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Car Door Alerter

Former Member

Hey guys!

 

big fan of the show, had a great idea for a cool build:

 

You know how when you park you car, sometimes its difficult to know how far you can open your door without hitting something? I was thinking it would be super practical to build an alert system with proximity sensors that are calibrated to the vehicles full door extension and when you park the car it will either beep to tell you that all doors can be opened completely, or can beep to tell you there is an obstruction (like the car next to you) so you know to be careful when exiting the vehicle!

 

Thank you!

 

-Adam Allard

  • What sort of level of accuracy were you thinking of here ? Most car doors turn around a hinge point so trace an arc as they open which would be more complicated to accurately measure than just taking a reading parallel to the vehicle from an adjacent wall or another parked car.

     

    A simple solution may be to use one ultrasonic distance module per door with a polar pattern which roughly matches the width of the door and then take a simple distance measurement and compare it against the length of the fully opened door.

     

    A more advanced solution might be to place the ultrasonic module on a servo and locate it close to the hinge point. It could then sweep a 90 degree arc and check for obstructions along the entire arc. ( Jeremy Blum demonstrates a similar set-up using a Sharp IR distance sensor in his 'Exploring Arduino' book which may be of interest

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPgTBVLxeHE  )

     

    You may need multiple sensors to cover the height of the door however to detect  for things like a high kerbs or other obstructions which could catch the lower edge of the door.

     

    A general problem though is that cars parked next to you may have different sized doors and/or park closer resulting in restricted opening and scratched paintwork upon your return. Another problem to overcome will be how to physically fit the sensors to the vehicle.

     

    However it sounds like it could be a useful project for mobility vehicles where a door requires to be opened fully to permit the likes of a wheelchair to be deployed.