Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Capacitive sensing and heating system for steering wheels or seats to sense presence of hand of occupant on steering wheel or occupant in seat
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Application No.: US16256078Application Date: 2019-01-24
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Publication No.: US10969248B2Publication Date: 2021-04-06
- Inventor: Robert Lakatos , Peter Marton , Jack Barfuss , Daniel Wei Li Cheah , Ricardo Edmundo Flores Gonzalez , Michael Maass , Tim Normand , Gerardo Edel de la Garza Fernandez
- Applicant: Gentherm Incorporated
- Applicant Address: US MI Northville
- Assignee: Gentherm Incorporated
- Current Assignee: Gentherm Incorporated
- Current Assignee Address: US MI Northville
- Main IPC: G01D5/24
- IPC: G01D5/24 ; G01V3/08 ; B60N2/00 ; B62D1/06 ; B60N2/56 ; B60R21/015 ; B60K35/00 ; B62D1/04 ; H03K17/955 ; H03K17/95 ; B60K37/06

Abstract:
A capacitance measuring system detecting an occupant of a vehicle. A sensor/heater assembly is arranged in at least one of a seat or a steering wheel of a vehicle and includes a sensor and a heater arranged adjacent to the sensor. A measurement circuit is configured to output an excitation signal to the measurement circuit and the sensor/heater assembly, measure a resonant frequency of the measurement circuit and the sensor/heater assembly in response to the excitation signal; determine at least one capacitance value based on the resonant frequency; and determine whether a body part is in proximity to the sensor based on the at least one capacitance value.
Public/Granted literature
Information query