Reconfigurable air bag firing circuit

Details Reconfigurable air bag firing circuit Reconfigurable air bag firing circuit

1991-06-14

1993-11-16

Tyson, Karin L.

Land vehicles

Wheeled

Attachment

307 101, B60R 2116

Patent

active

052616940

ABSTRACT:
An air bag firing circuit comprises a firing path which includes in series a safing sensor, a squib, and a FET operated under microprocessor control in response to the output of an electronic crash sensor. A power supply maintains a known voltage across the firing path sufficient to explode the squib upon simultaneous "closure" of both the safing sensor and the FET operated by the microprocessor in response to crash sensor output. Normally, upon detection of a failure in the electronic crash sensor, its supporting electronics, or the FET actuated in response thereto, the microprocessor reconfigures the firing threshold of the safing sensor, as by applying a current to its integral test coil to increasingly bias the sensor's inertial mass away from its switch contacts. However, if a failure of the safing sensor is detected, reconfiguration of its threshold is inhibited notwithstanding the failure of other circuit components to prevent inadvertent deployment of the air bag. Once the safing sensor is reconfigured, the microprocessor turns on another FET to pull one side of the squib to ground, thereby removing the inoperable FET from the firing path and ensuring continued protection of the vehicle passengers until the sensor is serviced or replaced.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4851705 (1989-07-01), Musser et al.
patent: 4958851 (1990-09-01), Behr et al.
patent: 5060504 (1991-10-01), White
patent: 5085464 (1992-02-01), Behr et al.

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