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
  • B60R21/20—Arrangements for storing inflatable members in their non-use or deflated condition; Arrangement or mounting of air bag modules or components
  • B60R21/217—Inflation fluid source retainers, e.g. reaction canisters; Connection of bags, covers, diffusers or inflation fluid sources therewith or together
  • B60R21/2171—Inflation fluid source retainers, e.g. reaction canisters; Connection of bags, covers, diffusers or inflation fluid sources therewith or together specially adapted for elongated cylindrical or bottle-like inflators with a symmetry axis perpendicular to the main direction of bag deployment, e.g. extruded reaction canisters
• • 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
  • B60R21/235—Inflatable members characterised by their material
• • 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
  • B60R21/235—Inflatable members characterised by their material
  • B60R2021/23533—Inflatable members characterised by their material characterised by the manufacturing process
  • B60R2021/23538—Sewing
• • 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
  • B60R21/235—Inflatable members characterised by their material
  • B60R2021/23571—Inflatable members characterised by their material characterised by connections between panels
  • B60R2021/23576—Sewing

Definitions

• Airbag Process for its Manufacture and Airbag Unit
• the invention relates to an airbag according to the introductory section of Claim 1 , a process for its manufacture according to Claim 7, and an airbag unit according to Claim 8.
• Airbag units always consist of an airbag and a gas generator unit exhibiting a gas generator for filling of this airbag.
• the airbag skin of the airbag exhibits a through-opening, through which the gas generator is partially or completely inserted into the inside of the airbag in such a way that at least the outflow area of the gas generator is located inside the airbag.
• either one end of the gas generator or the ignition cable projects from the through-opening. It is generally not desired that gas is lost through the through-opening, so that means must be provided which prevent escape of gas through the through-opening or which ensure that the loss of gas is very slight.
• an airbag for a side airbag unit in which a flexible closing element is present inside the airbag skin, which prevents gas from escaping through the through-opening of the airbag skin.
• This closing element functions in the same way as a non-return valve, whereby a section of the closing element is pressed on the through-opening if the pressure inside the airbag exceeds the ambient pressure.
• the flexible closing element exhibits a through-hole, which is located offset to the through-opening.
• Such a closing element which acts like a non-return valve, has the advantage that it functions "automatically"; leakage because of faulty assembly is practically excluded.
• a disadvantage is that the assembly of the gas generator is rendered more difficult, and that sealing only works well if the gas generator is located completely within the interior of the airbag, and only the ignition cable projects through the through-hole and through-opening.
• An airbag unit is known from DE 10 2005 042 313 A1 in which the gas generator unit penetrates through the through-opening of the airbag and the airbag is folded in such a way that a section of the airbag skin which is folded towards the inside effects a seal of the through-opening in cooperation with the outside circumference surface of a holder which belongs to the gas generator unit in a similar way to a non-return valve.
• the disadvantage here is that the gas generator unit already has to be positioned during folding and sewing of the airbag and that the principle described cannot be transferred to airbag units in which only the ignition cable extends through the through-opening.
• the type of folding is relatively complex, which can lead to errors during assembly.
• the closing element is in the form of a tube and is connected with the airbag skin round the through-opening of the airbag. This means that the closing element is not pressed onto the airbag skin from the inside by the pressure which is present in the airbag, but the closing element is pressed together and, depending on the particular form of the airbag unit, it presses on the lateral area of the gas generator or it collapses completely around the ignition cable. Complete or almost complete sealing is achieved in both cases.
• This closing element design has two basic advantages: on the one hand it is very simple to insert the gas generator through the through-opening of the airbag skin into the interior of the airbag, and on the other hand, this principle can be used both for airbag units in which the gas generator is located completely inside the airbag (Claim 9), and also for units where the gas generator is partly inside and partly outside the airbag (Claim 10).
• the airbag can be manufactured very simply, in particular by means of a process as described in Claim 7.
• Figure 1 A first cut-out section for an airbag skin
• Figure 2 A second cut-out section for a tubular closing element
• Figure 3 The second cut-out section from Figure 2 and the first cut-out section from Figure 1 , whereby the second cut-out section was laid on a second cut-out section in a first process step
• Figure 4 The items shown in Figure 3 after creation of a first seam
• Figure 5 The items shown in Figure 4 after creation of a second seam
• Figure 6 The complete airbag after creation of a third seam
• Figure 8 The items shown in Figure 6 after insertion of a gas generator
• Figure 9 The items shown in Figure 8 following operation of the gas generator, Figure 10 A second embodiment of an airbag unit in a view corresponding to Figure 8, and
