Air bag device

• US 6,676,147 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2002
• Issued: 01/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyoda Gosei Company Limited (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Bito, Kazuaki, Sasaki, Takashi, Mihara, Yoshinori, Sogi, Hidehito, Shibayama, Kenji, Ozaki, Toru, Yamaji, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Dickson, Paul N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLEMING, FAYE M
• Application Number:
  US09/980,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20030006595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 672 Days
• Field of Search: 280/740, 280/736, 280/739, 280/741, 280/742
• US Class Current: 280/240
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/205 in dashboards
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/2171 specially adapted for elongated cylindrical or bottle-like inflators with a symmetry axis perpendicular to the main direction of bag deployment, e.g. extruded reaction canisters B60R21/2176 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/237 characterised by the way they are folded

Abstract

In an airbag device (10) wherein within a casing (12) opening upwardly an inflator (16) and an airbag (14) are housed at its bottom part and the opening side, respectively, a cylindrical diffuser (18) surrounding the outer circumference of the inflator (16) is provided, which has a partition wall (40) projecting toward the opening side of the casing and partitioning an airbag-housing space into a forward side and a rearward side relative to the vehicle, in which to house the airbag (14) dividedly, and a lip portion (32) of the airbag (14) is superposed downwards of the diffuser (18) thereby to lock the bottom part of the diffuser (18) to the bottom surface of the casing (12). Thus, it is easy, albeit compart, to control the deployment behavior of the airbag and excellent in workability of assembling the airbag in the casing.

Claims

1. An airbag device comprising a casing having an opening side and a bottom side, an inflator assuming a generally columnar form housed in the casing on the bottom side, an airbag folded and housed in the casing at the opening side, and a cylindrical member having on its peripheral surface holes for blowing therethrough gas emitted from the inflator into the airbag,

wherein the cylindrical member is provided with a partition wall projecting toward the opening side of the casing and comparting a space housing the airbag therein into two compartments, and the airbag is housed dividedly in the two compartments, the airbag has a lip portion extending to a bottom part of the cylindrical member wherein the cylindrical member is enclosed by the airbag, the bottom part of the cylindrical member is locked to a bottom surface of the casing to form a locked part and the lip portion of the airbag is engaged with the locked part whereby the airbag is fixed to the casing,

wherein the inflator is provided at its axial end with a gas blowoff part, the cylindrical member is disposed inside the lip portion of the airbag and disposed between a first sidewall and a second sidewall of the casing opposed to each other, the inflator inserted within the cylindrical member is fixed at one end constituting the gas blowoff part to the first sidewall and at another end opposite to the gas blowoff part to the second sidewall, the gas blowoff part of the inflator is covered with a gas-restraining wall, the gas-restraining wall projecting from the first sidewall between the gas blowoff part and the cylindrical member, and

wherein the gas-restraining wall is provided in the entire peripheral area of the gas blowoff part and the gas-restraining wall projects so as to cover more than a half of the gas blowoff part in the axial direction.

2. The airbag device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cylindrical member is provided at the bottom part with locking projections, the lip portion of the airbag and the bottom surface of the casing are provided with respective through-holes, through which to insert the locking projections,

the locking projections of the cylindrical member are inserted into the through-holes of the airbag and further into the through-holes of the casing to engage both, thereby locking the bottom part of the cylindrical member to the bottom surface of the casing.

3. The airbag device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the casing is open generally upwardly and disposed within an instrument panel of a vehicle so that the axial direction of the inflator is oriented toward the width direction of the vehicle, the space for housing therein the airbag is comparted in fore-and-aft direction relative to the vehicle by the partition wall of the cylindrical member and the airbag is housed in a folded state dividedly in a forward side and a rearward side of the vehicle relative to the partition wall so that the one folded part of an upper bag part of the airbag in a deployed form may be housed in the forward side of the vehicle relative to the partition wall while the other folded part of a lower bag part of the airbag in a deployed form may be housed in the rearward side of the vehicle relative to the partition wall,

holes are disposed on a peripheral surface of the cylindrical member so that the opening area of the holes located at the forward side of the vehicle relative to the partition wall is larger than that of the holes located at the rearward side of the vehicle relative to the partition wall.

4. The airbag device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the holes on the peripheral surface of the cylindrical member are disposed only at the forward side of the vehicle relative to the partition wall.

5. The airbag device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the upper bag part of the airbag is folded in a bellows fashion and the lower bag part of the airbag is folded in a roll form.

6. The airbag device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gas-restraining wall has an inside diameter shorter than an outside diameter of a body of the inflator.

7. An airbag device comprising an airbag, an inflator assuming a generally columnar form and provided with a gas blowoff part at one end of the columnar form, a casing housing therein the airbag and the inflator and having an opening for expanding the airbag out therethrough, and a cylindrical member surrounding an outer periphery of the inflator and having at its circumferential surface holes for blowing gas emitted from the inflator into the airbag,

wherein the cylindrical member is disposed inside a lip portion of the airbag and disposed between a first sidewall and a second sidewall of the casing opposed to each other, the inflator placed within the cylindrical member is fixed at its one end constituting a gas blowoff part to the first sidewall and at another end opposite to the gas blowoff part to the second sidewall,

the airbag is engaged inside the casing by means of the cylindrical member disposed therein, the gas blowoff part of the inflator is covered with a gas-restraining wall projecting from the first sidewall between the gas blowoff part and the cylindrical member, and

wherein the gas-restraining wall is provide in the entire peripheral area of the gas blowoff part and the gas-restraining wall projects so as to cover more than a half of the gas blowoff part in the axial direction.

8. The airbag device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first sidewall has a circular opening and is provided with a cap closing the opening so that the one end of the inflator may be fixed, and the gas-restraining wall is fitted to the cap.

9. The airbag device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the gas-restraining wall is formed integrally with the cap by drawing.

10. The airbag device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the lip portion of the airbag has openings for securing both ends of the inflator to corresponding sidewalls of the casing, and marginal portions around the openings of the airbag are pinched between the gas-restraining wall and the cylindrical member.

11. The airbag device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the inflator is housed on the bottom part side of the casing and the airbag is housed on the opening side of the casing,

the cylindrical member is provided with a partition wall projecting toward the opening side of the casing and comparting a space the airbag is housed into a forward side and a rearward side of a vehicle relative to the partition wall, the airbag being housed dividedly in the forward side and in the rearward side.

12. The airbag device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the gas-restraining wall has an inside diameter shorter than an outside diameter of a body of the inflator.