Motor vehicles – With means for promoting safety of vehicle – its occupant or... – Responsive to engagement of portion of perimeter of vehicle...
Patent
1985-08-08
1989-12-05
Marmor, Charles A.
Motor vehicles
With means for promoting safety of vehicle, its occupant or...
Responsive to engagement of portion of perimeter of vehicle...
280806, 280777, 297313, B60K 2814, B62D 118, B60R 2220
Patent
active
048846520
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is related to Application Ser. No.: 745,770, filed June 13, 1985.
The invention relates to an apparatus utilizing the impact energy of a vehicle generated in a frontal collision, to actuate a safety device for the protection of passengers within the vehicle.
More particularly, the invention relates to a novel apparatus for tightening a seatbelt in response to relative movement between predetermined components of an automotive vehicle, such as, for instance, the displacement of the engine and transmission unit relative to the chassis as is common in front-end collisions exceeding a predetermined force.
Conventional safety devices for the protection of passengers within a vehicle during a collision are either located in a predetermined position (for instance, seat belts or a so-called knee catcher) or they are moved to their effective position during a collision, as is the case, for instance, with air bags or seat belt tensioning devices. These latter kinds of known safety devices always require a sensor which reacts to the deceleration occurring at a collision for releasing the safety device. Such sensors are subject to faulty releases and are expensive to manufacture, the latter being particularly true of the means (mostly of a pyrotechnical kind) for moving the safety devices into their effective position.
The present invention is based upon the task of providing an apparatus of the kind under consideration in such a way that the safety device may be released with the greatest possible reliability, without a sensor, and that it may be moved into its effective position by structurally simple means.
The task is accomplished in that relative movement occurring during a collision exceeding a predetermined magnitude, between an aggregate, such as, for instance, the engine and transmission, arranged in a frontal portion of the vehicle and a section of the chassis of the vehicle, is transferred to the safety device by a mechanism, whereby the safety device is moved into its effective position.
By exploiting, in accordance with the invention, this relative movement for the purpose of actuating a safety device sensors of any kind may be avoided and yet an improved release of the safety device is assured. The impact of the collision releases energy which is in any case sufficient to move the safety device into its effective position. In this connection, it is of particular advantage that the energy available, or the stroke of movement resulting, from a collision, is dependent upon the intensity of the impact. Since sufficient energy is available, no difficulty arises in providing for an enlarged stroke of movement for the safety device, by selecting an appropriate mechanical advantage at a short displacement stroke, or in limiting the available energy in a defined manner by means for limiting the force and/or stroke.
The relative movement may be transferred to the safety device in various ways. Depending upon structural conditions and the desired purpose, transfer of the relative movement may be accomplished mechanically, hydraulically or pneumatically. In the case of mechanical transfer, a mechanical advantage or a change in the direction of movement may be obtained by a lever or, where a cable is used by deflecting it repeatedly. In the case of a hydraulic or pneumatic transfer, a mechanical advantage may be obtained in the simplest possible manner by coordinating the diameter of a donor cylinder with the diameter of a receiving or slave cylinder. The conduit connecting the two cylinders permits great freedom in its installation, in contrast to mechanical transfer mechanisms.
The device in accordance with the invention is most effective in a frontal collision. The relative movement utilized for the safety device is generated when in this kind of collision an aggregate (e.g. engine, transmission) arranged in a frontal part of the vehicle engages the impediment during the collision whereupon the front part of the chassis moves over the aggregate.
It is particularly advantageous if the mechanism rem
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Audi AG
Hormann Karl
Marmor Charles A.
Tyson Karin
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