Self-aligning safety belt

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016137302-A1
Application number	US-201414899696-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 23, 2014
Priority date	Jun 21, 2013
Publication date	May 19, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A safety belt ( 104 ) is secured to a seat structure ( 102 ) using movable anchor points ( 114, 116, 406 ). In an embodiment, a y-belt ( 104 ) is attached to left and right pivotable anchor plates ( 110 ). The anchor plates ( 110 ) pivot when a load is applied to the safety belt ( 104 ), thus allowing the anchor points to self-align to maintain an equal amount of tension across the lower and higher portion of the seat belt. In a different embodiment, a 2-point safety belt ( 708 ) is attached to slidable anchors ( 406 ) that move within channels ( 404 ) in response to load applied to the safety belt, allowing the anchor points to self-align to maintain proper tension and positioning of the safety belt ( 708 ).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle safety restraint system, comprising:
a safety belt having a left attachment and a right attachment, the left attachment coupled to a seat structure via a left anchor point that is translatable with respect to the seat structure in response to load applied to the safety belt, and the right attachment coupled to the seat structure via a right anchor point that is translatable with respect to the seat structure in response to the load applied to the safety belt.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a left biasing device coupled to the left anchor point operable to bias the left anchor point to a first left position; and a right biasing device coupled to the right anchor point operable to bias the right anchor point to a first right position.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the left anchor point is located on a left anchor plate; and the right anchor point is located on a right anchor plate.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the left anchor plate is pivotally attached to the seat structure at a left pivot location offset from the left anchor point; and the right anchor plate is pivotally attached to the seat structure at a right pivot location offset from the right anchor point.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the safety belt is a Y-belt and further includes a second left attachment and a second right attachment, the second left attachment coupled to the left anchor plate at a second left anchor point and the second right attachment coupled to the right anchor plate at a second right anchor point.

6 . The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the left anchor point is a left anchor slidably located within a left anchor channel of the left anchor plate; and the right anchor point is a right anchor slidably located within a right anchor channel of the right anchor plate.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the left anchor point is a left anchor slidably located within a left anchor channel of the seat structure; and the right anchor point is a right anchor slidably located within a right anchor channel of the seat structure.

8 . A safety belt anchoring system, comprising:
an anchor point for accepting an attachment point of a safety belt, the anchor point movably coupled to a seat structure, wherein the anchor point is movable between a first position and a second position, and wherein the anchor point is movable in response to load applied to the safety belt.

9 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising a biasing device coupled to the anchor point operable to bias the anchor point to the first position.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the anchor point is located on an anchor plate.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the anchor plate is pivotally attached to the seat structure at a pivot location offset from the anchor point.

12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the safety belt is a y-belt, the system further comprising:
an additional anchor point for accepting a second attachment point of the safety belt, the additional anchor point located on the anchor plate.

13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the anchor point is an anchor slidably located within an anchor channel of the anchor plate.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the anchor point is an anchor slidably located within an anchor channel of the seat structure.

15 . A method, comprising:
securing a safety belt to a seat structure at a left anchor point and a right anchor point; applying a load to the safety belt; translating the left anchor point and the right anchor point in response to applying the load to the safety belt.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising biasing the left anchor point towards a first left position and biasing the right anchor point towards a first right position.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the left anchor point is located on a left anchor plate pivotally attached to the seat structure at a left pivot location offset from the left anchor point; the right anchor point is located on a right anchor plate pivotally attached to the seat structure at a right pivot location offset from the right anchor point; and translating the left anchor point and the right anchor point further includes pivoting the left anchor plate and the right anchor plate about the left pivot location and the right pivot location, respectively, in response to applying the load to the safety belt.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein:
the safety belt is a Y-belt; securing the safety belt further includes securing the safety belt to the seat structure at an additional left anchor point located on the left anchor plate and an additional right anchor point located on the right anchor plate; and the method further includes translating the additional left anchor point and the additional right anchor point in response to applying the load to the safety belt.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein translating the left anchor point and the right anchor point further comprises:
sliding the left anchor point within a left anchor channel of a left anchor plate in response to applying the load to the safety belt; and sliding the right anchor point within a right anchor channel of a right anchor plate in response to applying the load to the safety belt.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein translating the left anchor point and the right anchor point further comprises:
sliding the left anchor point within a left anchor channel of the seat structure in response to applying the load to the safety belt; and sliding the right anchor point within a right anchor channel of the seat structure in response to applying the load to the safety belt.

Assignees

• Zodiac Seats Us Llc

Inventors

• Valdes Armando
• Jafri Aamir
• Trimble Robert W

Classifications

• B64D11/062 Primary

  Belts or other passenger restraint means for passenger seats · CPC title

• B60R22/26 Primary

  secured to the seat · CPC title