each of the rumble strip and the right edge
line forms an angle of between 0 degree and 60 degrees. The
reaction force from the rumble strips back to the vehicle can be
decomposed into two components. Although one of the components is
against the direction of the vehicle, the other component is a net
force that pushes the vehicle back to its normal path.
[0011] In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention,
the preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the
drawings, and a detailed description thereof follows. It is not
intended, however, that the invention be limited to the particular
embodiments described or to use in connection with the apparatus
illustrated herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is a conventional rumble strips.
[0013] FIG. 2 shows the direction change on the rightmost lane on
conventional rumble strips.
[0014] FIG. 3 shows the direction change on the leftmost lane on
conventional rumble strips.
[0015] FIG. 4 is the rumble strips of the current invention.
[0016] FIG. 5 illustrates the reaction force of the current
invention.
[0017] FIG. 6 is another example of the current invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] The present invention provides a modified rumble strips
apparatus that is illustrated in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. In FIG. 4, the
traffic in the rightmost (outer) travel lane 1 and the leftmost
(inner) travel lane 2 are all moving in the same travel direction
4, which is toward the upper side of the paper. The rightmost
travel lane 1 and the leftmost travel lane 2 are separated by a
lane line 3. On the right of the rightmost travel lane 1 is a right
edge line 12. On the right of the right edge line 12 is a right
shoulder 13. In the right shoulder 13, there lies a plurality of
rumble strips 34. A plurality of rumble strips 34 and the right
edge line 12 forms an angle of about 45 degrees. Similarly, on the
left of the leftmost travel lane 2 is a left edge line 22. On the
left of the left edge line 22 is a left shoulder 23. In the left
shoulder 23, there lies a plurality of rumble strips 44. A
plurality of rumble strips 44 and right edge line 22 forms an angle
of about 45 degrees.
[0019] Now let's investigate what happen when the vehicle is
driving off road as shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, a vehicle is in a
first position 35, shown in dotted line, where the vehicle has
across the right edge line 12 and its right front wheel hit on the
surface of rumble strips 34. Since the rumble strips 34 provide
much more resistance than regular road surface of the rightmost
travel lane 1 provides, the right side of the vehicle tends to slow
down while the left side of the vehicle keep on the regular speed
as the conventional rumble strips do. However, since the rumble
strips 34 and the right edge line 12 forms an angle of about 45
degrees. The reaction force 370 is in a direction perpendicular to
the rumble strips 34. The reaction force 370 can be decomposed into
a first component 370x and a second component 370y. Where the
second component 370y has a direction opposite to the first
direction 37 and therefore, it cancels out some force from the
vehicle and reduce the speed on the right front wheel. However, the
first component 370x is a force that is direct to the left and
therefore, pushes the vehicle back to its normal travel direction
4.
[0020] Again, a reader should be able to understand the details on
the leftmost travel lane 2 by understanding the details described
in the previous paragraph.
[0021] There are other species of this invention. FIG. 6 shows an
example of other embodiments. In FIG. 6, the rumble strips 54a,
54b, 64a, and 64b are all curve lines. However, for each of the
rumble strips, the two ends of a rumble strip form a virtual line.
This virtual line and the edge line 12 (22 for 64a and 64b) still
form an angle of about 45 degrees. Therefore, for each rumble
strip, some segments provide a larger reaction force component than
other segments in the same rumble strip. However, when a vehicle
hits on the rumble strips 54a, 54b, 64a, or 64b, the vehicle still
get a reaction force component that pushes the vehicle back to its
normal travel direction.
[0022] Although the description above shows that the rumble strips
and the edge line form an angle of about 45 degrees, the angle can
be of any value between 0 degree and 60 degrees. Usually, when a
vehicle is driving off road, the vehicle's longitudinal axis and
the edge line form an angle of at most 30 degrees. Therefore, as
long as the angle formed by the rumble strips and the edge line is
less than 60 degrees, one of the reaction force components will
direct the vehicle back to its normal direction.
[0023] Various modifications and alternative embodiments such as
would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the
invention relates are also contemplated and included within the
scope of the invention described and claimed herein.
* * * * *