Vehicle-mounted crash attenuator
AssigneeTraffix Devices, Inc.
InventorsGeoffrey B. Maus, Jack H. Kulp, Felipe Almanza
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Significant safety advantages are recognized for vehicle-mounted or attached crash attenuators, particularly in the form of structural improvements in the nature of a catch shelf which helps to prevent underride of an impacting vehicle, meaning that the impacting vehicle is less likely to release drop under the attenuator. When an impacting vehicle slides under the crash attenuator, there is an inability to take full advantage of the ride-down afforded by elements of the attenuator as they are crushed by the impact, thus potentially increasing damage to the impacting vehicle and injuries to its occupants.
Claims17
A crash impact attenuator for attachment to a host vehicle, comprising:
- a frame;
- a first impact attenuator module disposed on the frame;
- a second impact attenuator module disposed rearwardly of the first impact attenuator module on the frame;
- and
- a support flange disposed on a lower portion of the frame for supporting the second impact attenuator module;
- the support flange having a generally horizontally rearwardly extending portion which has an axial length sufficient to underlie more than one-third of an axial length of the second impact attenuator module.
A crash impact attenuator for attachment to a host vehicle, comprising:
- a frame;
- a first impact attenuator module disposed on the frame;
- a second impact attenuator module disposed rearwardly of the first impact attenuator module on the frame;
- and
- a support flange disposed on a lower portion of the frame for supporting the second impact attenuator module, the support flange comprising a generally horizontally rearwardly extending portion and a generally vertically upwardly extending portion, each of the generally horizontally rearwardly extending portion and the generally vertically upwardly extending portion being joined together by an angled portion;
- wherein the generally horizontally rearwardly extending portion of the support flange is longer than the generally vertically upwardly extending portion of the support flange.
A crash impact attenuator for attachment to a host vehicle, comprising:
- a frame;
- a first impact attenuator module disposed on the frame;
- a second impact attenuator module disposed rearwardly of the first impact attenuator module on the frame, the second impact attenuator module comprising an enclosed container having a hollow interior filled with a crash attenuating material, the crash attenuating material being crushable during a vehicular impact to a minimum effective axial length;
- a support flange disposed on a lower portion of the frame for supporting the second impact attenuator module, the support flange having a generally horizontally rearwardly extending portion;
- wherein the generally horizontally rearwardly extending portion of the support flange extends rearwardly to a point beyond the minimum effective axial length of the second impact attenuator module, thereby creating a catch shelf on an upper surface of the generally horizontally rearwardly extending portion of the support flange behind a rearmost portion of the fully crushed second impact attenuator module.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.