Inflation mechanism for inflatable seat belt
First Claim
1. An apparatus for helping to protect a vehicle occupant, comprising:
- a vehicle seat belt system including a buckle, a tongue assembly, and an inflatable seat belt portion connected with said tongue assembly, said buckle and said tongue assembly having a buckled condition and an unbuckled condition;
an inflation mechanism connected with said buckle, including an actuatable inflator and a first conduit in fluid communication with said inflator;
a second conduit in fluid communication with said inflatable seat belt portion;
said first conduit having a rupturable portion blocking fluid flow out of said first conduit toward said second conduit;
said first conduit, upon actuation of said inflator when said buckle and said tongue assembly are in the buckled condition, moving from a first position in which said first conduit is not in fluid communication with said second conduit to a second position in which said first conduit is in fluid communication with said second conduit and said rupturable portion thereafter is ruptured to enable fluid flow from said first conduit to said second conduit to inflate said inflatable seat belt portion.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for helping to protect a vehicle occupant comprises a vehicle seat belt system (14) including a buckle (20), a tongue assembly (90), and an inflatable seat belt portion (12) connected with the tongue assembly. An inflation mechanism (10) connected with the buckle (20) includes an actuatable inflator (60) and a first conduit (70) in fluid communication with the inflator. A second conduit (110) is in fluid communication with the inflatable seat belt portion (12). The first conduit (70) has a rupturable portion (82) blocking fluid flow out of the first conduit toward the second conduit (110). The first conduit (70), upon actuation of the inflator (60), moves from a first position in which the first conduit is not in fluid communication with the second conduit (110) to a second position in which the first conduit is in fluid communication with the second conduit. The rupturable portion (82) is ruptured to enable fluid flow from the first conduit (70) to the second conduit (110) to inflate the inflatable seat belt portion (12). Means (58) for venting erroneously released inflation fluids are also provided.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for helping to protect a vehicle occupant, comprising:
-
a vehicle seat belt system including a buckle, a tongue assembly, and an inflatable seat belt portion connected with said tongue assembly, said buckle and said tongue assembly having a buckled condition and an unbuckled condition;
an inflation mechanism connected with said buckle, including an actuatable inflator and a first conduit in fluid communication with said inflator;
a second conduit in fluid communication with said inflatable seat belt portion;
said first conduit having a rupturable portion blocking fluid flow out of said first conduit toward said second conduit;
said first conduit, upon actuation of said inflator when said buckle and said tongue assembly are in the buckled condition, moving from a first position in which said first conduit is not in fluid communication with said second conduit to a second position in which said first conduit is in fluid communication with said second conduit and said rupturable portion thereafter is ruptured to enable fluid flow from said first conduit to said second conduit to inflate said inflatable seat belt portion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. An apparatus for helping to protect a vehicle occupant, comprising:
-
a vehicle seat belt system including a buckle and a tongue assembly, said buckle and said tongue assembly having a buckled condition and an unbuckled condition, said seat belt system also including an inflatable seat belt portion;
an actuatable inflator;
a conduit for directing inflation fluid from said inflator to said inflatable seat belt portion to inflate said inflatable seat belt portion;
a sensor for indicating whether said buckle and said tongue assembly are in the buckled condition or the unbuckled condition;
means responsive to said sensor for selectively directing inflation fluid from said inflator through said conduit into said inflatable seat belt portion when said buckle and said tongue assembly are in the buckled condition, to help protect the vehicle occupant; and
a vent for venting inflation fluid from said conduit upon actuation of said inflator when said buckle and said tongue assembly are in the unbuckled condition, to help prevent inflation fluid from flowing through said conduit into the vehicle occupant compartment in a direction toward the vehicle occupant. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. An apparatus for helping to protect a vehicle occupant, comprising:
-
a vehicle seat belt system including a tongue assembly and a buckle, said tongue assembly and said buckle having a buckled condition in which a first latch part on said tongue assembly is engaged with a second latch part on said buckle to resist movement of said tongue assembly away from said buckle;
an inflatable seat belt portion connected with said tongue assembly;
an inflation mechanism connected with said buckle, including an actuatable inflator;
a conduit for directing inflation fluid from said inflator to said inflatable seat belt portion to inflate said inflatable seat belt portion; and
a third latch part on said tongue assembly engageable with a fourth latch part on said inflation mechanism to help resist movement of said tongue assembly away from said buckle when said seat belt system is in the buckled condition and said inflator is actuated. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
Specification