141 |
Belt Tensioner for a Seat Belt System |
US12514750 |
2007-08-21 |
US20100141011A1 |
2010-06-10 |
Walter Eberle |
A vehicle seat belt tensioner comprises a traction element that transmits a tensioning force to a seat belt strap. The traction element may be formed for example of a flexible rope or a wire, or a thrust element which can transmit traction and thrust forces. A force limiting unit, which limits the retaining force exerted by the seat belt strap on a passenger has a functional element coupled to the traction or thrust element, which is displaceable by means of a displaceable piston element in the effective direction of the tensioning force. The vehicle belt tensioner according to the invention includes means for the parallel application of tensioning force to both the piston element and the traction or thrust element, concurrently. |
142 |
FORCE LEVEL CONTROL FOR AN ENERGY ABSORBER FOR AIRCRAFT |
US12223888 |
2007-01-31 |
US20100051401A1 |
2010-03-04 |
Dirk Humfeldt; Michael Harriehausen; Jan Schröder; Martin Sperber; Michael Demary |
A force level control for an energy absorber is provided for aircraft, and includes an adjustment element and a housing, whereby via the adjustment element, a bending radius of the energy absorber element is continuously adjustable in the housing. |
143 |
REUSABLE SAFETY APPARATUS FOR REDUCING THE FORWARD VELOCITY OF AN OCCUPANT OF A VEHICLE |
US12196972 |
2008-08-22 |
US20100045015A1 |
2010-02-25 |
BORISLAV MARTINOVIC |
A reusable safety apparatus for reducing the forward velocity of an occupant of a vehicle involved in a collision or another event that imparts forward velocity to the occupant of a vehicle comprising essentially of a casing member, a piston member substantially housed in the casing member, a piston resistance mechanism, and a piston release mechanism; the apparatus is fixedly attached in between a seatbelt anchor of a vehicle and the webbing material of a seatbelt. |
144 |
Buckle device |
US12458994 |
2009-07-29 |
US20090288275A1 |
2009-11-26 |
Mario Wendt; Kliment Vidolov |
A buckle device for a motor vehicle is provided. The buckle device comprising a locking tongue for inserting into a buckle and a deflecting body connected to the locking tongue, which is configured to subdivide a safety belt into a shoulder portion and a lap portion and to deflect said safety belt such that the two portions extend away from the deflecting body in different directions. The deflecting body is connected to the locking tongue via at least one elongate element, which is at least partially wound around the deflecting body. |
145 |
FORCE LIMITER |
US11720280 |
2005-11-28 |
US20090005935A1 |
2009-01-01 |
Anders Lenning |
An energy-absorbing force limiter for a safety device comprises a first component (5) and a second component (2), such as a seat-belt, that is moveable relative to the first component (5). The force limiter provides an energy-absorbing movement-resisting effect, for example by means of a frictional brake (4, 5), to resist movement of the second component relative to the first. An adjustable control element (6) actuates the brake. The magnitude of the frictional effect is a function of the degree of adjustment of the control element and at least one parameter, such as temperature, which influences the coefficient of friction. The control mechanism (9) adjusts the adjustable control element (6) to control the magnitude of the movement-resisting effect in response to a signal (12) representative of the desired resistance to movement together with a signal (10, 11) representative of that at least one parameter. |
146 |
Buffer device for vehicle seat belt |
US11481876 |
2006-07-07 |
US07455322B2 |
2008-11-25 |
Cadmus Lin |
A buffer device for vehicle seat belt includes a housing having two inside racks, a roller assembly, which has a roller and two gearwheels fixedly provided at the ends of the roller and meshed with the racks for guiding rotation of the roller along the racks, a traction cord member, which has a first end connected to the roller and is pullable by the seat belt such that the roller is forced to rotate along the racks to roll up the traction cord member when the seat belt is stretched to pull the roller upon an impact force, and a spring member connected between the housing and the roller for rebounding the roller to a former position. |
147 |
Deformable restraint guide for use with child restraint system |
US10952081 |
2004-09-28 |
US07401859B2 |
2008-07-22 |
Hoon Y. Kim; Hyun S. Kim |
Deformable guides for use with smaller persons and/or in a child restraint system are provided. The guides are of at least two varieties, one for inclusion within a belt system, so as to absorb the impact and stresses of a collision or other abrupt vehicular motion and the other of a type useful to guide the restraint system of an automobile about the correct location on a smaller person. The second type permits a smaller individual to be properly secured to a restraint system in spite of his small stature. The guides are made of multiple layers of metal, plastic or other structurally significant materials, or combinations thereof, and designed to receive the energy of a collision such that a guide will deform, without breaking, absorbing the energy of a collision or other abrupt action. |
148 |
