أنظمة حديثة تزيد من سلامة السيارات على الطرق

المهندس أمجد قاسم

كاتب علمي

          تحسينات كثيرة وتقنيات متطورة تم استخدامها وتوظيفها في السيارات المصنعة حديثا بهدف ضمان أعلى درجات السلامة والأمان لركاب السيارات الحديثة وللمشاة المحاذين لتلك المركبات .

          وقد مرت صناعة السيارات عالميا بتطورات متسارعة ، وتم استخدام أفضل ما توصلت إليه الأبحاث والتجارب في هذا المجال ، فبالإضافة إلى أنظمةABS لكوابح المركبات واستخدام الوسائد الهوائية لسلامة الركاب وتطوير كل من المرايا الكهربائية العاكسة والمقاعد ذاتية الضبط وأنظمة GPS وأنظمة الاتصالات اللاسلكية ، وغيرها من الأنظمة المتطورة ، إلا أن كل هذا التقدم لم يثن مصنعي المركبات من الاستمرار في إدخال أنظمة جديدة في السيارات المصنعة حديثا .

          من أهم هذه الأنظمة ، نظام راداري متطور مثبت في مقدمة المركبة ، يعمل على بث واستقبال موجات خاصة ، تعطي السائق معلومات عن الحالة العامة للطريق ، وتجعل نظام الكمبيوتر في المركبة يرسم صورة واضحة للعوائق التي تقف في طريق السائق على شاشة إلكترونية مثبته في لوحة القيادة .

          النظام الجديد قادر على اكتشاف المخاطر التي تحدق بسائق المركبة ، وبالتالي يعطيه النظام تحذيرا ضوئيا أو صوتيا فوريا ، يمكن السائق من استخدام الكوابح أو الانعطاف بمركبته وبالتالي تفادي تلك المخاطر التي قد تكون مدمرة للمركبة وللسائق.

          تطور آخر تم استخدامه في المركبات ، حيث طورت مكابح إلكترونية ذاتية الأداء ، تعمل على إيقاف المركبة بشكل فوري أو التخفيف من سرعة المركبة في حال تطلب الأمر ذلك .

         

ونظام الكوابح ذاتية الأداء مرتبط بجهاز متطور لتحديد مسافة التتابع بين السيارات وحساب سرعة المركبة والمركبات المحيطة بالسيارة ، وبالتالي يعمل النظام على ضمان أفضل مسافة أمان بين المركبات عن طريق تخفيف سرعة السيارة أو إيقافها إذا تطلب الأمر ذلك ، مستبقا ذلك بإشارة تحذيرية للسائق تخبره أن مسافة الأمان بين المركبات تم انتهاكها وان الأمر يتطلب معالجة فورية وآلية.

          نظام آخر تم تطويره مؤخرا ، يعمل على التعرف وقراءة الشواخص المرورية الموجودة على طرفي الشارع ، وإعلام السائق بمضمون تلك الشواخص من خلال الشاشة الرقمية المدمجة في لوحة قيادة السيارة ، أو من خلال صوت ناطق ينبعث داخل حجرة القيادة ، وبالتالي يتمكن السائق من التصرف المناسب في الوقت المناسب.

          إنها أنظمة حديثة يجري تطويرها ، وهناك أنظمة أخرى تم إنجاز بعضها كنظام تحذير السائق عند تجاوزه للسرعة المقررة على الطريق ونظام آخر يعلمه عن الحالة العامة لإطارات المركبة ومقدار ضغط الهواء فيها ، ونظام آخر يعلمه عن الحالة الفنية للكوابح أو لنظام التبريد أو لكفاءة المحرك وغيرها من الأمور الفنية والتقنية التي تضمن للسائق أفضل إجراءات السلامة والأمان أثناء قيادة السيارة على الطريق .

 

مزيد من التفاصيل حول تقنية السيارات الذكية .............

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Smart (automobile)

The idea behind the "Smart car" was to create a vehicle easy to park and short enough to allow "nose-in" parking. Its length of 250 centimetres (98.4 in) would equal the width of a regular parking slot, allowing two or three Smarts to park in the space as one normal car.

The project, started by Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch, was nicknamed the "Swatchmobile". The name Smart is an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART.[1] Intended to use innovative features (such as a hybrid engine) and be affordable for young people, the Smart had similar design objective to the Citroën 2CV of the 1940s.

Swatch CEO Nicolas Hayek sought an established car maker to produce his Swatch car. After General Motors reviewed and rejected the project as potentially unprofitable, Hayek found a partner in Volkswagen. Due to VW's own financial weakness at the time, plans never reached a final stage so Swatch teamed up with Daimler-Benz. The purpose-built factory complex Smartville in Hambach, France, was established in 1994 as a joint-venture of Daimler-Benz and Swatch.

An Australian dealer web site provides the following summary of the beginnings of the product:"How everything began: In 1993 Mercedes-Benz started a feasibility study on a subcompact car.

Together with the Swatch Group Ltd. they founded the Micro Compact Car AG in 1994. The Smart city-coupé celebrates its world première at the IAA in Frankfurt (Germany) in 1997 and is one year successfully launched in nine European countries. By now, the Smart is available in 25 countries all over the world and was sold over 750,000 times."

