Seat belt retractor with load limiter
AssigneeKey Safety Systems, Inc.
InventorsMartin Specht, Thomas Heckmayr
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seat belt retractor has a belt reel for seat belt webbing and a load limiter that has a flowable load-limiter medium which is transported through a flow channel, by a displacement device. The displacement device is drivable by the belt reel, at an energy consumption related to a crash, in which the flow resistance of the transported load-limiter medium in the flow channel or the volume of the load-limiter medium transported in the flow channel per unit time is adjustable.
Claims18
A seat belt retractor comprising a belt reel and a load limiter that has a flowable load-limiter medium which is transported through a flow channel by a displacement device drivable by the belt reel, at an energy consumption related to a crash's severity, wherein a resistance to the flow of the load-limiter medium in the flow channel or the volume of the load-limiter medium transported in the flow channel per unit time is adjustable by adjusting the cross-section of the flow channel using a servo element acting as an inert mass and acted upon by a restoring force.
A seat belt retractor comprising a belt reel and a load limiter that has a flowable load-limiter medium which is transported through a flow channel by a displacement device drivable by the belt reel, at an energy consumption related to a crash's severity, wherein a resistance to the flow of the load-limiter medium in the flow channel or the volume of the load-limiter medium transported in the flow channel per unit time is adjustable, and the flow resistance or the volume transported per unit time is adjustable by counter-force acting over the entire cross-section of the flow channel.
A seat belt retractor comprising a belt reel and a load limiter that has a flowable load-limiter medium which is transported through a flow channel by a displacement device drivable by the belt reel, at an energy consumption related to a crash's severity, wherein a resistance to the flow of the load-limiter medium in the flow channel or the volume of the load-limiter medium transported in the flow channel per unit time is adjustable, and the forces occurring when the belt reel is locked are taken up at least partly by a hydraulic system blocked against transport of the force-limiter medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.