Patent ID: 7464961
Filing Date: 2008-12-16
Classification: B60R

Abstract:
1. A variable output inflator comprising a housing defining a combustion chamber therein and at least one port for expelling combustion gas from said combustion chamber; an initiator mounted on said housing for introducing a combustion gas into said combustion chamber; an injection piston assembly mounted in said combustion chamber of said housing, said assembly including an injection piston defining a propellant chamber therein, a sealed container in said propellant chamber having a charge of liquid propellant therein, a cover mounted on said injection piston to sealingly close said propellant chamber with said container therein, and means communicating said propellant chamber with said combustion chamber to deliver liquid propellant thereto, said injection piston being slidably mounted in said housing for movement between an initial position and a second position in response to the introduction of a combustion gas into said combustion chamber from said initiator; an accumulator mounted in said housing to define a peripheral chamber therewith for receiving a fluid therein, said accumulator having an internal chamber for receiving the fluid, at least one port communicating said peripheral chamber with said internal chamber; and a tape disposed over said port to block communication of said peripheral chamber with said internal chamber, said tape being rupturable in response to an increase in pressure in said peripheral chamber in response to movement of said injection piston from said first position towards said second position.