Autoliv Development Ab

Alan Bradburn

Hugh Finn

Ola Henriksson

Jack Johansson

Marc Phillips

Borje Jacobsson

Christopher McHugh

Ian Taylor

Antonella Pittiglio

Anders Hagman

Martin Lindsay

Matthew Brough

Douglas McGregor

Matthew 93A Ford Green Road Smallthorne Brough

An airbag has a skin enclosing a gas chamber and the skin has a vent which is closed in the resting state of the airbag and which opens when the pressure in the gas chamber exceeds a pre-determined value is described. The vent includes a vent hole in the skin and a tearable connection closing the vent hole in the resting state of the airbag. The airbag is folded to a package at least along a first direction and the tearable connection connects the skin around the vent hole directly to itself such that the tearable connection extends from a first point to a second point. In order to ensure that the vent remains closed during deployment and that the vent opens after the pressure inside the gas chamber exceeds a predetermined value within a rather small tolerance of the pressure, the line connecting the two points encloses an angle between 30&#xb0; and 60&#xb0; with the first direction.

Airbag

An air-bag () is provided with a vent aperture (). A membrane () extends across the vent aperture, the membrane defining a smaller aperture () than the vent aperture (). The periphery of the aperture is defined by a thickened part of the membrane. The membrane is formed of an elastic material such as a silicone rubber material. When a very high pressure exists in the air-bag the vent becomes deformed, thus increasing the size of the aperture defined by the membrane, permitting a relatively large flow of air from the air-bag to reduce the pressure within the air-bag.

Air-bag and a method of controlling pressure within an air-bag

An air-bag is disclosed which is formed from fabric () and has an inflatable region (), and at least one protruding mounting tab (). The or each mounting tab () is formed from fabric woven to have a random or quasi-random, distribution of floats. In a preferred embodiment, the floats each pass over between two and eight underlying yarns.

Air-bag

An airbag having an airbag fabric skin () enclosing an interior gas space with a first edge () extending from a first end () to a second end (), whereby an accommodation area (A) for a gas generator () is located at the first edge outside the gas spaced extending parallel the first edge (), which exhibits an area () of a deflector element) which accommodates the gas generator. In order to ensure that the airbag unit consisting of gas generator and airbag halves in a thrust-neutral manner in case of a fire, deflector element () consists of a tubular, flexible element, whereby the deflector element () exhibits an upper and lower area () whose lower area () is located inside the gas space (G). The deflector element is connected with the airbag skin in an intermediate area () which is located between upper and lower areas.

A tubular gas guide element for a side curtain airbag for guiding gas coming from a gas generator comprising at least two layers of fabric. With the use of such a gas guide, thrust of the gas inflowing into an airbag can be balanced.

Tubular gas guide element, gas generation and feed unit and curtain airbag unit

An inflatable airbag is disclosed which defines an inflatable chamber. The airbag generally includes an inner elastic membrane provided in the peripheral wall of the airbag and a vent-hole formed through the elastic membrane. An outer membrane is provided on the outside of the airbag that extends across at least part of the inner membrane and the vent-hole. The outer membrane defines a pucker over the inner membrane and the vent-hole. The pucker is open so as to define an outlet flow path from the vent-hole when the inner membrane is spaced from the pucker. The inner membrane is configured to stretch and seal against the pucker around the vent-hole when the internal pressure within the inflatable chamber exceeds a predetermined value.

Inflatable air-bag

An air-bag is formed from a single element of laminar material such as fabric. The element defines a rectangular region having linear side edges. This region has a shape and configuration equivalent to that of the air-bag when inflated. Each side edge of the region carries a protruding flap. There are infill elements between adjacent flaps. The flaps are inwardly folded to overlie the rectangular region. Each infill element lies between two respective inwardly folded adjacent flaps. The folded element may be secured to form an air-tight air-bag with reinforced corners.

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Staffordshire, United Kingdom

Alan Bradburn