Pedestrian Airbag Chamber Layout for Stable A-Pillar Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pedestrian protection airbags face instability in deployment behavior, leading to unpredictable protection during collisions, and existing solutions like straps pose a risk of entrapment.
Innovation Solution
A pedestrian protection airbag design featuring a center chamber and side chambers with check valves and a folded section, where gas flows from the center chamber to the side chambers, stabilizing deployment by preventing backflow and using partition panels and tethers to ensure controlled expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the airbag is deployed with side chambers extending upward from the center chamber, then pedestrian protection coverage is improved, but the side chamber oscillates and deployment behavior becomes unstable
Solution Approach 1:
The side chambers are folded back toward the center chamber in advance before deployment. This preliminary folding action allows the side chambers to be contained during storage and then unfold in a controlled manner during deployment, preventing oscillation and stabilizing the deployment behavior while maintaining comprehensive pedestrian protection coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The airbag is divided into a center chamber and separate side chambers that can be independently controlled. By partitioning the airbag structure, each chamber can deploy in a coordinated sequence with the center chamber first and side chambers following, which stabilizes the overall deployment behavior while providing comprehensive protection coverage.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a strap is used to connect the center chamber and side chambers, then deployment stability is improved, but the strap may be caught on the pedestrian's neck during collision
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful strap component is completely removed from the airbag structure. Instead of using a strap to connect the center chamber and side chambers, the invention uses a folded section design where the side chambers are folded back toward the center chamber. This extraction of the harmful element eliminates the entanglement risk while maintaining deployment stability through the folded configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The folded section acts as an intermediary structure between the center chamber and side chambers, replacing the function of the strap without its harmful effects. The folded section allows controlled gas flow and maintains structural connection during deployment while being too large and structured to be caught on a pedestrian's neck like a thin strap would be.
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 solution provides a stable and controlled deployment of the airbag, ensuring effective protection by establishing a stable base with the center chamber before deploying the side chambers, reducing the risk of entrapment and enhancing safety.
Implementation Method 1
each of the pair of partition panels is provided with a check valve that prevents backflow of gas from the side chamber to the center chamber
Implementation Method 2
an inflator that supplies expansion gas; and an airbag that is expanded and deployed by the expansion gas
Data Source
AI summary
An airbag that includes a center chamber extending in a width direction of the vehicle in the vicinity of a lower edge of a windshield, and side chambers extending upward from both left and right end sections of the center chamber at least along an A-pillar, and is configured such that gas supplied from the inflator flows from the center chamber to the side chamber, a folded section is formed at which the side chamber is folded back toward the center chamber to be overlapped in a stowed state of the airbag, a pair of left and right partition panels for partitioning the center chamber and the side chambers are provided in the vicinity of the folded sections, and each of the pair of partition panels is provided with a check valve that prevents backflow of gas from the side chamber to the center chamber.