Vehicle Airbag Structure with Intermediate Panel Gas Circulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle airbag structures experience unstable deployment and swinging motions during initial deployment, leading to potential positional shifts and increased risk of occupant injury due to inadequate stabilization of the airbag at the designed position.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle airbag structure featuring a rear panel, a front panel, an intermediate panel, a ring-shaped seam, and a gas duct system with gas circulation holes to control the inflator gas flow, ensuring stable and quick deployment while suppressing swinging motions and facilitating reliable occupant positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If gas is discharged through openings in the inner bag to deploy the airbag, then the airbag can preliminarily deploy in the vertical direction, but the airbag swings greatly and repeatedly in the vertical direction about the container
Solution Approach 1:
The gas discharge function is segmented into two separate components: the inner bag with vertical openings for preliminary deployment, and the intermediate panel with gas circulation holes for stability control. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function without interfering with the other, resolving the contradiction between deployment speed and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate panel acts as an intermediary component between the inner bag and the outer airbag. It introduces gas circulation holes that generate circumferential gas flow, which serves as a mediating mechanism to suppress swinging motions while allowing the preliminary deployment initiated by the inner bag to proceed.
2Loss of time
If the airbag deploys quickly to protect the occupant, then response time is reduced, but the airbag may not stably deploy at the predetermined designed position
Solution Approach 1:
The inner bag performs a preliminary deployment action by discharging gas vertically to quickly expand the airbag in the initial stage. This preliminary action reduces deployment time while the intermediate panel subsequently stabilizes the position, achieving both quick response and precise positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The gas flow parameters are changed by introducing circumferential flow through the intermediate panel's gas circulation holes. This changes the gas flow pattern from purely vertical to include a circumferential component, which stabilizes the airbag position during deployment without significantly increasing deployment time.
3Productivity
If openings are formed in the inner bag for vertical gas discharge, then preliminary deployment is achieved, but the airbag cannot reliably receive the occupant at the appropriate position due to swinging and positional shift
Solution Approach 1:
The airbag system is segmented into the inner bag responsible for efficient preliminary deployment and the intermediate panel responsible for stability and reliable occupant reception. This functional segmentation allows each part to optimize its performance without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate panel serves as a mediating structure that introduces circumferential gas flow to counteract swinging motions. This intermediary mechanism ensures that the airbag maintains its designed position and can reliably receive the occupant, while the inner bag continues to provide efficient preliminary deployment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The airbag structure enables stable and quick deployment at the designed position, suppressing swinging motions and ensuring the airbag inflates correctly towards the vehicle seat, thereby enhancing occupant safety by reliably receiving the occupant at the appropriate position.
Implementation Method 1
a gas duct joining the intermediate panel and the rear panel to form a gas duct between the intermediate panel and the rear panel so as to guide the inflator gas from the gas inlet portion
Implementation Method 2
a gas circulation hole communicating with the gas duct and formed by a peripheral edge of the intermediate panel so as to face in a circumferential direction of the ring-shaped seam to generate, inside the airbag, a gas flow of the inflator gas in the circumferential direction of the ring-shaped seam
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle airbag structure deploying an airbag at a predetermined designed position in an initial stage of deployment, while suppressing a swinging motion, to allow the airbag to continuously deploy and inflate toward a vehicle seat and reliably receive an occupant at an appropriate position. The vehicle airbag structure includes: an intermediate panel provided between a front panel and a rear panel; a joining the rear panel and the front panel to form an airbag; an intermediate panel forming a gas duct to guide inflator gas; and a gas circulation hole formed by a portion of the intermediate panel facing in a circumferential direction to generate, inside the airbag, a gas flow in the circumferential direction.