Patent Description:
With the increasing experience in the manufacture and use of safety airbags, people are more and more aware of the engineering challenges faced by the design, construction and use of the airbags. Most safety airbags are designed to inflate quickly and provide cushioning near occupants. Many of these air bags are configured to be placed in front of the vehicle occupants. The placement of an airbag is determined based on the assumption of the position of a vehicle occupant during normal operation of a vehicle. Thus, when the occupant is within a predetermined position range during inflation of the safety airbag, the occupant may obtain the best protection of the particular safety airbag.

In certain cases, injury occurs when the occupant is "at an inappropriate position" relative to the assumed position described above. Improper inflation of the safety airbag may also cause injury similar to the injury caused when being at an inappropriate position. Improper inflation may cause the airbag to be at a poor position when contacting the occupant, or cause the safety airbag to enter the space reserved for the occupant. Such intrusion during inflation may increase the likelihood of injury to vehicle occupants.

An overhead safety airbag is developed to replace a front safety airbag. Such overhead safety airbag is advantageous in certain cases because the overhead safety airbag is inflated in place without applying force directly to vehicle occupants. In addition, positioning a safety airbag in a roof of a vehicle allows greater design flexibility of a steering wheel and/or a dashboard component of the vehicle.

One of the difficulties when designing and mounting the overhead safety airbag is how to control the trajectory of the inflation of the overhead safety airbag. More specifically, if the safety airbag is inflated too fast or too slowly when expanding from the roof, the safety airbag may not be able to provide protection for occupants, or may even hurt the occupants. A safety airbag with the features of the preamble of claim <NUM> is known from <CIT>. Further safety airbags are known from <CIT> and <CIT>.

Therefore, a safety airbag having high inflation stability is desired.

An objective of the present invention is to provide a safety airbag having high inflation stability and a folding method for a safety airbag.

The safety airbag of the present invention is defined by claim <NUM>.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first airbag cavity further comprises a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is configured to be fixed to a mounting position; the second end is configured as a free end; and when the safety air bag is in the stowed state, the second end is folded toward the first end to form an end fold portion.

According to the present invention, when the safety airbag is in the stowed state, the second airbag cavity has a left fold portion and a right fold portion arranged in the second direction.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the left fold portion and/or the right fold portion of the second airbag cavity comprises an "N"-shaped fold portion.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the left covering part and the right covering part of the first airbag cavity are arranged to be spaced apart by a distance in the second direction.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the safety airbag further comprises an opening at the first end of the first airbag cavity, and the opening is configured to be in communication with a gas generator.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the end fold portion comprises an "N"-shaped fold portion proximate to the first end.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the end fold portion further comprises a rolled fold portion adjacent to the "N"-shaped fold portion, and the second end is located within the rolled fold portion.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first airbag cavity is configured to be in a flat shape when in the inflated state, and the second airbag cavity is configured to have a bilaterally symmetrical structure when in the inflated state.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction.

A folding mehod according to the present invention is defined by claim <NUM>.

The folding method comprises the following steps:.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first airbag cavity further comprises a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is configured to be fixed to a mounting position; the second end is configured as a free end; and the folding method further comprises the step of folding the second end toward the first end.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, before the step of folding the left part and the right part inwards, the left and right sides of the second airbag cavity are folded in the second direction respectively.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the left side and/or the right side of the second airbag cavity is folded in the second direction in an "N" shape.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second end is folded toward the first end in an "N" shape or in an "N" shape in conjunction with a rolling manner.

Specific embodiments of a safety airbag and a folding method for a safety airbag according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following detailed description and the accompanying drawings are used to illustratively explain the principles of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to the described preferred embodiments, and the protection scope of the present invention is defined by the claims.

In addition, terms for spatial relations (such as "upper", "lower", "left" and "right") are used to describe a relative positional relationship between an element and another element shown in the accompanying drawings. Therefore, when used, the terms for spatial relations may be applied to directions different from those shown in the accompanying drawings. Obviously, although all of these terms for spatial relations refer to the directions shown in the accompanying drawings for ease of explanation, a person skilled in the art will appreciate that directions different from those shown in the drawings may be used.

