The present invention relates in general to inflatable air bag safety restraints, and, more specifically, to a side air bag deployable from within a passenger seat.
Vehicular air bags protect vehicle occupants during a crash event such as a rollover or a collision with a pole or another vehicle. Historically, air bags were initially provided in the steering wheel and on the instrument panel ahead of the front seat passenger for protection during front end collisions. More recently, side impact air bags have been developed which deploy between an occupant and a side of the vehicle (e.g., a door, B-pillar, or a side window). One type of air bag is mounted internally within a passenger seat and is configured to quickly emerge from the seat into the space between the passenger and the side of the vehicle. Such a seat-mounted air bag may use the expansion of the inflating air bag within the seat to rupture or tear a seam in a seat covering to allow the air bag to project into the desired space.
It is very challenging to deploy a side air bag into the gap between the passenger and the inside surface of the vehicle side (e.g., door) quickly enough 1) because of the smaller initial space between the passenger and the side of the vehicle and 2) because there is less crush space at the side of the vehicle so that impingement of the side structure into the gap occurs sooner in a crash event. Bag inflation must be sufficiently energetic to rupture the seam of the seat covering and to get in place rapidly. Therefore, a relatively higher inflation pressure and gas flow rate must be used. Due to the higher forces, however, it becomes more difficult to ensure that bag expansion is properly channeled in the desired directions. For example, the natural tendency of an inflating bag to expand in all directions may be undesirable in the case of a seat-mounted air bag because it is critical for a tear seam in the seat cover to rupture early in the expansion of the air bag so that the air bag is able to expand into the desired area for protecting the passenger (i.e., instead of encroaching into other areas within the seat or undesirably bulging the seat). Prior art seat-mounted side air bags have employed various supplemental structures in order to direct the forces and the direction of air bag expansion toward the tear seam by using a deployment chute, a plastic clam shell housing, force concentrator straps, seat foam reinforcements, and other supplemental structures. It would be desirable to ensure air bag expansion in the necessary direction without the added expense of such additional structures.
In order to protect the fabric of the main air bag from hot gases and particulates, it is typically shielded from the direct gas outflow from the inflator by a shield disposed around the inflator exit holes. The shield may be comprised of plastic or medal shields, or it may alternatively be comprised of a cylindrical covering band of heavy weight fabric which is resistant to heat and particulates (often referred to as a Calzone). A conventional Calzone is formed as a fabric cylinder or open-ended tube covering the inflator. According to the present invention, the ends of a Calzone are closed off to form a bag in bag structure. A projection body or wing may be added to the Calzone and one or more vents may be formed in the remote end of the projection body to channel the gas flow for entering the main outer air bag at a remote filling point away from the inflator. The vent location and main bag configuration may be chosen to provide fast filling and pressurization of the Calzone shielding bag so that it may provide a stiff, stable structure to control the main bag unfolding. As a result of the inventive structure, the main bag may deploy from the front of a bag pack instead of from the location of the inflator, thereby providing a better focusing of bag energy onto the seat trim opening seam and a faster, more robust opening of the seam. Expansion of the Calzone shielding bag may controllably preload the seat side trim which also achieves more stable bag deployment. Besides reducing costs by eliminating other countermeasures for directing air bag inflation (e.g., a deployment chute or a clamshell), a slimmer air bag pack allows for better packaging within the passenger seat. The invention is compatible with many folding schemes for the main air bag including but not limited to inboard or outboard rolls, single or double rolls, compression folds, plus-one lateral or longitudinal folds, and Z-folds. Rolls may be offset to give a flatter/thinner bag pack or to obtain a beneficial sequence of deployment. Besides heavy fabric, the Calzone shielding bag may be made from molded plastics, stamped metals, or other materials. The Calzone shielding bag may be angled, biased, folded, or tethered in various ways to tailor the deployment of the main air bag toward an opening seam or to improve out of position (OOP) performance. Specific venting locations at the remote end of the Calzone shielding bag may be provided and may be configured to send more gas flow to certain vertical regions of the main air bag to provide faster deployment or a locally higher bag pressure to certain areas such as the passenger's pelvic region. Tethers may be employed in the Calzone shielding bag to help control its shape when pressurized.
