The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 16, 1993
Filed:
Apr. 15, 1991
Akira Kondo, Okazaki, JP;
Nippondenso Co., Ltd., Kariya, JP;
Abstract
A vehicle operator protection system capable of detecting abnormalities in an auxiliary power supply in the protection system. The auxiliary power supply comprises a backup capacitor which is part of a time constant circuit and is connected in parallel with an actuator for inflating an air bag. While the backup capacitor is charged, the voltage differences between an onboard battery and the backup capacitor are determined for a given period, and the determined value is divided by the amount that the voltage of the backup capacitor rises in the given period. An abnormality in the capacitance of the backup capacitor is determined in accordance with the divided value, and thus the abnormality of the capacitance of the backup capacitor can be detected accurately without being influenced by variation of voltage of the onboard battery.