<FIG> shows a schematic diagram of a safety airbag in an inflated state according to an embodiment of the present invention. The safety airbag according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to <FIG>.

As shown in <FIG>, the safety airbag <NUM> includes a first airbag cavity <NUM> and a second airbag cavity <NUM>. According to an exemplary embodiment, the first airbag cavity <NUM> is configured to be in a flat shape when in the inflated state, and the second airbag cavity <NUM> is configured to have a bilaterally symmetrical structure when in the inflated state (which is better shown in <FIG>). The second airbag cavity <NUM> is arranged on a panel of the first airbag cavity <NUM> (i.e., a passenger-facing panel shown in <FIG>). Moreover, when the safety airbag <NUM> is in the inflated state, the size of the second airbag cavity <NUM> in the first direction is smaller than the size of the first airbag cavity <NUM> in the first direction. In <FIG>, the first direction is specifically a vertical direction of a passenger. In an exemplary embodiment, the safety airbag <NUM> can further include an opening at a first end <NUM> of the first airbag cavity <NUM>, and the opening is configured to be in communication with a gas generator.

<FIG> show schematic diagrams of a folding method for a safety airbag according to an embodiment of the present invention. <FIG> other schematic diagrams of a folding method for a safety airbag according to an embodiment of the present invention. The folding method for a safety air bag according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>.

In <FIG>, a first direction V and a second direction H are specified. The first direction V corresponds to the vertical direction of the passenger in <FIG>, and the second direction H corresponds to a horizontal direction of the passenger in <FIG>. The first airbag cavity <NUM> of the safety airbag <NUM> further includes a first end <NUM> and a second end <NUM>, and the first airbag cavity <NUM> further has a left part <NUM> and a right part <NUM> that are arranged in the second direction H. In an exemplary embodiment, the first end <NUM> is configured to be fixed to a mounting position (for example, a roof of a vehicle), and the second end <NUM> is configured as a free end.

Still referring to <FIG>, a folding method for a safety airbag according to an embodiment of the present invention is described, and in <FIG>, a folding plate <NUM> is used to assist in the folding of the safety airbag.

As shown in <FIG>, the safety airbag <NUM> is spread out with the first airbag cavity <NUM> being under the second airbag cavity <NUM>. In other words, a windshield-facing side of the safety airbag <NUM> is placed face down, and a passenger-facing side of the safety airbag <NUM> is placed face up. Next, as shown in <FIG>, with the assistance of the folding plate <NUM>, the right side of the second airbag cavity <NUM> is folded inwards in the second direction H. After that, as shown in <FIG>, also with the assistance of the folding plate <NUM>, the right side of the second airbag cavity <NUM> that has been folded once is folded outwards in the second direction H, that is, the right side of the second airbag cavity <NUM> is folded in an "N" shape to form a right fold portion <NUM> of the second airbag cavity <NUM>. And then, as shown in <FIG>, the right part <NUM> of the first airbag cavity <NUM> is folded inwards to form a right covering part <NUM> so as to cover the second airbag cavity <NUM> from the right side.

Similar to the folding method as shown in <FIG>, a method for folding a left fold portion <NUM> of the second airbag cavity <NUM> and a left covering part <NUM> of the first airbag cavity <NUM> to cover the second airbag cavity <NUM> from the left side is shown in <FIG>.

After the safety airbag <NUM> is folded according to the folding method described above with reference to <FIG>, the safety airbag <NUM> is in a stowed state. When the safety airbag <NUM> is in the stowed state, the left part <NUM> and the right part <NUM> of the first airbag cavity <NUM> are folded inwards to form the left covering part <NUM> and the right covering part <NUM>. The left covering part <NUM> and the right covering part <NUM> each can be configured to cover part of the second airbag cavity <NUM> so as to completely cover the second airbag cavity <NUM> from the left and right sides. It should be noted that the steps of the folding method described in <FIG> are merely exemplary, and the folding method for a safety airbag of the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the first airbag cavity can be folded after two sides of the second airbag cavity are folded to form a left fold portion and a right fold portion. As another example, two sides of the second airbag cavity can be folded in a folding manner other than the "N"-shaped folding manner. As another example, a folding plate may not be used.

