RU2547120C2 - Device and method for protection of pedestrians and drivers - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transport.

SUBSTANCE: set of inventions relates to car safety system, particularly, to device and method for protection of pedestrians and drivers. Car structure includes bowl-like outer air cushion, folded in initial position in body compartment right ahead of car windscreen. At road accident, said bowl-like outer air cushion receives signal from collision sensors and control unit is quickly and completely filled with gas to lift the engine hood, to closed windshield, and car body vertical props and roof front edge. Air cushion bowl concaved side faces the pedestrians to protect them against collision with windshield and to prevent their penetration into the car.

EFFECT: higher safety of drivers and pedestrians.

2 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The present invention relates to the automotive industry, and in particular to the security system of a car, and can be used to preserve the life and health of pedestrians, drivers and passengers of cars, as well as prevent the destruction of cars in road traffic accidents (traffic accidents).

Collision with pedestrians is a very common (about 40%) type of accident. One of the causes of injuries to pedestrians in a collision with a car moving at a high speed (more than 50 km / h) is not only a blow to him, but also the subsequent uncontrolled movement and the fall of pedestrians. In many cases, pedestrians after a collision with a car fly over it and fall on the road surface. This is especially true for cars with low ground clearance and body height. It is also possible and dangerous situations in an accident, when pedestrians, flying a car, may fall under another vehicle moving behind.

Known safe car [1], having in its design:

- an energy-absorbing hood, which in a collision rises at the rear with a large angle or moves up and down;

- a softening impact windshield or false glass applied on the outside to the main windshield, which is rigidly fixed with the lower part in the body, which, under the influence of a spring or gas-filled pillows, are deflected by the upper part forward.

However, the disadvantages of this safe car [1] are:

- sufficiently high stiffness, hardness and strength of the materials of the hood and glass (false glass), and therefore their injury hazard;

- the fact that these measures do not prevent the further movement of pedestrians through the car after they collide at high speed.

A known method of protecting a car and pedestrians in a car accident [2], which consists in equipping a car:

- retractable, shock absorbing strokes with pedestrians, bumpers;

- an air bag inflating with gas, consisting of three cavities; moreover, the middle cavity of the pillow sticks to the hood, and the side cavities “grab” pedestrians, touch their self-adhesive strips and hold them in their “arms”, preventing them from falling onto the roadway.

The disadvantage of the method [2] is its inefficiency in a collision with pedestrians of a vehicle moving at high speed, when pedestrians hit the windshield of a car and fly over it.

An umbrella [3] that protrudes over the car windshield and protects pedestrians is known, which protects the driver of the car from solar radiation, and in the event of a collision with pedestrians, an airbag is inflated between the umbrella and the windshield, delaying flying pedestrians.

The disadvantages of such an umbrella [3] is that it significantly increases the drag of a vehicle when it is retracted and, moreover, in a forward position, and most importantly, it does not delay pedestrians in a forward position.

A known airbag module for protecting pedestrians, where the airbag is located in the front of the car roof and two front vertical struts, when the airbags are activated, airbags are formed that cover the vertical struts and the front edge of the roof [4]. However, the disadvantage of this airbag module [4] is the lack of protection for pedestrians from hitting the engine hood and the lower parts of the windshield and front vertical struts of the roof.

Closest to the proposed device and method for protecting pedestrians and car drivers is an airbag device [5], which includes an airbag, which in the initial position is attached to the lower side of the rear of the engine hood, is equipped with a gas generator that is triggered in the event of an expected or actual collision with pedestrians. When a car collides with pedestrians, the airbag, inflating gas from the gas generator, raises the engine hood and closes part of the windshield, softening the pedestrians' blow on the engine hood and car windshield.

However, the disadvantage of the airbag [5] is also the impossibility of stopping further movement of pedestrians when they collide with a car moving at high speed.

Thus, a common drawback of the above devices and methods [1-5] is the low efficiency in preventing the uncontrolled movement of pedestrians through the car in an accident.

The aim of the invention “Device and method for the protection of pedestrians and car drivers” is to minimize the consequences of a collision with pedestrians with a car, which consists in:

- shock absorption of pedestrians on the engine hood, windshield, front vertical struts and the front edge of the roof of the car body;

- the termination of the movement of pedestrians through the car, which entails a pedestrian hit on the road surface;

- protection of the driver and passengers of the car from pedestrians and various objects flying in them as a result of an accident;

- protection of other vehicles moving after a car falling into an accident from flying objects.

