Air bag and air bag attachment

Details Air bag and air bag attachment Air bag and air bag attachment

1999-09-02

2001-08-14

Mai, Lanna (Department: 3619)

Land vehicles

Wheeled

Attachment

C280S743100, C280S728300

Reexamination Certificate

active

06273455

ABSTRACT:

The present invention relates to a textile material blank fox the manufacture of an air bag for air bag modules to be installed in vehicles as impact protection devices for vehicle occupants.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such impact protection devices serve as improvement of the passive safety of vehicles, air bag modules having been introduced as standard successively for the driver, where they are housed in the steering wheel, for the second front passenger, where they are housed in the instrument panel, as well as side air bags housed in the doors or seats, respectively and now form part of the basic equipment of almost all modern vehicles. For each vehicle there is a requirement for one to four or even more air bag modules so that the number of manufactured air bags exceeds by far the number of the corresponding vehicles produced. It is, therefore, understandable that efforts are being made to improve the air bag modules as regards manufacturing expenditure, weight, disposal, assembling expenditure etc.
For large scale manufacture of air bag modules, the air bag is usually made up of two circular material blanks which are joined to each other at their rims, one of them having a central intake throat for the inflation gases, the rim being normally clamped between an air bag holding plate and a carrier component of the air bag module. This way of air bag attachment has proved successful over time, but it is also relatively expensive. The air bag holding plate must be inserted through the intake throat and then fixed in relation to the intake throat within the air bag. It must have no sharp edges, to prevent the material from being torn in case the air bag is activated. Furthermore the clamping action around the inlet throat must be applied with a certain minimum force in all places to prevent the material from slipping out at some points in case the air bag is activated whereby is impaired the functionality of the air bag. In order to achieve a sufficiently strong clamping action, the clamping area must be of a certain width, whereby are implied limitations as to the installation and folding possibilities of the air bag.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention attempts to meet the requirement to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the air bag attachment method and to modify the material blanks for the manufacture of the air bag in such a way that there is no longer a need to rely on a conventional clamping connection, and that other means of attachment can be realized without increasing the manufacturing cost of the air bags as a consequence.
According to the invention, a material blank design of the type mentioned above is proposed which is characterized by at least one connecting flap, either formed integrally with the blank or attached to it, and provided for the purpose of attaching the air bag to an airbag carrier component.
The invention is based on the reasoning that the conventional clamping of the rim at the inlet throat may be dispensed with if the material blank is provided with one or more connecting flaps which may then be used to fix the air bag within the air bag module. Such connecting flaps may be formed as an integral part of the material blank for the manufacture of the air bag or they may be cut out separately and joined to the material blank for the air bag. For all that the tissue material which forms the air bag is consequently subjected to a stretching strain, whereby the required holding forces can be controlled substantial easier than in the case of a clamped joint which for safety reasons always has to be made oversize on account of inevitable manufacturing tolerances. In addition it also is constructionally easier to realize the air bag attachment by means of connecting flaps.
The invention also provides an air bag attachment which makes use of the inventive material blank to the invention.


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