Method for improving the energy absorbing characteristics of automobile components
AssigneeJohnson Controls Technology Company
InventorsVal A. Bellora, Ryan W. Krauss, Martin Lambrecht, Lambert J. Van Poolen, Paul E. Thoma
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method is disclosed for designing an energy-absorbing impact zone for a vehicle interior, including acquiring test data representative of an occupant, determining a force versus deflection curve for the vehicle impact zone, analyzing the force versus deflection curve, and utilizing the analysis to adjust the stiffness of the energy-absorbing impact zone and to shape the force versus deflection curve so that a constant area under the force versus deflection curve has the minimum deflection possible without exceeding a certain force limit and a certain head impact criterion.
Claims57
A method for designing an energy-absorbing impact zone for a vehicle interior, comprising:
- acquiring test data representative of an acceleration versus time relationship for a head of an occupant impacting the impact zone;
- determining a force versus deflection curve for the impact zone based on the test data;
- determining a total deflection of the energy-absorbing impact zone;
- and
- shaping the force versus deflection curve to minimize a deflection by selecting a countermeasure material having a thickness and adjusting the a stiffness of the material without exceeding a certain force limit and a certain head impact criterion.
A method of designing a vehicle impact zone that reduces the severity of injury to an occupant during a collision, comprising:
- establishing a head impact criterion for quantitatively representing the severity of impact;
- selecting a design threshold for the impact criterion;
- conducting one or more dynamic impact tests;
- using the dynamic impact test data to prepare one or more force versus deflection curves;
- analyzing the force versus deflection curve data using a series spring analogy;
- adjusting the stiffness of the impact zone;
- shaping the force versus deflection curve without exceeding a certain force limit and the established head impact criterion.
A system for designing a countermeasure for an impact zone within a vehicle, comprising:
- means for establishing a force versus deflection curve representing data from one or more impact tests between a free motion headform and the countermeasure;
- means for establishing a head impact criterion;
- means for analyzing the force versus deflection curve data using a series spring analogy;
- means for shaping the force versus deflection curve to minimize deflection of the countermeasure based on the head impact criterion without exceeding a certain force limit.
A system for designing a countermeasure for a vehicle comprising:
- means for acquiring test impact data representative of one or more impacts of an occupant against an interior component of the vehicle;
- means for identifying design criteria for limiting injury to the occupant during an impact against the interior of the vehicle;
- means for representing the test impact data in a force versus deflection relationship;
- means for selecting a material for the countermeasure including a structure characteristic having an impact performance that satisfies the design criteria.
A system for designing a head impact countermeasure for a vehicle component comprising:
- means for developing a force versus deflection curve representative of an impact between a head form and the vehicle component;
- means for establishing a total deflection based on a certain force limit;
- means for determining a packaging space adjacent to the vehicle component within which the head impact countermeasure may be provided;
- and
- means for selecting a material for the head impact countermeasure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.