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US 10,982,481 B2Granted
Door position sensor and system for a vehicle
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsLarry Elie, Jeff A. Wallace
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for determining a door condition includes a hinge including a first portion coupled with a door and a second portion coupled with a vehicle frame and rotatably coupled with the first portion. The system further includes a sensor outputting a signal related to a position of the first portion relative to the second portion and a controller receiving the signal and determining whether the signal corresponds to a door closed condition or a door open condition.
Claims9
A method for detecting a state of a vehicle door, comprising:
- receiving a signal from a sensor including information related to a sensed position of the vehicle door in relation to an associated door opening;
- and
- determining that the door is in a closed state or an open state based on a comparison of the sensed position of the vehicle door to a known range of positions for the closed state and the open state;
- wherein:
- the door is coupled with a vehicle by a hinge that rotatably mounts the door within the door opening such that the door is moveable within an angular range between the closed state, wherein the door is within the opening, and the open state, wherein the door is away from the closed state;
- and
- the signal output by the sensor related to the sensed position is an angular position of the hinge with a zero position thereof being within the closed state of the door and the angular position increasing with movement of the door away from the closed state in the open state, wherein when the door is in the closed state, the door is capable of being positioned between −0.5 degrees to 0.5 degrees about the zero position.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.