Air bag gas generator and air bag device
First Claim
1. A gas generator for an air bag, comprising:
- a housing containing no compressed gas therein and having first and second gas discharge ports;
a first combustion chamber provided in said housing;
a second combustion chamber provided in said housing;
first ignition means and second ignition means attached to said housing, and selectively activated upon an impact;
first gas generating means ignited and burnt only by the activation of said first ignition means to generate a first inflation gas;
second gas generating means ignited and burnt only by the activation of said second ignition means to generate a second inflation gas; and
first and second sealing means for closing said first and second gas discharge ports, respectively, wherein said first and second sealing means are broken in multiple stages by a breaking pressure due to at least one of a difference in diameters of said first and second gas discharge ports and a difference in thicknesses of said first and second sealing means.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A gas generator small in size and which can be produced easily with a simple structure is provided. The output of a gas generator is equalized so that an occupant can be safely restrained, and the combustion performance can be stably adjusted. The gas generator comprises a housing forming an outer shell container and accommodating two or more ignition units to ignite upon an impact and two or more gas generating agents which are independently ignited and burnt by the ignition units to generate a combustion gas for inflating an air bag, and a plurality of gas discharge ports which are formed in the housing, wherein the gas discharge ports are closed by sealing units for maintaining an internal pressure of the housing to the given pressure, a breaking pressure for breaking the sealing units is adjusted in multiple stages by controlling gas discharge ports and/or sealing units, and a difference of the maximum internal pressures in the housing at activation of the respective igniters is suppressed.
73 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A gas generator for an air bag, comprising:
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a housing containing no compressed gas therein and having first and second gas discharge ports;
a first combustion chamber provided in said housing;
a second combustion chamber provided in said housing;
first ignition means and second ignition means attached to said housing, and selectively activated upon an impact;
first gas generating means ignited and burnt only by the activation of said first ignition means to generate a first inflation gas;
second gas generating means ignited and burnt only by the activation of said second ignition means to generate a second inflation gas; and
first and second sealing means for closing said first and second gas discharge ports, respectively, wherein said first and second sealing means are broken in multiple stages by a breaking pressure due to at least one of a difference in diameters of said first and second gas discharge ports and a difference in thicknesses of said first and second sealing means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36)
wherein an entire combustion gas generated in said second combustion chamber passes through said first combustion chamber and is discharged from said housing through at least one of said first and second gas discharge ports. -
29. A gas generator for an air bag according to claim 1, wherein said first and second sealing means are made of a single piece material.
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34. A gas generator for an air bag according to claim 1 or 33, wherein said housing is provided with a plurality of first gas discharge ports having a first total open area and a plurality of second gas discharge ports having a second total open area.
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35. A gas generator for an air bag according to claim 34, wherein the first total open area and the second total open area are correlated with total surface areas of said first and second gas generating means, respectively.
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36. A gas generator for an air bag according to claim 34, wherein the first total open area and the second total open area are correlated with total weight of the first gas generating means and the second gas generating means, respectively.
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30. An air bag apparatus, comprising:
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a gas generator for an air bag, said gas generator having, a housing containing no compressed gas therein and having first and second gas discharge ports, a first combustion chamber provided inside said housing, a second combustion chamber provided inside said housing, first ignition means and second ignition means attached to said housing, and selectively activated upon an impact, first gas generating means ignited and burnt only by the activation of the first ignition means to generate a first inflation gas, second gas generating means ignited and burnt only by the activation of the second ignition means to generate a second inflation gas, first and second sealing means for closing said first and second gas discharge ports, respectively, wherein said first and second sealing means are broken in multiple stages by a breaking pressure due to at least one of a difference in diameters of said first and second gas discharge ports and a difference in thicknesses of said first and second sealing means, and wherein the first sealing means is broken by an increase in pressure inside said housing due to combustion of one of the first and second gas generating means and the second sealing means is broken by an additional increase in the pressure inside said housing due to combustion of the other of said first and second gas generating means;
an impact sensor for detecting an impact and activating the gas generator;
an air bag to which a gas generated in the gas generator is introduced to inflate the bag; and
a module case for storing the air bag. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. A method of controlling gas generation from an air bag gas generator including a housing, comprising:
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providing a housing containing no compressed gas therein and provided with a first gas discharge port and a second gas discharge port;
providing a first combustion chamber inside the housing;
providing a second combustion chamber inside the housing;
hermetically sealing the first gas discharge port by first sealing means;
hermetically sealing the second gas discharge port by second sealing means;
providing first gas generating means for generating a first combustion gas;
providing second gas generating means for generating a second combustion gas;
providing first ignition means that ignites and burns only the first gas generating means;
providing a second ignition means that ignites and burns only the second gas generating means;
breaking the first sealing means by a first internal pressure due to combustion of the first gas generating means to discharge combustion gas; and
breaking the second sealing means by a second internal pressure different from the first internal pressure due to combustion of the second gas generating means to discharge the combustion gas, wherein said first and second sealing means are broken in multiple stages by a breaking pressure due to at least one of a difference in diameters of said first and second gas discharge ports and a difference in thicknesses of said first and second sealing means. - View Dependent Claims (33, 37)
preparing the first sealing means and the second sealing means using a single piece material.
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38. A gas generator for an air bag, comprising:
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a housing having first and second gas discharge ports;
first ignition means and second ignition means attached to said housing, and selectively ignited upon an impact;
first gas generating means ignited and burnt only by activation of said first ignition means and second gas generating means ignited and burnt only by activation of said second ignition means;
first and second sealing means for closing said first and second gas discharge ports, respectively;
a cylindrical filter provided inside said housing; and
a gap provided within said housing and defined by an outer surface of said filter and an inner surface of said housing, wherein said housing contains a first combustion chamber defined by an inner surface of said filter and containing one of said at least two gas generating means, and a second combustion chamber containing another of said at least two gas generating means, wherein said first and second sealing means are broken in multiple stages by a breaking pressure due to at least one of a difference in diameters of said first and second gas discharge ports and a difference in thicknesses of said first and second sealing means, and wherein both a first combustion gas generated in said first combustion chamber and a second combustion gas generated in said second combustion chamber flow into said gap before being discharged from said housing through at least one of said first and second gas discharge ports. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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Specification