Airbag inflation gas generator

Abstract: This invention relates to an air bag inflation gas generator and aims to surely retain the space between an igniter (49) and an ignition agent of a gas generating agent pack (54) and to surely caulk an end cap (42). This invention has a longitudinal cylindrical member (30) having its both ends sealed by one end plate (42) and the other end plate (32) and a plurality of gas outlets (33) formed in its outer periphery, a gas generating agent pack (54) which is accommodated in the cylindrical member, accommodates a plurality of gas generating agents in the compiled state in the axial direction of a longitudinal cylindrical pack whose both ends are sealed with one end face and the other end face and has an ignition agent disposed close to the one end face, an igniter (49) disposed at the one end plate (42) of the cylindrical member (30), and an energizing member (69) which is disposed between the other end plate (32) of the cylindrical member and the other end face of the gas generating agent pack and energizes the gas generating agent pack (54) toward the igniter side.

Description: The invention relates to an air bag inflation gas generator according the to preamble of claim 1. Such an air bag inflation gas generator is known from US-A-4,158,696. This known air bag inflation gas generator comprises in its inner sleeve a plurality of propellant wafers. Each wafer is configured in a manner to allow space for propellant powder to be uniformly placed between the wafers in order to assure a continuous propellant face. The wafers are enclosed in a hermetically sealed cartridge made of a frangible material. Means are located within the inner sleeve for initiating reaction of the gas generating wafers. This initiating means is in the form of a squib projecting into the inner sleeve. Igniter end closure cap and closure cap are threadably secured to the inner and outer sleeves. Problems with respect to the ignition of this airbag inflation gas generator may arise if the above mentioned threading connection with respect to the inner sleeve is loosened. Further problems may arise if the wafers are braking down because of shocks and vibrations of the respective vehicle since it is not excluded that the wafers may shift relative to each other since the propellant powder is placed between the wafers. It is an object of the present invention to provide an airbag inflation gas generator by which a reliable ignition is assured at any time. This object is solved by an airbag inflation gas generator comprising the features of claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are mentioned in the subclaims. For the purpose of smoothly and uniformly igniting the gas generating agent, the ignition agent is disposed separately from the gas generating agents close to the one end face of the gas generating agent pack. It is ensured by means of the biasing means that the gas generating agent pack together with the ignition agent which is disposed close to the one end face of the pack is pressed towards the igniter side such that a good contact between the igniter and the ignition agent is achieved during the operation. In order to prevent the gas generating agents from braking down because of shocks and vibrations applied during the travelling of a vehicle, the gas generating agents are pressed towards the cap of the gas generating agent pack by the biasing means such the gas generating agents are not in a position to move relative to each other. Thus, a very reliable, smooth and uniform igniting of the gas generating agents is ensured. In the following, details of the invention are described with reference to the attached drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a partial vertical section showing an air bag inflation gas generator; Fig. 2 is a transverse cross section taken on line II-II of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a gas generating agent pack of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing details of a fasten-folded section of the gas generating agent pack of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing details of a fasten-folded section of a conventional gas generating agent pack. Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing a cylindrical member of Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross section of the opening of the cylindrical member of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is an explanatory view showing the caulked state of the opening of the cylindrical member of Fig. 3; Fig. 9 is a sectional view showing an end cap of Fig. 3; and Fig. 10 is a plan view of the end cap of Fig. 9. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 show an air bag inflation gas generator of this invention, and in the drawings, the reference numeral 30 indicates a longitudinal (outer) cylindrical member sealed by an end cap 42 and a bottom 32. The cylindrical member 30 is made of JIS 5000 series aluminum material. This cylindrical member 30, as shown in Fig. 6, has an opening 31 at one end and has a plurality of gas outlets 33 formed in the outer periphery. At the bottom 32 of the cylindrical member 30, an attachment 34 is integrally formed to be attached to an automobile. The opening 31 of the cylindrical member 30, as shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, has an end cap placing step section 37 with an approximately L-shaped cross section formed from an inner wall face of the cylindrical member 30 toward an outer wall face 36 of the cylindrical member 30, and a taper section 39 having a diameter increased toward the opening end 38 ranging to the end cap placing step section 37. An angle of the taper section 39, as shown in Fig. 7, is set so that the ratio d1/d2 of wall thickness d1 of the opening end 38 and wall thickness d2 of the end cap placing step section 37 falls in a range of 60 to 80%. This is one condition to be described afterward so that a uniform wall thickness is obtained when