Deceleration sensor for vehicle air bag
AssigneeDelphi Technologies, Inc.
InventorEdwin Charles Storey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for activating air bags in motor vehicles without the use of electrically powered deceleration sensors. This method utilizes the impact of one mass of quartz against another to generate a flash of visible light to initiate activation of the air bag system under conditions of extremely sudden deceleration. This flash of light, which is detected by a photo-sensitive element, initiates deployment of the air bag system without reliance on the electrical cables currently used for this purpose, but which could be damaged in the first moment of a collision, thus preventing inflation of the air bags. This substitution of a photo-sensitive activation system for a system dependent on electric cables substantially enhances the reliability of the air bag deployment concept.
Claims10
A deceleration sensor for a vehicle, comprising:
- at least one triboluminescent mass positionable on the vehicle;
- and
- at least one contact mass mountable on the vehicle and oriented to move toward the triboluminescent mass to impart sufficient energy to the triboluminescent mass to cause the triboluminescent mass to generate a light signal when a deceleration indicative of a collision occurs.
A method for actuating a vehicle component having a component actuator, comprising the acts of:
- providing a triboluminescent mass on a vehicle;
- providing a contact mass on the vehicle;
- enabling at least one of the masses to move under the influence of deceleration such that the masses move toward each other with a force sufficient to cause the triboluminescent mass to generate a light signal when a predetermined deceleration occurs;
- transforming the light signal to a control signal;
- and
- using the control signal to actuate the vehicle component.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.