Retraction control of motorized seat belt system with linear state observer

A design and verification of linear state observers which estimate state information such as angular velocity and load torque for retraction control of the motorized seat belt (MSB) system were described. The motorized seat belt system provides functions to protect passengers and improve passenger’s convenience. Each MSB function has its own required belt tension which is determined by the function’s purpose. To realize the MSB functions, state information, such as seat belt winding velocity and seat belt tension are required. Using a linear state observer, the state information for MSB operations can be estimated without sensors. To design the linear state observer, the motorized seat belt system is analyzed and represented as a state space model which contains load torque as an augmented state. Based on the state space model, a linear state observer was designed and verified by experiments. Also, the retraction control of the MSB algorithm using linear state observer was designed and verified on the test bench. With the designed retraction control algorithm using the linear state observer, it is possible to realize various types of MSB functions.