Vertical Air Bag Waist Stabilization for Occupant Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current occupant protection devices, including seat belts and front air bags, do not adequately protect occupants in all types of collisions, particularly due to variations in collision forms, seat positions, body shapes, and sitting postures, leading to inadequate support and impact absorption.
Innovation Solution
An occupant protection device featuring a vertical air bag that deploys downward from above the occupant's shoulders, bending to orient its distal end towards the waist during deployment, providing enhanced restraint and support by contacting the frontal portion of the occupant, thereby stabilizing the waist and absorbing impact forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a front air bag is deployed rearwardly towards the seat to support the upper body of the occupant, then the upper body is supported and impact is absorbed, but the protection is inadequate when the waist slides forward from the sitting position causing the upper body to collapse forward near the front air bag
Solution Approach 1:
The air bag system is segmented into two distinct components: a front air bag for upper body protection and a vertical air bag for waist stabilization. This segmentation allows each air bag to independently address specific protection needs, ensuring effective protection whether the occupant maintains proper seating position or slides forward during collision
Solution Approach 2:
The vertical air bag introduces a new vertical dimension to occupant protection, deploying downward from the roof to stabilize the waist. This vertical deployment direction complements the horizontal deployment of the front air bag, creating comprehensive three-dimensional protection that adapts to various collision scenarios and occupant positions
2Adaptability or versatility
If the seat position, body shape, and sitting posture vary, then different occupant behaviors occur during collision, but the protection performance cannot be improved further with conventional front air bag and seat belt systems
Solution Approach 1:
The vertical air bag serves multiple protective functions: stabilizing the waist, preventing forward sliding, supporting the upper body, and absorbing impact forces. This multi-functional design makes the protection system universally effective across different body shapes, sitting postures, and collision types without requiring multiple specialized devices
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 vertical air bag effectively restrains the occupant's waist and supports the upper body during collisions, improving protection performance across various collision scenarios and occupant positions, shapes, and postures by maintaining the waist at a stable position and absorbing impact effectively.
Implementation Method 1
a vertical air bag deployable downward at least from above a shoulder of an occupant seated in a seat of a vehicle
Data Source
AI summary
An occupant protection device includes a vertical air bag. The vertical air bag is deployable downward at least from above a shoulder of an occupant seated in a seat of a vehicle. During deployment, the vertical air bag is bent in such a manner that a deployed direction distal end portion is, at a portion in front of an upper body of the occupant seated in the seat, oriented towards a waist of the occupant. During the development, in a state in which the vertical air bag is bent, the deployed direction distal end portion comes in contact with a frontal portion of the occupant seated in the seat.