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US 2006/0278748 A1Published application
Seat belt retractor
AssigneeTakata Corporation
InventorsKeigo Shinya, Koji Hiramatsu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seat belt retractor including a tension reducer which is compact in the axial and radial directions. The retractor includes a reducer spring that always biases a bush shaft, which rotates together with a spool, to rotate in the belt winding direction, and a main spring can selectively bias the spool in the belt winding direction. A lever of the bush shaft and a Geneva wheel form an assembly for memorizing the rotational amount of the spool in the belt winding direction relative to the ratchet gear when the main spring does not bias the spool in the belt winding direction. The assembly is arranged in the ratchet gear so that the retractor with the tension reducer is formed to be compact in the axial direction and the radial direction.
Claims23
A seat belt assembly comprising:
- a seat belt coupled to a spool, wherein the seat belt is configured to rotate in a winding and unwinding direction;
- a retractor assembly at least partially covered by a retractor housing and configured to guide the belt in the winding and unwinding directions;
- a shaft coupled to the spool and configured to rotate with the spool, wherein the shaft is radially biased with respect to the housing by a reducer spring;
- a clutch configured to selectively rotate with the shaft, the clutch biased with respect to the housing by a main spring;
- wherein the clutch is further configured so that the main spring and the reducer spring are arranged in parallel with respect to the shaft when the clutch rotates with the shaft;
- and
- a counter assembly configured to track the rotation of the shaft with respect to the clutch when the seat belt assembly is in the buckled state, wherein the counter assembly comprises:
- a Geneva wheel;
- and a stopper solely incorporated within the Geneva wheel and configured to prevent the shaft from rotating in at least one direction with respect to the retractor housing.
6 more elements
A seat belt retractor assembly, comprising:
- a housing;
- a shaft configured to rotate a seat belt with respect to the housing, wherein the shaft is radially biased with respect to the housing by a reducer spring;
- a clutch configured to selectively rotate with the shaft, the clutch biased with respect to the housing by a main spring;
- wherein the clutch is configured to selectively rotate with the shaft, and wherein the clutch is further configured so that the main spring and the reducer spring are arranged in parallel with respect to the shaft when the clutch rotates with the shaft;
- and
- a counter assembly configured to selectively track the rotation of the shaft in a first direction with respect to the clutch, wherein the counter assembly comprises:
- a Geneva wheel;
- and a stopper solely incorporated within the Geneva wheel and configured to prevent the shaft from rotating in at least one direction with respect to the retractor housing.
5 more elements
A seat belt retractor comprising:
- a spool for winding up a seat belt;
- a spring capable of biasing the spool in the belt winding direction;
- and
- a tension reducer for controlling the biasing force of the spring relative to the spool in order to control the tension on the seat belt,
- wherein the spring includes a first spiral spring configured to always bias the spool in the belt winding direction and a second spiral spring configured to selectively bias the spool in the belt winding direction,
- wherein the tension reducer includes a rotation control member configured to rotate together with the spool or relative to the spool selectively, the tension reducer does not allow the second spring to bias the spool in the belt winding direction when the rotation control member is prevented from rotating in the belt winding direction, and allows the second spring to bias the spool in the belt winding direction when the rotation control member is allowed to rotating in the belt winding direction,
- an assembly for memorizing the rotational amount of the spool in the belt winding direction relative to the rotation control member when the second spiral spring is not allowed to bias the spool in the belt winding direction,
- wherein the assembly includes a Geneva wheel having a plurality of teeth and a stopper and wherein the wheel is rotatably attached to the rotation control member, and a rotary member which is rotatable together with the spool, which has a lever capable of engaging with the teeth of the Geneva wheel, and which intermittently rotates the Geneva wheel, the assembly memorizes the rotational amount of the spool in the belt winding direction relative to the rotation control member as the rotational amount of the Geneva wheel, and
- wherein, when the rotation control member is allowed to rotate in the belt winding direction, the lever collides with the stopper so that the spool is biased in the belt winding direction by both the first and second spiral springs.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.