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US 7,070,204 B1Granted
Programmable gas generator using microcells
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorErik K. Antonsson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A programmable gas generator which has a plurality of different elements can be individually activated, and wherein the activation causes inflation of a device.
Claims15
A programmable gas generator, comprising:
- a controller, receiving information indicating an amount of gas to be generated;
- and
- a programmable multipart propulsion chip, having a plurality of individually accessible gas generation elements, each of which is accessible to produce a gas output, and each of which, once activated, produces a measured amount of gas, said chip being activated by said controller based on said amount of gas to be generated.
A method of operating an airbag, comprising:
- providing a plurality of sensors in an vehicle, each said sensor sensing a characteristic of operation of the installed vehicle;
- providing a programmable propulsion chip, which produces an amount of gas output indicative of a control that is applied thereto, wherein said amount is controllable on individual unit basis;
- and
- storing a plurality of airbag inflation profiles and selecting one of said profiles based on said sensor characteristic.
1 more element
An airbag deployment system, comprising:
- a sensor, sensing at least a deceleration of the vehicle;
- a memory, storing a plurality of profiles of airbag deployment, said plurality of profiles based on a kind of deceleration and ideal profiles for said kind of deceleration;
- and
- a programmable multipart propulsion chip, having a plurality of elements each of which is individually accessible to produce measured gas output, said propulsion chip being driven by said profiles to produce a gas output based on said profiles.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.