Morton International, Inc.

Robert Boschgmbh

Thiokol Corporation

Joseph L Ralston

Donald R Lauritzen

Larry D Rose

Mark Rogers

Timothy J Leonard

Daniel W Anderson

Donald J Bolieau

Axel W Kaiser

David J Green

Brent R Marchant

Michael J Daines

Paul D Kidd

Robert G Humiston

An automotive airbag module housing contains an inflator and a cushion to be inflated. When excessive pressure develops in the module housing, it is relieved through ports in the module housing. The ports are covered with a thin membrane or foil which ruptures before the excessive pressure can damage the airbag cushion during deployment, thereby relieving the pressure in the module housing and in the airbag and avoiding injury to the occupant of the automotive vehicle. The present invention is applicable to any airbag module in which an inflator is completely enclosed within the module housing. It is particularly applicable to passenger side airbag modules.

Regulation of pressure in an automotive airbag module

An integral deployment door in a panel of an airbag assembly which covers and conceals an airbag module. The molded panel having a front surface layer, a foam core, and a rear surface substrate has notches therein in alignment with the proposed tear region or sides of the deployment door. Tabs are provided which extend upwardly into the foam core along the sides of said deployment door and in alignment with the notches. The notches and tab construction weaken the tear region and concentrates the stresses along the sides of the deployment door to reduce the force required to open the deployment door and to reduce the fragmentation of the foam core due to the separation of the door from the rest of the panel.

Apparatus for aiding in the opening of an integral deployment door in a

An essentially unitary airbag cover assembly is provided for concealing an airbag module. The cover has a vehicle panel with a front surface, a foam core and panel substrate with a dropped lip or shelf on a distal end thereof. A deployment door incorporated in the panel is hinged to the panel along one side thereof with at least one of the remaining sides of the door resting in the panel on the dropped lip or shelf of the panel substrate. The deployment door and panel are substantially the same thickness, and the shelf is dropped such that when the deployment door is positioned on the dropped shelf in the panel substrate, the door and panel are on the same level and there is no need for a connection between the panel and deployment door aside from the hinged side of the door.

Passenger airbag module using an essentially unitary cover

An elongated gas generator, or inflator, includes a pyrogen igniter mounted at one end thereof. The pyrogen igniter encloses a unitary grain of ignition material having a centrally located cavity. An initiator, or squib, is located to ignite the unitary grain at the surface of its centrally located cavity. The combustion products given off by the igniter are directed through a port and into a clear ignition channel provided in the center of the pyrotechnic gas generant material which extends the length of the gas generator, thereby causing the gas generant material to produce sufficient gas to inflate an associated airbag. The unitary grain of ignition material used in the pyrogen igniter facilitates and simplifies the assembly and manufacture of the igniter structure.

Inflator for a vehicle airbag system and a pyrogen igniter used therein

A membrane seal assembly separating forward and aft combustion chambers of a rocket motor. The assembly covers the aft surface of a bulkhead having apertures therein to preclude flow communication between the combustion chambers during combustion of propellant within the aft combustion chamber. The assembly includes a membrane which has a plurality of sectors which open along hinge lines away from the bulkhead to allow flow communication between the combustion chambers when a higher pressure is present in the forward combustion chamber than in the aft combustion chamber, i.e., during subsequent combustion of the propellant in the forward combustion chamber. The sectors are provided by a plurality of radially extending slits in the membrane which are formed entirely through the thickness of the membrane so that complex scoring tooling and close tolerances of manufacturing membranes with score lines is not required while maintaining reliability of the burst membrane so that the cost of the membrane seal assembly may be reduced. The pattern and sizing of apertures in the bulkhead is such, for an erodible bulkhead, that each aperture erodes into the adjacent eroding apertures in such a manner as to minimize the size of debris breaking away from the bulkhead to reduce the possibility of debris becoming lodged in the nozzle throat.

Reduced cost membrane seal assembly for pulsed rocket motor

The sidewalls of a reaction canister for a passenger-side airbag module define a pair of opposed, parallel channels on their inner surfaces. A protective cover in the form of a thin rectangular plastic body has two opposite edges thickened to form lobes. These lobes are inserted into the channels before the second end plate is attached to the canister.

Slide-in protective cover for passenger airbag module

A generant-loaded filter assembly is prepared as a unitary member for subsequent insertion into the inflator chamber of an airbag module. The assembly comprises a cylindrical filter pack having end caps enclosing the gas generant, a preload, and an igniter.

Generant loaded filter assembly and method for its use

An air bag inflator subassembly is described which when installed onto a dashboard substrate forms a complete air bag inflator unit. The air bag inflator subassembly comprises a plurality of flanges formed integral to the body of the inflator. An air bag cushion and retainer cover are attached to the inflator subassembly. The subassembly eliminates the need for a separate canister and simplifies the process of installing the air bag inflator unit. The subassembly is installed on the dashboard substrate and is attached to the appropriate electrical connections. The subassembly utilizes existing vehicle hardware to form part of the air bag canister.

Air bag inflator subassembly for installation onto the dashboard

The reaction canister of an airbag module assembly is extruded to include a floor bounded by a pair of channels extending along its length. An inflator chamber is suspended beneath the floor of the canister by rails which are integral with the chamber and slide into the channels.

Slide-together airbag module

An all-metal preload for the gas generant charge of a passenger-side vehicular airbag assembly includes a base member which lodges firmly in one end of the cylindrical filter. A contact member engages the end of the generant charge. Spring means are interposed between the base member and the contact member for maintaining a compressive force against the generant charge.

Growing community of inventors

North Ogden, UT, United States of America

Joseph L Ralston