Gas generator for air bag, deflecting member, coolant/filter means supporting member, coolant and housing

• US 20050184497A1
• Filed: 03/22/2005
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Daicel Chemical Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: Daicel Chemical Industries Limited
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Masayuki, Iwai, Yasunori, Nakashima, Yoshihiro, Miyaji, Katsuhito, Hatomoto, Atsushi
• Application Number:
  US11/085,653
• Publication Number:
  US 20050184497A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 280/736
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/261 with means other than bag structure to diffuse or guide inflation fluid
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2644 using only solid reacting substances, e.g. pellets, powder

Abstract

Gas generator for air bag having any of the following members: deflecting member formed as tube portion capable of shielding gas discharge port formed on circumferential wall of housing from inside; coolant/filter means supporting member comprising annular portion arranged to face end surface of housing and wall portion contacting with inner periphery of coolant/filter means; coolant/filter means formed in cylindrical shape obtained by laminating wire mesh; housing securely fixing igniter included in ignition means, having opening portion for inserting and fixing igniter or igniter supporting member, wherein the opening portion is provided with connecting portion for fixing inserted igniter or igniter supporting member, and connecting portion is provided in inner side of housing rather than end surface having the opening portion.

Claims

1. A coolant/filter means supporting member for a gas generator for an air bag,which is a constituting member used in a gas generator for an air bag comprising, in a cylindrical housing having a gas discharge port, a gas generating means to generate an operating gas for inflating an air bag and a cylindrical coolant/filter means to cool and/or purify the operating gas in the housing,

wherein the coolant/filter supporting means comprises an annular portion arranged to face at least one end surface in the cylindrical housing, and a wall portion contacting with an inner periphery of the coolant/filter means, and

wherein said cylindrical coolant/filter means provides a complex gap structure composed of wires extending in two directions, respectively, to cross one another.

2. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wall portion of the coolant/filter means supporting member contacts with an inner periphery of an end portion of the coolant/filter means in a state of being arranged in the housing, and prevents a short pass in which the operating gas is discharged without passing through the coolant/filter means at a time of activating the gas generator, and/or positions the coolant/filter means.

3. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 1, wherein a bent portion bending towards the coolant/filter means side is formed in a peripheral edge of the annular portion.

4. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 3, wherein a distance between the bent portion and a wall portion is the same as a thickness of the coolant/filter means, which is disposed in the housing of the gas generator, in the radial direction.

5. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 3, wherein a bent portion of the coolant/filter means supporting member contacts with an outer peripheral edge of an end portion of the coolant/filter means in a state of being arranged in the housing, and prevents a short pass such that the operating gas is discharged without passing through the coolant/filter means at a time of activating the gas generator, and/or positions the coolant/filter means.

6. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wall portion is formed by bending the annular portion in a U-shaped cross sectional shape along a peripheral direction.

7. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 6, wherein the wall portion formed by bending the annular portion in the U-shaped cross sectional shape has a perpendicular surface to the annular portion at the outer side of the bent portion and also is inclined towards the center of the annular portion at the inner side of the bent portion.

8. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 1, wherein a central opening is provided in the center of the annular portion, and the inner edge of the central opening is formed to have a size to contact with the end surface of the inner cylindrical member disposed in the housing of the gas generator.

9. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coolant/filter means supporting member is formed with a portion, which contacts with the end surface of the coolant/filter means at a time of being arranged in the housing and has an elasticity in a thickness direction thereof.

10. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coolant/filter means supporting member is formed with a portion, which contacts with the end surface of the coolant/filter means at a time of being arranged in the housing and prevents a heat from being transmitted to the housing from the coolant/filter means.

11. A coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coolant/filter means supporting member is formed as a single member.

12. A gas generator for an air bag comprising:

in a cylindrical housing having a gas discharge port, an ignition means to activate a gas generator;

a gas generating means to generate an operating gas for inflating an air bag upon an activation of the ignition means; and

a cylindrical coolant/filter means to purify and/or cool the operating gas;

wherein

the coolant/filter means supporting member as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 is arranged in the vicinity of the cylindrical coolant/filter means.

