Patent Application
20130134697
The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0125036 filed on Nov. 28, 2011, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an airbag apparatus for a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a vent configuration for discharging properly an expanding gas of an airbag cushion.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an airbag serves to loosen an impact applied to the occupant so as to reduce or prevent damage through a proper expansion when a vehicle accident occurs wherein an expansion behavior of the airbag plays an important role in ensuring safety of an occupant.
Especially, the requested expansion behavior of the airbag is to hold the occupant fast by rapid expansion at the beginning of a deployment and to discharge properly expanding gas inside the airbag cushion at loading when occupant begins to contact the airbag cushion and apply the load thereto so as to protect the occupant properly.
Furthermore, in order to satisfy requirements of the rules such as the Low Risk Deployment rule of North America, and in the cover of the LRD requirements, it requires that airbag cushion should discharge an expanding gas through a vent hole at the beginning of the deployment of the airbag so as to minimize the damage of an child or the occupant adjacent to the airbag apparatus. Hereinafter, LRD performance refers to a performance to satisfy the LRD requirements.
In addition, in order to satisfy the LRD performance, a part of a vent hole should be open even at the beginning of the deployment of the airbag so that airbag cushion could discharge an expanding gas therethrough, a vent hole should be closed so far as possible for fast expansion of the airbag cushion at the beginning of the deployment of the airbag cushion and a vent hole should be open when the occupant is loaded to the airbag at the time of full expansion of the airbag cushion so that the expanding gas is discharged. However, it is not easy to realize such a configuration that a vent hole is properly opened and closed in accordance with a progress of a deployment of an airbag and seating condition of an occupant.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.
Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing an airbag apparatus of a vehicle with low cost and simple configuration which is deployed rapidly at the beginning of the deployment of the airbag cushion, satisfies proper loosening performance when occupant is loaded to the airbag cushion and satisfies the LRD performance to reduce damage to a child or occupant who is nearly located to the airbag.
In an aspect of the present invention, an airbag apparatus for a vehicle may include a vent hole formed on an airbag cushion to discharge an expanding gas inside of the airbag cushion, a cover attached on the outside of the airbag and selectively covering the vent hole, a rope, one end of which is fixed to the inside of the airbag cushion and the other end of which is fixed to the cover through the vent hole to provide a tensile force to the cover such that the cover opens or closes the vent hole according to the tensile force applied to the cover via the rope, and a rope-guide attached to the inside of the airbag cushion and upholding the rope to the airbag cushion, wherein the rope is slidably engaged to the rope-guide and a section of the rope is aligned longitudinally in the airbag cushion.
The one end of the rope is fixed on a front of the airbag cushion, and the rope guide is mounted on a rear of the airbag cushion on the inside of the airbag cushion such that an occupant's head is in contact with the rear of the airbag cushion.
Both sides of the rope guide are sewed at the airbag cushion with slidably surrounding the rope between the both sides and an inner surface of the airbag together.
The cover is shaped of a pocket, a part of which is connected to the airbag cushion and the other part is disconnected from the airbag cushion so that the expanding gas discharged from the vent hole is released to the outside of the airbag cushion through the pocket.
The cover is shaped of a trapezoid of which a triangle is connected to both sides of a quadrangle so as to make a space for the quadrangle apart from an outer surface of the airbag cushion by a triangle connected to the both sides of the quadrangle, and hypotenuses of the triangle which narrows toward the quadrangle and a side of the quadrangle connecting the hypotenuses surround around the vent hole and are connected directly to the airbag cushion and the other sides which the triangle and the quadrangle meet are freely open apart from the airbag cushion.
The cover may include a central part formed larger than the vent hole and covering the vent hole, and a plurality of legs connecting the central part to an outer surface of the airbag cushion, wherein the expanding gas discharged from the vent hole is released through space formed between the legs.
The other end of the rope is connected to an inner surface of the central part of the cover through the vent hole.
A plurality of the rope guides are mounted on the different positions of the airbag cushion to surround and slidably uphold the rope.
At least two rope guides of the rope guides are mounted on a rear of the airbag cushion, and one of the at least two rope guides is positioned above another of the at least two rope guides.
