Driver Airbag Back Panel Offset to Prevent Rolling Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing driver's seat airbag apparatuses fail to prevent the airbag from rolling against the driver upon deployment, leading to potential injuries such as neck and head backbending due to the airbag's vibration and contact with the driver's chest.
Innovation Solution
The airbag is designed with a back panel attached to an inflator in the hub region, a bag body bonded to the back panel, and tethers that restrain the side panel against the steering wheel rim, preventing the airbag from rolling by ensuring it abuts the rim in the 12 o'clock direction and does not contact it in the 6 o'clock direction, thus stabilizing its deployment and expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the airbag is deployed and expanded from the steering wheel hub region, then the driver can be protected during collision, but the airbag rolls against the driver's chest causing neck and head backbending injuries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning the inflator attachment center offset from the back panel center toward the 6 o'clock direction before deployment. This predetermined offset configuration ensures that when the airbag deploys, the side panel naturally abuts against the steering wheel rim at the 12 o'clock position, preventing rolling contact with the driver's chest and eliminating the harmful effect of neck and head backbending injuries while maintaining effective protection.
2Speed
If the airbag vibrates about the fixation point, then the airbag can be deployed from the steering wheel, but the airbag cannot be prevented from rolling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by deliberately offsetting the inflator attachment center from the back panel center toward the 6 o'clock direction. This asymmetric configuration creates an intentional imbalance that causes the side panel to abut against the steering wheel rim at the 12 o'clock position during deployment, transforming the unstable vibration about the fixation point into a stable constrained deployment pattern that prevents rolling while maintaining rapid deployment speed.
Data Source
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AI summary
[Problem] To provide a driver's seat airbag apparatus for vehicles which can prevent an airbag from rolling against the driver when the driver enters the deployed and expanded driver airbag. [Resolution means] In a driver's seat airbag apparatus 1 for vehicles, which includes a driver airbag 5 which is deployed and expanded from a hub region 4 towards a driver's seat via the inner peripheral side 6a of a rim 6 of a steering wheel 3 surrounding this hub region, the driver airbag is configured so as to include: a back panel 7 which is attached and fixed to an inflator 2 provided in the hub region, and a bag body 12 which is provided so as to be bonded to this back panel and deployed and expanded from this back panel towards the driver's seat, and wherein the attachment center S of the inflator to this back panel is set with respect to the center P of the back panel so as to be close to the 6 o'clock direction side in the 12 o'clock direction and the 6 o'clock direction of the steering wheel.