Safety device for the protection of vehicle occupants

• US 7,938,439 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Issued: 05/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autoliv AB (Autoliv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Autoliv AB (Autoliv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bråse, Dan, Hjerpe, Erik
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleming; Faye M.
• Application Number:
  US12/262,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20090115170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 280/730.2, 280/728.2, 280/734
• US Class Current: 280/730.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/165 reusable, e.g. in case of multiple collisions
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/23388 having ends which are movable or detachable during deployment
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/232 Curtain-type airbags deploying mainly in a vertical direction from their top edge
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/237 characterised by the way they are folded

Abstract

A safety device for protection of vehicle occupants is described. The safety device exhibits a curtain airbag (10) located in the area of the roof frame, with an upper edge (10a), which is rolled up in quiescent state and unrolled in the case of an accident. The curtain airbag can be filled with gas. In order to enable the safety device to be used reversibly, the curtain airbag (10) is rolled up to roll around its upper edge (10a) when in quiescent state, and the upper edge is held by fixing elements in a manner which the airbag is rotatable.

Claims

1. A safety device for the protection of vehicle occupants, comprising a curtain airbag located in the area of the roof frame along the side of the vehicle interior, wherein the airbag is rolled up in an undeployed state and is unrolled in a deployed state in case of a potential accident and which can be filled with a gas, the curtain airbag forming an upper edge, and wherein the curtain airbag when in the undeployed state is rolled around the upper edge around a shaft into a roll and that fixing elements support the upper edge such that the airbag is rotatable between the undeployed state and the deployed state in which the airbag is unrolled, and

unrolling means for acting on a lower edge of the curtain airbag in case of a potential accident for unrolling the airbag from the undeployed state to the deployed state and causing the shaft to rotate.

3. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein the curtain airbag is wound onto a shaft when in the undeployed state.

4. A safety device according to claim 3, wherein the shaft is a hollow shaft and the gas for filling the airbag flows through the hollow shaft.

5. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein the unrolling means is in the form of at least one piston-cylinder-unit which can be loaded with compressed air to urge the lower edge to move the airbag to the deployed state wherein the airbag is unrolled.

6. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein a lower section of the curtain airbag is connected with a pressure source of the gas by a filling hose to inflate the airbag with the gas.

7. A safety device according to claim 6, wherein the curtain airbag forms a horizontally-running chamber which is connected to the filling hose, and a plurality of vertically-running chambers which extend from the horizontally-running chamber for conducting the gas.

2. A safety device for the protection of vehicle occupants, comprising a curtain airbag located in the area of the roof frame along the side of the vehicle interior, wherein the airbag is rolled up in an undeployed state and is unrolled in a deployed state in case of a potential accident and which can be filled with a gas, the curtain airbag forming an upper edge, and wherein the curtain airbag when in the undeployed state is rolled around the upper edge into a roll and that fixing elements support the upper edge such that the airbag is rotatable between the undeployed state and the deployed state in which the airbag is unrolled, and unrolling means for acting on a lower edge of the curtain airbag in case of a potential accident for unrolling the airbag from the undeployed state to the deployed state, wherein return elements are present which can urge the curtain airbag from the deployed state wherein the airbag is unrolled into the undeployed state wherein the airbag is rolled up.