Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60R—VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B60R21/00—Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks
  • B60R21/02—Occupant safety arrangements or fittings, e.g. crash pads
  • B60R21/16—Inflatable occupant restraints or confinements designed to inflate upon impact or impending impact, e.g. air bags
  • B60R21/23—Inflatable members
  • B60R21/237—Inflatable members characterised by the way they are folded
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60R—VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B60R21/00—Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks
  • B60R21/02—Occupant safety arrangements or fittings, e.g. crash pads
  • B60R21/16—Inflatable occupant restraints or confinements designed to inflate upon impact or impending impact, e.g. air bags
  • B60R21/23—Inflatable members
  • B60R21/237—Inflatable members characterised by the way they are folded
  • B60R2021/2375—Folding devices
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
  • B60R—VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B60R21/00—Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks
  • B60R21/02—Occupant safety arrangements or fittings, e.g. crash pads
  • B60R21/16—Inflatable occupant restraints or confinements designed to inflate upon impact or impending impact, e.g. air bags
  • B60R21/23—Inflatable members
  • B60R21/231—Inflatable members characterised by their shape, construction or spatial configuration
  • B60R21/232—Curtain-type airbags deploying mainly in a vertical direction from their top edge

Definitions

• the invention relates to a device for folding an airbag.
• Such a device usually contains a large number of
• Folding swords that are moved onto a gas bag that is spread out flat and provide folding edges along which the gas bag is to be folded, or that are moved into an inflated gas bag in order to achieve the folding of the wall of the gas bag.
• a disadvantage of these folding methods is the comparatively high outlay, which is caused in particular by the necessary reciprocating movement of the folding swords. This type of movement of the folding swords prevents such a folding device from operating continuously.
• the invention provides a device for folding an airbag that works in a quasi-continuous manner and in particular without a reciprocating movement of moving components.
• the device created by the invention contains two rollers, which are provided on their circumferential surface with a plurality of radial webs and are rotatably arranged so that their axes are at least approximately parallel to one another and the webs interlock. If these rollers are driven in a suitable manner, namely in mutually opposite directions with at least approximately the same rotational speed, a gas bag to be folded, after it has been gripped by the co-operating rollers, is automatically pulled through the meandering gap formed between the two rollers , wherein the wall of the gas bag is placed in a plurality of folds lying side by side. So only rotating elements are used to fold the gas bag, which is a major disadvantage floating components means.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a device according to the invention.
• FIG. 2 schematically shows a section along the line A-A of Figure 1;
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a folding machine with the device according to the invention.
• FIG. 4 shows a section of the folding machine from FIG. 3.
• This device essentially consists of two rollers 10, 20 which are provided on their circumferential surface with a plurality of webs 14 and 24 which extend radially, that is to say in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the corresponding roller. Adjacent bars
• the rollers 10, 20 can each be either formed in one piece or formed by a plurality of adjacent individual disks, each of which forms a web 14, 24.
• the rollers 10, 20 are arranged rotatably about their longitudinal axes XI and X2, respectively, the axes XI and X2 extending parallel to one another.
• the distance between the axes XI and X2 is dimensioned such that the webs 14 of the roller 10 engage in the spaces 22 between the webs 24 of the roller 20, and vice versa.
• Overlap between the webs 14 of the roller 10 and the webs 24 of the roller 20 is denoted by x.
• the webs 14 and 24 of the rollers 10, 20 are made narrower than the corresponding gaps 22 and 12 of the rollers 20, 10, in which the webs each engage. In this way, there is a distance y between the mutually opposite side surfaces of the webs engaging with one another. This distance y is such that it corresponds approximately to twice the wall thickness of an airbag to be folded.
• the rollers 10, 20 can be rotated in the opposite direction to one another by means of schematically shown drive shafts 16 and 26, respectively, which are connected to drive motors 50 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) (see arrows 18 and 28 in FIG. 1).
• the speed of rotation of the rollers is identical.
• the device described is used in a folding machine, which is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and enables a gas bag 40 which is shown schematically in a particularly simple manner
• This type of folding is particularly suitable for side impact gas bags, which are usually only folded in one direction. If there is a schematically illustrated gas lance 42 in the interior of the gas bag, with which the compressed gas deploying the gas bag 40 is evenly distributed inside it, one of the spaces 12, 22 on one of the rollers 10, 20 can be made wider than the other spaces, so that the gas lance 42 is received in this intermediate space and is pulled through the gap between the rollers 10, 20 together with the entire gas bag.
• the fold obtained is, as has already been indicated, particularly advantageous in the case of side impact gas bags, since these are, if they are arranged, for example, along a roof rail, need to unfold in only one direction from their folded state.
• the direction of deployment coincides with the direction of folding specified by the device according to the invention, so that the deployment of the gas bag is not impeded by the folding carried out.
• a station adjoins the rollers 10, 20, by means of which the folded gas bag is guided and in particular pushed further together.
• This station has two endless rubber bands 56, each of which is guided by two deflection rollers 58. The distance of the
• Rubber bands decrease from the end at which the folded gas bag is picked up to the end at which it is released again. In this way, the wall of the gas bag folded by the rollers 10, 20 in the fan-fold style is pushed further together, so that the individual folds of the wall package lie tightly against one another.
• the film bag 60 pulls in two film strips 60 which are arranged on the side of the gas bag.
• the film bands are cut from rolls 62 to form a closed band and welded, so that the gas bag is folded to save space and cannot unfold again during further handling.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Air Bags (AREA)
• Folding Of Thin Sheet-Like Materials, Special Discharging Devices, And Others (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8047399

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (4)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (4)

• 1997
  • 1997-10-17 DE DE29718501U patent/DE29718501U1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1998
  • 1998-10-02 PL PL98333914A patent/PL333914A1/xx unknown
  • 1998-10-02 AU AU11491/99A patent/AU1149199A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1998-10-02 JP JP52306599A patent/JP2001506208A/ja active Pending
  • 1998-10-02 EP EP98954320A patent/EP0944502A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 1998-10-02 HU HU0001714A patent/HUP0001714A3/hu unknown
  • 1998-10-02 WO PCT/EP1998/006270 patent/WO1999020492A1/de not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (4)

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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