JPS63227442A - Accident-result indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to air bladders for vehicles, and more particularly to an accident result indicator for determining when an air bladder is activated during an accident.

``Prior Art'' Air bladders have been proven to be effective in preventing drivers and passengers from getting stuck in steering wheel posts, being struck by dash boards, or flying out of windshields during vehicle accidents. . However, in some cases of vehicles equipped with bladders where the bladders have been deployed, vehicle drivers have complained that they have had accidents even though the bladders have deployed on their own. There have also been reports of air bladders operating on their own due to radio interference.

Current air bag systems are designed to:
That is, there is no active device for determining whether the sensor has activated the bladder in response to an accident or an accident. This information is essential for manufacturers to make credibility claims against drivers who claim that the bladder caused an accident. Accurately determining reliability can mean life or death for manufacturers.

PROBLEM SOLVED BY THE INVENTION Some bladder systems have diagnostic systems that indicate whether or not current has been sent to the inflator after sensing an accident;
The period from the time the accident occurred to the time the gas generator was started is not actively shown.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,474 to Belt et al. discloses an apparatus that solves this problem.

This “recording mechanism for safety devices used in automobiles” is
Inherently large, no practical recording mechanism can fit within the weight or dimensions of the bladder system.

However, attempts to miniaturize this mechanism have been compromised by the fact that in some active collisions, the piston bounces onto the end of the cylinder and the initial There is a risk of it returning to its position. Therefore, in the miniaturized version, this mechanism will give false readings. Problems are also raised by the fact that it takes 15m5 from the time the sensor indicates that the bladder is deployed to the time sufficient gas pressure is developed in the inflator.

The present invention utilizes a detonator or squib to stop the motion of a sensing mass or piston, as disclosed in US Pat.
, No. 915,474, which is an improvement on the prior art described in No. 915,474.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a miniaturized accident result indicator that indicates a motor vehicle accident upon deployment of an air bladder.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a miniaturized crash sensor and separate indicator that indicates a motor vehicle accident when the bladder is deployed.

An additional objective is to provide a means of positively normalizing the manufacturer's reliability by leaving a mark when the bladder is deployed during an incident.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining whether a vehicle is in a crash situation when deployment of a safety device begins.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device that is small, lightweight and fairly inexpensive to manufacture and assemble.

Embodiment The bladder safety restraint system 7 includes a gas generator 8 mounted within a housing 9 for deploying a collapsed bladder 12. An accident result indicator 10 is disposed within the gas generator 8.

This accident result indicator IO is a tube 20 containing a ball 30 and a spring 40, with reference to FIG. 4, which shows a cross section in the rest position. The tube 20 has a flange 50 that assists in mounting the tube 20 upright within the gas generator (inflator) of the bladder 12.

The preferred embodiment of the accident result indicator consists of a 25.4 mm long aluminum tube 20 with an inner diameter of approximately 3.2 mm sealed on both ends. Inside this tube,
3.2mm diameter stainless steel ball 30 and ball 30
A spring 40 biasing with a force of 10 or more is arranged, and the play between the ball 30 and the tube is at least 0.076+
+m. The tube 20 is also made using conventional manufacturing techniques and positioned such that the tube 2o receives detonator gas pressure when the detonator housing is pressurized.

Therefore, if the sensor is in the inflator, it is of course located in the inflator near the detonator or squib within the sensor. Additionally, tube 20 is aligned within the inflator such that its axis substantially overlaps the axis of the vehicle. If the inflator is located, for example, on the steering handle post,
The axis of the tube will be parallel to the axis of the steering handle strut.

When the car slows down due to an accident, the ball moves forward in the tube and compresses the spring. As long as the vehicle experiences deceleration such that the force due to the deceleration (negative acceleration) of the ball exceeds the elastic force (biasing force) of the spring, the ball will move away from its original position. If the detonator is activated during deceleration, the gas pressure within the detonator housing will cause the thin-walled aluminum tube 2o to dent and trap the ball, as shown in FIG. Therefore, if the car decelerates by more than 3 Gs and the accident is decisive, the ball will be captured away from its initial position. On the other hand, for example, when a detonator detonates by itself, the car does not decelerate, so
The ball is captured in its initial position.

