Self-donning supplemental oxygen
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsTrevor M. Laib, Bradley J. Mitchell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A supplemental oxygen system and method is set forth for providing oxygen to an occupant of a pressurized aircraft. A flexible hood may be adapted to be stowed in a small volume when the flexible hood is deflated and may be further adapted to cover at least a portion of the head of the occupant and to provide a flow of oxygen to the occupant when the flexible hood is inflated. A source of oxygen may be adapted to rapidly inflate and deploy the flexible hood.
Claims32
A system to protect a head of a person from a hazardous or undesirable ambient condition, comprising:
- a flexible hood adapted to be stowed in a small volume when the flexible hood is deflated and adapted to automatically cover at least a portion of the head of the person and to provide a safe environment to the person when the flexible hood is inflated;
- a sensor in fluid communication with the atmosphere in the vicinity of the flexible hood;
- a mechanism operatively connected to the sensor, and adapted to deploy the flexible hood when activated by the sensor.
A method of providing oxygen to an occupant of a pressurized aircraft, comprising:
- providing a flexible hood deflated and stowed in a small volume;
- sensing pressure of the atmosphere in the vicinity of the flexible hood using a pressure sensor;
- and automatically inflating and deploying the flexible hood to cover at least a portion of a head of the occupant and to automatically provide a flow of the oxygen to the occupant when the pressure sensor detects a condition for which inflating and deploying the flexible hood is desirable.
A system to protect at least a head of a person from a hazardous or undesirable ambient condition, comprising:
- a flexible, inflatable surface adapted to be stowed in a small volume when the flexible surface is deflated and adapted to cover at least a portion of a head of a person and to provide a safe environment to a person when the flexible surface is inflated;
- and a mechanism adapted to automatically deploy the flexible surface from a deflated state stowed in the small volume to an inflated state covering at least a portion of a head of a person.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.