Conductive fabric sensor for vehicle seats
First Claim
1. A sensor embedded in a vehicle seat for determining the nature of a person or object occupying the seat comprising:
- a layer of compressible material having a plurality of apertures extending therethrough, from a first surface to a second surface of the layer of compressible material;
a first layer of conductive fabric on the first surface;
a second layer of conductive fabric on the second surface;
a sensor connected to the first and second layers of conductive fabric for measuring the electrical resistance therebetween for determining the nature of a person or object occupying the seat.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A sensor for the seat of a motor vehicle includes a compressible, preferably foam layer disposed between two conductive sheets. In one embodiment, the capacitance between the conductive sheets is measured to determine what and whether an object is disposed on the sensor, while in another application, apertures are formed through the compressible layer to allow the conductive sheets to contact one another through the apertures. One embodiment having relatively low resistivity to produce a short circuit, and another embodiment has higher resistivity in which the magnitude of the change and resistance may be used to determine the nature of an object.
142 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A sensor embedded in a vehicle seat for determining the nature of a person or object occupying the seat comprising:
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a layer of compressible material having a plurality of apertures extending therethrough, from a first surface to a second surface of the layer of compressible material; a first layer of conductive fabric on the first surface; a second layer of conductive fabric on the second surface; a sensor connected to the first and second layers of conductive fabric for measuring the electrical resistance therebetween for determining the nature of a person or object occupying the seat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A sensor embedded in a vehicle seat for determining the nature of a person or object occupying the seat comprising:
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a layer of compressible material having a plurality of apertures extending therethrough, from a first surface to a second surface of the layer of compressible material; a first layer of conductive fabric on the first surface having a first resistivity, close to zero; a second layer of conductive fabric on the second surface having a higher resistivity than the first layer; and a sensor connected to spaced apart points on the second layer of conductive fabric for measuring the resistance between the points and producing a signal corresponding to the measured resistance for indicating the nature of a person or object occupying the seat. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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Specification