One of our customers wanted to execute the project at low cost with minimal design changes in a short time frame. KPIT leveraged its extensive domain knowledge & experience in Engineering Design and executed the project successfully. - Read more at: http://bit.ly/205WhPx

1. powertrain@kpit.com |body@kpit.com
About the Client
Business & Technology Context
KPIT’s Solution
Mechatronics is a multi-disciplinary, professional engineering field that combines
mechanical, electrical, control and computer engineering that is being used in different
fields of production process and final products. Automotive production has seen an
increased uptake in its application, especially in the field of seating where factors like
improvement of ergonomics, user comfort and enhanced seating control, play an
important role in determining consumer satisfaction.
Seats play a critical role in enhancing a driver’s and the passenger’s experience. With
increasing travelling hours, consumers today are more conscious about maintaining the
correct sitting posture while driving.
To address these consumer needs and to bring about consumer delight, the client
wanted to develop a prototype system for Automatic seat control. This system was
envisaged to include automatic head rest adjustment, cushion extender and seat travel
limiter without manual intervention. The client was looking for a partner who could
take the complete onus of the research & development program. The client was aware
of KPITs capability in product development as well as domain expertise in control
systems and mechanical engineering.
Hence KPIT was chosen for executing the complete system design as well as for
prototyping the development for automatic seat control. Our global team of
technology and management experts helped the client to design, develop and validate
the automatic seat control prototype.
Case Study
Developing an Automatic Seat
Control System for a Leading Tier1
The client is a Tier1 supplier of Automotive Seating & Electrical Systems
KPIT developed a complete system design, right from capturing the functional requirements and benchmarking sensors, to integrating
the developed solution in the existing manual seat. Mechatronics principles were applied during the development of this solution.
The features developed were:
• Automatic head rest control, based on user’s height
• Automatic cushion extender based on user’s leg spacing
• Seat travel limiter based on obstacle sensing at the back of the seat
• Proximity sensor for height detection and object detection
• Seat axis control based on brushed DC motor
Mechatronics
Mechanical
Computer
Engg.
Electrical
Control
Systems

2. About KPIT
Copyright © 2014. KPIT and its logo(s) are trademarks of KPIT Technologies Limited. All rights reserved. All other logo(s) used are trademarks of their respective owners.
body@kpit.com | www.kpit.com
KPIT Technologies (BSE: 532400; NSE: KPIT) is a fast growing Product
Engineering and IT consulting partner to Automotive, Manufacturing and
Energy & Utilities companies. A leader in technology solutions and
services, KPIT partners with 200+ global corporations enabling them to
become more efficient, integrated and innovative enterprises.
Challenges Faced
KPIT performed the following key activities:
• Handmade proximity sensor design for different applications
• Analysis of manual control seat for sensor fitting feasibility, controlling motor and ECU placement
• Benchmarking capacitive sensor driver IC with better proximity and noise handling based on environment condition
• Design and development of ECU hardware for multiple application with sensor and brushed DC motor interface
• Design and development of three software applications with common platform and middle layer
• System testing of applications in the actual seat
• Ensuring that the automatic seat control sensing happened gradually and also not too frequently to avoid driver distraction
• Designing of a flexible Printed Circuit Board(PCB)for capacitance sensor
• Benchmarking capacitive sensor IC for better proximity and noise handling capability
• While benchmarking IC, real world scenarios like stray capacitance of environment and temperature effect on capacitive sensors
had to be considered. KPIT took necessary steps to ensure environmental shielding
Key Success Factors
• In a record time of 4 months, successful working prototype with solution mechanically fitted in a seat
• Multiple features and applications were implemented through a single ECU to give a cost advantage
• End-to end design and development of capacitive sensors was achieved with flexible PCB, system integration, testing and
validation
Self-adjusting head restraint Self-adjusting cushion
length extender
Seat Travel Limiter