Belt force sensor
First Claim
1. An occupant restraint assembly for a motor vehicle having an air bag system, said assembly comprising;
- a seat belt assembly having at least two sections lockable to each other;
a sensor assembly attached to at least one of said belt sections that operates to sense tension on said belt;
a controller electrically connected to said sensor and the air bag system such that a magnitude of tension on said belt above a predetermined magnitude indicates the presence of a child restraint seat.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An occupant restraint assembly and for a motor vehicle operates to sense the tension forces on a seat belt to detect the presence of a human occupant or a child restraint seat. A sensor attached to the seat belt measures tension forces. The sensor is mounted in line with the seat belt. A strain gauge senses tension on the seat belt. An additional embodiment of the sensor includes three prongs attached to a common beam that allow the sensor to be slipped onto the seat belt without modification to the seat belt. A middle prong includes the strain gauge to sense movement relative to outside prongs. The seat belt threads over the outside prongs and under the middle prong such that tension on the seat belt forces the middle prong transversely to tension exerted on the seat belt.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. An occupant restraint assembly for a motor vehicle having an air bag system, said assembly comprising;
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a seat belt assembly having at least two sections lockable to each other;
a sensor assembly attached to at least one of said belt sections that operates to sense tension on said belt;
a controller electrically connected to said sensor and the air bag system such that a magnitude of tension on said belt above a predetermined magnitude indicates the presence of a child restraint seat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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13. An occupant restraint assembly for a motor vehicle having an air bag system, said assembly comprising;
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a belt assembly having at least two sections for locking engagement;
a sensor assembly having a tensile section and belt loop sections disposed on opposite sides of said tensile section, said sensor attached to said belt loop sections such that said sensor is in line with said belt;
strain gauge disposed on said tensile section that operates to sense strain on said sensor and thereby tension on said belt. a controller electrically connected to said sensor and the air bag system such that a magnitude of tension on said belt above a predetermined magnitude operates to disable deployment of the air bag system.
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14. A seat belt tension sensor assembly for a motor vehicle having a seat belt assembly and an air bag system, said assembly comprising;
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at least three prongs extending from a common beam, said prongs attached to said seat belt without modification of the seat belt;
a strain gauge disposed on one of said prongs to generate a force signal representative of a force exerted on the seat belt.
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21. A method of differentiating between the presence of a human occupant and a child restraint seat in a motor vehicle, said method comprising the steps of;
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sensing tension exerted on a seat belt;
communicating the magnitude of the sensed tension to a controller;
comparing the magnitude of tension to a predetermined tension; and
determining that a child restraint seat is present if the sensed tension is greater than the predetermined tension. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification