Chamber adjustable stiffness airbag

Abstract

The present invention discloses a multiple-chamber airbag structure where the airbag design has at least a stiff lower section to reduce the chest velocity and a soft upper section to meet the HIC requirements. Although stowed and deployed as a unitary airbag, the present invention includes separate chambers, which allows for independent gas inflation and stiffness control with venting.

Claims

1. An airbag apparatus comprising: a plurality of fabric panels cut and sewn together to form an airbag having an outside and an inside, the outside having a predetermined shape and the inside having a plurality of chambers adapted to receive an inflation gas whereby the airbag apparatus is transitioned from an uninflated state to an inflated state; a first chamber disposed inside the airbag, upon receiving a first predetermined volume of the inflation gas, having a first capacity to resist a first load applied to a first area on the outside of the airbag coincident with the first chamber; one or more vents communicative with the first chamber configured to selectively release the first predetermined volume of the inflation gas in response to the first load; and a second chamber disposed inside the airbag and below the first chamber, and not in fluid communication with the first chamber, upon receiving a second predetermined volume of the inflation gas, having a second capacity to resist a second load applied to a second area on the outside of the airbag coincident with the second chamber; where, upon transitioning into the inflated state, the first chamber is disposed above the second chamber and the first capacity is less than the second capacity, whereby the first chamber is adapted for head injury criterion reduction and the second chamber is adapted to neck injury criterion reduction.

2. The airbag apparatus of claim 1 further comprising one or more protrusions of the second chamber adapted to control a position of the airbag apparatus with respect to an adjacent structure during inflation.

3. The airbag apparatus of claim 1 where the plurality of fabric panels are formed from a flame resistant fabric for construction of aviation airbags which meets stringent vertical flammability requirements of Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) 25.853, as well as, meeting high pressure permeability resistance requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration.

4. The airbag apparatus of claim 1 where each chamber is filled utilizing a single inflator for each chamber.

5. The airbag apparatus of claim 1 where multiple chambers are filled utilizing a single inflator.

6. The airbag apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a manifold disposed in fluid communication between the single inflator and each of the multiple chambers.

7. The airbag apparatus of claim 6 where the manifold is configurable such that a percentage of gas distribution to each of the multiple chambers is variable and configurable to result in a desired stiffness of each chamber upon inflation.

8. The airbag apparatus as in any one of the preceding claims, in which, in the uninflated state, the airbag apparatus is folded and contained within a structure used to contain the airbag apparatus until inflated.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the accompanying figures, like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views. The accompanying figures, together with the detailed description below are incorporated in and form part of the specification and serve to further illustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages all in accordance with the present invention, in which:

(2) FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show front and side view photographs of fully deployed chamber adjustable stiffness airbags according to an embodiment of the present invention, where two airbags are shown in the “FRONTAL VIEW” in a side-by-side configuration (FIG. 1B);

(3) FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show simplified representations of front and side views of fully deployed chamber adjustable stiffness airbags according to an embodiment of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B show simplified representations of front and side views of fully deployed chamber adjustable stiffness airbags and the dual chamber inflation airflow according to an embodiment of the present invention;

(5) FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B show simplified representations of front and side views of fully deployed chamber adjustable stiffness airbags according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

(6) FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B show simplified representations of front and side views of fully deployed chamber adjustable stiffness airbags and the dual chamber inflation airflow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(7) While the invention as claimed can be modified into alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(8) By way of example and not limitation, we refer now to the Figures and disclose a preferred embodiment of a Chamber Adjustable Stiffness Airbag according to the present invention. FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show the airbag in its deployed (inflated) state. The airbag is comprised of an upper airbag chamber and a lower airbag chamber. In this embodiment, the upper airbag chamber is configured to be the “soft” chamber. Through the use of vents, the inflation gas can be selectively released by the force of a head strike, causing the airbag to yield in response to the head impact. This upper airbag chamber is therefore adapted for HIC reduction.

(9) The lower airbag chamber is in physical communication with the upper airbag chamber—they are connected and deploy together—but not in fluid communication. Inflation gas that flows into one chamber does not flow into the other chamber. The lower airbag chamber is configured to be the “stiff” chamber. It is not vented, and therefore, retains the inflation gas more than the upper, vented, chamber. The stiff lower airbag chamber is therefore adapted to arrest chest velocity thereby resulting in a reduction of Nij. In order to effectuate the reduction in chest velocity, the lower airbag chamber also preferably is configured with one or more lower chamber protrusions.

(10) The lower chamber protrusions are designed to make early contact with the passenger's chest, as well as with the adjacent monument or seat structure from the lower chamber extension(s), during inflation. These lower chamber protrusions are designed to control the airbag position with respect to the monument or seat structure during inflation.

(11) The airbag itself is preferably constructed of a flame resistant fabric for the construction of aviation airbags which meets the stringent vertical flammability requirements of FAR 25.853, as well as, meeting the FAA's high pressure permeability resistance requirements.

(12) In embodiments, each chamber is filled (inflated) utilizing a single inflator for each chamber, with same or different size/mol. In these embodiments there is no shared airflow between chambers with a one-to-one relation of inflator and airbag.

(13) In other embodiments, it is contemplated that multiple chambers may be inflated by the same inflator. For example, a single inflator may feed into a manifold which in turn sends the gas to each chamber. The manifold may be configured to have a pre-set distribution of gas to each chamber as desired. Additionally, the manifold may be configured with adjustable and/or programmable dampers so that the percentage of gas distribution can be variable and configurable to result in the desired stiffness upon inflation.

(14) The stowed airbag is, as may be known in the art, folded and contained within a metal housing or fabric covering used to contain the airbag. In the case of a fabric bag wrap, the bag has perforations which rip during airbag inflation.

(15) Airbag gas inflators are communicative with the airbag chambers via inflation tubes and gas diffusers (metal and plastic).

(16) It is to be understood by a person skilled in the art that the present invention is not to be limited to two chambers. Rather, it is within the scope of the present invention that the core of the invention presented is a multi-chambered airbag where not only the shape, but also the stiffness, of each airbag chamber is selectively adjustable in order to achieve the desired safety performance from the airbag as a whole.

(17) Referring now to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, a front-facing (FIG. 1B) and side view (FIG. 1A) of exemplary airbags are shown. In the photographs, the airbag apparatus is shown inflated and deployed out of the back of a seat. FIG. 1B shows two airbags. Each airbag has an upper chamber and a lower chamber. The lower chamber additionally has a u-shaped protrusion that extends perpendicularly to the upper and lower chambers.

(18) FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B depict a simplified representation of the type of exemplary airbag system shown in the photographs of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B.

(19) FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B depict a simplified representation of airflow (inflation gas) through the exemplary airbag system shown and described in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B and FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B.

(20) Whereas FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B disclose embodiments of a chamber adjustable stiffness airbag and system that is configured as a center- or side-mounted system relative to a seat back, FIGS. 4A, 4B and FIGS. 5A, 5B are simplified representations of an embodiment disclosing the invention configured to be top-mounted relative to a seat or other structure.

(21) The embodiments shown and described disclose only some of the mounting and deployment configurations for which the present invention is capable of being configured. It is within the scope and intent of the present disclosure that the chamber adjustable stiffness airbag and system may be configured to multiple shapes and configurations as may be required to provide the desired level of occupant safety.

(22) The description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. In particular, features from one embodiment can be used with another embodiment. The embodiments were chosen and described to best explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.