Smart skin sensor for real-time side impact detection and off-line diagnostics
First Claim
1. An apparatus for sensing data characteristic of an impact of an object in an impact area comprising:
- a ground electrode positioned in the impact area;
a piezo polymer film at least partially disposed on and secured to said ground electrode;
a sensor electrode positioned to overlay at least a portion of said piezo polymer film in the impact area; and
means for sensing total strain energy of the impact on said piezo polymer film based on the potential difference across said ground electrode and said sensor electrode.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A low cost, high bandwidth "smart skin" impact sensor is developed for application to vehicle side impact detection and diagnostics. The sensor is based on a piezo polymer smart skin technology and can sense impact location and impact energy in real time (i.e., fractions of a millisecond) along a vehicle side panel. The sensor is simple to manufacture, is low cost in production quantities, and can be used in concert with other devices in a sensor suite to provide, reliable, efficient, energy managed airbag development. With proper spatial shading techniques it is shown that the sensor can be designed also to report impact angle and the velocity of the impacting body.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. An apparatus for sensing data characteristic of an impact of an object in an impact area comprising:
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a ground electrode positioned in the impact area; a piezo polymer film at least partially disposed on and secured to said ground electrode; a sensor electrode positioned to overlay at least a portion of said piezo polymer film in the impact area; and means for sensing total strain energy of the impact on said piezo polymer film based on the potential difference across said ground electrode and said sensor electrode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification