Side Airbag Mounting Bracket Layout for Stable Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing side airbag devices face challenges in easy assembly due to difficulty in fixing the inflator to the base member, and the airbag often deploys unstably or rapidly, lacking compactness and stability during deployment.
Innovation Solution
The side airbag device incorporates a base member with a mounting bracket that includes an inflator fixing portion and a base member fixing portion, located differently, allowing easy assembly and stable deployment by using a wire frame structure with guide plates and bridging portions to reinforce the base member, ensuring the airbag deploys along the vehicle sidewall.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the inflator is directly fixed to the base member, then the assembly process becomes simple, but the airbag deployment becomes unstable and the inflator cannot be properly secured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mounting bracket as an intermediary component between the inflator and the base member. The mounting bracket includes an inflator fixing portion that secures the inflator and a base member fixing portion that attaches to the base member. This intermediary structure enables both secure fixation and stable airbag deployment, resolving the contradiction between ease of assembly and deployment reliability.
2Speed
If the airbag is allowed to inflate rapidly, then the deployment speed increases, but the airbag deploys violently and unstably
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting bracket is designed with positioning features that pre-constrain the airbag's inflation direction before deployment. The bracket includes guide structures and fixing portions that prevent the airbag from inflating in unintended directions, thereby controlling the deployment speed and ensuring stable expansion along the vehicle sidewall rather than violent unrestricted inflation.
3Volume of moving object
If the base member is made compact, then the device size is reduced, but the structural rigidity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The base member is segmented into functional regions: an inner portion that accommodates the inflator and mounting bracket, and an outer portion that provides structural support and attaches to the vehicle body. This segmentation allows the base member to maintain rigidity through strategic reinforcement at critical attachment points while keeping the overall device compact by optimizing the spatial arrangement of components.
Data Source
AI summary
A side airbag device with a base member for an inflator to be easily fixed thereto, and a method for manufacturing same is provided. The side airbag device includes: an airbag; an inflator configured to supply the airbag with gas; a base member configured to accommodate the airbag and the inflator, and to be fixed to a vehicle body; an outer covering member configured to cover at least a front side of the base member to form a front-facing interior surface; and a mounting bracket. The mounting bracket includes an inflator fixing portion to which the inflator is fixed and a base member fixing portion which is located in a position different from a position of the inflator fixing portion and fixed to the base member. The base member includes, at a left or right side portion thereof, a bracket fixing portion to which the mounting bracket is fixed.