the taper section 39 is caulked in that the inside is 10R, the middle is 11.5R and the outside is 13R as shown in Fig. 8. A depth 40 of the end cap placing step section 37 is desired to be about 0.5 mm when wall thickness of the outer cylindrical member 30 is 3.5 mm. A straight part 41 of the end cap placing step section 37 is desired to be about 2 mm when wall thickness of the outer cylindrical member 30 is 3.5 mm. The end cap 42, as shown in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, has a wall face 45 vertically rising from a rim 44 of a bottom face 43 and a caulking face 47 circularly formed with approximately R10 from a periphery 46 of the wall face 45 toward the center. At the center of the end cap 42, a through hole 48 is formed, and an igniter 49 is fitted in the through hole 48 as shown in Fig. 1. Within the cylindrical member 30, a cylindrical final filter 50 is disposed as shown in Fig. 1. The final filter 50 is structured by, for example, winding gauze wire or woven metal wire one over another and has the function that the combustion gas is cooled so that the air bag is not damaged, the combustion residue contained in the combustion gas is removed, and harmless nitrogen gas only is supplied into the air bag. Inside the final filter 50 is inserted an inner cylindrical member 52. The outer periphery of the inner cylindrical member 52 is formed with lots of gas flow openings 53 entirely. The inner cylindrical member 52 accommodates a gas generating agent pack 54. This gas generating agent pack 54 has a bottom-closed longitudinal cylindrical pack 55 made of aluminum as shown in Fig. 3. Within the cylindrical pack 55, many gas generating agents 57 having a through hole 56 formed in their center are accommodated in the stacked state in the axial direction. One end of the cylindrical pack 55 is sealed by one end face 58, and other end is sealed by another end face 60 made of, for example, an aluminum cap 59. At one end of the cylindrical pack 55, a biasing means 61 in the form of a circular cushion material is disposed. This cushion material is formed of, for example, expanded silicone rubber, which pushes the gas generating agents 57 toward the cap 59 side with its elasticity. An ignition agent 62 is disposed at the center of the cushion material. The ignition agent 62 is accommodated in an ignition agent pack 63, and a bottom 64 of the ignition agent pack 63 is contacted to the one end face 58 of the cylindrical pack 55. On the other hand, the cap 59 disposed on the other side of the cylindrical pack 55 is formed by tightly winding around the outer periphery by the cylindrical pack 55 to form a cylindrical fasten-folded section 65. At the center of the cap 59 is formed a projection 66 to accommodate an ignition agent 62. The ignition agent 62 is accommodated in the ignition agent pack 63. A packing 68 made of, for example, inflammable silicone rubber, is disposed between the end cap 42 and one end of the final filter 50 and between the bottom 32 and the other end of the final filter 50. A further biasing means 69 is disposed between the cap 59 forming the other end face 60 of the gas generating agent pack 54 and the bottom 32 of the outer cylindrical member 30. This biasing means 69 is cylindrical and disposed between the fasten-folded section 65 and the projection 66. The biasing means 69 is formed of, for example, expanded silicone rubber, which pushes the gas generating agent pack 54 toward the igniter 49 side with its elasticity. On the other hand, the cap 59 forming the other end face 60 of the cylindrical pack 55 and the opening end of the cylindrical pack 55 are fasten-folded double as shown in Fig. 4. Specifically, the opening end of the cylindrical pack 55 is outwardly turned down to form a turned part 71. The cap 59 is outwardly bent along the internal circumference of the cylindrical pack 55 and bent again along the outside of the turned part 71 of the cylindrical pack 55, and a leading end 72 is inserted between the turned part 71 and the cylindrical pack 55. In the above air bag inflation gas generator, within the cylindrical member 30 shown in Fig. 6, the gas generating agent pack 55 and the final filter 50 are mounted in the same way as shown in Fig. 1, then the end cap 42 is mounted on the end cap placing step section 37 within the opening 31 of the outer cylindrical member 30. Then, as shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, with a press caulking or roll caulking not shown, the taper section 39 of the opening 31 is caulked toward the caulking face 47 of the end cap 42. At this time, the taper section 39 is turned from a boundary 39a of the straight part 41 toward the caulking face 47. Specifically, the boundary 39a is an R starting point, and the taper section 39 is turned while avoiding the concentration of a stress by the straight part 41. When the outer cylindrical member 30 has a wall thickness of 3.5 mm, the end cap placing step section 37 has a wall thickness of 3 mm and the opening end 38 of the taper section 39 has a wall thickness of 2 mm, the opening 31 has concentricity of the inside of 10R, the middle of 11.5R and the outside of 13R as shown in Fig. 8. In the aforementioned air bag inflation gas generator, when electricity is passed to the igniter 49, the ignition agent 62 burns in turn burning the gas generating agents 57. And, the cylindrical pack 55 of the gas generating agent pack 54 breaks at the position of the gas flow openings 53 of the inner cylindrical member 52. Combustion gas passes through the gas flow openings 53 of the inner cylindrical member 52 to flow into the final filter 50 to be purified and flows into the air bag from the gas outlets 33 of the outer cylindrical member 30. When electricity is passed to the igniter 49 disposed at one end of the cylindrical member 30, the ignition agent 62 at one end burns and the gas generating agents 57 on the igniter 49 side start to burn and, at the same time, the ignition agent 62 at the other end