Patent ID: 8287011

Claim:
An energy absorbing structure for protecting an impacted object, such as a pedestrian or other body or object that impacts or is impacted by the structure, the structure comprising: an incident surface that is oriented towards the impacted object, the incident surface having at least some expanded metallic structure formed from a sheet or coil with slits made by cutting or shearing, the sheet or coil being stretched to form cells having interlinked stranded edges that do not unravel in normal use, the incident surface being curvilinear before impact; a pair of bowed supporting wall surfaces that lie substantially in-plane with respect to a normal component of the impacting force extending from the incident surface in a direction opposite from the impacted object, the bowed supporting wall surfaces having at least some expanded metallic structure, wherein the expanded metallic structure in the pair of bowed supporting wall surfaces includes cells, at least some of the cells having a major axis that lies substantially parallel to a major component for forces associated with impact; and a pair of basal surfaces that support the bowed supporting wall surfaces, the basal surfaces also having at least some expanded metallic structure, wherein the incident surface, the pair of bowed supporting wall surfaces, and the pair of basal surfaces define a hat section, the hat section being configured in a shape defined by a group consisting of a conic hat, an omega-shaped hat, a dual draft hat, a convex hat, an offset hat, a drafted hat, an offset angle hat, and combinations thereof.