Claims
- 1. Apparatus for estimating the weight of an occupant of a seat in a motor vehicle, the seat having a foam cushion bottom, the apparatus comprising:
- a fluid-filled bladder disposed in the foam cushion bottom, the bladder comprising top and bottom sheets of elastomeric material with a continuous seam about their periphery to form a closed volume, a plurality of spot welds between said top and bottom sheets, said spot welds being distributed over said bladder, thereby dividing said bladder into a contiguous array of generally circular cells with free flow of said fluid between adjacent cells, the bladder being substantially filled with fluid, and an exit port disposed in said bottom sheet, substantially centered in a central one of said cells positioned at a center of gravity of said fluid;
- a pressure sensor coupled to said exit port for sealing said exit port and for sensing the pressure of said fluid; and
- control means for estimating the weight of the occupant based on the sensed fluid pressure.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein there is an increased density of said spot welds in a central region of said bladder surrounding said exit port thereby forming a second plurality of contiguous cells in said central region which are smaller than the contiguous cells disposed outside of said central region.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1, including additional welds in a central region of said bladder surrounding said exit port, said additional welds forming a plurality of closed, fluid-free cells in said central region, spaced generally symmetrically with respect to said exit port, and being generally triangular in shape.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said control means provides an input to an air bag deployment system, said input indicating whether deployment should be inhibited or allowed based on the estimated weight of the occupant.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/923,020, entitled Vehicle Occupant Weight Estimation Apparatus Having Fluid-Filled Seat Bladder, filed Sep. 3, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,370, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
923020 |
Sep 1997 |
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