The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 28, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 26, 2001
Quin Soderquist, South Weber, UT (US);
Michael P. Jordan, South Weber, UT (US);
Christopher Hock, Uintah, UT (US);
Autoliv ASP, Inc., Ogden, UT (US);
Abstract
An air bag device that includes an air bag cushion, a diffuser canister, and a gas generation inflator. The diffuser canister is attached to the air bag cushion and has walls configured to define an interior space therein. The walls of the diffuser canister have an interior surface, an exterior surface, and a wall thickness t. At least one of the walls has an aperture formed therethrough in communication with the interior of the air bag cushion. The gas generation inflator is configured to rapidly create a gas that exits the diffuser canister through the aperture so as to fill the air bag cushion. The aperture is defined by an edge extending between the interior and said exterior surfaces of the wall that is configured to diffuse the gas exiting the diffuser canister through the aperture. The edge of the aperture is configured such that the cross-sectional area of the aperture that is proximate to the exterior surface of the wall is larger than the cross-sectional area of the aperture proximate to the interior surface of wall. The edge includes an angled portion configured such that opposing sides of the aperture have an angle &agr; therebetween in the range of about 20 degrees to about 145 degrees. The aperture has a diameter d proximate to the interior surface of the wall and is configured so that the diameter d and wall thickness t have a ratio d to tin the range of about 0.5 to about 4. An alternate embodiment of the air bag device comprises an aperture defined by an edge that is configured so that the cross-section of aperture is non-smooth and causes turbulence in the gas stream.