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AssigneeDynamit Nobel Aktiengesselschaft
InventorsUwe Brede, Gerhard Kordel, Wolfram Seebeck, Horst Wellner
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A passive safety device comprises a sensor unit for determining vehicle accelerations and decelerations, an evaluating unit for evaluating the output signal of the sensor unit, and a triggering unit for the activation of an occupant protection system upon the reception of a trigger signal, to protect the occupants from injuries. The individual units of the safety device are connected by way of optical lightguides, i.e. the communication among the individual units takes place through optical light signals. The sensor unit has an optical-mechanical acceleration sensor with at least one input lightguide, light being transmitted to the acceleration sensor by way of this lightguide. This light is transmitted within the acceleration sensor to at least one output lightguide. The optical system of the acceleration sensor arranged between the two lightguides is exposed to the accelerations to be detected and changes its optical properties in dependence on the magnitude of the acceleration forces. The output signal of the acceleration sensor, i.e. the light from the at least one output lightguide, is a measure for the effective acceleration and permits either quantitative information or qualitative information (larger than, larger than or equal to, smaller than, smaller than or equal to a predetermined threshold value) regarding the actual acceleration.
A passive safety device for an airbag system for protecting occupants of a vehicle from injuries during accidents which comprises a sensor unit for detecting the vehicle accelerations and decelerations;
A passive safety device for an airbag system for protecting occupants of a vehicle from injuries during accidents which comprises a sensor unit for detecting the vehicle accelerations and decelerations;
A method for optically triggering a passive safety device for an airbag system for protecting the occupants of a vehicle from injuries during accidents, wherein acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle is determined by a sensor unit transmitting an output signal corresponding to a measured value, and a trigger signal for activation of the airbag system is applied to a triggering unit arranged separately from the sensor unit in case the acceleration or deceleration corresponding to the output signal of the sensor unit reaches or exceeds or falls below a predetermined threshold value, said method being characterized in that, for activation of the airbag system, an optical light signal is produced as the trigger signal, said optical light signal being fed to the triggering unit by way of an optical lightguide and an optical light signal is produced as the output signal of said sensor unit and is transmitted via an optical lightguide to an evaluating unit arranged separately from the sensor unit and the triggering unit.
An optomechanical acceleration sensor in a vehicle for activating an airbag system for protecting the occupants of the vehicle from injuries during accidents which comprises an optical input lightguide, an optical output lightguide, and a light transmission device for transmitting an incident light of the input lightguide to the output lightguide, wherein the light transmission device comprises a spring-mass system that is movable upon the occurrence of accelerations of the vehicle and, with no acceleration being effective, is in a starting position or is converted into the latter, the light transmission properties of the light transmission device varying in dependence on its movement or extent of movement in such a way that light fed into the output lightguide is a measure of the effective acceleration of the vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.