• FIG 11 The items shown in Figure 10 following operation of the gas generator.
• Figure 1 shows a first cut-out section 20 for an airbag skin 10.
• the first cut-out section 20 is basically symmetrical in relation to fold line F-F and exhibits two halves, 21 and 22.
• the mirror symmetry is not complete, namely first half 21 exhibits a recess 24 in the area in which the through-opening is created later.
• the first cut-out section 20 is free from through-holes.
• Figure 2 shows a second cut-out section 36, from which closing element 30 is formed.
• This second cut-out section 36 exhibits a contour in its lower area which follows the contour of first cut-out section 20, and also exhibits a recess 38.
• Figure 3 shows the two cut-out sections of Figures 1 and 2, whereby second cutout section 36 is located on first cut-out section 20. In a lower area, the edges of the two cut-out sections 20,36 cover each other precisely.
• first seam 41 which creates the first connection line.
• This first seam 41 follows fold line F-F in an upper section and follows recesses 24, 38 in a lower section.
• the first seam 41 is represented by a line with the pattern dash - double dot - dash.
• Figure 5 shows the situation after the next work step, namely after a second seam 42, which forms the second connection line, was created on the second cut-out section 36.
• This second seam 42 closes the lateral area of the second cut-out section 36, so that a tubular element 30 is created with an upper opening 32 and a lower opening 34.
• the second seam is shown in Figure 5 in the form of a broken line. The second seam is not drawn in the following drawings.
• the first section of third seam 43 not only connects the two halves 21 , 22 of airbag skin 10 with each other, but also the lower front side of the tubular closing element 30 is sewn between the two halves 21 ,22, whereby in the area of through-opening 23, in other words where recesses 24 and 38 are located, the third seam 43 only connects the tubular closing element 30 with the second half 22 because of the recesses.
• tubular closing element 30 which extends into gas chamber G is completely sewn together with airbag skin 10 around through-opening 23, whereby this connection is achieved in some sections by first seam 41 and in some sections by third seam 43.
• the lower opening 34 of the tubular closing element 30 is partially closed by the third seam; the remaining lower opening falls together with through-opening 23 of the airbag skin 10.
• the upper opening 32 of the tubular closing element 30 remains completely open.
• the through-opening 23 is formed by the recess 24 of the first half 21 of the airbag skin 10. This can be seen particularly in Figure 7, which shows the airbag 5 from Figure 6 from the other side.
• Figures 6 and 7 show the completely sewn condition of the airbag 5, which is comprised of the airbag skin 10 and the tubular closing element 30.
• the third seam is shown by a line with the pattern dash - dot - dash.
• Figure 8 shows a first embodiment of an airbag unit which consists of airbag 5 and a gas generator 50 with ignition cable 54.
• Gas generator 50 projects through through-opening 23 into the interior of airbag skin (10), whereby gas outlet openings 52 of gas generator 50 lie outside of the tubular closing element 30.
• Rear end 56 of gas generator 50 and therefore also ignition cable 54 lie outside the airbag.
• Figure 9 shows the items shown in Figure 8, when the airbag skin 10 is filled by gas generator 50, and when the pressure inside airbag skin 10 has exceeded the ambient pressure. Because of the overpressure, the lateral area of the tubular closing element 30 is pressed onto the sleeve surface of gas generator 20, which prevents gas from escaping through through-opening 23.
• Figure 10 shows a second embodiment of an airbag unit.
• gas generator 50 is located completely inside the airbag skin 10 and is held in position by means of bolts 60.
• the airbag skin 10 exhibits corresponding through-holes (not shown) for this purpose.
• only ignition cable 54 extends through the tubular closing element 30 and through through-openings 23 to the outside. If gas generator is operated, as shown in Figure 11 , the tubular closing element 30 collapses almost completely around ignition cable 54 and thereby seals the through-opening 23 completely by the inner side of tubular closing element 30 being pressed against itself.
• bolts 60 extend from the gas generator 50 through the airbag skin 10, whereby it is also possible that stay bolts 60 are located in the area of the tubular closing element 30.
• connection lines are preferably in the form of seams.
• connection lines can also be in the form of glued or welded connections.
• the airbag skin exhibits two openings, with one opening being designed like the through-opening described above and serving for inserting the gas generator into the airbag skin and a second opening being arranged in a way that a section of the gas generator exits the airbag skin through this opening.
• the diameter of this opening could correspond rather precisely to the diameter of the gas generator. In this case it would be possible that neither the gas generator nor the ignition cable extends through the through- opening.
• the sealing function would be fulfilled as described above.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Air Bags (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=40351653

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (3)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 2007
  • 2007-12-05 DE DE102007058545.6A patent/DE102007058545B4/de active Active
• 2008
  • 2008-11-26 WO PCT/EP2008/010002 patent/WO2009071225A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (3)

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