Patent ID: 6461076
Filing Date: 2002-10-08
Classification: E01F

Abstract:
A vehicle impact attenuator comprising:an array of resilient, self-restoring tubes arranged along a longitudinal axis, said array comprising multiple rows of the tubes, at least a majority of the rows comprising at least two of the tubes, said array comprising a front end opposite a backup and a back end near the backup; at least some of the tubes each comprising a respective compression element, each compression element oriented along a respective compression axis, at least some of the compression axes forming an acute angle with the longitudinal axis such that an outboard portion of the respective compression element is positioned nearer the front end of the array than is an inboard portion of the respective compression element; each of said compression elements extending substantially completely across the respective tube in an initial condition and coupled to the respective tube to resist compression while allowing extension of the respective tube along the compression axis.