JPH09323577A - Sitting detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely detect that a person sits on a seat for automobile within a seat member by setting a flexible foam of a polymer compound having a conductive material included therein in a plurality of positions of the seat. SOLUTION: A sitting sensor is formed of a conductive flexible foam 3 formed by mixing a conductive powder and grain 6 to a polymer compound such as rubber or polyurethane, and an upper conductor and lower conductor 5 nipping the flexible foam 3 from the upper surface and the lower surface. A plurality of such sitting sensors are distributed and arranged on an automobile seat formed of flexible foam. In such a seat, the flexible foam 3 of the sitting sensor is compressed when a pressure is added by sitting, and the electric resistance between the upper conductor 4 and the lower conductor 5 is changed. Thus, this change of electric resistance is taken as a sitting data and processed, whereby the presence of sitting can be judged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seating detection device for detecting whether or not a person is seated at a proper position on a vehicle seat.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Seating detection of an automobile seat is often carried out for various purposes such as seat position and seat height control by a microcomputer and warning of seatbelt wearing. In recent years, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-285364 As also shown, the one that controls the operation of the airbag on the passenger side,
Data obtained by such seating detection is used.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional seating detection method, whether the load on the seat is due to the seating of a person, or the air bag such as luggage other than a person or a child seat is not desired to be actuated. Therefore, if a large heavy article is accidentally placed on the front passenger seat, the airbag on the front passenger side malfunctions immediately when a shock is applied while the vehicle is running. There were challenges.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and makes it possible to reliably detect in the seat member that a person is seated on the seat, and based on the pressure distribution applied to the seat member. An object of the present invention is to provide a seating detection device that can easily determine whether a person is seated or simply loaded.

[0005]

Therefore, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the seating detection device according to the invention of claim 1 is
A flexible foam of a polymer compound mixed with a conductive substance is installed at a plurality of positions on a sheet member for an automobile.

Further, the seating detection device according to the invention of claim 2 is such that the seating determination means accurately determines the seating of a person from the pressure distribution acting on the flexible foam.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a vehicle seat 1 having the seating detection device of the present invention. The seat 1 is composed of a sheet member mainly made of a polymer compound such as rubber or urethane, and is molded into a predetermined sheet shape. A cover made of vinyl chloride resin, leather or the like is provided on the flexible foam of the polymer compound.

A seating sensor (which may be a conductive material) 2 is provided on the seat formed of the flexible foam.
Are distributed and arranged.

As shown in FIG. 1, the seating sensor 2 includes a flexible foam 3 having conductivity, which is formed by mixing conductive powder particles 6 into a polymer compound such as rubber or urethane.
The flexible foam 3 is composed of an upper conductor 4 and a lower conductor 5 that sandwich the flexible foam 3 from the upper surface and the lower surface.

In the seat 1 having such a seating sensor 2, the flexible foam 3 of the seating sensor 2 to which pressure is applied by seating or the like is compressed, and the electric resistance between the upper conductor 4 and the lower conductor 5 is reduced. Change. Therefore, the presence / absence of seating can be determined by extracting and processing the change in the electric resistance as seating data.

In the seating sensor 2, any one of the upper conductor 4 and the lower conductor 5 may be integrally formed so as to be in common contact with a plurality of flexible foams 3. Needless to say, each seating sensor 2 can be configured independently.

FIG. 3 shows a case where a single metal frame 7 for receiving the entire lower surface of the sheet member is used as the lower conductor 5. Here, 8 is a flexible foam having the above-mentioned conductivity, and 9 is a skin covering the flexible foam 8.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the outer skin 8 of an automobile seat is usually lined with a thin urethane foam 10 called wadding. In the case of using, the seat seating detection device can be formed in the same manner as above by using a material having conductivity for the skin 8.

Therefore, in the vehicle seat having the seating sensor 3 having such a structure, when a person sits on the seat,
Due to the change in the resistance value of each seating sensor 3, the pressure distribution on the seat surface is detected in a pattern along the shape of the buttocks, for example, as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when a baggage or the like is placed on the seat, for example, a pressure distribution pattern as shown in FIG. 6 is obtained, which is completely different from the seating condition.

Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG.
By causing the microprocessor 11 to recognize the output values of the seating sensors 3 as coordinate data, and letting the microprocessor as the seating determining means recognize the pattern formed by the output values of the seating sensors 3 on the coordinates, By referring to the seating pattern data set in the memory 12 in advance, it is possible to quickly determine whether the load on the seat is due to seating by a person or simply due to luggage.

[0017]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the flexible foam of the polymer compound mixed with the conductive material is arranged at a plurality of positions of the seat member for automobile. , A person can surely detect the seating or other load on the seat member on the seat member, and easily determine whether the person is seated or simply loaded on the basis of the pressure distribution loaded on the seat member. The effect of being able to be obtained is obtained.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the seating determination means comprises:
Based on the pressure distribution acting on the flexible foam, the seating of a person can be discriminated by a calculation process, so that the seating of a person can be discriminated from the luggage with high accuracy and speed, and thereby the airbag mistake The effect that it is possible to reliably prevent the operation is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a seating detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an automobile seat having a seating sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an automobile seat having a metal frame used for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing an automobile seat having a wadding used for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a seating pattern based on the output of the seating sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a loading pattern of luggage based on the output of the seating sensor according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of seating determination means of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 sheet (sheet member) 3 flexible foam 11 microprocessor (seating determination means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A seating detection device, characterized in that flexible foam made of a polymer compound mixed with a conductive substance is installed at a plurality of positions of a seat member for an automobile. 2. The seating detection device according to claim 1, further comprising seating determination means for determining seating of a person based on a pressure distribution acting on the flexible foam.