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:
Mar. 07, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 23, 1999
Kenichi Tamagawa, Miyagi-ken, JP;
Yukio Miura, Miyagi-ken, JP;
Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method of detecting the pinching of an object of a power window for obtaining an accurate motor torque value dealing with a fluctuation in the ambient temperature and reducing an error at the time of detecting the pinching of an object without using a temperature sensor is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a window opening/closing motor 4, a motor driving unit 3, a pulse generating unit 5, an MCU 2, and an operation switch 1. A base value, a tolerance value and a reference value as an addition value of the base value and the tolerance value are set for each of a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the whole window travel range. The MCU 2 detects a motor torque at the time of opening and closing the window and compares the motor torque with the reference value preset for the travel region. When the motor torque exceeds the reference value, the MCU 2 determines the presence of the pinching of an object and stops or reverses the driving of the motor 4. The MCU 2 calculates a correction factor from the motor torque and the base value every travel region and uses a corrected reference value obtained by multiplying the reference value of the next travel region by the correction factor when the motor torque is compared with the reference value in the next travel region.