The present invention may provide a method for improving gas flow for the next generation of “slim” flat pack side air bags to increase deployment stability and protect the more tightly packed “bagfolds” that will be used. It may provide an ability to tailor an initial deployment vector and to give a trim “preload” by balancing lateral and longitudinal components of an “L fold” or by placing the Calzone in an angled, biased, or folded condition in the main bag pack in a manner that helps deploy the bag outboard toward a seat trim opening seam and/or improves OOP performance.
The calzone of this invention may allow an air bag to be packed at either side, allowing for a “double deployment front” which improves speed. In the case where there may be expansion restrictions (e.g., due to a closing gap or OOP considerations), the present disclosure may allow a balancing or exchange of bag pressure between two unfolding bag sections which may 1) improve ability for one bag section to get into a reducing space and then pull the second bag section into the gap, and/or 2) reduce the load on an OOP occupant by providing a second bag unfolding path.
In one primary aspect of the invention, an air bag system deploys from within a structural element of a vehicle. An inflator may provide inflation gas in response to an activation signal. A main bag may be configured for storage in a folded condition in an internal region behind a covering of the structural element, wherein the main bag may have a distal end configured to rupture a tear seam in the covering. A shielding bag may be disposed over the inflator and may have a projection body extending away from the inflator to a remote edge within the main bag. The projection body may be substantially continuous in the direction of the main bag except for at least one gas passage at the remote edge for coupling inflation gas from the inflator to the main bag. The main bag may have a fold proximate to the gas passage so that inflation of the main bag begins with the unfolding of the fold in a manner that displaces the main bag toward the tear seam.
The shielding bag may include a reverse fold and a flap disposed on the projection body, such that inflation of the flap extends the shielding bag in a direction toward the tear seam. The flap may be disposed over and close the gas passage prior to inflation. The shielding bag may further comprise an internal tether in the projection body for limiting an expansion width of the shielding bag.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air bag system for deploying from within a structural element of a vehicle comprising: an inflator providing inflation gas in response to an activation signal; a main bag in a folded condition configured for storage in an internal region behind a covering of the structural element, wherein the main bag has a distal end configured to rupture a tear seam in the covering; and a shielding bag disposed over the inflator and having a projection body extending away from the inflator, wherein the shielding bag includes a reverse fold and a flap disposed on the projection body, wherein the projection body includes at least one gas passage covered by the flap for coupling inflation gas from the inflator to the main bag, wherein the main bag has a fold proximate to the gas passage so that inflation of the main bag begins with the unfolding of the fold in a manner that displaces the main bag toward the tear seam.
The reverse fold may create an upper flap and a lower flap on opposite sides of the projection body. The shielding bag may further comprise an internal tether in the projection body for limiting an expansion width of the shielding bag.
Main bag is configured to have a fold proximate to gas passage 62 of shielding bag 60 so that inflation of main bag 65 begins with the unfolding of the fold in a manner that displaces main bag 65 toward tear seam 53 as described in greater detail below. The inflator responds to an activation signal from a restraint controller (not shown) which depends upon an accelerometer or other crash sensor (not shown). As shown in
The embodiment of
As more clearly shown in
During an initial stage of deployment as shown in
In a later stage of deployment shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1220682.7 | Nov 2012 | GB | national |
1305298.0 | Mar 2013 | GB | national |
This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/082,552, filed Nov. 18, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,905,433, issued Dec. 9, 2014, and claims priority to UK application 1220682.7, filed on Nov. 16, 2012, and UK application 1305298.0 filed on Mar. 22, 2013.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14082552 | Nov 2013 | US |
Child | 14531393 | US |