Delco Electronics Corporation

Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Delco Electronics Corporaiton

Gregory J Manlove

Richard A Kennedy

Jeffrey J Marrah

Mark Billings Kearney

Mark Russell Keyse

Seyed R Zarabadi

Fred Jay Anderson

Kevin M Gertiser

Hamid Reza Borzabadi

Edward H Honnigford

Stephen P Long

Ashraf Kamal Kamel

Richard Joseph Ravas

Mark A Kady

Thomas Gerard Block

Detlef Griessman

Mark Wendell Gose

Yingjie Lin

Kevin J Hawes

Duane Donald Fortune

William W Fultz

Dennis P Griffin

Walter Kirk Kosiak

Abhijeet V Chavan

Dennis Michael Koglin

Lawrence Dean Hazelton

Robert K Constable

Lorenzo Guadalupe Rodriguez

Brian K Good

Timothy A Vas

James L Kohler

Wayne A Madsen

Gregory Allen Cobb

Jiyao Liu

Paul M Werking

Pedro E Castillo-Borelly

Lee Charles Boger

James C Bach

Gerald A Kilgour

Richard Sidney Stroud

Thomas L Voreis

Marvin G Stang

Gordon Phillip Howlett

James A Kinley

Douglas E White

Maria De Los Angeles Chee

Matthew C Reprogle

Donald A Hitko

A sensor module is provided having a compact housing containing a sensor. A low temperature co-fired ceramic substrate is located on the housing. The sensor and signal processing circuitry are located on the low temperature co-fired ceramic substrate. The sensor module further includes a metal shield substantially encapsulating the sensor.

Sensor module

The capacitance of a shielded capacitive load cell is determined so as to minimize the effect of stray or parasitic capacitance between the load cell and other objects including the shield. The load cell conductors are coupled across input and output terminals of an operational amplifier that is tied to a reference voltage. A constant current is applied to the load cell, and the resulting rate of change in voltage at the amplifier output is measured as a representation of the load cell capacitance. In a vehicle seat sensor application including an electromagnetic interference shield between the load cell and the seating surface, the amplifier output is coupled to the load cell electrode furthest from the shield, the amplifier maintains the other load cell electrode at a virtual reference voltage, and the shield is tied to the reference voltage.

Shielded capacitive load cell apparatus responsive to weight applied to a vehicle seat

A pressure sensor module is provided with an isolation platform which isolates stress. The pressure sensor module includes a base structure and a cantilever member formed in the base structure by an isolation gap. A pressure sensing element is located on the cantilever member such that the cantilever member provides stress isolation to the pressure sensing element.

Pressure sensor module having stress isolation platform

Analog signal conditioning circuitry is provided for processing an analog signal generated by a sensor to remove DC offset. The signal conditioning circuitry includes an amplifier having the first input receiving an analog input signal and a second input receiving a reference signal. The amplifier includes an output providing an analog output signal defined by an amplified representation of the analog input signal and the reference signal. The circuitry includes a feedback circuit having an input coupled to the amplifier output and an output coupled to the first input of the amplifier for providing an analog feedback signal. The feedback circuit includes an analog-to-digital converter for converting the analog amplifier output to a digital signal, a digital controller for processing the digital signal, and a digital to analog converter for converting the processed digital signal to an analog feedback signal.

Analog signal conditioning circuit having feedback offset cancellation

An oxygen sensor interface circuit is configurable on the fly by an electronic controller such as an engine controller to support oxygen sensors having unique interface requirements, to reliably identify various oxygen sensor faults, and to enable rapid detection of a warmed up sensor. The interface circuit is configurable in a first respect to enable operation with any of a number of different sensors, and in a second respect to enable more reliable fault detection, including measurement of leakage to ground or battery.

Configurable interface circuit for exhaust gas oxygen sensors

A variable reluctance sensor interface module having a variable attenuation circuit and a rectifier and differential to single-ended conversion circuit for operating in a current mode to attenuate a differential input voltage. The variable attenuation circuit receives an input differential voltage from a magnetic sensor, converts the differential voltage to current, and variably attenuates the current. The rectifier and differential to single-ended conversion circuit converts the variably attenuated current to a voltage output. The input circuit includes an RC filter that attenuates high frequency signals. An initial threshold circuit generates an initial threshold voltage that compensates for internal resistance variations.

Variable attenuation circuit for a differential variable reluctance sensor with enhanced initial threshold accuracy

A non-linear temperature compensation circuit ( ) is provided for generating at least dual-slope characteristics responsive to changes in operating temperature of the compensation circuit. The compensation circuit includes a temperature dependent current generator circuit ( ) for generating at least one output (I ) substantially proportional to changes in the temperature of the circuit, a current-based dual-slope drift generator ( ) for generating a current proportional to absolute temperature, and a summing means ( ) for summing both current outputs and generating a compensation drift voltage. The temperature dependent current generator includes a sub-circuit having a first current generator that generates a current (I ) that is relatively independent of temperature, and a second current generator that generates a second current (I ) that decreases with increases in temperature. The two currents are compared and a non-zero output current (I ) is generated if the second current (I ) exceeds the first current (I ), which output current (I ) decreases with increases in temperature.

