Digital linear position sensor
First Claim
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1. In an automotive vehicle having a seat for an occupant mounted on a stationary seat frame and a motorized seat position adjustment mechanism for moving a portion of said seat, an apparqatus for digitally sensing and storing the position of said portion of said seat comprising:
- a stationary member;
a movable member fixed to said portion of said seat and being movable relative to said stationary member;
a plurality of magnets mounted on one of said members, said magnets having alternating magnetic poles arranged in a side by side manner on said one member; and
a sensing means positioned on the other of said members in close proximity and alignment with said poles on said one member whereby said sensing means produces a signal when one of said poles passes said sensing means as said mechanism adjusts the position of said seat.
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Abstract
The present invention is a simple digital vehicle seat position sensor which comprises a magnetic field sensor such as a Hall integrated circuit and a strip of magnetic poles of alternating polarity which are moved relative to one another as the vehicle seat position is changed to produce a square wave pulse which is counted as a control module.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. In an automotive vehicle having a seat for an occupant mounted on a stationary seat frame and a motorized seat position adjustment mechanism for moving a portion of said seat, an apparqatus for digitally sensing and storing the position of said portion of said seat comprising:
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a stationary member; a movable member fixed to said portion of said seat and being movable relative to said stationary member; a plurality of magnets mounted on one of said members, said magnets having alternating magnetic poles arranged in a side by side manner on said one member; and a sensing means positioned on the other of said members in close proximity and alignment with said poles on said one member whereby said sensing means produces a signal when one of said poles passes said sensing means as said mechanism adjusts the position of said seat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said strip of material is an elongated plastic channel having a pair of ends fixed to said stationary frame, said magnets being arranged side by side in a row in said channel, said movable member comprising a plastic housing having a passage therethrough for passage of said channel therein, said circuit being mounted in said housing adjacent said passage so that said circuit and said magnets are maintained in close proximity with one another as said portion of said seat is moved.
Specification