Passenger seat air bag

Details Passenger seat air bag Passenger seat air bag

2000-08-21

2002-05-07

Dickson, Paul N. (Department: 3618)

Land vehicles

Wheeled

Attachment

C280S742000, C280S743100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06382664

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passenger seat air bag, and particularly relates to a so-called planar air bag for a passenger seat comprising a bottom wall portion having an aperture portion for inflating gas inlet; and a ceiling wall portion having an outer shape substantially the same as that of the bottom wall portion and disposed in opposition to the bottom wall portion; wherein outer circumferential edges of the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion are coupled with each other so as to form a bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the background art, such a planar air bag for a passenger seat had two fabric sheets of a bottom wall portion having an aperture portion for inflating gas inlet, and a ceiling wall portion disposed in opposition to the bottom wall portion, the outer circumferential edges of the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion being coupled with each other so as to form a bag, as disclosed in the publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Hei. 7-291068.
Such a passenger seat planar air bag was folded and received as follow. First, the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion were put on top of each other so that the air bag was unfolded to be flat. Then, the air bag was folded so that the circumferential edges were made close to the aperture portion. Thus, the air bag was received in a case of the passenger seat air bag system, and the case was disposed in a portion of an instrument panel.
Incidentally, in the air bag disclosed in the above publication, the aperture portion provided in the bottom wall portion was offset toward the vehicle rear side so that the projection quantity toward the vehicle rear side when the air bag had finished inflating was increased by the interference with a wind shield.
However, in the case where the aperture portion for inflating gas inlet is disposed substantially at the center of the bottom wall portion differently from the above publication, if the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion are put on top of each other so that the air bag is unfolded to be flat, and if the air bag is folded so that the outer circumferential edges of the bottom and ceiling wall portions are made close to the aperture portion, the vicinity of the center of the ceiling wall portion in opposition to the aperture portion inflates partially so as to project toward the vehicle rear side at the beginning of inflating. Particularly, the vicinity of the center of the ceiling wall portion is apt to project away from the vicinities of the outer circumferential edges sewed with each other. Thus, the distance with which the air bag projects partially at the beginning of inflating becomes long. Then, if a passenger is bound in the middle of the inflating, high pressure is given to the passenger because the projecting portion projects not over a wide area but partially.
Further, in the background art, an air bag used in a passenger seat air bag system was expected to move backward in the state where it was unfolded in a wide area so as to be a substantially vertical plane when it was unfolded and inflated (refer to Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 11-278192, or the like).
However, in a top mount type passenger seat air bag system disposed on the top surface of an instrument panel in front of a passenger seat, in such a case where a child was close to the instrument panel, an air bag might be expected to be unfolded quickly along the passenger seat side surface of the instrument panel, that is, along the rear surface of the instrument panel from the top surface thereof at the beginning when the air bag was unfolded and inflated, so that a portion of the air bag was disposed between the child and the rear surface of the instrument panel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to solve the foregoing problems, that is, to provide a passenger seat air bag in which, though the air bag is a planar one having an aperture portion for inflating gas inlet disposed substantially at the center of a bottom wall portion, the air bag is restrained from projecting partially at the beginning of inflating so that a passenger can be bound with a wide area even if the passenger is bound in the middle of the inflating.
It is another object of the present invention to solve the forgoing problems, that is, to provide a passenger seat air bag which can be unfolded quickly along a passenger seat side surface of an instrument panel at the beginning when the air bag is unfolded and inflated.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a passenger seat air bag comprising a bottom wall portion having an aperture portion for inflating gas inlet provided substantially at a center of the bottom wall portion, and a ceiling wall portion having an outer shape substantially the same as that of the bottom wall portion and disposed in opposition to the bottom wall portion, respective outer circumferential edges of the bottom and ceiling wall portions being coupled with each other so as to form a bag, the air bag being folded in a state where the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion are put on top of each other so that the air bag is unfolded to be flat, the folded air bag being received in a portion of an instrument panel so that the circumferential edges are made close to the aperture portion, wherein at the beginning of folding, while the state where the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion are put on top of each other so that the air bag is unfolded to be flat is kept, a coupling portion on the vehicle front side where the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion are coupled with each other is shifted toward the vehicle rear side, and the air bag is folded and received in this state so that the circumferential edges are made close to the aperture portion.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a passenger seat air bag comprising a bottom wall portion having an aperture portion for inflating gas inlet provided substantially at a center of the bottom wall portion, and a ceiling wall portion having an outer shape substantially the same as that of the bottom wall portion and disposed in opposition to the bottom wall portion, respective outer circumferential edges of the bottom and ceiling wall portions being coupled with each other so as to form a bag, the air bag being folded in a state where the bottom wall portion and the ceiling wall portion are put on top of each other so that the air bag is unfolded to be flat, the folded air bag being received in a portion of an instrument panel so that the circumferential edges are made close to the aperture portion, wherein the air bag further comprises a band-like tether for generating tension in the air bag at the time of inflating so as to restrain the shape of the air bag upon completion of the inflating, the tether being disposed in the air bag in a manner so that one end portion of the tether is coupled with a rear edge of the bottom wall portion on the vehicle rear side in a circumferential edge of the aperture portion, while the other end portion of the tether is coupled with a position on the vehicle front side of the center vicinity of the ceiling wall portion.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a passenger seat air bag used in a passenger seat air bag system disposed on a top surface of an instrument panel in front of a passenger seat in a vehicle, the air bag comprising a gas inlet disposed substantially along a horizontal plane, and a flow control cloth provided inside a body of the air bag so as to cover the gas inlet for changing a flow of inflating gas allowed to flow in through the gas inlet, wherein the flow control cloth is disposed so as not only to cover the gas inlet in a left/right direction of the vehicle but also to make a flow rate of the inflating gas flowing toward a rear side higher than a flow rate of the inflating gas flowing toward a

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