The one of the at least two rope guides is mounted on a position of the airbag cushion where a usual adult's head M sitting contacts and the another of the at least two rope guides is mounted on a position of the airbag cushion where a usual child's head M sitting contacts respectively.
It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example both gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.
The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.
In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Hereinafter reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below.
Referring to
The vent hole 3 is located on the side of the airbag cushion 1, the rope 7 the other end of which is fixed on the front of the airbag cushion 1 and the rope guide 9 is mounted on the inner part of the airbag cushion 1 contacting an occupant's head M.
The both sides of a central part of the rope guide 9 may be sewed at the airbag cushion 1 with surrounding the rope 7 together with the inner part of the airbag.
In embodiments illustrated in
Herein, the cover 5 is shaped as a trapezoid of which a triangle is connected to both sides of a quadrangle so as to make a space for the quadrangle apart from the surface of the airbag cushion 1 by a triangle connected to the both sides of the quadrangle, and hypotenuses of the triangle which narrows toward the quadrangle and a side of the quadrangle connecting the hypotenuses surround around the vent hole 3 and are connected directly to the airbag cushion 1 and the other sides which the triangle and the quadrangle meet are freely open apart from the airbag cushion 1.
As illustrated in
The airbag apparatus is configured such that the rear part of the airbag cushion 1 installed with the rope guide 9 proceeds backward to an occupant's head M at the beginning of the deployment of the airbag cushion 1 as shown in
With this operation, the cover 5 closes the vent hole 3 so as to deploy the airbag cushion 1 rapidly at the beginning and the cover 5 opens the vent hole 3 so as to loosen the impact applied to the occupant when the occupant is loaded to the airbag cushion 1.
Furthermore, the airbag apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is expected to implement an effective loosening operation whether the occupant is fastened with a seat belt or is not fastened with a seat belt when an accident occurs.
That is, when the occupant is fastened with a seat belt when an accident occurs, the airbag cushion 1 the part of which the occupant becomes to contact is the part to which the rope guide 9 is installed as originally designed so that through a relatively rapid operation thereof the cover 5 is open and airbag cushion get soft to effectively loosen the impact applied to the occupant, which has been reduced by the seat belt at first. On the contrary, when the occupant is not fastened with a seat when an accident occurs, the airbag cushion 1 the part of which the occupant becomes to contact gets off the part to which the rope guide 9 is installed so that through a relatively slow operation thereof the cover 5 is open later and airbag cushion 1 get relatively hard to loosen the impact applied to the occupant while supporting relatively strongly the occupant who has not been loosened by the seat belt. Accordingly, it provides suitable loosening performance depending on the case that the occupant is fastened with a seat belt or is not fastened with a seat belt.
Of course, one end of the rope 7 is connected to the inner surface of the central part 13 of the cover 5 and the other end of the rope 7 is fixed to the inner part of the airbag cushion 1 and upheld by the rope guide 9 so as to be operated as the same principle of the above exemplary embodiments.
Meanwhile,
The rope guide 9 may be installed on a position where an occupant's head M is in contact with the airbag cushion 1 and at a lowering part of the contacting part, respectively. For example, the rope guide 9 may be mounted on the positions of the airbag cushion where an usual adult's head M sitting normally contacts the airbag cushion 1 and where an usual child's head M sitting normally contacts the airbag cushion, respectively.
Through this configuration of the airbag apparatus, it implements the LRD performance surely since not only it rapidly performs the deployment of the airbag cushion 1 at the beginning and the loosening of the impact when the occupant is loaded, in case a normal adult sits, but also when a child sits, the child's head M allows the lower part of the rope guide 9 to be moved toward the airbag cushion 1.
The present invention provides an airbag apparatus of a vehicle with low cost and simple configuration, which is deployed rapidly at the beginning, satisfies proper loosening performance when occupant is loaded to the airbag cushion and satisfies the LRD performance to reduce damage to a child or occupant who is nearly located to the airbag.
For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer”, “forwards” and “backwards” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.
The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2011-0125036 | Nov 2011 | KR | national |
