Belt assembly including payout measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10150446-B2
Application number	US-201615095355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2016
Priority date	Apr 11, 2016
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

A belt assembly includes a belt retractor, a sensor having a detection field, and a belt retractably payable from the belt retractor through the detection field. The belt has a webbing and a plurality of markers fixed to the webbing. The webbing has a longitudinal length and the markers are equally spaced along the longitudinal length of the webbing. The sensor senses the length of the webbing paid out. A size of the occupant may be determined based on the length of the webbing paid out, and the size of the occupant may be used to classify the occupant in classes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A belt assembly comprising:
a belt retractor;
a first sensor having a detection field;
a belt retractably payable from the belt retractor through the detection field, the belt having a webbing and a plurality of markers fixed to the webbing;
the webbing having a longitudinal length, the markers being equally spaced along the longitudinal length of the webbing;
a processor programmed to determine a length of the webbing paid out of the belt retractor based at least on detection of the markers by the first sensor; and
a second sensor programmed to sense a direction of movement of the belt into and out of the belt retractor, wherein the processor is programmed to determine the length of the webbing paid out of the belt retractor based at least on the direction of movement of the belt.

2. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising an anchor point spaced from the belt retractor and slideably receiving the webbing, the first sensor being adjacent the anchor point.

3. The belt assembly according to claim 2 , further comprising a track fixed relative to belt retractor, the anchor point being releasably lockable to the track at fixed points along the track.

4. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is adjacent the belt retractor.

5. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a proximity sensor.

6. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is an inductive proximity sensor.

7. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a capacitive proximity sensor.

8. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is an optoelectronic proximity sensor.

9. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the markers are formed of electrically conductive material.

10. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the markers are formed of a first material, and wherein the belt has isolating regions formed of a second material different than the first material, the markers being disposed in an alternating relationship with the isolating regions along the longitudinal length of the webbing.

11. The belt assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the belt retractor includes a housing and a spool receiving the belt, the second sensor being programmed to sense direction of rotation of the spool relative to the housing.

12. A belt assembly comprising:
a belt retractor;
a belt retractably payable from the belt retractor, the belt having a webbing and a plurality of markers fixed to the webbing, the webbing having a longitudinal length, the markers being equally spaced along the longitudinal length of the webbing;
an anchor point spaced from the belt retractor and slideably receiving the webbing;
a first sensor adjacent the anchor point and positioned to detect the markers, and
a second sensor programmed to sense a direction of movement of the belt into and out of the belt retractor, wherein the belt retractor includes a housing and a spool receiving the belt, the second sensor being programmed to sense direction of rotation of the spool relative to the housing.

13. The belt assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the first sensor is mounted to the anchor point.

14. The belt assembly according to claim 12 , further comprising a processor programmed to determine a length of the webbing paid out of the belt retractor based at least on detection of the markers by the first sensor.

15. A belt assembly comprising:
a belt retractor;
a first sensor having a detection field;
a belt retractably payable from the belt retractor through the detection field, the belt having a webbing and a plurality of markers fixed to the webbing, the webbing having a longitudinal length, the markers being equally spaced along the longitudinal length of the webbing; and
a second sensor programmed to sense a direction of movement of the belt into and out of the belt retractor, wherein the belt retractor includes a housing and a spool receiving the belt, the second sensor being programmed to sense direction of rotation of the spool relative to the housing.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Le Jialiang
• Rao Manoharprasad K
• Sundararajan Srinivasan

Classifications

• B60R2022/4825

  for sensing amount of belt winded on retractor · CPC title

• G01B5/02

  for measuring length, width or thickness (G01B5/004, G01B5/08 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01B7/02

  for measuring length, width or thickness (G01B7/004, G01B7/12 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60R22/12

  Construction of belts or harnesses (B60R21/18 takes precedence {; woven fabrics for safety belts D03D1/0005}) · CPC title

• G01B3/1003

  characterised by structure or material; characterised by layout or indicia · CPC title