This is achieved by the fact that a bucket-shaped airbag is used in the vehicle structure, which in the initial position is folded in the body compartment immediately in front of the car windshield. In an accident, having received a control signal from the collision sensors and the control unit, the bucket airbag is quickly filled with a generator or a pyrotechnic gas injection pump to a fully inflated state, in which it raises the rear side of the engine hood facing the driver, closes the windshield, front vertical struts and front edge of the car roof. The concave side of the bucket has an airbag facing pedestrians, protects pedestrians from shock and prevents their further movement through the car, protects the driver and passengers, as well as other moving vehicles, from pedestrians and various objects flying in them as a result of a collision.

The proposed device and method for protecting pedestrians and drivers of vehicles are depicted in figure 1, where the numbers indicate:

1 - bucket airbag filled with gas;

2 - car;

3 - collision sensors;

4 - control unit;

5 - a compartment of a pillow of safety with a gas source.

The airbag offered can be inflated, for example, with gaseous nitrogen produced as a result of a chemical reaction of sodium azide NaN ₃ with potassium nitrate KNO ₃ or in another way.

To ensure visibility to the driver of the car, it is desirable to make an airbag from a transparent material, for example, from nylon.

The airbag can consist of several sections, inflated alternately as a result of partitions installed between it between the sections and providing the necessary sequence of folding the pillow sections. The sequence of filling with gas a multi-section airbag, necessary for its correct shaping, is presented in figure 2, where the numbers indicate:

6 - section, covering the windshield and the front edge of the roof of the car body;

7, 8 - two vertical sections that protect pedestrians from hitting the front vertical pillars of the roof of the car body and form a “bucket” of airbags;

9 - section located perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the car and stopping the moving pedestrians.

Figure 2 shows a front view of the airbag, consisting of three sections, as well as the sequence of filling it with gas, shown by dotted arrows. Section 6 is filled with the first compressed gas; then the gas through the holes in the partitions between the sections: 6 and 7 and 6 and 8 flows into two vertical sections 7 and 8 and fills them; and last of all, gas through the openings in the partitions between sections 7 and 8 flows into section 9 and fills it.

Also, the airbag can consist of one continuous section, but providing its necessary and reliable unfolding, filling with gas and catching pedestrians and various objects moving through the car.

The geometrical dimensions of the airbag - its height, width and depth of the “bucket” should provide protection and reliability of the detention of pedestrians moving through the car after their collision.

The proposed airbag for pedestrians can also be used in combination with a rising engine hood, or separately, if the distance between the hood and the windshield of the car and the possibility of its reliable mounting allows.

Thus, a distinctive feature of the proposed device and method of protecting pedestrians and drivers of vehicles are:

- bucket-shaped airbag, as well as its appeal with the concave side of the "bucket" to pedestrians, which allows for the detention of pedestrians or various objects moving through the car (Fig. 1);

- the location of the airbag in the folded state in the body compartment immediately in front of the windshield of the car;

- triggering from the signals of the collision sensors and the control unit;

- adoption of the form necessary for trapping a pedestrian by filling with gas;

- raising the engine hood when the airbag is triggered;

- the design of the airbag, which consists of several sections, inflated alternately as a result of partitions installed in the pillow with holes and ensuring its correct unfolding (Fig. 2), or from one continuous section, but ensuring reliable retention of pedestrians and objects moving through the car ;

- the geometric dimensions necessary to protect pedestrians from hitting the windshield, front vertical struts and the front edge of the roof of the car body.

The application of the proposed device and method of protecting pedestrians and car drivers allows you to:

- absorb shock pedestrians about the engine hood, windshield, front vertical struts and the front edge of the roof of the car body;

- stop the movement of pedestrians through the car;

- protect the driver and passengers of the car in an accident, as well as other vehicles from flying into them as a result of a collision of pedestrians and various objects.

Information sources

1. Patent for the invention RU 2223185 C2, 02/10/2004.

2. Patent for the invention RU 2261187 C2, 09/27/2005.

3. Patent for the invention of JP 2010149830 A, 07/08/2010.

4. Patent for the invention DE 102006042375, 03/27/2008.

5. Patent for the invention of JP 2012126400 A, 05/07/2012.

Claims (2)

1. A pedestrian and car driver protection device having an external airbag in the vehicle structure, characterized in that the external airbag is bucket-shaped, with the concave side of the bucket the airbag facing pedestrians, and the airbag can consist of one solid section or several sections inflated alternately as a result of partitions installed inside it with holes between the sections and ensuring the adoption of a bucket-shaped airbag. 2. A way to protect pedestrians and car drivers, namely, that an inflated external airbag in a traffic accident situation, receiving a control signal from collision sensors and a control unit, is filled with gas, raises the rear side of the engine hood facing the driver, closes the frontal glass, front vertical pillars and the front edge of the car roof protects pedestrians from hitting the car, as well as car drivers, characterized in that it has a bucket In the initial position, the external airbag is in the folded state in the body compartment immediately in front of the car windshield and, inflating, prevents the movement of pedestrians who are collided through the car.

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