Seat belt comfort measuring system
First Claim
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1. A seat belt comfort measuring system for vehicles, comprising:
- sensors for measuring loads being applied along several portions of a belt path along a passenger'"'"'s body or torso form and providing output signals representative of the loads being applied; and
an analyzer coupled to the sensors for receiving the output signals, recording the measured force and analyzing the measured loads to allow evaluation of the comfort of the seat belt system.
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Abstract
A system for objective measurement of passenger comfort is provided for analysis of a wide variety of passenger safety restraint systems. Sensor arrays mounted on flexible panels are connected to a computer for data analysis. Sensor points in the panels are repetitively scanned by system software and raw data is stored for future use. A video display associated with the computer provides real time display of loadings on the sensor points. A powered form for use with the system is also disclosed.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A seat belt comfort measuring system for vehicles, comprising:
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sensors for measuring loads being applied along several portions of a belt path along a passenger'"'"'s body or torso form and providing output signals representative of the loads being applied; and an analyzer coupled to the sensors for receiving the output signals, recording the measured force and analyzing the measured loads to allow evaluation of the comfort of the seat belt system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of measuring the comfort of a seat belt system using sensors for measuring force being applied and providing a visual output of loading along a form or passenger'"'"'s body, the method comprising:
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positioning sensors along the path of the seat belt along the form or along the passenger'"'"'s body while in a vehicle seat; providing an analyzer for recording and analyzing the measured forces; and displaying a visual output derived from the measured forces by the analyzer to allow evaluation of the comfort of the seat belt system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A seat belt comfort testing system comprising:
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a passenger seat; a seat belt system having a retractor and a seat belt; movable anchoring points for the seat belt and for movement to positions representative of the anchoring points for the seat belts in a vehicle; a form having an outer surface representing a person'"'"'s chest area and shoulder area; sensors associated with the seat belt to measure force applied by the seat belt to the chest area and shoulder area and to provide signals representative of force being applied by the seat belt to the chest and shoulder areas; and an analyzer coupled to the sensors to record and to analyze the signals received from the sensors. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A seat belt measuring system for measuring loadings including contact area or pressure or force distribution imposed on a passenger restrained by a safety restraint belt, the seat belt measuring system comprising:
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a form having an outer surface, representing a passenger'"'"'s torso, including the passenger'"'"'s clavicle and sternum; a flexible sensor panel system generally conformable to the outer surface of the form; said sensor panel having at least one sensor array including a plurality of sensor panel inputs and a plurality of sensor panel outputs, cooperating to form a plurality of sensor points arranged on a flexible backing sheet in a two-dimensional array, each sensor point having a sensor point output varying according to the force imposed on the sensor, appearing at least one of said plurality of sensor panel outputs; and an analyzer coupled to said flexible sensor panel which records, processes and evaluates signals emitted from said plurality of sensor panel outputs. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method of measuring loadings including contact area or pressure or force distribution imposed on a passenger by a safety restraint belt, comprising the steps of:
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providing a form having an outer surface, representative of a passenger'"'"'s torso, including the passenger'"'"'s clavicle and sternum; continuously rounding said form throughout the contact area with the belt; providing a flexible sensor panel conformable to the outer surface of the form; providing the sensor panel with a plurality of sensor points, a plurality of sensor panel inputs and a plurality of sensor panel outputs, corresponding to a plurality of sensor points arranged in a two-dimensional array, each sensor point having an output with data varying according to the loading imposed on the sensor point; providing a programmable computer having a plurality of inputs for coupling to the sensor point outputs, a plurality of drive ports for coupling to the plurality of sensor panel inputs and a video output; mapping data from said sensor point outputs with said computer into an output array corresponding generally to said sensor array; displaying said output array on the video output of the computer; and repetitively scanning said plurality of sensor point outputs with said computer to determine changes in sensor point loadings and updating said video display accordingly, whereby ongoing changes in loadings imposed on said flexible sensor panels is continuously displayed on said video output. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46)
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Specification