Seat belt retractor with energy management
First Claim
1. A seat belt webbing retractor comprising:
- a spool around which seat belt webbing is wound, said spool being rotatable in webbing withdrawal and webbing retraction directions;
a member rotatable in the withdrawal and retraction directions with said spool;
means for blocking rotation of said rotatable member and said spool in the withdrawal direction, said spool being rotatable relative to said rotatable member upon the occurrence of tension in the webbing above a predetermined amount;
a deformable member for absorbing energy during a plurality of rotations of said spool relative to said rotatable member, said deformable member having a plurality of coils; and
means for effecting plastic deformation of said coils of said deformable member during the plurality of rotations of said spool relative to said rotatable member.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A seat belt webbing retractor (10) includes a spool assembly (60) around which seat belt webbing (16) is wound. The spool assembly (60) is rotatable in webbing withdrawal and webbing retraction directions (A,B). A ratchet wheel (70) is rotatable in the withdrawal and retraction directions (A,B) with the spool assembly (60). A lock pawl (146) is engageable with the ratchet wheel (70) for blocking rotation of the ratchet wheel (70) and the spool assembly (60) in the withdrawal direction (A). The spool assembly (60) is rotatable relative to the ratchet wheel (70) upon an occurrence of a tension above a predetermined amount in the webbing (16). A take-up member (102) is rotatable with the spool assembly (60) relative to the ratchet wheel (70). A deformable member (120) is plastically deformed during a plurality of rotations of the take-up member (102) and spool assembly (60) relative to the ratchet wheel (70). In one embodiment, a plurality of deformable members (266) are included, and a controller (362) controls the deformation of the plurality of deformable members, thereby to change the amount of energy absorption.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A seat belt webbing retractor comprising:
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a spool around which seat belt webbing is wound, said spool being rotatable in webbing withdrawal and webbing retraction directions; a member rotatable in the withdrawal and retraction directions with said spool; means for blocking rotation of said rotatable member and said spool in the withdrawal direction, said spool being rotatable relative to said rotatable member upon the occurrence of tension in the webbing above a predetermined amount; a deformable member for absorbing energy during a plurality of rotations of said spool relative to said rotatable member, said deformable member having a plurality of coils; and means for effecting plastic deformation of said coils of said deformable member during the plurality of rotations of said spool relative to said rotatable member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A seat belt webbing retractor comprising:
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a spool around which seat belt webbing is wound, said spool being rotatable in webbing withdrawal and webbing retraction directions; a member rotatable in the withdrawal and retraction directions with said spool; means for blocking rotation of said rotatable member and said spool in the withdrawal direction, said spool being rotatable relative to said rotatable member upon the occurrence of tension in the webbing above a predetermined amount; a deformable member for absorbing energy during a plurality of rotations of said spool relative to said rotatable member, said deformable member having a plurality of coils; and means for deforming said deformable member during the plurality of rotations of said spool relative to said rotatable member; said rotatable member having a hollow portion, said deformable member being coiled outside of said hollow portion prior to deformation and being coiled inside of said hollow portion subsequent to deformation. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A seat belt webbing retractor comprising:
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a spool around which seat belt webbing is wound, said spool being rotatable about an axis in webbing withdrawal and webbing retraction directions; means for absorbing energy during rotation of said spool in the withdrawal direction upon vehicle deceleration above a predetermined deceleration, including a deformable means and means for deforming said deformable means when said spool rotates in the withdrawal direction upon vehicle deceleration above the predetermined deceleration; and means for changing the amount of energy absorption by said means for absorbing energy. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification