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1. TITLE OF YOUR INVENTION :
Auto-calibrated Intelligent Electronic Flasher
2. FIELD OF INVENTON :
The present invention is related to design and fabrication of an electronic intelligent flasher for blinking of turn indicator lamps, closed loop controlling of two wheeler'sbrake light and indicator lamps system.This invention requires involvement of basic principles of Automobile Engineering regarding motion dynamics and its relation with indicators as well as brake lights. The device had to be designed as per the existing overall electrical system installed in two wheelers, therefore demanding fundamentals of electrical / electronic engineering.
3. PRIOR ART:
As per World Health Organization, road injuries are neglected epidemic in developing countries and it is causing more than five million deaths each year roughly equal to number of deaths caused by HIV-AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis combined. The Seminal Global burden of disease and risk factors study estimated that injuries accounted for more than 15% of all ill health in the world in 1990 and forecast that it will increase to 20% by 2020. More than 90% of injury deaths occur in low - and middle - income countries where preventive efforts are often non-existent and healthcare systems are least prepared to meet the challenge. Of all categories of injury, road traffic crashes have appropriately received the greatest attention. Economic development in low income countries is accompanied by an increase in the number of vehicles, with the associated rise in traffic related crashes, injuries and deaths. While recognizing that strategies aimed at prevention of road accidents must be developed and supported, we consider that there is an urgent need to reinforce the safety interventions.
The currently employed measures include mandatory use of helmet for riders of two wheelers and application of seat-belts for four wheelers, proper use of turn indicators, properly following lane system to name a few. Although these measures exist, but mostly in developing countries, are not strictly enforced and the present measures that are being undertaken for avoiding road accidents are not adequate.
Two wheelers, such as scooters, e-bikes and motorcycles are equipped with many systems for its overall controlling, out of which one is turn indicator system. Typically, a driver uses this system for indicating his intention of taking a turn. It includes a manually operated switch which when pressed left or right, activates said system to provide the indication of left or right turn by continuously flashing/blinking of indicator lamps until switched off explicitly by user. But many times, driver forgets to turn off indicator lights which gives wrong indication to other vehicles and provides a serious threat to road safety. So, there is a need to bring in a level of automation.

Flasher is a device used in vehicles which is only used for the said flashing/blinking action of lamps. It is a small device with two terminals, one for battery and other for load. Basically there are three types of flasher available in market, namely electro-mechanical, electronic and thermal flashers. Almost all three types of flasher unit works on an operating voltage of 10 - 15 volts. Electro-mechanical flasher units are non-polarized and non-load sensitive, they are only suitable for vehicles manufactured prior to 1990. In this flash rate is not influenced by load variation. Electronic flasher units are load sensitive, whereby if a bulb failure occurs the flasher rate increases to indicate the failure. This units with bulb outage conforms to the requirements of SAE, ISO & ADR13 and are suitable for all vehicles.
Thermal flashers which operates by using a bi-metallic strip is most commonly used. In this flash rate is influenced by load variation.Thermal flasher unit consist of a small bimetal strip that bends when it gets heated up. It is mounted in such a manner as to snap suddenly (and loudly) over center when heated or allowed to cool. Due to sudden change of position it makes and breaks relay contact which causes the signal lamps to flash. Heater wire is winded over said bimetal strip with one end connected to the battery terminal and other to the output load terminal. Whenever a small current passes through this heater wire it heats, in turn heats bimetal strip resulting in bending and toggling between alternating position. When it heats up and switches, contactor joins the input terminal to output terminal, which kills the voltage that was driving the heater. Then the bimetal strip cools off and the contact snaps open, and the cycle starts over again. Current will not flow to operate the heater element without the proper load connected to the output terminal. It need not to be grounded, but for proper operation it need to have proper electrical load.
However, traditional flasher which is being used presently in automobiles have few shortcomings. The flasher contains resistive parts, therefore dissipates some heat and wastes useful battery power. So, full intensity illumination is never achieved and decreasing the life of battery. Mostly it gets faulty eventually with time as it contains mechanical parts which get broken or corroded.
Similar to indicator system, the brake light automation is also unaddressed.The currently employed system also doesn't indicate other vehicles about hard braking (strong deceleration) which results in collision with vehicle coming down the line. Moreover, there is no such facility for invoking Hazard lights in two wheelers as in case of four wheelers.
In the present invention, these problems are addressed.
4. OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION:
An electronic flasher is proposed in the invention. Electronic flashers have been tried with limited success but in the present invention, design of electronic two wheeler's flasher is extended with the feature of automatic intelligent turn indicators and brake light control system. Thus, the invention aims at developing an intelligent electronic flasher prototype which find applications in demanding situations overcoming the drawbacks of the present models of flasher.
1. Objective of present invention is to provide a single unit of multitasking device with high accuracy and reliability based on electronic model, which replaces traditional flashers.
2. Another objective of the present invention is to develop unified device which can be used for various applications requiring flashing/blinking of lights.

