Airbag apparatus

Abstract

An airbag apparatus including an expansion chamber in an arbitrary region of an airbag is disclosed. The expansion chamber has a balancing expansion chamber formed such that an operating force acts in a direction opposite a force acting on the expansion chamber when gas from a gas supplying part is supplied to the expansion chamber.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Certain preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing a vehicle seat to which the airbag apparatus according to the present invention is provided;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view showing on an enlarged scale the airbag apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating how a force acts on a lower expansion chamber and a balancing expansion chamber as gas is supplied to the airbag apparatus of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A and 5B are schematic side elevational views illustrating the mode of deployment of a side airbag of the airbag apparatus of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic side elevational view showing a conventional side airbag apparatus.

Claims

1. An airbag apparatus comprising: an airbag having an expansion chamber provided at an arbitrary region thereof; anda gas supplying part for supplying gas to the expansion chamber to cause the chamber to expand,wherein the expansion chamber has a balancing expansion chamber.

2. The airbag apparatus of claim 1, wherein the arbitrary region where the expansion chamber is disposed is a lower part of the airbag, the gas supplying part is disposed on a side part of the airbag, and the balancing expansion chamber is positioned at a side of the airbag and provided at a lower part of the expansion chamber.

3. An airbag apparatus comprising: an airbag having an expansion chamber provided at an arbitrary region thereof; anda gas supplying part for providing gas to the expansion chamber to cause the chamber to expand,wherein the expansion chamber has a balancing expansion chamber for redirecting part of a force of supplied gas.

4. The airbag apparatus of claim 3, wherein the balancing expansion chamber is positioned at a side of the airbag and provided at a lower part of the expansion chamber.

5. The airbag apparatus of claim 3, wherein the expansion chamber comprises an upper expansion chamber and a lower expansion chamber defined by a dividing wall, wherein, upon expansion of the airbag, the upper expansion chamber is positioned at a side part of a shoulder region of a vehicle occupant, and the lower expansion chamber is positioned at a side part of a lumbar region of the vehicle occupant.

6. The airbag apparatus of claim 5, wherein the balancing expansion chamber is formed on the lower expansion chamber.