Airbag Folding Method Using Nested Tip and Inverted Leading Edge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional airbag designs struggle to prevent the front-side folded portion from protruding or floating excessively during initial inflation, leading to ineffective suppression of swinging movements and counterforce security before complete inflation.
Innovation Solution
The airbag is configured with a front-side folded portion and a rear-side folded portion, where the tip of each is stored in a dent portion and the leading edge is inverted to be on the upper side, ensuring that the inflation gas inflates the airbag in a manner that keeps the tip close to the ring portion's surface, preventing protrusion and enhancing counterforce security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the front-side folded portion is disposed on the front side of the upper side of the mounting portion with the driver-side wall and vehicle-side wall flatly deployed, then the airbag can be stored in a compact shape, but the tip protrudes largely from the storage portion and floats from the ring portion at initial inflation
Solution Approach 1:
The tip of the front-side folded portion is inserted into a dent portion formed in the front-side folded portion itself, creating a nested structure where the tip is stored within the folded portion's own structure, preventing protrusion while maintaining compact storage
Solution Approach 2:
The leading edge of the tip is inverted rearward before inflation occurs, preparing the tip in advance to be positioned correctly during inflation, preventing it from floating forward and ensuring stable contact with the ring portion from the outset
2Stability of the object's composition
If the tip of the front-side folded portion is inserted into a dent portion and the leading edge is inverted rearward, then the tip remains close to the ring portion surface during inflation, but the folding structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The dent portion and inverted leading edge configuration are applied locally only to the tip region of the front-side folded portion, while the rest of the airbag structure remains conventional, minimizing the increase in overall structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The dent portion introduces a curved, three-dimensional feature into the otherwise flat folded structure, allowing the tip to be contained within a compact curved space rather than requiring a larger flat storage area
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
This configuration effectively suppresses the swinging movement of the airbag before complete inflation and secures a counterforce from the ring portion, preventing the airbag from floating or protruding excessively during initial inflation.
Implementation Method 1
When the inflation gas flows inside, the mounting-portion-side folded portion close to the mounting portion begins to be inflated first, and then the central folded portion between the tip and the mounting-portion-side folded portion is inflated. Since the mounting-portion-side folded portion is inflated, the tip is pushed forward and upward from the opening of the dent portion.
Data Source
AI summary
A completely folded body of an airbag includes: a front-side folded portion; and a rear-side folded portion, wherein: the front-side folded portion has such a folded shape that a tip separated longitudinally from the mounting portion of the front overlapped portion is stored in a dent portion, in which a front side is open and a rear side is dented, between a mounting-portion-side folded portion near the mounting portion and a central folded portion between the tip and the mounting-portion-side folded portion; the tip of the front overlapped portion includes a leading edge separate longitudinally the farthest from the mounting portion, and a tip root-side portion connected to the leading edge; and the leading edge is provided on an upper side of the tip root-side portion in the front-side folded portion to be inverted rearward to a central side of the mounting portion.