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US 6,786,508 B2Granted
Occupant protection apparatus for a vehicle
AssigneeLear Corporation
InventorsGregory S. Fraley, Thomas J. Fowler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An occupant protection apparatus includes a housing and a bladder mounted relative to the housing. The bladder has at least one flexible wall and defines a chamber having an electrorheological or magnetorheological fluid disposed therein. The apparatus further includes a device for creating an electrical or magnetic field about a volume of the fluid to alter the effective viscosity of the fluid when the flexible wall is moved relative to the housing, thereby altering the acceleration rate of the flexible wall relative to the housing.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
- a bladder mounted relative to said housing, said bladder having at least a portion defining a non-rigid deformable flexible wall, said bladder defining a chamber having an electrorheological or magnetorheological fluid disposed therein;
- and
- a device for creating an electrical or magnetic field about a volume of said fluid to alter the effective viscosity of said fluid when said flexible wall is moved relative to said housing, thereby altering the acceleration rate of said flexible wall relative to said housing;
- wherein said device alters the strength of the electrical or magnetic field based on information from a sensor selected from the group of:
- a sensor detecting the speed of the vehicle;
- a sensor detecting the weight of an occupant seated in the vehicle;
- a sensor and microprocessor detecting and calculating the acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle.
5 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a housing defining a chamber having an electrorheological or magnetorheological fluid disposed therein;
- a wall movably mounted relative to said housing such that movement of said wall alters the volume of said chamber;
- an open cell foam disposed in said chamber such that said open cell foam contains gas within a portion of the cells and contains said fluid within another portion of said cells, such that said gas is generally interspersed within said fluid;
- and
- a device for creating an electrical or magnetic field about a volume of said fluid to alter the effective viscosity of said fluid when said wall is moved to decrease the volume of said chamber by the compression of the gas, thereby altering the acceleration rate of the wall relative to said housing.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
- a bladder mounted relative to said housing, said bladder having at least one flexible wall, said bladder defining a chamber having an electrorheological or magnetorheological fluid disposed therein;
- a second bladder mounted relative to said housing, wherein said second bladder has at least one flexible wall, and defines a chamber having an electrorheological or magnetorheological fluid disposed therein;
- and
- a device for creating an electrical or magnetic field about a volume of said fluid to alter the effective viscosity of said fluid when said flexible wall is moved relative to said housing, thereby altering the acceleration rate of said flexible wall relative to said housing,
- wherein said second bladder is positioned adjacent said first bladder such that a deflection of one of said flexible walls of said first and second bladders causes a deflection of the other one of said flexible walls of said first and second bladders.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.