13. A gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 12, wherein the coolant/filter means supporting member brings an annular portion thereof into contact with the end surface of the coolant/filter means, and partly covers the inner periphery of the coolant/filter means in the axial direction with a wall portion.

14. A gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 12, wherein the coolant/filter means is positioned and/or supported by the coolant/filter means supporting member, and the position thereof is not shifted due to the combustion pressure of the gas generating means.

15. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag which is disposed in a housing of a gas generator for an air bag for the purpose of cooling and/or purifying an operating gas for inflating the air bag, wherein the coolant/filter is formed in a cylindrical shape obtained by laminating the wire mesh, and has a pressure loss of 9.8 to 980 Pa at a flow rate of 1000 litter/minute at 20°

C., and where in said cylindrical coolant/filter means provides a complex gap structure composed of wires extending in two directions, respectively, to cross one another.

16. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coolant/filter has a pressure loss of 98 to 980 Pa at a flow rate of 1000 litter/minute at 20°

C.

17. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coolant/filter has a bulk density of 0.1 to 3.5 g/cm³.

18. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coolant/filter has a bulk density of 1.0 to 3.5 g/cm³.

19. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coolant/filter has a bulk density of 1.5 to 3.0 g/cm³.

20. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein, as a wire mesh forming the coolant/filter, a metal wire having a wire diameter of 0.1 to 1.0 mm.

21. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coolant/filter is formed so that a tensile strength in the radial direction becomes between 2450 and 19600 N.

22. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coolant/filter is formed so that one of the wire materials crossing to each other for constructing the wire mesh is made along the axial direction of coolant/filter.

23. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the coolant/filter is made of a wire mesh in which a number of meshes per 1 inch square (645.16 mm²) is between 12 and 32.

24. A coolant/filter of a gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 15, wherein the wire mesh is a plain stitch wire mesh obtained by plain-weaving the metal wire material.

25. A gas generator for an air bag comprising:

a gas generating means to generate an operating gas for inflating an air bag;

a coolant/filter to cool the operating gas; and

the gas generating means and the coolant/filter being stored in a housing having a gas discharge port,

wherein the coolant/filter is the coolant/filter as claimed in claim 15.

26. A gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 25, wherein the gas generating means contains a fuel and an oxidant, and the oxidant is a basic copper nitrate.

27. A gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 25 or 26, wherein the gas generating means contains (a) a guanidine derivative or a mixture thereof and (b) a basic copper nitrate.

28. A gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 25, wherein, a deflecting member provided with an annular deflecting plate for deflecting the flow-path of the operating gas is stored in the housing, and the deflecting member is arranged so that the deflecting plate covers the outside of the coolant/filter at a distance, and the deflecting plate is formed to have a size covering at least the part horizontally projected from a gas discharge port.

29. A gas generator for an air bag as claimed in claim 25, wherein a gap forming the flow-path of the operating gas is formed between the housing and the coolant/filter, the annually formed deflecting plate of the deflecting member exists in the gap, and the housing and the coolant/filter are arranged at a distance at least over the parts thereof horizontally projected from a gas discharge port.

30. A deflecting member of a gas generator for an air bag, which is a constituting member used in a gas generator for an air bag comprising, in a cylindrical housing with a gas discharge port, a gas generating means to generate an operating gas for inflating an air bag and a cylindrical coolant/filter means to cool and/or purify the operating gas in the housing,

wherein a tube portion has a shape capable of being arranged to face an inner periphery of the cylindrical gas generator housing, and the tube portion is formed in a shape and/or a structure capable of shielding at least a gas discharge port formed in a circumferential wall of the gas-generator housing from the inside of the housing, and the deflecting member is formed to have a shape and/or a structure capable of preventing a combustion product generated due to a combustion of the gas generating means from being discharged out of the housing through the gas discharge port, and wherein said coolant/filter means is made from a plain stitch wire mesh, wherein the wire is extended in two different directions to form a cylindrical shape.