Headrest Airbag with Nested Chambers for Multi-Directional Head Restraint
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional airbags are insufficient in restraining an occupant's head during vehicle collisions, particularly in oblique collisions, leading to potential head injuries due to excessive movement and collision with other occupants or the crash pad.
Innovation Solution
A headrest airbag system with a pair of airbag cushions deployed from opposite sides of the headrest, featuring an outer chamber, an inner chamber, and a rear cushion, which are gas-inflated to surround and stabilize the occupant's head, with tethers and a diaphragm to control inflation and prevent excessive movement, and a rear cushion to protect against rear impacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional airbag is used, then the occupant's head is protected in frontal and side collisions, but the head cannot be effectively restrained in oblique collisions and may still collide with other occupants or the crash pad
Solution Approach 1:
The airbag is divided into multiple independent chambers (first chamber, second chamber, third chamber, fourth chamber) positioned at different locations within the headrest. Each chamber can be independently inflated to provide targeted protection for different collision scenarios, including frontal, side, and oblique collisions, thereby resolving the limitation of conventional single-chamber airbags.
Solution Approach 2:
The airbag system employs a nested chamber configuration where the third and fourth chambers are positioned within or adjacent to the first and second chambers. This nested arrangement allows the airbag to provide multi-directional protection while maintaining a compact structure within the headrest, enabling effective restraint in various collision directions without excessive complexity.
2Reliability
If the airbag cushion is inflated with sufficient gas to provide comprehensive head protection, then head movement is restrained effectively, but the inflation time and gas consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The airbag is segmented into multiple chambers that can be inflated in a coordinated sequence or simultaneously through separate gas supply paths. This segmentation allows the system to achieve effective head restraint with optimized gas distribution, reducing the total inflation time compared to inflating a single large chamber while maintaining protective reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The airbag chambers are pre-positioned and pre-configured within the headrest structure, with gas supply pathways and inflators ready for immediate deployment. This preliminary preparation ensures that when a collision is detected, the airbag can inflate rapidly to the required volume without delay, achieving effective head restraint within the critical time window.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the airbag cushion is made large enough to cover all collision directions, then head protection is comprehensive, but the device complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The airbag system uses a nested chamber configuration where smaller chambers (third and fourth chambers) are positioned within or adjacent to larger chambers (first and second chambers). This nested arrangement provides comprehensive multi-directional protection while maintaining a compact overall structure that fits within the headrest space constraints, avoiding the need for a single excessively large and complex airbag structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The airbag is divided into multiple modular chambers that can be independently controlled and inflated. This segmentation allows the system to achieve comprehensive collision direction coverage by strategically positioning chambers at different locations, while the modular structure simplifies the overall design compared to attempting to create a single universal airbag that covers all directions equally.
4Reliability
If the airbag cushion is inflated rapidly to protect the occupant, then head protection is immediate, but the force of inflation may cause injury to the occupant's head
Solution Approach 1:
The airbag is divided into multiple chambers that can be inflated in a controlled sequence or simultaneously with distributed gas flow. This segmentation allows the total inflation force to be distributed across multiple contact points and time intervals, reducing the peak force on any single point of the occupant's head while still achieving immediate protection through coordinated deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The airbag chambers are pre-positioned within the headrest structure to ensure they are already in place and ready to provide cushioning protection before the collision impact occurs. This preliminary positioning, combined with rapid but controlled inflation, ensures that the occupant's head is protected from impact forces without being subjected to excessive inflation forces, as the airbag is already in the optimal position to absorb and distribute the impact energy.
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 system effectively minimizes head movement and protects occupants from impacts in various collision directions, including frontal, side, and oblique collisions, while preventing injuries from rear seat occupants hitting the front seat.
Implementation Method 1
a pair of airbag cushions disposed in a headrest, deployed forward from opposite sides of an occupant's head by being supplied with gas from an inflator
Implementation Method 2
A diaphragm may be disposed between the outer chamber and the inner chamber, and the diaphragm may include at least one communication aperture
Implementation Method 3
The inner chamber may include a plurality of inner tethers on an inner surface thereof to limit inflation of the inner chamber by being connected to the diaphragm
Implementation Method 4
the inner chamber may include a closing membrane configured to close the vent aperture, and a pulling tether with a first end thereof connected to the closing membrane and a second end thereof connected to the diaphragm, and thus, the vent aperture may be closed by the closing membrane being pulled when the inner chamber is inflated
Implementation Method 5
an inner support tether having a first end thereof connected to an outer surface of the inner chamber and a second end thereof fixed to the headrest, thereby providing a pulling force such that the inner chamber is pulled toward an occupant side when the airbag cushion is inflated
Data Source
AI summary
A headrest airbag for a vehicle is provided. The headrest airbag has an airbag cushion that is deployed forward from a headrest to surround an occupant's head which minimizes the occupant's head movement by holding the occupant's head in advance thus protecting the occupant's head against impact. Further, a rear cushion is deployed backward from the headrest, whereby both a front seat occupant and a rear seat occupant are safely protected from impact by preventing an injury caused when the rear seat occupant hits the front seat.