Accordingly, in the safety airbag obtained by the folding method for a safety airbag according to the present invention, the first airbag cavity and the second airbag cavity both have a smaller transverse dimension, and the second airbag cavity is covered by the first airbag cavity from the left and right sides, thereby enabling effective control of the inflation speed of the second airbag cavity, such that the second airbag cavity can be inflated after being located at a desired operating position so as to improve the stability of the safety airbag during expansion and inflation.

In an exemplary embodiment, instead of or in addition to the "N"-shaped fold portion, the left fold portion <NUM> and the right fold portion <NUM> of the second airbag cavity <NUM> can further include a rolled fold portion formed by folding in a rolling manner.

In an exemplary embodiment, the left covering part <NUM> and the right covering part <NUM> of the first airbag cavity <NUM> are arranged to be spaced apart by a distance in the second direction H.

In an exemplary embodiment, the second direction H is perpendicular to the first direction V. However, this is merely an example. As long as the condition in which the second direction is different from the first direction is met, other configurations can be applied as appropriate.

The folding method for a safety airbag according to an embodiment of the present invention is further described below with reference to <FIG>. After the folding step shown in <FIG>, the second end <NUM> can also be folded toward the first end <NUM>. <FIG> show an embodiment in which the second end <NUM> is folded toward the first end <NUM>. It can be seen that the second end <NUM> is folded toward the first end <NUM> to form an end fold portion, so that the size of the safety airbag <NUM> in the stowed state is further reduced. In particular, the size of the safety airbag <NUM> in the lengthwise direction is reduced. In one exemplary embodiment, the second end <NUM> is folded toward the first end <NUM> only in an "N" shape. As shown in <FIG>, in particular in <FIG>, the end fold portion includes a plurality of "N"-shaped fold portions extending in different directions, i.e., an "N"-shaped fold portion that extends in the vertical direction in the middle of <FIG> and "N"-shaped fold portions that are located on two sides and extend in the horizontal direction. In another exemplary embodiment, as shown in <FIG>, the second end <NUM> is folded toward the first end <NUM> in an "N" shape in conjunction with a rolling manner, and the second end <NUM> is located within the rolled fold portion, so that the end fold portion includes an "N"-shaped fold portion proximate to the first end <NUM> and a rolled fold portion adjacent to the "N"-shaped fold portion.

Thus, the "N"-shaped folding and rolling folding of the safety airbag <NUM> both facilitate the rapid in-place inflation of the first airbag cavity <NUM> of the safety airbag <NUM>. Particularly in an overhead safety airbag, gas jet flow generated by the gas generator will cause the safety airbag to be quickly inflated forward and downward into place along a windshield. Thus, in the safety airbag of the present invention, prior to significant expansion and inflation of the safety airbag toward a passenger, the safety airbag has already been located at the desired operating position, thereby improving the stability of the safety airbag during expansion and inflation.

Claim 1:
A safety airbag (<NUM>), wherein
the safety airbag comprises a first airbag cavity (<NUM>) and a second airbag cavity (<NUM>); the second airbag cavity (<NUM>) is arranged on a panel of the first airbag cavity (<NUM>); and when the safety airbag (<NUM>) is in an inflated state, the size of the second airbag cavity (<NUM>) in a first direction (V) is smaller than the size of the first airbag cavity (<NUM>) in the first direction (V); and
the first airbag cavity (<NUM>) has a left part (<NUM>) and a right part (<NUM>) that are arranged in a second direction (H); when the safety airbag (<NUM>) is in a stowed state, the left part (<NUM>) and the right part (<NUM>) are folded inwards to form a left covering part (<NUM>) and a right covering part (<NUM>), wherein the second direction (H) is different from the first direction (V); characterized in that the left covering part (<NUM>) and the right covering part (<NUM>) are each configured to cover part of the second airbag cavity (<NUM>) so as to completely cover the second airbag cavity (<NUM>) from the left and right sides, wherein
when the safety airbag (<NUM>) is in the stowed state, the second airbag cavity (<NUM>) has a left fold portion (<NUM>) and a right fold portion (<NUM>) arranged in the second direction (H).