3. Another objective of the present invention is to provide road safety by a fully automatic electronic control system for two-wheelers.
4. Another objective of the present invention is to reduce the manufacturing cost by using low cost electronic components such as microcontroller, transistor and resistors etc. instead of expensive processors.
5. One more objective of the present invention is to design a device which does not require any extra hardware support for implementing in the existing two wheelers.
6. One more objective of the present invention is to make a low cost space efficient device.
7. One more objective of the present invention is to make an isolated device which is just a add-on and should not be a threat for damaging overall vehicle's circuitry and other electrical and mechanical systems.
8. One more objective of the present invention is to provide a load independent device i.e. the indicators can also be LED based.
9. Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a ready to use device which is auto-calibrated i.e. its turn on and turn off time is calibrated, depending on user's driving style.
10. Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a device which is compatible with existing two-wheelers indicator and brake light systems.
11. Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a device which is customizable means blinking rate can be set as per user need.
12. Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a device which does not require a dedicated power source for its functioning. It should work on available vehicle's electric power source.
13. Yet another objective of the present invention is to design a hazard signal fortwo wheeler's braking system as existing system doesn't give any importance and indicationon how a rider is slowing down.
Thus according to the method of the present invention all the objectives mentioned above are achieved.
5. STATEMENT OF INVENTION:
The present invention provides a replacement of flasherwith an electronic device for two wheelers, which controls blinking of turn indicator,automatic turning off turn indicators system on completion of a turn and a hazard light indicating system for hard braking or accidental fall.These two systems operate in parallel, both systems includes turn indicator lamps, turn switch, a gyroscope cum accelerometer,high current switching transistors and a microcontroller. The turn indicator lamps are initiated by the turn switches upon intention of the rider selectively.
The module is free to be mounted anywhere and the electrical energy to the module is provided by the 9-12 volt standard lead acid battery for powering the electrical system oftwo wheelers. A turn signal switch is provided on the handlebar of the motorcycle for providing input to electronic intelligent flasher. This

input signal is fed to the microcontroller, which invokes the timer module as well as starts monitoringgyroscope module's tilt in two mutually perpendicular axes. Gyroscope can be of use here because two-wheeler will often be tilted during a turn and return to its upright position after turn is over. Whenever the readings given by gyroscope reaches a certain set of threshold, conforming that the turn has been taken, an electrical signal is sent to the power transistor which turns off indicator lamps. Considering the case when the values given by gyroscope do not reach the predefined threshold (required tilt) then the timer overflow takes place then also an above similar electrical signal is fed to the power transistor. Hence the auto turn OFF of turn indicator lamps is achieved.Although the system is capable ofautomatically turning off indicator lamps, but still user is provided with an option of manually overriding / controlling overall functioning through turn indicator switch making the device efficient and robust.
The invented device provides three means to cancel the turn indicator lamps using combination of gyroscope, accelerometer, timer or manual intervention. Hence the auto turn cancellation takes place in parallel providing a user friendly system. The invented device is getting electrical power from the battery of the motorcycle, hence no external power source is required.
Another embodiment of the system is its use to provide a hazard warning. Rate of deceleration is measured by the axis of the accelerometer parallel to the motion of two wheeler and the instantaneous acceleration is sent to the microcontroller. When rate of deceleration is more than a particular threshold, the microcontroller makes power transistor to continuously blink all the indicator lamps, showing hazard signal and hence achieving safety by alerting other vehicles coming down the road about the sudden hard-braking.
6. DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES :
Fig 1. Top View of Two-wheeler.
Fig 2. Side View of Two-Wheeler
Fig 3. Overall Block Diagram
Fig 4. Electrical Circuit Block Diagram
Fig 5. Flowchart 1
Fig 6. Flowchart 2
7. DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION :
The foregoing objectives of the invention are accomplished and the problems and shortcomings associated with prior art techniques are approached and overcome by the present invention as described below, in the preferred embodiment. The present invention designed an electronic flasher to use in automobiles, specifically in two wheelers which was earlier tried with mechanical flasher with a lower success rate and few shortcomings. Said intelligent flasher comprising of a microcontroller^], a gyroscope[10] cum accelerometer[ll], and other supporting discrete electronic components. This invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and reference letters indicate the corresponding parts in the various figures.
A vehicle comprising of a flasher in accordance with the present invention is shown in Figure. Preferably the vehicle should be a two-wheeler (motorcycle / scooter / moped / e-bike). Flasher is responsible for the

