Patent ID: 7052525

Claim:
A protective system at least partially integrated with a vehicle for protecting occupants of the vehicle from contaminants, said protective system comprising: an upstream detection subsystem adapted to detect a contaminant in an airflow provided to a cabin of said vehicle, and to provide a contaminant signal indicating presence of said contaminant in said airflow, said upstream detection subsystem including at least two detectors that use different means of detecting contaminants to detect said contaminant; a filtration subsystem adapted to filter at least said contaminant from said airflow; a valve adapted to allow selective routing of said airflow through said protective system; a control system adapted to control said valve to route said airflow through said protective system upon receiving said contaminant signal from said upstream detection subsystem; a downstream detection subsystem positioned downstream of said filtration subsystem, and being adapted to detect said contaminant in said airflow after filtration by said filtration subsystem, and to provide secondary contaminant signal indicating presence of said contaminant in said airflow after filtration by said filtration subsystem; and a reprocessing valve downstream of said downstream detection subsystem; wherein said control system is further adapted to control said reprocessing valve to route said airflow downstream of said filtration subsystem back through said filtration subsystem upon receiving said secondary contaminant signal from said downstream detection subsystem.