BraunAbility Has Chosen Senix for their Mobility Transportation Solutions

BraunAbility has grown from a modest small-town entrepreneurial venture with a handful of employees to a global company with over 1200 employees serving more than 70 countries. For over 45 years, BraunAbility has been committed to changing lives for people with physical disabilities through innovative mobility solutions that provide independence and ease-of-use. As the industry leader, and the brand most recommended by mobility dealers, BraunAbility combines the quality product solutions you need with the service and financing expertise you can trust.  With the most diverse product portfolio of any mobility vehicle company in the industry, BraunAbility is able to deliver the right solution to more people than ever before and a reason why BraunAbility is the world’s leading manufacturer of mobility transportation solutions, including wheelchair accessible vehicles, wheelchair lifts and seating, storage and securement products.

BraunAbility has selected Senix sensors for their wheelchair accessible vans. They needed to detect the presence of an object within the location where a wheelchair is used. A pressure sensor or pressure sensitive mat or infrared beam would be an obstruction for wheelchair lift users to navigate around. Pressure sensors or a pressure sensitive floor mat is also suboptimal as it is susceptible to misuse by passengers in the commercial vehicle, prevents seating reconfiguring, and becomes a wearable item.  But an ultrasonic detection device in the ceiling area allowed regular use of the vehicle floor space.  For example, coach buses use movable seating and if a detection device was on or near the floor area it would likely interfere with the movable seating. By selecting a Senix ultrasonic sensor, if an object is detected it will trigger audible & visual warnings to people, likely in a wheelchair, who may be unaware that the vehicle door was open, or the wheelchair lift was not at vehicle level.  That could prevent unintended vehicle exit that could cause injury. Mounting the Senix sensor in the ceiling area leaves the vehicle entryway clear for passengers and variable seating configuration.

Senix was able to offer a custom ultrasonic sensor with a wider beam angle and profile to cover the area inside the vehicle.  Like the high performance ToughSonic ultrasonic level and distance sensors from Senix, the wide beam sensors can be custom configured using SenixVIEW software to allow for many user-configurable parameters to be set.  The SenixVIEW software allows easy calibration of the sensor for BraunAbility to work in various in-vehicle applications.

The vehicles BraunAbility installs wheelchair lifts in range from large coach buses down to small autonomous shuttles and everything in between.  Senix ultrasonic technology is extremely well suited as a proximity or object detection sensor that offered greater design flexibility for BraunAbility. SenixVIEW software allows easy calibration of the sensor to work in various in-vehicle applications.  Senix’s high standard of quality and rugged and long-life sensors also fit well with BraunAbility’s reputation for high quality and customer satisfaction.

When Michael Alexander, Senior Product Manager at BraunAbility was asked how the experience has been working with Senix, Michael answered “Great!  Anytime we’ve asked for assistance the Senix team is quick to help.”  Michel also went on to say “The SenixVIEW software appears to have MANY adjustable variables and the Senix team is there to help, so having that flexibility is great. The Senix sensors with SenixVIEW Can be calibrated as needed for different vehicle applications.

For more information on how Senix can help with your application contact us at info@senix.com or click here!

Senix’s wider beam ultrasonic sensors combined with the many user-configurable sensor parameters makes a perfect solution for BraunAbility’s object detection application