Integrated Seat Heater and Occupant Sensor Without False Readings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automotive seat heaters and occupant sensors operate as separate components, leading to interference issues such as false readings and reduced performance due to heat and pressure points, resulting in many vehicles not offering both features together.
Innovation Solution
A combination seat heater and occupant sensor device is integrated into a single unit using a polymer sheet substrate with the heater and sensor portions screen-printed on opposite sides, with conductive layers and apertures to prevent heat interference and ensure accurate sensing, and a dielectric film for durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate heater and sensor components are used in the seat, then each component can be optimized independently, but the heater interferes with sensor readings causing false or incorrect results
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the heater and occupant sensor into a single integrated device where the heater portion and sensor portion are formed as one unified structure. This merging eliminates the interference problem by ensuring the heater elements and sensor elements are precisely positioned relative to each other within the same device, preventing false readings while maintaining heating functionality.
2Reliability
If the seat heater is installed below the occupant sensor to avoid interference, then sensor readings remain accurate, but the heater's performance is severely limited
Solution Approach 1:
By integrating the heater and sensor into a single device, the patent allows both components to occupy the same spatial region in the seat, enabling the heater to deliver full heating performance directly to the occupant contact area without being positioned below the sensor, while the sensor simultaneously provides accurate readings.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated device employs different local structures for heating and sensing within the same component. The heater portion contains conductive heating elements while the sensor portion contains sensing elements, with each local area optimized for its specific function while coexisting in the same overall device structure.
3Ease of manufacture
If separate heater and sensor components are used, then assembly is more complex and costs increase, but individual component optimization is possible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces assembly complexity by forming the heater and sensor as a single integrated device that can be installed as one unit in the seat. This eliminates the need to separately position and align multiple heater components and sensor components, reducing assembly steps and potential misalignment issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated device serves multiple functions simultaneously - heating the seat and detecting occupant presence/weight - within a single component structure. This multi-functionality reduces the total number of parts needed and simplifies the overall system architecture while maintaining independent optimization of both heating and sensing functions.
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 solution eliminates false readings, reduces assembly time and costs, and prevents unsafe static buildup, while ensuring effective heating and sensing performance without compromising either function.
Implementation Method 1
The heater portion (12) may be screen printed on one side of the substrate (10)... a heater and sensor integrated into a single device
Implementation Method 2
occupant sensors have also been used with vehicle air bags. In these applications, depending on the data collected by the occupant sensor, the air bag may be activated... as the occupant sensor detects the weight of the passenger sitting on the seat
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a combination heater and occupant sensor device that may be used in an automobile seat. The device will heat a seat and sense the mass of an occupant in the seat. The device provides the ability to combine occupant sensors with a seat heater without damaging the sensors or obtaining incorrect sensor readings. The sensor results may be processed and used to control air bag deployment, for example, or to indicate if the seat belt of an occupied seat is not being employed. To provide flexibility of the device during use, the device may be formed on a polymer substrate and configured to include apertures throughout. In addition, in the heating portion of the device, conductive material may be blended in a polymer and the device may be configured to limit conductor cracking after repeated flexing of the device thus extending the life of the device.