Capacitive load cell apparatus having silicone-impregnated foam dielectric pads

A capacitive load cell (12) includes upper and lower capacitor plates (30, 28) and an intermediate array of dielectric pads (22a) formed of silicone-impregnated open-cell urethane foam (i.e., gel pads). The silicone essentially displaces air that would otherwise be trapped in the foam, contributing to a dielectric (22) having minimal humidity-related variability. The upper capacitor plate is defined by an array of individual charge plates (30), the lower capacitor plate defines a ground plane conductor (28) common to each of the charge plates (30), and the dielectric pads (22a) are disposed between the ground plane conductor (28) and each of the charge plates (30), leaving channels (32) between adjacent dielectric pads (22a). When occupant weight is applied to the seat (10), the dielectric pads (22a) transmitting the weight distend laterally into the channels (32) to reduce the separation between the respective upper and lower capacitor plates (30, 28), and the consequent change in capacitance is detected as a measure of the applied force and the force distribution (14).