burns and the gas generating agents 57 on the side of the ignition agent 62 at the other end burn. In the air bag inflation gas generator structured as above, between the bottom 59 of the outer cylindrical member 30 and the other side end face 60 of the gas generating agent pack 54, the biasing means 69 which pushes the gas generating agent pack 54 toward the igniter 49 side is disposed, so that the space between the igniter 49 and the ignition agent 62 at one end of the gas generating agent pack 54 can be securely retained. Specifically, the leading end position of the igniter 49 against the end cap 42 is restricted by a step section 73 of the through hole 48 of the end cap 42, and one end face 58 of the gas generating agent pack 54 is always contacted to an end face 70 of the end cap 42 by the force of pressure of the biasing member 69, so that the space between the igniter 49 and the ignition agent 62 at one end of the gas generating agent pack 54 can be securely retained. As a result, the space between the igniter 49 and the ignition agent 62 can be retained at a certain distance, and possibility of lowering the ignition performance can be solved satisfactorily. Since the cap 59 and the opening end of the cylindrical pack 55 are fasten-folded double, possible opening of a fasten-folded section 65 of the cap 59 and the cylindrical pack 55 can be completely prevented. More specifically, when a cap 59A and an opening end of a cylindrical pack 55A are simply fasten-folded as shown in Fig. 5, the energizing force of the biasing means 69 pushes the cap 59A inward, and a fasten-folded section 65A of the cap 59A may be opened as indicated in a two dot and dash line in the drawing. On the other hand, in the air bag inflation gas generator of this invention, even when the cap 59 is pushed inward by the force of pressure of the biasing means 69, the fasten-folded section 65 is precluded the possibility of opening. As a result, the biasing means 69 can securely press the gas generating agent pack 54 against the igniter 49 side, and the gas generating agent pack 54 can be completely sealed. The biasing means 61, 69 is made of expanded silicone rubber, but this invention is not limited to that embodiment. For example, it is needless to mention that the biasing means 61, 69 may be made of, for example, a coil spring, leaf spring or air cushion. The cushion material is disposed on the side of one end face 58 of the cylindrical pack 55, but this invention is not limited to that embodiment. For example, the cushion material may be disposed on the side of the other end face 60, and also can be disposed on either side of the one end face 58 and the other end face 60.

Claims: An air bag inflation gas generator comprising: a longitudinal cylindrical member (30) having its both ends sealed by an end cap (42) and a bottom (32) and having a plurality of gas outlets (33) formed in its outer periphery (46), a gas generating agent pack (54) which is accommodated in said cylindrical member (30), accommodating a plurality of gas generating agents (57) in a compiled state in the axial direction of a longitudinal cylindrical pack (55) whose both ends are sealed by one end face (58) and another end face (60), and an ignition agent (62) disposed in the gas generating agent pack (54), and an igniter (49) characterized in that the ignition agent (62) is disposed separately from the gas generating agents (57) close to said one end face (58) of the gas generating agent pack (54), the igniter (49) is disposed outside of the gas generating agent pack (54) at the end cap (42) of said cylindrical member (30), and biasing means (61, 69) are disposed between the bottom (32) of said cylindrical member (30) and the other end face (60) of said gas generating agent pack (54) and are further disposed between the one end face (58) of the gas generating agent pack (54) and the gas generating agents (57) by which means the gas generating agent pack (54) is pressed towards the igniter side and the gas generating agents (57) are pressed towards the other end face (60) of the gas generating agent pack (54). An air bag inflation gas generator according to claim 1, characterized in that the biasing means (61, 69) are formed of a cylindrical cushion material which is preferably made of expanded silicone rubber. An air bag inflation gas generator according to claim 2, characterized in that the ignition agent (62) is disposed at the center of the cushion material. An air bag inflation gas generator according to one of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the other end face (60) of the gas generating agent pack (54) is made of a cap (59) which is formed by tightly winding around the outer periphery by the cylindrical pack (55) to form a cylindrical fasten-folded section (65). An air bag inflation gas generator according to claim 4, characterized in that the cap (59) forming the other end face (60) of the gas generating agent pack (54) and the opening end of the cylindrical pack (55) are fasten-folded double. An air bag inflation gas generator according claim 5, characterized in that the opening end of the cylindrical pack (55) is outwardly turned down to form a turned part (71), the cap (59) is outwardly bent along the internal circumference of the cylindrical pack (55) and bent again along the outside of the turned part (71) of the cylindrical pack (55) and a leading end (72) is inserted between the turned part (71) and the cylindrical pack (55).

Inventors: ABE HARUKI, FUKUDA KANICHI, IKEDA YUKIO, KISHIMOTO JUNICHI, KOBARI HIROKAZU, MINAMIZAWA TAKASHI, ABE, HARUKI, FUKUDA, KANICHI, IKEDA, YUKIO, KISHIMOTO, JUNICHI, KOBARI, HIROKAZU, MINAMIZAWA, TAKASHI, ABE, HARUKI, C/O K.K. HONDA GIJYUTSU KENKYUSHO, FUKUDA, KANICHI, C/O K.K. HONDA GIJYUTSU KENKYUSHO
Applicants: HONDA MOTOR CO LTD, NIPPON KOKI KK, HONDA GIKEN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA, NIPPON KOKI CO., LTD.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B60R21
IPC codes: B60R21