Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-09
2001-03-27
Mai, Lanna (Department: 3619)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S737000, C280S741000, C280S742000, C102S530000, C102S531000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206418
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of motor vehicle safety. More specifically, the invention relates to a hybrid gas-generator containing a solid pyrotechnic charge and a reserve of pressurized gas and intended to inflate a cushion for protecting the occupants of a motor vehicle.
Hybrid generators which rely on the principle of producing active gases by mixing gases that result from the combustion of a solid or liquid fuel with distinct cold gases are highly sought-after in motor vehicle safety because they produce gases which are not as hot and which can meet the low-toxicity standards required in motor vehicle safety more readily than can the gases supplied by traditional solid-charge generators.
Various types of hybrid generator have been proposed to those skilled in the art. Patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,007 or its counterparts FR-A-2,116,947 and FR-A-2,116,949 have proposed a type of hybrid generator comprising a double base solid powder charge, the combustion gases of which are diluted with a vaporizable liquid contained in a reservoir equipped with a piston that can move under the action of the pressure in the generator.
The relatively complicated structure of this generator and the use of a liquid mean that the person skilled in the art has not adopted this solution.
Patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,740 has proposed a gas generator in which the gases from the combustion of a solid pyrotechnic charge are diluted in a space full of pressurized inert gas. Such a generator is also of a very complicated structure.
Application EP-A-0,685,369 has proposed a hybrid generator in which an oxidizing gas mixture under pressure is heated by combustion with a liquid fuel before being diluted in a space containing pressurized inert gas. Such a generator, which requires a number of pressurized chambers, exhibits the same type of drawbacks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
There has therefore been proposed, in application GB-A-2,294,999, a hybrid generator which has a reserve of pressurized oxidizing gas which, in operation, is heated by combustion with magnesium and iron. This generator has a twofold drawback: it requires an effective filtering system to prevent hot metal particles from entering the cushion and, on the other hand, as the said combustion takes place at the exit from the generator, this generator discharges gases which are still relatively hot into the inflatable cushion.
Finally, there has also been proposed, for example in application PCT WO 95/18730, a hybrid generator comprising a solid pyrotechnic charge the combustion gases of which are diluted with ambient air taken through a system of induction horns. This system, which in theory might seem highly attractive, is not, in practice, satisfactory because, given the very short operating times demanded in motor vehicle safety, it is unable to draw in a large amount of ambient air and the gases which inflate the cushion are, for the most part, the hot gases that result from the combustion of the pyrotechnic charge.
Thus, the person skilled in the art does not currently have available to him an inexpensive hybrid generator of a simple structure which operates satisfactorily.
The object of the present invention is specifically to propose such a generator.
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Billou Eric
Perotto Christian
Perut Christian
Mai Lanna
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
S.N.C. Livbag
To Toan C
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