Non-linear temperature compensation circuit

An error detection circuit for an airbag deployment control system includes a delay circuit receiving an analog acceleration signal, a difference circuit producing a difference signal based on a time difference between the original and delayed acceleration signals, and a first comparator circuit comparing the difference signal to first and second threshold signals. If the difference signal falls within an error region defined between the first and second threshold values, a decision circuit inhibits an otherwise pending airbag deployment event. If, on the other hand, the difference signal falls outside of the error region, the decision circuit allows airbag deployment with minimal delay. The error detection circuit further includes a second comparator circuit comparing the acceleration signal to near-supply and near-ground threshold values, wherein the decision circuit also inhibits airbag deployment if the acceleration signal magnitude exceeds the near-supply threshold value or falls below the near-ground threshold value.

Error detection circuit for an airbag deployment control system

An oil level sensor for a vehicle includes a receiver tube oriented upright in the oil pan of the vehicle. A level tube is disposed in the receiver tube and below the level tube is a reference tube. A circuit is electrically connected to the tubes for outputting a signal representative of oil level in the oil pan. As the engine oil level decreases within the level tube, the output of the sensor drops. When the engine oil level is below the bottom of the level tube but higher than the top of the reference tube, the output reaches the lowest value. As the engine oil level continuous decreasing (below the top of the reference tube), the output increases for a first circuit configuration (i.e., level with reference tube), and will stay constant for the second configuration level.

Fluid level measuring system

An adjustable voltage controlled oscillator has an input for receiving a voltage signal and an integrator coupled to the input for generating a ramp signal. The circuit also includes an adjustable current supply coupled to an output of the integrator for supplying an adjustable amount of current. A comparator compares the ramp signal with a predetermined voltage. The circuit further includes an output for generating a frequency output as a function of the comparison, wherein the circuit is calibratible by adjusting current generated by the adjustable current supply.

Adjustable voltage controlled oscillator

An analog signal gain circuit includes an input receiving an analog input signal defined by an ac signal component due to a driving force and a dc offset component independent of the driving force and an output providing an analog output signal defined by an amplified representation of the analog input signal and a dc offset component corresponding to a reference signal. A digital/analog feedback circuit includes a comparator having the reference signal as a switching threshold connected to an up/down counter having a number of digital outputs. The outputs of the up/down counter are connected to a D/A converter which converts the digital count to an analog feedback signal. The feedback signal is provided to the input of the analog signal gain circuit to minimize variations in the dc offset signal component of the analog output signal by compensating for the dc offset signal component of the analog input signal. The up/down counter is clocked at a slow rate to thereby provide a long time constant for minimizing the dc offset signal component.

Analog/digital feedback circuitry for minimizing DC offset variations in an analog signal

An analog signal processing system for determining airbag deployment includes a first low pass filter receiving a conditioned analog accelerometer signal and providing an analog acceleration signal therefrom. A first comparator/latch circuit receives the analog acceleration signal and provides a first signal to a logic circuit. The analog acceleration signal is further provided to a first integrator which converts the signal to a first velocity signal and provides the first velocity signal to a second comparator/latch circuit which provides a second logic level signal to the logic circuit. A second low pass filter receives the analog acceleration signal and provides a low frequency analog acceleration signal to a third comparator/latch circuit which provides a third signal to the logic circuit. The low frequency analog acceleration signal is further received by a second integrator circuit which converts the signal to a second velocity signal and provides the second velocity signal to a fourth comparator/latch circuit which provides a fourth signal to the logic circuit. The logic circuit performs a logic operation on the various logic level signals to provide an airbag deployment signal therefrom. Each comparator/latch circuit has a comparator threshold value associated therewith provided by a threshold circuit. The system is enabled for a preset time period after detecting a predefined acceleration level to provide a time-independent analog algorithm for evaluating the analog acceleration signal for possible airbag deployment.

Analog signal processing system for determining airbag deployment

A variable reluctance sensor interface module having a variable attenuation circuit and a rectifier and differential single-ended conversion circuit for operating in a current mode to attenuate a differential input voltage. The variable attenuation circuit receives an input differential voltage from a magnetic sensor and converts the differential voltage to current. First and second current sourcing circuits, each including a plurality of current sourcing branches, receives the current and provides current attenuation by switching in and out transistor-based current sourcing branches. The rectifier and differential to single-ended conversion circuit converts the variably attenuated currents to a voltage output.

Current mode differential to single-ended conversion circuit for a

Circuitry (100, 100') for determining actuator position includes four MOS transistors (T1-T4) connected to each side of a bi-directional motor (10). The current flowing through the motor (10) at any given time is proportional to voltages developed across the internal impedances of the transistors (T1-T4). The resulting motor voltages are amplified and high-pass filtered to remove any DC offsets due to the signal amplification. The conditioned motor voltages are then compared to one or more threshold voltages and passed through a one shot circuit (120) to provide detectable pulses for each motor commutation event. Circuitry (106,107) is provided for counting pulses provided by the one shot circuit (120) and, based on a desired motor position, for providing a number of digital control signals to a digital control circuit (104). Digital control circuit (104) is responsive to the number of digital control signals to control the gate voltages of the four transistors (T1-T4) to thereby control the position of the motor (10).

Circuitry for determining actuator position

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Kokomo, IN, United States of America

Gregory J Manlove