Journal of Sensor Science and Technology (센서학회지)

The Korean Sensors Society (한국센서학회)
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Body Pressure Distribution and Textile Surface Deformation Measurement for Quantification of Automotive Seat Design Attributes

운전자의 체압 분포 및 시트변형에 대한 정량화 측정시스템

  • Received : 2018.10.25
  • Accepted : 2018.11.20
  • Published : 2018.11.30
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Abstract

Proper seat design is critical to the safety, comfort, and ergonomics of automotive driver's seats. To ensure effective seat design, quantitative methods should be used to evaluate the characteristics of automotive seats. This paper presents a system that is capable of simultaneously monitoring body pressure distribution and surface deformation in a textile material. In this study, a textile-based capacitive sensor was used to detect the body pressure distribution in an automotive seat. In addition, a strain gauge sensor was used to detect the degree of curvature deformation due to high-pressure points. The textile-based capacitive sensor was fabricated from the conductive fabric and a polyurethane insulator with a high signal-to-noise ratio. The strain gauge sensor was attached on the guiding film to maximize the effect of its deformation due to bending. Ten pressure sensors were placed symmetrically in the hip area and six strain gauge sensors were distributed on both sides of the seat cushion. A readout circuit monitored the absolute and relative values from the sensors in realtime, and the results were displayed as a color map. Moreover, we verified the proposed system for quantifying the body pressure and fabric deformation by studying 18 participants who performed three predefined postures. The proposed system showed desirable results and is expected to improve seat safety and comfort when applied to the design of various seat types. Moreover, the proposed system will provide analytical criteria in the design and durability testing of automotive seats.

Keywords

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Fig. 1. Overall system organization: capacitive pressure sensor, strain gauge deformation sensor, readout circuit and the GUI.

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Fig. 2. Description of (a) fabric capacitive sensor layers, (b) the readout circuit for capacitive sensor.

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Fig. 3. (a) Capacitive sensor located on the car seat, (b) the relative variation in capacitance according to the applied pressure.

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Fig. 6. Description of total circuits

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Fig. 7. (a) PCB view of the readout circuit, (b) GUI view

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Fig. 9. Experimental results: Relative variation of capacitive sensor at (a) woman and (b) man, relative variation of strain gauge sensor at (c) woman and (d) man.

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Fig. 10. Experimental results: Relative variation of capacitive sensor at (a) hip circumference under 100 cm and (b) over 100cm, relative variation of strain gauge sensor at (c) hip circumference under 100cm and (d) over 100cm.

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Fig. 4. (a) Strain gauge sensor located on the car seat, (b) the voltage change in the strain gauge sensor according to the angle.

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Fig. 5. Readout circuit for strain gauge sensor.

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Fig. 8. Description of the predefined three postures and the reference data using Xsensor.

Table 1. The experimental participants with the different sex, hip circumstance, height and weight

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