Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Patent
1997-05-27
1999-09-21
Rice, Kenneth R.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
280742, B60R 2120
Patent
active
059543590
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates to air bag systems and particularly to those located on the driver's side in the vicinity of the steering wheel which are also known as face bags.
Driver's side air bags are used to protect a driver's head, and particularly his face in the event of sudden deceleration of a vehicle, indicative of a crash situation. In such an event, the momentum of the driver continues to propel his body and head forward relative to the decelerating vehicle and though the body may be held by a traditional safety belt restraint this may not be sufficient particularly at high vehicular speeds to prevent his head impacting the steering wheel and causing severe injuries. Air bags have recently been incorporated into vehicles to inflate in a crash situation to provide a soft buffer or cushion between the driver's head and the steering wheel.
Traditionally such an air bag consists of a pyrotechnic device triggered on rapid deceleration of the vehicle to activate an inflator which releases gas rapidly and inflates a woven fabric air bag. When not in use the air bag is folded tightly around the inflator and contained in a housing within the outer circumference of the steering wheel. In this way the bag is positioned for maximum protection and optimum inflation speed.
However the air bag and inflator produce a bulky and heavy package and a steering wheel must be specially built to be large and strong enough to accommodate such a package. The small diameter steering wheels favoured particularly in sport models of automobiles are unsuitable for traditional air bag packages. In addition the weight of the inflator can result in a high moment of inertia and a low resident frequency of the steering system, making the automobile potentially difficult to handle with possible attendant safety implications.
Attempts have been made to adapt the inflator shape to better suit the steering wheel to improve weight distribution. For example, a toroidal inflator is known which provides for a more even weight distribution but is still necessarily heavy since the inflator must be made of strong impermeable material such as steel to safely contain its cargo of compressed gas. The toroidal inflator is more expensive to manufacture and can only be made of a rather limited inflation capacity.
The present invention aims to provide improvements to a driver's air bag.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a driver's air bag arrangement comprising: an inflatable bag, a housing for the bag, an inflator module for inflating the bag, the inflator module comprising an inflator initiator responsive to a crash condition sensor and a source of compressed gas responsive to the inflation initiator to release the gas to inflate the bag through an inflation inlet, wherein the source of compressed gas comprises a generally cylindrically shaped gas container having an outlet for the gas located substantially at or towards one end, the outlet being sealed under non-crash conditions and being unsealed in response to the inflation initiator, and wherein the cylindrically shaped gas container is shaped and dimensioned so that a substantial part of the container is locatable within and coaxial with a steering column shaft of the automobile, or so that it forms an integral part of the steering column shaft, the arrangement further comprising a manifold for directing the gas issuing from the gas source into the bag in the housing to inflate the bag in an evenly distributed manner and to distribute the gas flow into the bag radially of the steering column shaft.
An advantage of the present invention is to provide an air bag and inflator which can be stored compactly and neatly in an automobile without detriment to the "feel" or handling of the automobile from a driver's point of view and to avoid limitations on the design and size of the steering wheel.
According a preferred embodiment such a manifold is provided as an integral part of a securing member, for example for securing the air bag housing and/or a s
REFERENCES:
patent: 3680884 (1972-08-01), Stephenson
patent: 3801123 (1974-04-01), Jira
patent: 3853334 (1974-12-01), Auman et al.
patent: 5342089 (1994-08-01), Fink et al.
patent: 5470099 (1995-11-01), Williams
patent: 5553888 (1996-09-01), Turner et al.
Breed Automotive Technology Inc.
Rice Kenneth R.
Seitzman Markell
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