Seatbelt retractor assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10906504-B2
Application number	US-201815871373-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2018
Priority date	Jan 15, 2018
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

A system includes a seatbelt retractor having a spool and a braking claw selectively engageable with the spool. The system includes an actuator designed to inhibit engagement of the braking claw with the spool. The system includes a processor and a memory storing program instructions executable by the processor to actuate the actuator to inhibit engagement of the braking claw with the spool for a threshold amount of time after detecting an impact of a vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a seatbelt retractor having a spool and a braking claw selectively engageable with the spool;
an actuator designed to inhibit engagement of the braking claw with the spool;
a processor; and
a memory storing program instructions executable by the processor to actuate the actuator to inhibit engagement of the braking claw with the spool for a threshold amount of time after detecting an impact of a vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the actuator is an electromagnetic linear actuator.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a ball sensor movable from a first position where the ball sensor does not urge the braking claw into engagement with the spool to a second position where the ball sensor urges the braking claw into engagement with the spool.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the actuator is designed to inhibit movement of the ball sensor from the first position to the second position.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the actuator is moveable between a retracted position in which the actuator does not urge the ball sensor to the first position and an extended position in which the actuator urges the ball sensor to the first position.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the threshold amount of time is less than 30 milliseconds, and the memory further stores instructions to actuate the actuator to permit engagement of the braking claw with the spool after the threshold amount of time has lapsed.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an impact sensor, and wherein in the instructions include instructions to detect the impact of the vehicle based on information received from the impact sensor.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Jaradi Dean M
• Faruque Mohammad Omar
• Farooq S M Iskander

Classifications

• B60R22/46 Primary

  {Reels} with means to tension the belt in an emergency {by forced winding up}(electrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements B60R21/01 {; tensioners using reels only guiding the belt during normal use, e.g. splitted reels B60R22/195}) · CPC title

• B60R22/40

  responsive only to vehicle movement · CPC title

• B60R2021/01013

  Means for detecting collision, impending collision or roll-over · CPC title

• B60R22/41 Primary

  with additional means for preventing locking {during unwinding} under predetermined conditions · CPC title

• B60R2022/4666

  characterised by electric actuators · CPC title