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:
Jul. 02, 1996
Filed:
Feb. 01, 1995
Peter A Thayer, Indianapolis, IN (US);
Morgan D Murphy, Kokomo, IN (US);
Delco Electronics Corporation, Kokomo, IN (US);
Abstract
An infrared sensor for determining the temperature of a car interior includes a thermistor and a thermopile in a can and a protective window which exposes the thermopile to the thermal energy of the car interior. The combined outputs of these thermally sensitive elements represents the interior radiant temperature. The effectiveness of the thermopile changes if the window gets dirty to change its output. A resistive heater on the can is used to heat the sensor during calibration. A microprocessor receiving the outputs of the sensor has an algorithm for adjusting a gain which compensates for sensor changes. When the interior temperature is stable, the sensor is heated and thermistor values before and after heating the sensor are used as a basis for adjustment of the gain.