Patent ID: 8190331

Claim:
A system for detecting an animate object inside a vehicle compartment comprising: a vehicle body defining the vehicle compartment; a controller; a first sensor defining an electrical circuit including a shape memory alloy, a first contact and a second contact; wherein the shape memory alloy is fixedly connected to at least one of the first and second contacts and is configured to selectively change a distance between the first and second contacts; the first sensor being mounted with respect to the vehicle body to receive mechanical energy from a moving animate object inside the vehicle compartment and transmit the mechanical energy to the shape memory alloy; and being configured to generate an electrical charge or current by converting the mechanical energy to electrical energy when an electrical connection between the first and second contacts is changed from one of: open to closed; and closed to open; by changing the distance between the first contact and the second contact; wherein the shape memory alloy is in thermal communication with the vehicle compartment such that transmitting mechanical energy from the moving animate object to the shape memory alloy and transitioning the shape memory alloy from one of a cold state and a hot state to the other of the cold state and the hot state in response to a temperature within the vehicle compartment deforms the shape memory alloy and changes the distance between the first contact and the second contact sufficiently to change the electrical connection between the first and second contacts from one of open to closed, and closed to open, thereby causing the first sensor to generate the electrical charge or current, said first sensor being operatively connected to the controller such that the controller receives a signal when the first sensor generates the electrical charge or current; and wherein the controller is configured to: determine whether the temperature inside the vehicle compartment is above a first predetermined temperature; determine whether the temperature inside the vehicle compartment is below a second predetermined temperature; and generate a command signal when the controller determines that at least one predetermined condition exists, said at least one predetermined condition including receiving the signal from the first sensor, and determining that the temperature of the passenger compartment is one of above the first predetermined temperature and below the second predetermined temperature.