The final car design proved to be far from Hayek's expectations: its engine eco-technology was outside of Mercedes' goal. The joint venture experienced heavy losses and dispute then Swatch pulled out.

In 2005, DaimlerChrysler decided against purchasing a 50% share in the Dutch NedCar plant used to manufacture the Forfour supermini. DC also halted development on the Formore and decided to discontinue production of the Roadster.

In 2006, after dwindling sales, Smart GmbH was liquidated and its operations were absorbed within the Mercedes-Benz automobile group. It was later revealed that Smart GmbH lost nearly 4 billion euros from 2003 to 2006.

Models

Apart from the original short Smart Fortwo, a sporty Smart Roadster, a limited production of 2000 concept Smart Crosstown and a supermini Smart Forfour were also offered. These have now been discontinued. There were also plans to introduce a Brazilian-made cross-over based on the body of the ForFour and the AWD hardware of the Mercedes C-class with the name of Formore but industrialization of this was cancelled at the 11th hour (even as tooling was being installed in the assembly plant) due to unfavourable exchange rate swings and spending cutbacks driven by losses elsewhere within smart.

Fortwo

Forfour

Roadster

Crossblade

Crosstown

Formore

Smart EV (At the moment only trialling, expected for Q4 2008 in UK)

Electric versions

An electric, rechargeable version is being released in the UK, by a separate company, as a lease vehicle on a limited basis. At the Smart Car Brooklands event in July 1998, a Smart EV was on display within "MercedesWorld" and a representative stated that the car would be for sale in the UK in 2010. Daimler will start the production of the electric Smart equipped with lithium-ion batteries in 2009 and production will ramp up to mass production by 2012. A Smart Forfour has been converted into a plug-in hybrid by Lithium Technology Corporation and Zytek Systems. The lithium-ion battery can propel the vehicle up to 84 miles per hour (135 km/h) and last on its own for up to 20 miles (32 km). The engine is a combination of a 68 horsepower, 1.5 liter, 3-cylinder turbo charged diesel engine and two high-efficiency permanent-magnet electric motors. It was awarded by the Energy Saving Trust for the “Ultra Low Carbon Car Challenge” project.Daimler AG and RWE AG have launched the world's largest joint project for environmentally friendly electric cars. Daimler will provide more than 100 electric cars from Mercedes-Benz and smart as well as the vehicle service.The new generation of smart ed (electric drive) and electric-battery driven vehicles from Mercedes-Benz will come in use within the "e-mobility Berlin" project. RWE is handling the development, installation and operation of the charging infrastructure". The new project is also benefiting from the experience gained by Daimler during the current pilot project involving electro-mobility in London. Since last year, there has been a test fleet of first-generation Smart Fortwo ed cars . The start of serial production of battery-powered vehicles by Mercedes-Benz and smart is in 2010.

Safety

Smart vehicles use a very small front crumple zone. The new Smart Fortwo has been awarded 4 out of 5 stars in the Euro NCAP Adult Occupant Protection, 2 out of 4 stars in the Pedestrian protection test but it was not tested for Child Occupant Protection as it has no rear seats. The original Smart was awarded 3 out of 5 stars for Adult Occupant Protection. In American tests using a five star rating, Smart cars received a four star safety rating for the driver from a front impact, and a five star safety rating for the driver for a side impact.  It also received "Good" ratings (top rating) for front and side crash protection in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tests.

The main structure of the car is a stiff structure called a Tridion Safety Cell, which is designed to activate the crumple zones of a colliding vehicle. This design creates a very strong safety cell around the passengers.

Modification

Smart cars have been modified by Brabus of Germany, resulting in Brabus production models. Other companies modify the Smart to use motorcycle engines, such as the Suzuki Hayabusa 1352 cc inline four-cylinder. These cars are known as Smartuki. The most powerful models can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in less than 3.5 seconds.

Some companies and individuals upgrade the original engine to Brabus spec, but these have been taken even further by some with many aftermarket upgrade options available.

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Smart Cars: Coming to the U.S.

by Nathan Edwards

PC Magazine

Good news for the "smaller is better" crowd: The fuel-efficient Smart Car is (finally) on its way to our shores. Smart-Automobile LLC announced today that its Smart For Two Coupe / Convertible, available in Europe since 1998, is ready to be imported to the United States.

Much of the delay involved learning how to modify the cars and tooling the proprietary Smart diagnostic system to ensure the cars meet U.S. safety and emissions standards.

"There has been a great deal of excitement about the Smart Car coming to the United States, and I want to congratulate our partners and future customers for their hard work and patience in reaching this point," said Smart-Automobile President Thomas Heidemann.

All Smart Cars imported through this arrangement will be registered with ZAP and the Department of Transportation to ensure that they meet government standards. The Smart Car gets 60 mpg and can reach speeds of 85 miles per hour, according to the ZAP Web site, and will range in price from $15,000 to $25,000 fully loaded.

The Smart Cars will be Americanized by G&K Automotive Conversions of Santa Ana, California, and distributed by Santa Rosa-based ZAP, a leader in fuel-efficient and eco-conscious cars.