Bayonet Coupler Locking Mechanism for Vehicle Restraints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle restraint systems, particularly shoulder seat straps, face challenges in providing efficient and durable locking mechanisms that inhibit failure in shear and axial directions, leading to reduced stress and likelihood of failure during collisions.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a bayonet connector device with a female coupler and a male coupler featuring T-shaped or dovetail-shaped grooves and protrusions, which securely engage and disengage through rotation, providing enhanced contact and load-bearing capacity, and incorporating a 3.5-point vehicle occupant restraint system with modified profiles to increase load-bearing area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional locking mechanism is used in vehicle restraint systems, then the device complexity is reduced, but the reliability and durability of the connector during collisions is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into distinct male and female portions with separate engagement structures. The male coupler includes a shaft with circumferential grooves, while the female coupler has corresponding protrusions, allowing independent optimization of each component's geometry and material properties to enhance overall reliability without excessive complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The male coupler shaft is inserted within the female coupler housing, creating a nested structure where the shaft fits into the housing cavity. This nesting arrangement allows the engagement structures to be positioned concentrically, maximizing contact area and load distribution while maintaining a compact overall form factor
2Strength
If engagement structures with uniform width are used, then the manufacturing precision is simplified, but the load-bearing capacity and stress distribution are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The engagement structures feature variable cross-sectional dimensions along their length. The grooves and protrusions have wider sections at the interface region to maximize contact area and stress distribution, while tapering or narrowing at other sections to reduce material usage and facilitate assembly. This local variation in geometry optimizes strength where needed without uniformly increasing complexity throughout the entire structure
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement structures utilize three-dimensional geometric variations including circumferential grooves that wrap around the shaft and protrusions that extend radially outward. These dimensional variations create multiple contact surfaces and load paths, transforming a simple linear engagement into a multi-faceted connection that distributes stresses across various orientations and planes
3Ease of manufacture
If a simple connector design is used, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but the contact area and load distribution are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The male shaft and female housing features incorporate curved and rounded geometries rather than sharp edges. The grooves follow circumferential arcs, and the protrusions have rounded tips, which distribute contact stresses more evenly across the interface. These curved features can be manufactured using standard molding or machining processes while significantly increasing the effective contact area compared to flat or angular designs
Data Source
AI summary
A bayonet connector device including a female coupler including an annular wall defining a female coupler opening and a central axis, and a plurality of female coupler engagement structures extending radially inward from the annular wall toward the central axis, and a male coupler sized to be received within the female coupler opening and including a plurality of male coupler engagement structures shaped to mesh with the female coupler engagement structures. The female coupler engagement structures and the male coupler engagement structures define an inner length in an axial direction parallel with the central axis, and an outer length in the axial direction at a position radially farther away from the central axis than the inner length. The outer length is greater than the inner length.