Seat Belt Retractor Sensor Housing for Inclined Backrest Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing seat belt retractors with vehicle sensors fail to properly detect acceleration and inclination when installed at angles different from the horizontal, leading to improper locking operations and restricted spool rotation, especially when mounted in seats with adjustable backrests.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle sensor device with a rotatable sensor housing and a ball mechanism that senses changes in inclination and acceleration, coupled with a sensor lever to control a pilot lever, allowing normal operation across a wide range of backrest angles by linearly reciprocating the pilot lever through the locking device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the seat belt retractor is mounted at various angles (including inclined positions), then the adaptability to different mounting locations is improved, but the sensor lever becomes overly sensitive and cannot properly detect acceleration and inclination changes
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor housing is made rotatable relative to the body through a rotating shaft, allowing the sensing mechanism to dynamically adjust its orientation. This enables the sensor to maintain proper detection accuracy regardless of the mounting angle of the backrest, resolving the contradiction between mounting adaptability and detection precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention adds a rotational degree of freedom to the sensor housing, transitioning from a fixed-orientation sensor to one that can adjust in an additional dimensional space. This allows the sensor to compensate for various mounting angles and maintain accurate detection performance.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the backrest rotation angle exceeds a certain range, then the adaptability to user positioning is improved, but the sensor lever is caught by control disc teeth restricting spool rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor housing rotates together with the backrest through the rotating shaft mechanism, maintaining the proper relative position between the sensor lever and control disc teeth. This dynamic adjustment prevents the sensor lever from being caught by the teeth while allowing full backrest rotation range for user comfort.
3Device complexity
If the sensor housing is fixed in position, then the device structure is simplified, but the sensor cannot properly detect changes when the backrest rotation angle changes
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor housing is designed to rotate relative to the body through a rotating shaft, enabling the sensing mechanism to adapt to backrest rotation angles. This maintains detection reliability across various angles while adding only minimal rotational components to the otherwise simple fixed structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device ensures proper locking and unlocking of the seat belt webbing based on vehicle conditions, maintaining functionality regardless of the backrest's rotation angle, from 10° forward to 90° rearward, by using a ball and sensor housing to control the pilot lever's movement.
Implementation Method 1
a ball (34) installed inside the sensor housing (33) to sense changes in inclination and acceleration of the vehicle
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention pertains to a vehicle sensor device and a seat belt retractor employing same, the vehicle sensor device comprising: a body forming the outer appearance thereof; a cover coupled to one opened surface of the body; a sensor housing rotatably installed in the body according to the inclination of a backrest and the installation angle of the body; a ball installed in the sensor housing and detecting the inclination of a vehicle and the change of acceleration; and a sensor lever disposed over the ball and having one end rotatably coupled to the sensor housing, wherein the sensor lever is configured to allow a pilot lever provided in a locking device to linearly reciprocate by a rotational movement according to the movement of the ball so that the sensor lever is installed in the senser housing in which the ball is installed.