Air-bag housing

• US 7,837,227 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2006
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Autoliv Development AB (Autoliv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Autoliv Development AB (Autoliv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Schock, Marc, Albert, Jorg, Reiter, Thomas, Weber, Marcus, Kuhne, Klaus-Peter, Sommer, Karl-Heinz
• Primary Examiner(s): Dickson; Paul N
• Assistant Examiner(s): VERLEY, NICOLE T
• Application Number:
  US12/303,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20090250909A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• Field of Search: 280/732, 280/728.2, 280/741, 280/731
• US Class Current: 280/732
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/217 Inflation fluid source retainers, e.g. reaction canisters; Connection of bags, covers, diffusers or inflation fluid sources therewith or together

Abstract

An air-bag housing comprising a rectangular frame (1) defining an opening and having a mounting arrangement in the form of flanges (7) to mount the frame in position within a motor vehicle. The frame supports a housing-forming element (21) formed, for example, of fabric. This forms a housing having walls (71, 72) and a floor. The walls (71, 72) are formed seamlessly by folding the fabric in half about a fold-line, and tucking one end of the fold-line into the other end of the fold-line, and inserting the frame between the pieces of fabric to lie adjacent the fold-line. The floor is formed by a plurality of floor-forming tabs (25, 26, 35, 36 etc) carried by the fabric forming the side-walls of the housing. The tabs are folded inwardly to at least partly overlie each other and are secured in position to form the floor of the housing by studs (15, 16, 17, 18) provided on the inflator which pass through co-aligned apertures (27, 30, 38, 39) in the floor-forming tabs (25, 26, 35, 36 etc).

Claims

1. An air-bag housing, the air-bag housing comprising:

a frame defining an opening and having a mounting arrangement to mount the frame in position, the frame supporting a separate housing-forming element constituted by a sheet of flexible material to form a housing having walls and a floor, the sheet of flexible material being in the form of a blank, the blank being folded about a fold-line to present superimposed wall-forming portions and floor-forming portions, the superimposed floor-forming portions including a plurality of floor-forming tabs, the frame being a one-piece frame that is inserted within the blank to be adjacent the fold-line, the floor being formed by the plurality of floor-forming tabs which at least partly overlie each other and which are secured in position to form the floor of the housing.

2. The air-bag housing according to claim 1, wherein the housing-forming element has two opposed regions, the opposed regions overlapping between the ends of one side-wall of the housing, the housing-forming element consequently extending seamlessly around corners of the housing.

3. The air-bag housing according to claim 2, wherein the superimposed wall-forming portions defining the walls of the housing carry the floor-forming tabs.

4. The air-bag housing according to claim 3, wherein each wall-forming portion carries a respective floor-forming tab.

5. The air-bag housing according to claim 1, wherein the blank is substantially symmetrical about the fold-line such that the wall-forming portions and floor-forming tabs are substantially symmetrical about the fold-line.

6. The air-bag housing according to claim 1, wherein the mounting arrangement of the frame comprises two outwardly extending flanges, the housing-forming element being provided with slits to accommodate the flanges.

7. The air-bag housing according to claim 1, wherein the sheet of flexible material is of woven material.

8. The air-bag housing according to claim 7, wherein the woven material is a woven fabric of 470 Dtex.

9. The air-bag housing according to claim 1, wherein one wall of the walls of the housing is formed of two superimposed layers of the sheet of flexible material with a reinforcing element located between said layers.

10. The air-bag housing of claim 1 in combination with an air-bag assembly, the air-bag assembly further comprising an inflator secured to the floor of the housing and an air-bag contained within the housing to be inflated by gas from the inflator.

11. The air-bag assembly according to claim 10, wherein the inflator is mounted in position by means of a plurality of studs passing through co-aligned apertures formed in the floor-forming tabs which at least party overlie each other to secure the floor-forming tabs in position.

12. The air-bag assembly according to claim 11, wherein a deflector is provided within the housing, connected to the gas generator by means of said studs.

13. The air-bag assembly according to claim 10, wherein the air-bag has an open mouth which is secured to the housing-forming element in a region adjacent the frame.

14. The air-bag assembly according to claim 1, wherein the frame is inserted within the blank so as to be between the superimposed wall-forming portions and adjacent the fold-line.

15. An air-bag housing, the air-bag housing comprising:

a frame defining an opening adapted to receive an air-bag and having a mounting arrangement to mount the frame in position, the frame being a one-piece frame; and

a housing-forming element constituted by a sheet of flexible material to form a housing having walls and a floor, the sheet of flexible material being in the form of a blank having a plurality of wall-forming panels and floor-forming tabs each of which are substantially symmetrical about opposed sides of an axially extending fold-line, the blank being folded about the fold-line to present superimposed double thickness wall-forming panels and floor-forming tabs, the superimposed floor-forming tabs at least partly overlying each other and being secured in position to form the floor of the housing, the superimposed wall-forming panels including a pair of opposed panels that overlap each other between ends of one side-wall of the housing such that the housing-forming element consequently extends seamlessly around corners of the housing;

wherein the housing-forming element is supported by the frame, the frame being inserted within the housing so as to be adjacent the axially extending fold line.

16. The air-bag housing according to claim 15, wherein each wall-forming panel carries a respective floor-forming tab.

17. The air-bag housing according to claim 15, wherein the mounting arrangement of the frame comprises two longitudinally opposed outwardly extending flanges, the housing-forming element being provided with slits to accommodate the flanges therethrough.

18. The air-bag housing according to claim 15, wherein the frame is inserted within the housing between the superimposed wall-forming panels so as to be adjacent the axially extending fold line.

19. The air-bag housing according to claim 18, wherein the frame includes a perimeter shape complimentary to a perimeter shape of the housing so as to support the housing when inserted therein.