Inflatable Side Rail Deflector Apparatus For Small Offset Collisions
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsMohamed Ridha Baccouche, Manoharprasad K. Rao, Saied Nusier, Jialiang Le
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An inflatable member, or deflector, is attached to the frame of the vehicle. The deflector in the expanded condition at least partially fills a space defined by a bumper beam, a portion of the frame, a front tire and a portion of the vehicle body. A sensor provides a signal to a controller to actuate an inflator. The sensor may be a contact sensor, such as an accelerometer or an electro-resistive sensor, or the sensor may be a predictive sensor, such as a radar sensor or a machine vision sensor.
Claims22
An apparatus for managing energy of an offset impact by a vehicle having a body, frame and a front tire with an object laterally outboard of the frame, comprising:
- a deflector attached to and folded against the frame in an unexpanded condition, the body, the frame and the front tire define a space adjacent the deflector in the unexpanded condition, and the deflector in an expanded condition at least partially fills the space.
(canceled)
An intrusion avoidance apparatus for a vehicle having a body, a frame, a bumper, and an impact absorbing member disposed between the frame and the bumper, wherein the body, frame and bumper define a void within the body, the intrusion avoidance apparatus comprising:
- an inflatable member, wherein the inflatable member has a metal skin that is folded in the unexpanded condition and unfolded in the expanded condition;
- a sensor that senses the void within the body is about to receive an object in the course of a collision with the object, and provides an offset impact warning signal;
- a controller receives the offset impact warning signal and provides an actuation signal;
- and
- a pyrotechnic inflator that is actuated by the actuation signal to inflate the inflatable member to at least partially fill the void.
(canceled)
(canceled)
The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising:
- a sensor disposed on the vehicle that senses the object impacted by the vehicle and provides an offset impact signal;
- a controller receives the offset impact signal and provides an actuation signal;
- and
- an inflator operatively connected to and capable of inflating the deflector in response to the actuation signal.
An apparatus for managing energy of a frontal impact with an object by a vehicle, comprising:
- a deflector disposed on the vehicle having a metal skin that is folded in an unexpanded condition and unfolded in an expanded condition, wherein the vehicle has a front tire that at least partially defines a space adjacent the deflector, and the deflector is expandable to at least partially fill the space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.