Variable inflation system for vehicle safety restraint
First Claim
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1. A system for generating a gas effluent for inflating a gas-operated vehicle occupant safety restraint comprising:
- a first means for receiving information representative of instantaneous vehicle acceleration;
a second means for receiving information indicative of instantaneous occupant position relative to a fixed structure within the vehicle;
a processor means, responsive to the received vehicle acceleration information and the received occupant position information, for determining a first measure representative of crash type using the received vehicle acceleration information, wherein said processor means further determines a desired inflation profile using the first measure representative of crash type and the received occupant position information, and wherein said processor means simultaneously determines a first actual time to fire using the received vehicle acceleration information; and
actuating means, responsive to the first time to fire and the desired inflation profile, for generating a gas effluent in accordance with the desired inflation profile at the first time to fire.
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Abstract
An inflation system (10) for a gas-operated vehicle occupant safety restraint, such as an air bag (12), comprises an accelerometer (14) and an infrared transceiver (20) for receiving vehicle acceleration information (a) and occupant position information (x), respectively, for use by a processor (22) in selecting which of a plurality of gas generators (28) will be individually initiated, at selected actual times to fire, in a selected order, to provide optimal protection to the occupant in the event of a vehicle crash or marked vehicle deceleration.
72 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A system for generating a gas effluent for inflating a gas-operated vehicle occupant safety restraint comprising:
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a first means for receiving information representative of instantaneous vehicle acceleration; a second means for receiving information indicative of instantaneous occupant position relative to a fixed structure within the vehicle; a processor means, responsive to the received vehicle acceleration information and the received occupant position information, for determining a first measure representative of crash type using the received vehicle acceleration information, wherein said processor means further determines a desired inflation profile using the first measure representative of crash type and the received occupant position information, and wherein said processor means simultaneously determines a first actual time to fire using the received vehicle acceleration information; and actuating means, responsive to the first time to fire and the desired inflation profile, for generating a gas effluent in accordance with the desired inflation profile at the first time to fire. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification