Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-06
2001-10-30
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S742000, C280S743100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308983
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a safety device for a motor vehicle with a multi-chamber airbag.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Safety devices for a motor vehicle with a multi-chamber airbag are known in various embodiments and various arrangements. In particular, airbag arrangements in the occupants' front, side, and head impact regions are known. Each of these airbags is inflatable in the event of a vehicle collision, as a function of the collision deceleration and direction, by way of an associated activatable gas generator, in order to intercept an occupant's impact in damped fashion.
One problem with these arrangements is that an inflating airbag can exhibit disadvantageous aggressiveness toward occupants or objects in the inflation region. These problems occur in particular with occupants who are outside of a normal position (out of position), for example, in the case of a child who is standing in front of a seat or an adult who is leaning far forward in a seat, and objects on a seat, for example a child seat attached thereon.
Measurement arrangements are known for detecting such out-of-position situations upon activation of an airbag and optionally preventing an airbag from firing or causing it to do so in reduced fashion. Known in particular for this purpose are distance measurement arrangements operating in non-contact fashion with infrared and/or ultrasonic sensors and weight sensors. These arrangements are complex and expensive.
A safety device is described in, for example, European Patent Application No. 0 812 741. In this safety device, a sensing medium is associated with a front part of the airbag, which is configured as a gas bag. The medium is configured to participate in the advance movement of the airbag. An analysis device is provided for determining the advance velocity of the sensing medium and, therefore, of the airbag moving into the passenger compartment. The advance distance and/or the advance times detected by the analysis device may be used to influence the filling behavior of the airbag to thereby reduce the gas volume or suppress gas delivery. A similar operating mechanism is described in European Patent Application No. 0 836 971.
It is an object of the present invention to develop a safety device for a motor vehicle with a multi-chamber airbag in such a way that its aggressiveness is reduced with a simple and directly acting system for recognizing an out-of-position situation.
SUMMARY
A multi-chamber airbag has at least one relatively low-volume finger-like feeler airbag, rapidly inflatable with little energy and having a tactile function, which is inflatable and/or movable into the inflation region of at least one further, larger-volume airbag chamber having a support function and senses any obstacle possibly present in that region, in particular an out-of-position occupant or possibly an object. Connected to or integrated into the feeler airbag is a device for tactile recognition that, when the feeler airbag makes contact, emits a control signal that can be analyzed at least during the airbag inflation phase. The occurrence of such a control signal indicates that an impermissible obstacle, such as an out-of-position occupant or an object, is present in the inflation region of the airbag in which the airbag is intended to deploy in unimpeded fashion.
The gas generator is equipped with a control device connected to the tactile recognition system for the gas volume flowing into the multi-chamber airbag. When the control device receives the control signal, a further inflation function of the gas generator for the multi-chamber airbag is suppressed or at least reduced.
A feeler airbag directly scans the inflation region of an airbag. The relatively small-volume feeler airbag, quickly inflatable with little energy, results in practically no aggression or only a low, acceptable level thereof. If no critical obstacle is sensed in the predefined tactile region, deployment of the remainder of the airbag contour having the supporting function for the associated occupants follows immediately thereafter. If, on the other hand, a critical obstacle is sensed in the predefined scanning region, the aggressiveness of the arrangement is eliminated or at least greatly reduced by remaining airbag contour being not inflated or being inflated to only a reduced extent.
A feeler airbag, or multiple feeler airbags propagating in different directions, can be used for any airbag arrangement, in particular for front, side, and head airbags, in order to sense an unoccupied airbag deployment area.
In a first embodiment, a completely separate chamber of a multi-chamber airbag is configured as a feeler airbag, and the feeler airbag is inflated earlier in time than at least one further airbag chamber having a support function. One or more such feeler airbags can then each be associated with a gas generator or a stage of a multi-stage generator, for a rapid inflation operation with little energy and thus little aggressiveness.
In an alternative embodiment, at least one feeler airbag is integrally configured in a larger airbag chamber, and can be shaped by the placement of arrester strips. Arrester strips are arranged on wall regions around the rear region of the feeler airbag, as a result of which partial edge regions of the airbag contour are prevented from deploying and initially only the low-volume feeler airbag inflates. These arrester strips are equipped as force-limited burst strips that, after the formation of the feeler airbag, burst as the pressure rises further and thus allow complete deployment of the entire airbag contour with its support function. With this arrangement, a feeler airbag can be configured with only minor additional structured or other modifications for example, a central circular or annular region of a globally approximately spherically inflatable airbag is used to form a feeler airbag.
Formation of the feeler airbag during the inflation phase can advantageously be adapted to and coordinated with individual and vehicle-specific circumstances, in terms of geometry and time sequence, by way of the arrangement, length, and burst characteristics of the arrester strips, and by the provision of throttling flow openings in flexible bulkheads.
Advantageously, in all of the embodiments, the gas inflow into the multi-chamber airbag (at least outside the region of the feeler airbag) is accomplished through at least one diffuser, which is arranged downstream from a gas generator and has radially directed outflows. As a result of a substantially radial inflation direction into the airbag that is thereby achieved, its aggressiveness toward an occupant is reduced. This feature, in combination with the function of the feeler airbag and optionally a modulation of the at least one generator and/or non-firing of a further stage of a staged generator, results in a substantial reduction in the aggressiveness of an airbag arrangement.
In another alternative embodiment for configuring a feeler airbag, at least one, preferably several, finger-like feeler airbags are shaped on the impact surface of at least one principal chamber of an airbag, approximately in the inflation direction directed toward an occupant. The geometry of the arrangement is configured so that at the beginning of the inflation phase, optionally in conjunction with the aforementioned features (bulkheads, burst strips, etc.), one or more feeler airbags are inflated and are moved into the inflation region of the overall contour. In this embodiment, in contrast to the previous embodiment, the finger structure of the feeler airbag does not transition into a spherical overall structure after the bursting of the arrester strips, but rather is substantially retained. To reduce the possible aggressiveness of the free ends of several such feeler airbags, the free ends are connected with a perforated film or a net, so that the impact load is distributed over a surface.
In yet another alternative embodiment for configuring a feeler airbag, a first airbag chamber that is inflatable relatively low dow
Johnson Brian L.
Kenyon & Kenyon
Sliteris Joselynn Y.
Volkswagon AG
LandOfFree
Safety device for a motor vehicle with a multi-chamber airbag does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Safety device for a motor vehicle with a multi-chamber airbag, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Safety device for a motor vehicle with a multi-chamber airbag will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2573268