Head protection air bag device

• US 20020096863A1
• Filed: 01/25/2002
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Takahashi, Hiroyuki, Tanase, Toshinori
• Granted Patent: US 6,820,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 280/730.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0048 Head
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23316 Inner seams, e.g. creating separate compartments or used as tethering means
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/213 in vehicle roof frames or pillars
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/232 Curtain-type airbags deploying mainly in a vertical direction from their top edge

Abstract

In a head protection air bag device, a folded air bag receives inflation gas, and when its inflating operation is completed, inflation parts of front and rear inflatable protective shielding parts as partitioned by partitioning parts generate tensions in the longitudinal direction in the front and rear inflatable protective shielding parts per se. The front and rear inflatable protective shielding parts are interconnected to each other by inflation communicating part under a plate-like portion which blocks the inflow of the inflation gas, at the lower fringe side of the air bag. The inflation communication parts are longitudinally disposed along the lower fringe side of the air bag. Therefore, the front and rear inflatable protective shielding parts are interconnected without reducing the tensions in those parts. As a result, a high tension having the longitudinal direction is generated in the entire lower fringe of the air bag.

Claims

1. A head protection air bag device having an air bag which is stored, while being folded, along the upper fringe of an opening on the cabin-inside or indoor side of a vehicle, when receiving inflation gas, said air bag developing and inflating to cover the opening,

wherein said air bag includes a gas-inflow section which inflates so as to separate a cabin-inside side wall and a cabin-outside side wall one from the other, and a non gas-inflow section which rejects inflation gas,

said gas-inflow section includes a plurality of inflatable protective shielding parts being disposed such that said inflatable protective shielding parts are longitudinally spaced from one another and cover said opening, and inflation communicating parts,

each said inflatable protective shielding part includes a plurality of inflating parts which are arranged in the longitudinal direction and vertically expand able so as to generate a tension in the longitudinal direction,

said non gas-inflow section includes a periphery part surrounding said non gas-inflow section,

a plate-like portion disposed between said inflatable protective shielding parts, and partitioning parts being vertically disposed and defining said inflation parts in said inflatable protective shielding parts, said inflation communicating parts are disposed in the lower fringe side of said air bag under said plate-like portion and along the lower fringe of said air bag,

said inflatable protective shielding parts, which are adjacently located with said plate-like portion being interposed therebetween, are communicated with each other by said inflation communicating part, and

the lower ends of said inflation parts are closed at the lower-edge side parts of the periphery parts.

2. Ahead protection air bag device according to claim 1, wherein one of the ends of said air bag is coupled to a body of the vehicle by coupling parts extending away from said gas-inflow section and said coupling parts are coupled to the lower-edge side part of the periphery parts at the completion of the developing and inflating operation.

3. Ahead protection air bag device according to claim 1, wherein said inflatable protective shielding parts, which are adjacently located with said plate-like portion being interposed therebetween, include inflow ports allowing said inflation gas to flow thereinto which are located above said plate-like portion.

4. A head protection air bag device having an air bag which is stored, while being folded, along the upper fringe of an opening on the cabin-inside or indoor side and on the side of seat recliners, and when receiving inflation gas, said air bag develops and inflates to cover the opening,

wherein said air bag includes a gas-inflow section through which said inflation gas is introduced into said air bag, and a periphery part surrounding said gas-inflow section,

said gas-inflow section is partitioned, by partitioning/coupling parts coupling the cabin-inside side wall with the cabin-outside side wall, into a plurality of inflation parts, which are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction, and inflate when receiving said inflation gas so as to separate said cabin-inside side wall and the cabin-outside side wall one from the other, and

said inflation parts located on the side of said seat recliners serve as lower-end displacement inflation parts located such that the lower ends thereof are higher than the lower ends of said other inflation parts, thereby preventing it from interfering with the upper ends of said seat recliners.

5. A head protection air bag device according to claim 4, wherein parts of the periphery part, which are located under said lower-end displacement inflation parts of said air bag, are substantially level with parts of the periphery parts under the inflation parts, which are adjacent to said lower-end displacement inflation parts, in the lower edge height, when said air bag is developed to be flat in a non inflating state.

6. A head protection air bag device according to claim 4, wherein said gas-inflow section includes a front-seat inflow section and a rear-seat inflow section, which are respectively provided covering openings on the side of the front seat and rear seat,

said front-seat inflow section and said rear-seat inflow section include, respectively, lower-end displacement inflation parts corresponding to said front seat and said rear seat, and

a width dimension of said lower-end displacement inflation part of said front-seat inflow section as longitudinally viewed is larger than that of said lower-end displacement inflation part of said rear-inflow section as longitudinally viewed.

7. A head protection air bag device according to claim 4, wherein said air bag introduces said inflation gas thereinto both at the time of side collision and at the time of the roll-over.