Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-04
2004-12-07
Dunn, David R. (Department: 3616)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S743100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827368
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical field
The present invention relates to a side airbag, and more particularly to a side airbag for an automobile, which stably operates by regulating gas flow and time, and a method of folding the side airbag for an automobile.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, an airbag for an automobile is a security system for protecting a driver and passengers when the automobile is collided at its front or side or rolls over.
Such an airbag system may be classified based on its mounting position into a front airbag system mounted on a steering wheel or a dashboard, a side airbag system mounted to a side of a chair to protect people against a side collision of the automobile, a rollover airbag curtain system which operates when the automobile rolls over, and a knee bolster airbag system and a foot airbag system for protecting the knee or the feet. At this time, the airbag is also classified in more detail into a DAB (Driver side Air Bag) and a PAB (Passenger side Air Bag).
Recently, the airbag has a dual-chamber structure so as to minimize the punch-out force transmitted to a user when the cushion is developed.
The dual-chamber structure of the prior art may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,575 under title the “Protective device for vehicular passengers incorporating silencing apparatus”, as shown in FIG.
1
.
Such a protective device, recognized as an original technique of applying the dual chamber structure to a side airbag, includes an inner inflatable bag
2
separately mounted in an airbag cushion
1
, a screen
8
fixed at an inner side of the inner inflating bag
2
and having a perforated hole, and a storage chamber
3
for discharging compressed and combustible gas or predetermined fluid into a porous area
1
′ of the cushion
1
and the inner inflatable bag
2
by combining an explosion-release plug
4
to a manifold conduit
5
having jet port openings
6
,
6
′,
6
″.
This protective device has a regulation function of gas extrusion by collecting heat transferred and fluid flowed according to inflation of the airbag cushion into the screen
8
and the inner inflatable bag
2
, and the function of regulating direction of the gas flow injected from the manifold conduit
5
by the screen
8
, hereinafter referred to as a gas flow orienting function.
On the other hand, as another example in applying the dual chamber structure to a front airbag, U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,270, discloses an airbag having an inflating gas diffuser with a gas release inflator.
In this patent, it is attempted to seam the inner texture performing the same role as the inflating gas diffuser suitably to an inside of the cushion, and therefore regulating the gas flow of the inflator. The inner texture is comprised of seamed portions and a non-seamed portion, so as to use the gas extrusion regulating function without any perforated hole. In other words, the inner texture makes the gas flowing radially passing through the non-seamed portion between the seamed portions so as to restrain release of the gas.
In the above airbag, because the warp threads and woof of the cushion texture are oriented to same directions as those of the inner texture, the gas may have relatively more smooth linear flow. However, if such a technique is applied to a side airbag having a dual chamber structure for protecting the thorax and the head of a driver, it is very difficult to reconfigure the gas flow.
In this example, the warp thread is a thread in a longitudinal direction (weaving direction) with the texture, and becomes more twisted than the woof. On the other hand, the woof is a thread in a horizontal direction of the texture crossed with the warp thread at a right angle, and it is generally thicker and less twisted than the warp thread. Therefore, the airbag cushion and the inner texture consisting of the warp threads and the woof have fine slit lines in a longitudinal direction (weaving direction), so the gas direct flow is developed to the longitudinal direction.
There is an example of applying the gas flow orienting technique to the side airbag in found U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,506.
As shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the side airbag
10
includes a cushion
11
having a pocket-like shape in a specific cloth material so that gas may flow inside
11
′ thereof for a predetermined time, a section chamber
13
positioned at a side of the cushion
11
, and an inflator
12
installed in the section chamber
13
to generate gas from a release hole
15
according to the ignition signal of a sensor controller, not shown, so that the cushion
11
can be inflated to a predetermined size.
In such a configuration, the cushion
11
and the section chamber
13
, which are made by folding one texture in a loop, are sewed by multiple lot of seam lines
19
a
to
19
d.
The section chamber
13
has a first hole
14
at a side toward the cushion
11
and a second hole
17
at an opposite side. Stud bolts
16
of the inflator
12
are screwed by bolts through the second hole
17
and a third hole
18
, formed at an opposite end of the cushion
11
out of the section chamber
13
.
An operating method of the side airbag is as follows. If an automobile having the airbag
10
is in a collision, the inflator
12
installed in the section chamber
13
of the cushion
11
is ignited with an ignition signal from the sensor controller not-shown, the gas is released into the inside
11
′ of the cushion
11
through the release hole
15
and the first hole
14
, and then the cushion
11
is finally developed to protect a side portion of the rider.
FIGS. 4 and 5
are another side airbag
20
of the prior art, disclosed in PCT Publication No. WO 00-20260, which include a cushion
24
, in which a lower chamber
22
and an upper chamber
24
are separately formed, and an inflator
26
formed at a lower side of the cushion
24
to supply gas into the lower chamber
22
.
The lower chamber
22
has a plurality of discharge holes
27
at an upper side to discharge gas toward the cushion
24
. Also, at a lower side of the lower chamber
22
, there is provided a flow-changing member
28
in a tube shape wrapping around the inflator
26
for generating gas so as to store the gas therein and move the stored gas to be supplied to a vertical direction.
Seeing operation of the side airbag
20
as constructed above, if there is a collision at a side of the vehicle, a sensing device, not shown, detects the collision and transmits an electric signal to the inflator
26
, and the inflator
26
receiving the electric signal then supplies gas by explosion.
The gas supplied from the inflator
26
then changes direction by striking the flow changing member
28
, inflating the right side of the lower chamber
22
at first, then flowing upward after inflating the left side, and then passing through the discharge hole
27
of the lower chamber
22
inflating the upper chamber
23
.
However, though the protective device for passengers shown in
FIG. 1
has a dual chamber structure, in that the inner inflatable bag
2
is mounted in the airbag cushion
1
, it is not configured to protect the thorax and the heat at the same time, so it is difficult to effectively and safely protect the passengers.
As for the side airbag
10
shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, because the gas is discharged from the inflator
12
directly to the inside
11
′ of the cushion
11
, the punch-out force generated when the cushion
11
is developed is directly transmitted to the user, so there is a drawback that it cannot ensure enough safety of the user.
In case of the side airbag
20
shown in
FIGS. 4 and 5
, because the lower chamber
22
is not uniformly inflated due to the flow-changing member
28
in the lower chamber
22
and at the same time the upper chamber
23
turns around during punching out, that is, generates bag rotation, there are shortcomings that the airbag cannot be developed stably while standing up, the head of the user may slide in contact with the upper chamber
23
unstably, and it is difficult to regulate the speed of the
Jang Jin-soo
Jang Myun-reun
Lee Hyun-joong
Delphi Automotive Systems Sungwoo Corporation
Dunn David R.
Fish & Richardson P.C.
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