The accident result indicator according to the present invention is added in a very simple manner, adding only a few cents to the cost of a conventional bladder system, and when implemented outside the inflator, is somewhat similar to another sensor. Solve problems that require complex circuits.

Typically, many other systems include band and roller devices,
Other spring pawn systems such as pendulums etc. were designed using other environments in the detonator housing to capture the mass sensed by heat. If, for example, the mass were covered with plus deck, the heat of the detonator would dent the plastic and trap the sensing mass. Of course, a pressure sensor outputting an electrical signal, such as a piezo-effect electronic device, a pressure switch or a temperature sensor, may be placed within the detonator housing and used in conjunction with the accelerometer to detect the gas in the detonator housing. The presence of pressure or temperature and vehicle deceleration can be detected simultaneously. For example, an electronic circuit using a fuse or other recording means can also record if the vehicle decelerates when pressure or temperature first appears at the detonator housing. Although these are more complex than the preferred embodiment, they will accurately represent incidents where the detonator was detonated while the vehicle was decelerating.

The accident was simulated using NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Association) and the examples described. The play between the ball and tube for this indicator was 0°152 mm. This ball passes through a compression spring before bouncing.
It had the ability to move 88mm. The spring provides an initial bias of 2.3G to the ball, and if more G is applied, the ball begins to move and reaches a maximum of 8G.
The ball travels a maximum of 15.88mm.

Simulations were initially conducted to determine typical occupant compartment activation times for each crash.

Adding 3 mS to the activation time, the optimum time for pressure to appear in the detonator housing was determined. The simulation model was then run and the movement of the accident result indicator ball was recorded at the times determined above.

Table 1 shows the results of 20 simulations. The first column shows the test vehicle type, the second column shows the crash condition, the third column shows the distance the mass traveled in the time the tube was dented by pressure, and the fourth column shows the distance the mass traveled in the time the tube was dented by pressure. The results of a simulation in which 15m5 was added to the startup time are shown. This indicator is 4.7.14.15
In cases 1 and 16, if inflation pressure was used in place of detonator pressure, it would be incorrectly indicating.

Table 1 Collision condition Distance (mm) Time m31 64.24+n/hour VTBl 1
B, 65 0. L54 1980 model Chevrolet
Sight John 2 48, 14km/h VTV# l
7.59 0.433 1978 Chevrolet Impala 3 48.46km/hour VTV# l
7.32 0.368 1978 Chevrolet Impala 4 77.28km/hour VTBl l
6.5 0.000 1980 Chevrolet Sight John 5 58, 35km/h VTBl 1 6
．． 2 0.389 1980 Chevrolet Sight John 6 56, 19km/hour ITV#l 6
．． 65 0.446 1979 Volkswagen
Rabbit 7 56.03km/hour VTBL 1
B, 81 0.044 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit 8 95.15km/h ITV
#2 6.25 0.575 1975 Photo Torino 9 100.3km/hour VTV# 1 5
．． 97 0.341 1979 Dodge Sportsman Pan 10 100.3km/hour VTV#2
6.93 0.1991979 Chevrolet Impala 11 65.53km/hour VTBl l
B, 99 0.230 1975 Plymouth Hari 12 40.57km/h VTBl l
7.01 0.152 1979 Dodge Sportsman Pan collision condition Distance (
關）Time aS13 72.61km/hour VTBL
1 6.65 0.228 1975 Volvo 244 14 40.41km/hour VTBL 1
6.45 0.055 1979 Ford Pan 15 100.14km/hour ITV#2 6
．． 32 0.025 1975 Honda Civic 16 102.4km/hour VTV#1 7
．． 49 0.015 1979 Ford Torino 17 101.91km/hour VTV#2 6
．． 58 0.264 1979 Chevrolet Impala 18 65.21km/hour VTBl1 6
．． 531975 Ford Torino 19 65.69km/hour VTBl1 5
．． 461975 Honda Civic 20 48.3km/hour VTBll 6
．． 631979 Ford Pan However, VTR-vehicle to barrier, ITV = impact to vehicle, VT
V=vehicle to vehicle.