blinking action of four turn indicator lamps[3][4] located on two-wheeler. Two lamps are present at the front of motorcycle i.e. front right and front left lamps[3]. Similarly towards rear are rear right and left lamps[4] respectively.
This invented device provides control on these lamps[3][4] for turn indicating system and hazard signal aided by a switch located on handle-bar of the two wheeler. The electrical energy to both, the device and indicator lamps is provided by the battery[2]. The size of the invented device is almost same as of existing flasher, so it replaces it without any space constraints.
A switch[5] is located on two-wheeler's handlebar for controlling the turn indicator lamps[3][4]. This switch is manually activated by the rider. Switch[5] is pressed[21] either right or left for selecting the turn indicators for right or left. If this switch is pressed in the middle then it turns OFF the indicators.
There is one gyroscope[10] cum accelerometer[ll] that outputs different sensed parameter signals to the microcontroller[12]. One of the signal sent by the accelerometer[ll] is the sensed acceleration i.e. how fast motorcycle is moving. If negative rate of change of sensed acceleration is more than by a threshold level[32] i.e. more than 15m/s2 (assumed, but can be modified) deceleration, indicating a strong deceleration. In this condition microcontroller^] generates a hazard signal[33] activating all the indicator lamps[3][4] (front and rear) at the same time with flashing of all lamps five times in a second.
Whenever brakes are applied, brake light located on the rear side illuminates, indicating application of brakes but in downshifting (switching to a lower gear) still speed is decreased but brake light does not glow and it is a very serious problem for road safety. This invention will activate hazard signal[33] whenever rider is slowing down at a faster rate either by braking or downshifting giving indication to others about it. So, this will be of great help during nights for giving caution signal to other vehicles coming down the line.
The code developed for achieving the same works according the flowchart shown in figure. The microcontroller^] gets activated on the interrupt generated by turn switch. Respective lamps are switched on and microcontroller[12] starts monitoring process.
A single master bypass switch[16] attached at the body of device is provided which can bypass[23] whole automated process and make the system function conventionally. By default, intelligent flasher mode is deployed. The timer[13] module of controller is initialized and triggered[24]. At this stage, three modules[25][26][27] are simultaneously observed, namely Timer[13], turn switch[5], and tilt[18] angle of the two wheeler. Timer[13] module runs through till it matches with predefined time period. At the end of this cycle, all modules are reset to initial values.
The predefined time of timer[13] is automatically calibrated according to the driving style. The on time period of turn indicator of last hundred cycles is stored in flash memory of microcontroller[12] and then averaged to get the turn indicator signal cancellation time period.
Another thread which continuously runs through lifetime is the monitoring of acceleration in the axis parallel to vehicle's motion. Under very hard braking condition[32], the controller[12] detects anomaly in path and activates hazard lights. Under hazard condition, all four indicator lamps[3][4] blink five times in a second as per standard hazard signal blinking rate. This continues for a limited time set at manufacturing or can be manually overridden.

WE CLAIM:
1. An Auto Calibrated Intelligent Electronic Flasher (ACIEF) for blinking action of turn
signaling lamps with automatic controlling turn indicator lamp system and monitoring
acceleration and deceleration of vehicle for hazard lights. Said invented device consists of:
a. The intelligent flasher of claim .1, wherein said device uses sensor MPU-6050, an
integrated 3-axis motion tracking device that combines a 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis
accelerometer, and a digital motion processor.
b. The intelligent flasher of claim 1, wherein said device uses microcontroller ATmega328,
programmed to provide the controlling and flashing intelligently turn indicator lamps.
c. The intelligent flasher of claim 1, wherein said device consist of high current
transistorBC639 used for switching indicator lamps, controlled by microcontroller.
d. The intelligent flasher of claim 1, wherein said device requires a battery capable of
generating voltage greater than 9V to power the device.
e. The intelligent flasher of claim 1, wherein said device will fit into the socket provided for
conventional flasher.
2. ACIEF can be used for any IC engine based existing two wheeler as well as for any electrically operated two wheeler.
3. ACIEF of claim 1 can control indicator lamp left or right side by any of the modes:
a. Combination of tilt measured and bending of handlebar.
b. Timer Max count
c. Manual overriding by rider.
4. ACIEF of claim 1 has the following additional features:
a. Automatic turn indicator cancellation.
b. Blinking action of indicator lamps.
c. Flashing of all four indicator lamps during hard braking for hazard signal.
d. Blinking rate can be customized.
e. Auto-calibrated threshold levels as per rider's driving behavior.
f. Easy installation without much change in existing electrical wiring of two wheeler.
g. Cost effective as the device is cheaper than other automatic systems.
5. ACIEF of claim 1 is load independent i.e. it overcomes the compatibility issue of using LED indicator lamps in place of conventional bulbs.
6. ACIEF of claim 1 is very economical and can be installed on all kinds of two wheeler which include geared motorcycle, ungeared scooter, geared scooter, mopeds, electrically operated scooter (E-Bikes) without much space constraints.