Driver Airbag Folding Apparatus with Stair Sections
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing driver airbag folding methods fail to accommodate airbags in airbag housings of varying shapes, leading to vacant spaces and abnormal deployment, which adversely affect the airbag's deployment performance.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that utilize a lower plate, an upper plate, first pressing jigs, and second pressing jigs to divide and compress the airbag into sections, allowing it to be folded into a shape matching the airbag housing, using a combination of pneumatic or hydraulic pressure and stair sections on the upper plate to ensure a precise fit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the airbag is folded to a single fixed shape, then the folding process is simple, but the airbag cannot fit airbag housings of various shapes, creating vacant spaces and causing abnormal deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The airbag is divided into multiple sections by inserting first pressing jigs that create fold lines at predetermined intervals. This segmentation allows the airbag to be folded into different configurations to match various housing shapes while maintaining a systematic and manageable folding process.
Solution Approach 2:
The folding system transitions from a static single-shape approach to a dynamic multi-shape capability. By using pressing jigs that create flexible fold lines and employing multiple pressing operations in different sequences, the airbag can be adapted to match different housing shapes while preserving manufacturing simplicity through standardized jig tools.
2Manufacturing precision
If the airbag is compressed to fit the housing tightly, then vacant spaces are eliminated and deployment performance improves, but the folding process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The compression process is segmented into multiple pressing operations using different pressing jigs (first pressing jig for initial folding, second pressing jig for compression). Each jig performs a specific function at a specific stage, achieving precise fitting without requiring a single complex apparatus.
Solution Approach 2:
The first pressing jig creates preliminary fold lines and sections in the airbag before the second pressing jig performs the final compression. This preliminary action simplifies the subsequent compression step by pre-positioning the airbag material, reducing the complexity of the overall process while maintaining high precision.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are an apparatus and a method for folding a driver airbag which are capable of folding an airbag so that the airbag has a shape corresponding to a shape of an accommodating space in an airbag housing. To this end, an upper plate of the apparatus for folding the driver airbag according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of stair sections that is spaced apart from a lower plate at different vertical distances.