Safety system for motor-vehicle occupants

Details Safety system for motor-vehicle occupants Safety system for motor-vehicle occupants

1991-11-25

1993-01-05

Rice, Kenneth R.

Motor vehicles

With belt or harness for restraining occupant, and means...

280735, B60R 2132

Patent

active

051762145

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a safety system for motor-vehicle occupants, in particular a restraint system, such as an airbag, belt tighteners, etc.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION

It is becoming more and more common for motor vehicles, particularly for private automobiles, to come equipped with passenger safety systems. These safety systems offer passengers protection from injury in case of collision or the like. Here, above all, the airbag system comes to mind. In these types of systems, instances of false tripping must be avoided at all costs, since very dangerous situations can result. When an airbag is released unintentionally, not only is the driver of the car robbed of his vision for a certain period of time, but he can also be startled--among other reasons because of the accompanying noise that is generated--, so that his ability to react is lost for a short time, or at the least is limited. Also, once an airbag has been released, it cannot be used again. It is a costly procedure to reinstall the system.
Two important criteria, which can lead to spurious tripping in the mentioned electronic restraint systems, are undefined hardware states during the time that a tripping sensor, for example, is brought in and out of circuit, as well as malfunctions or failures in a processing unit, whose task it is to trigger a final firing stage of the safety system. When the tripping sensor is brought in and out of circuit, the requisite supply voltage runs through the entire voltage range. As a result, states can arise in which, for example, the integrated circuits of the tripping sensor do not have any defined function, so that a spurious tripping can occur. The mentioned malfunctions or failures of the processing unit likewise lead to undefined states, so that the final firing state of the safety system can be triggered unintentionally.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The safety system for motor-vehicle occupants according to the present invention has the advantage that, as a result of an inhibiting circuit triggered by the processing unit, the final firing stage is interlocked, so that a spurious tripping is avoided. The inhibiting circuit cancels an interlock of the final firing stage only after a specifiable interlocking enable time has elapsed, whereby the interlocking enable time is shorter than the tripping sensor's response time. The electronic tripping sensor detects specific driving-condition variables and, when specifiable criteria are fulfilled, it initiates the releasing of the passenger safety system. The tripping sensor can detect the motor vehicle's acceleration, for example, and process it in one or more digital or analog computing circuits; more particularly it can undertake an integration. If a specific variable is exceeded thereby, then the releasing follows. It is therefore apparent that because of the integrating process, the system is not released immediately, but rather only after the mentioned response time. To provide a reliable protective function, that is the protective function of activating the passenger safety system before acceleration values occur which could lead to passenger injury, the interlocking enable time must not exceed a specific time span. In particular, it is necessary for the tripping pulse which comes from the tripping sensor to be fed to the unlocked final firing stage so that the system can be activated. Consequently, the interlocking enable time according to the invention must have already elapsed by this instant. This makes it possible, however, to analyze the existing state of the safety system with regard to its correct operating state. In particular, one can test if the electronic sub-assemblies of the tripping sensor and of the processing unit are each in the correct state, so that the desired defined function is available in each case. Thus, in normal operation, the final firing stage is constantly interlocked because of the inhibiting circuit. This interlocking is only canceled early enough, when the passenger safety system is supposed to

REFERENCES:
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patent: 4243971 (1981-01-01), Suchowerskyj et al.
patent: 4701628 (1987-10-01), Kumasaka et al.
patent: 4740741 (1988-04-01), Andres et al.
patent: 4804859 (1989-02-01), Swart
patent: 4851705 (1989-07-01), Musser et al.

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