Vehicle Window Covering Assembly for Occupant Ejection Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle body structures fail to effectively prevent occupant ejection during impact events, such as rollovers, as they do not have a mechanism to automatically cover window openings and protect occupants from being thrown out of the vehicle.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle body structure with a window covering assembly that includes a side wall, a vehicle impact sensor, and a control mechanism to rapidly pivot window covering members from an exposing orientation to a covering orientation in response to detected impact events, ensuring the window opening is completely covered to prevent ejection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a window covering assembly is added to prevent occupant ejection during impact events, then safety and compliance with FMVSS 226 are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The window covering members are positioned in advance within the window opening, ready to be rapidly deployed to the covering position upon detection of an impact event. This preliminary positioning allows the system to respond quickly without requiring complex active actuation mechanisms during the critical impact moment.
Solution Approach 2:
The window opening is divided into multiple segments with individual window covering members that can independently pivot to the covering position. This segmentation allows for distributed structural support and reduces the complexity of any single moving component while maintaining effective coverage of the entire window opening.
2Speed
If window covering members are designed to rapidly pivot to covering position during impact, then ejection mitigation effectiveness is improved, but structural complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The window covering members are designed with pivot connections that allow rapid rotational movement from the initial position to the covering position. This dynamic design enables quick response during impact events while using simple pivot mechanisms that are straightforward to manufacture and assemble.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex actuation and control systems are extracted from the window covering members themselves, leaving only simple pivot connections and positioning structures on the members. The control system is separated into a distinct vehicle impact sensor and control mechanism, simplifying the manufacturing of individual window covering components.
3Reliability
If the window covering assembly completely covers the window opening, then occupant protection is improved, but the mechanism complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The window covering members are designed to pivot to a covering position that extends slightly beyond what is strictly necessary to cover the window opening. This excessive action ensures complete coverage and accounts for any manufacturing tolerances or positioning variations, while the control mechanism remains relatively simple through the use of standardized pivot connections.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle body structure includes a side wall, a vehicle impact sensor, a window covering assembly and a control mechanism. The window covering assembly is coupled to the side wall and has a plurality of window covering members extending along a window opening in the side wall from a first side of the window opening to a second side of the window opening opposite the first side. Each of the plurality of window covering members is configured to pivot between a window exposing orientation and a window covering orientation. The control mechanism is connected to the vehicle impact sensor and operably coupled to the plurality of window covering members to rapidly move the plurality of window covering members to the window covering orientation in response to detection of a vehicle impact event by the vehicle impact sensor.