Airbag module and vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10384633-B2
Application number	US-201615557559-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2016
Priority date	Mar 12, 2015
Publication date	Aug 20, 2019
Grant date	Aug 20, 2019

Abstract

A knee airbag module for a motor vehicle. The airbag module has a housing which is preferably composed of plastic and has a housing base ( 12 ) and a wall extending from the housing base ( 12 ), forming an outlet opening. A receptacle is provided in a first wall section. An airbag is folded into the housing, an air generator ( 30 ) which has outflow openings located within the airbag, and a covering element which closes the outlet opening. This covering element has a main section ( 54 ) which lies substantially in one plane, at least one first end section ( 52 ) accommodated in the at least one receptacle, and a second end section ( 56 ) situated opposite the first end section ( 52 ), extends out of the plane of the main section ( 54 ) and is connected to the housing ( 10 ). The covering element ( 50 ) is produced from a blank.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An airbag module comprising;
a housing which has a housing base and a wall which extends from the housing base, so that an outlet opening is defined wherein the wall has a first wall section in or on which at least one receptacle is provided,
an airbag folded into the housing,
an inflator having outflow openings, the inflator located within the airbag, and
a covering element which closes the outlet opening and which is separate from but connected to the housing and which has a main section which lies substantially in one plane, at least one first end section which is accommodated in the at least one receptacle, and a second end section which is situated opposite the first end section, which extends out of the one plane of the main section and has a fixing area which is connected to the housing,
the at least one receptacle is angled at between 1° and 30° to the one plane of the main section,
the covering element is produced from a blank so that the first end section accommodated in the receptacle also forms one end of the covering element.

2. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the covering element is made of a textile material.

3. The airbag module according to claim 2 , further comprising in that the textile material has at least two sections with different degrees of rigidity.

4. The airbag module according to claim 3 , further comprising in that a more rigid section consists of more layers than a less rigid section.

5. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the at least one receptacle forms a slot.

6. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the covering element is only attached to the housing by the first end section and the second end section.

7. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that at least the outflow openings for the inflator are positioned adjacent to the first wall section.

8. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the inflator is a cylindrically designed gas generator and the outflow openings are radial outflow openings which extends parallel to the second end section.

9. The airbag according to claim 8 , further comprising in that at least part of the second end section is immediately adjacent to the airbag.

10. The airbag module according to claim 9 , further comprising in that the area of the airbag which is immediately adjacent to the second end section of the covering element borders in sections a first filling area of a gas compartment surrounded by the airbag, in which the outflow openings for the inflator are positioned in the gas compartment.

11. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the second end section has a transition area which connects the fixing area to the main section, wherein the transition area is designed in the shape of a trough, wherein the radius of the trough is at least about 10 mm.

12. The airbag module according to claim 11 , further comprising in that the transition area is spaced at least in sections from the housing so that the housing does not support the transition area.

13. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the housing has a second section opposite the first wall section which is at least in sections to have two layers and that the fixing area of the second end section of the covering element is held at least in sections between the two layers of the second section.

14. The airbag module according to claim 13 , further comprising in that the second section has a number of protrusions and the fixing area has a number of breaches, wherein the protrusions protrude into the breaches.

15. The airbag module according to claim 14 , further comprising in that the protrusions are arranged outside an area of the housing having the two layers.

16. The airbag module according to claim 14 , further comprising in that the breaches are arranged in tabs which are spaced apart from one another.

17. The airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the covering element has a pre-weakened break line, in the form of a perforation.

18. The airbag module according to claim 17 , further comprising in that the pre-weakened break line extends parallel to the first wall section and divides the covering element into a first partial section, which is adjacent to the first wall section, and a second partial section.

19. The airbag module according to claim 18 , further comprising in that the pre-weakened break line extends immediately adjacent to the first wall section so that the first partial section and the first end section are identical.

20. The airbag module according to claim 18 , further comprising in that the pre-weakened break line is spaced away from the first wall section such that the first end section is part of the first partial section.

21. The airbag module according to claim 18 , further comprising in that the second partial section is shorter than the first partial section in the longitudinal direction of a vehicle.

22. A vehicle with an airbag module according to claim 1 , further comprising in that the airbag module is a knee airbag module which is attached to a vehicle dashboard and that the first wall section faces away from the dashboard.

23. The airbag module according to claim 1 , wherein the blank is formed from felt.

24. An airbag module comprising;
a housing which has a housing base and a wall which extends from the housing base, so that an outlet opening is defined wherein the wall has a first wall section in or on which at least one receptacle is provided,
an airbag folded into the housing,
a covering element which closes the outlet opening and which is separate from but connected to the housing and which has a main section which lies substantially in one plane, at least one first end section which is accommodated in the at least one receptacle, and a second end section which is situated opposite the first end section, which extends out of the one plane of the main section and has a fixing area which is connected to the housing, the covering element is produced from a blank so that the first end section accommodated in the receptacle also forms one end of the covering element,
an inflator having radial outflow openings, the inflator located within the airbag, the inflator is a cylindrically designed gas generator and the radial outflow openings extend parallel to the second end section, and
at least one mounting bolt extending from the gas generator is provided, which connects the gas generator, the airbag, the second end section of the covering element and the housing together.

25. An airbag module comprising;
a housing which has a housing base and a wall which extends from the housing base, so that an outlet opening is defined wherein the wall has a first wall section in or on which at least one receptacle is provided,
an airbag folded into the housing,
an inflator having outflow openings, the inflator located within the airbag, and
a covering element which closes the outlet opening and which is separate from but connected to the housing and which has a main section which lies substantially in one plane, at least one first end section which is accommodated in the at least one receptacle, and a second end section which is situated opposite the first end section, which extends out of the one plane of the main s

Assignees

• Autoliv Dev

Inventors

• Warm Annika
• Broussard Marco
• Schuler Harald
• Reiter Thomas
• Ydren Karin

Classifications

• B60R21/2176

  the air bag components being completely enclosed in a soft or semi-rigid housing or cover · CPC title

• B60R2021/2178

  Plastic · CPC title

• B60R21/215

  characterised by the covers for the inflatable member {(B60R21/2176 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B60R21/206 Primary

  in the lower part of dashboards, e.g. for protecting the knees · CPC title

• B60R2021/0051

  Knees · CPC title