Specialized metallurgical processes – compositions for use therei – Processes – Electrothermic processes
Patent
1997-05-02
1998-12-15
Andrews, Melvyn
Specialized metallurgical processes, compositions for use therei
Processes
Electrothermic processes
75 1066, 75401, 75581, 75687, C22B 700, C22B 920
Patent
active
058490620
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for disposing of a gas generator for an air bag which is used for protecting a passenger from impact, specifically to a method for taking out a gas generator from a waste vehicle and recovering metallic materials from the gas generator.
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
An air bag apparatus(es) is installed in a vehicle for the purpose of protecting passengers from impact caused by collision. This air bag apparatus comprises an air bag to be expanded by gas at collision to form a cushion between a passenger and a steering wheel or seat, and a gas generator to feed gas into the air bag.
A gas generator is comprised of a housing made of a metallic material, a gas generating agent disposed in this housing and an ignition means for igniting this gas generating agent. The ignition means is actuated by impact, and this causes the gas generating agent to burn to generate high temperature and high pressure gas.
A member for forming the housing of the gas generator is made of, for example, aluminum or stainless steel. The gas generating agent includes, for example, NaN.sub.3 (sodium azide), CuO (copper monoxide) and the like as a principal component. In addition to the above, parts such as a filter comprising a stainless metal mesh, stainless wool and ceramic, etc., and a coolant are contained in the gas generator.
In order to take out a gas generator from an air bag apparatus installed in a waste vehicle, the following manual procedure is used: detaching an air bag apparatus from a steering wheel; disassembling the detached air bag apparatus in order, beginning with an air bag cover, an air bag, a gas generator and a steering wheel adaptor; and then, recovering the gas generator.
A method disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,244 is available as a method for recovering metallic materials from a gas generator. In this method, metallic materials are recovered separately by making use of a difference in the melting points of the metallic materials. According to this method, a gas generator containing aluminum alloy parts and non-aluminum alloy parts are heated in the range of the melting point of aluminum to recover aluminum alloy, and then the remaining non-aluminum alloy parts are heated up to a higher temperature than the melting point of stainless steel alloy to recover stainless steel alloy.
As a method for recovering metallic materials from a gas generator, the gas generator is crushed or pulverized, and the metallic materials of the gas generator are classified from the pulverized solid particles by magnetic separation or gravity separation etc. to melt the separated materials into ingots.
In the preceding conventional method for recovering a gas generator by manual operation, there are problems that the recovering efficiency is very low and the recovering cost becomes expensive as well because of the fact that first of all, a waste vehicle in which an air bag apparatus(es) is installed has to be found out among waste vehicles not having an air bag apparatus(es), and that labor and time are required as described above in order to recover the gas generator from the waste vehicle found.
It is expected that the number of air bag apparatus-mounted vehicles will increase in the future. Therefore, a method for recovering a gas generator from a waste vehicle at a high efficiency and low cost is desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,244 does not refer to a method for recovering a gas generator from a waste vehicle.
In a conventional method in which a gas generator is crushed or pulverized in order to recover metallic materials from the gas generator, the housing is not easily crushed or pulverized because the housing of the gas generator is firmly constituted and has a high rigidity. That has produced the problems that a specific blade and a large power are required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the preceding problems in conventional techniques.
The present invention relates to a method for recovering
REFERENCES:
patent: 5294244 (1994-03-01), Allerton, III et al.
patent: 5578110 (1996-11-01), Nakasato et al.
Fujimoto Osamu
Fukabori Mitsuhiko
Kondoh Yutaka
Miyaji Masahiro
Nakazato Yuzaburo
Andrews Melvyn
Daicel Chemical Industries Ltd.
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
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