Seat load or displacement measuring system for occupant restraint system control
View Patent ↗Seat assembly attachable to a substrate of a vehicle includes a seat having a bottom portion and a back portion coupled at an angle to a rear portion of the bottom portion, a support structure arranged at least partially under the seat and to support the seat on the substrate at a plurality of locations including two rearward locations on opposite lateral sides of the seat and at least one forward location, and a weight measuring system arranged in connection with the support structure for determining an approximate weight of an occupying item of the seat. The weight measuring system includes at least one strain or force measuring sensor mounted to measure at least a portion of the load applied to the seat. The approximate weight of the occupying item may be used to control deployment of one or more occupant restraint systems for the occupying item.
1. A vehicle including a floor at least in part defining a passenger compartment of the vehicle, comprising:
a seat having a bottom portion and a back portion coupled at an angle to a rear portion of said bottom portion, said seat being adapted to support an occupant;
a support structure adapted to support said seat on the floor, said support structure comprising a track coupled to the floor engaged with a slide mechanism configured to slide with respect to said track to enable said seat to move relative to the floor, further comprising a support member coupled to said slide mechanism and to a bottom portion of said seat;
an occupant sensor system that obtains an indication of weight applied by the occupant to the seat and a position of the occupant, said occupant sensor system including a force measuring device attached to said support member for measuring force in said support member indicative of weight applied by the occupant to said seat;
an occupant classification system that determines an occupant classification based on the occupant weight and the occupant position as provided by said occupant sensor system;
an airbag positioned to deploy to provide protection to the occupant of said seat in a crash involving the vehicle;
a crash sensor that detects when the vehicle has become involved in or is about to become involved in a crash; and
a controller that determines that the crash detected by said crash sensor requires deployment of said airbag and controls deployment of said airbag based on the occupant classification determined by said occupant classification system.
2. The assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a seatback angle sensor arranged on said seat to determine an angle between said bottom portion and said back portion, said seatback angle sensor being coupled to said occupant classification system which considers the determined angle when determining the occupant classification.
3. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein said seat is movable relative to said support structure, further comprising a seat track position sensor arranged to determine a relative position between said seat and said support structure, said seat track position sensor being coupled to said occupant classification system which considers the determined relative position between said seat and said support structure when determining the occupant classification.
4. A method for protecting an occupant in a crash involving a vehicle, comprising:
providing a seat having a bottom portion and a back portion coupled at an angle to a rear of the bottom portion;
mounting the seat to a floor of the vehicle defining a passenger compartment of the vehicle via a support structure, the support structure comprising a track coupled to the floor engaged with a slide mechanism configured to slide with respect to the track to enable the seat to move relative to the floor, further comprising a support member coupled to the slide member and to a bottom portion of the seat;
providing an occupant sensor system for obtaining an indication of weight applied by the occupant to the seat and a position of the occupant, the occupant sensor system including a force measuring device attached to the support member for measuring force in the support member indicative of weight applied by the occupant to the seat;
determining an occupant classification using an occupant classification system based on the occupant weight and the occupant position as provided by the occupant sensor system;
positioning the airbag to deploy to provide protection to the occupant of the seat in a crash involving the vehicle;
detecting using a crash sensor when the vehicle has become involved in or is about to become involved in a crash; and
determining using a controller that the crash detected by the crash sensor requires deployment of the airbag and then controlling deployment of the airbag based on the occupant classification determined by the occupant classification system.
5. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein said force measuring device comprises a plurality of force sensors attached to said support member.
6. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein said force measuring device comprises at least one strain gage transducer.
7. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein said force measuring device comprises a plurality of strain gage transducers.
8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the force measuring device comprises a plurality of force sensors attached to the support member.
9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the force measuring device comprises at least one strain gage transducer.
10. The method of claim 4 , wherein the force measuring device comprises a plurality of strain gage transducers.