Only the case where the air bladder was deployed was considered.

These results showed that in all cases, as in the 280 cases, the position was fixed by the concave tube once the ball had traveled more than 3.81 mm, and therefore the directed collision was gradual. .

For purposes of this disclosure, the term "detonator" is used to include primary expansion-activated pyrotechnic devices. This detonator was used in Breed's U.S. Patent No. 4,580.81.
It also includes stub detonators used in mechanically actuated inflators such as those disclosed in No. 0, or electric squibs used in electrically actuated bladder systems.

``Effects of the Invention'' The device (accident result indicator) according to the present invention that ensures air bag operation can confirm the operation at the time of a collision and the operation due to installation error.
Also, when researching new air bladders, it is possible to confirm when they have activated, which provides the advantage of developing a highly reliable safety system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a front view showing the air bag attached to the steering wheel and dash board of the vehicle, Figure 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the air bag system with a gas generator, and Figure 3 is a front view showing the air bag installed in the vehicle's steering wheel and dash board. 4 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an accident result indicator according to the invention; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an accident result indicator according to the invention in the normal position. Embodiment Sectional View FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention after the inflator has been activated in response to an accident. 7. Air bag safety restraint system, 8. Gas generator,
9... Housing, lO... Accident result indicator, 20
... tube (container), 30 ... ball (object),
40...Spring (means for generating force).

Claims (15)

[Claims] (1) a) built into the housing of the air bladder inflator;
its axis is nearly aligned with the axis of the vehicle, and
a container sealed at both ends; b) an object capable of moving along an axis of the container in response to deceleration of the vehicle when the vehicle exceeds a predetermined level; d) means for generating a force that prevents said object from moving along said axis unless decelerated by said object; 1. An accident result indicator that indicates an accident result when a vehicle inflator is activated during an accident, characterized in that the device comprises a capturing means for capturing and fixing the movement of the object. (2) The indicator according to claim 1, wherein the means for generating the force is a spring. (3) Claim 1, wherein the predetermined level is IG.
Indicator as described in section. 4. The instructions of claim 1, wherein the capture means is configured to dent the container in response to gas generated by the detonator in the inflator housing prior to inflation of the bladder. vessel. (5) The indicator according to claim 4, wherein the container is made of thin standard metal. (6) Claim 5, wherein the metal is aluminum
Indicator as described in section. (7) The indicator according to claim 4, wherein the container is made of plastic. (8) The indicator according to claim 1, wherein the object capturing means dents the container in response to heat generated within the expander during inflation of the air bladder. (9) The indicator according to claim 1, 4, 5, 6, or 8, wherein the container is a tube and the object is a ball. (10) The indicator according to claim 9, wherein the ball is made of stainless steel. (11) The indicator according to claim 1, 4, 5, 6, or 8, wherein the object is a pendulum. (12) Claims 1, 4, 5, 6, or 8, wherein the object is a band and roller device.
Indicator as described in section. (13) A gas comprising means for sensing the pressure induced by the detonator, means for sensing deceleration, and recording means for recording the deceleration occurring when the pressure induced by the detonator appears. Diagnostic equipment used in connection with outbreaks. (14) comprising means for sensing when the vehicle has collided, means for sensing activation of the detonator used to activate the safety device, and means for recording the collision formed on the detonator activator; Also, an indicator that determines that the vehicle has been in a collision when the safety device is activated. (15) forming an object movable in response to deceleration of the vehicle beyond a predetermined level along an axis substantially aligned with the axis of the vehicle; Recording the position of the object, when the bladder advance is activated, how to determine that the vehicle has been struck.