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:
Dec. 16, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 08, 2002
Hideharu Nagatomo, Shizuoka, JP;
Yazaki Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A steering-heater device capable of temperature control without causing an excess current to flow into a steering wheel Sw is provided. The steering-heater device includes a heater disposed in the steering wheel, a calorific switching element disposed in a steering column Sc to carry out switching of a drive current for driving the heater and also generate heat, a thermo-sensitive element for sensing the temperature of the element to change its own characteristics, a control part that outputs a control signal and a drive part that outputs a drive signal for driving the element on the ground of the control signal. Based on voltages between both ends of the element the control part detects an initial temperature of the steering wheel, further calculates a consumption power required to rise the temperature of the steering wheel up to a set temperature and generate the control signal during a heating period determined on the ground of the consumption power.