Energy Absorbing Seat Anchor Restraint System for Child Safety Seats |
US11608694 |
2006-12-08 |
US20080136223A1 |
2008-06-12 |
Mark Murphy; Reddy Malapati |
An energy-absorbing deformable structure to attach a child safety seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle comprises a bracket. The bracket includes a base configured to be coupled to the mounting portion of the vehicle, a metal strap positioned in the base such that a first end of the metal strap is configured to be free and coupled to the child safety seat, a second end of the metal strap is separably attached to the base, and a body of the metal strap is bent between the first end and the second end. When the metal strap is pulled in tension, the metal strap tears from the base, thereby absorbing energy. |
149 |
Seatbelt apparatus |
US10118027 |
2002-04-09 |
US07232155B2 |
2007-06-19 |
Muneo Nishizawa |
A seatbelt apparatus with two pretensioners and a load limiter. The seatbelt apparatus has a seatbelt retractor, a belt guide, a lap belt anchor, a tongue, and a buckle. The seatbelt retractor and the lap belt anchor are provided with pretensioners. The buckle is fixed to an inner portion of a car body such as the car floor through a load limiter. This configuration allows the seatbelt apparatus to restrain a passenger more effectively. |
150 |
Load control device |
US11302933 |
2005-12-14 |
US20070120001A1 |
2007-05-31 |
James Esler; Michael Wiseman; James Anthony; David Merrick; Guy Dingman |
A load control device comprises a frame defining a first anchor slot configured to receive a first restraint member, and a second anchor slot configured to receive a second restraint member. At least a portion of the frame yields under a load between the first and second anchor slots that is in excess of a predetermined load. |
151 |
Buffer device for vehicle seat belt |
US11481876 |
2006-07-07 |
US20070007381A1 |
2007-01-11 |
Cadmus Lin |
A buffer device for vehicle seat belt includes a housing having two inside racks, a roller assembly, which has a roller and two gearwheels fixedly provided at the ends of the roller and meshed with the racks for guiding rotation of the roller along the racks, a traction cord member, which has a first end connected to the roller and is pullable by the seat belt such that the roller is forced to rotate along the racks to roll up the traction cord member when the seat belt is stretched to pull the roller upon an impact force, and a spring member connected between the housing and the roller for rebounding the roller to a former position. |
152 |
Force limiter for a vehicle safety belt |
US11446688 |
2006-06-05 |
US20060279076A1 |
2006-12-14 |
Thomas Kielwein; Martin Roehrle |
A force limiter for a vehicle safety belt includes a shaft and at least one metal strap, one end of which is attached to the shaft and which supports on a strap accommodation ring radially outside of the shaft. The distance between the strap accommodation ring and the shaft is variable. |
153 |
Seat belt device |
US10820299 |
2004-04-09 |
US07144042B2 |
2006-12-05 |
Tor Vopn Eichwald |
A device for use together with a seat belt (3) of a seat in a vehicle (6), comprising a sensor (2) for measuring tension in the seat belt and a member (4) for limiting the load transferable by the seat belt, the seat belt tension sensor being arranged to provide information based on which an airbag intended for said seat may be disconnected. One of either the seat belt tension sensor (2) or the load limiter member (4) is connectable to a first end of the seat belt (3) and the other of the seat belt tension sensor and the load limiter member is connectable to the vehicle (6), the seat belt tension sensor and the load limiter member being connected to each other so that at least a part of the seat belt tension sensor (2) and a part of the load limiter member (4) overlap with each other. |
154 |
Anti-submarining seat-belt assembly |
US10690742 |
2003-10-10 |
US07131668B2 |
2006-11-07 |
Giok Djien Go |
Seat belts of a transport system are provided with anti-submarining seat-belt assemblies. A lap-belt portion of each assembly, restraining the lower part of the body of a belted passenger, is subdivided into two anti-submarining belt portions, which properly restrain the thighs when plug-in connecting at least one anti-submarining latch-plate to one of the anti-submarining buckle assemblies, all of which, equipped with energy absorbers, are arranged in a seat cushion. As a result, the energy-absorbing, anti-submarining seat-belt assembly substantially lowers great belt force in an accident, reduces the elongation of the seat belt and prevents submarining.A separately operated release button, when depressed, frees the passenger from the anti-submarining protection.Ease of use is ensured by one-click operation of a master release-button, which, when depressed, releases all latch-plates.Detachable anti-submarining latch plates, when not in use, are stored in a storage box. When needed they are attached to the lap-belt portion. |
155 |
Linear load limiter apparatus and method |
US10440484 |
2003-05-16 |
US07063353B2 |
2006-06-20 |
Jenne-Tai Wang |
A method for coordinating the restraint forces provided by a seat belt load limiter and a vehicle airbag is provided. The method includes determining a desired total restraint force profile, determining the airbag force profile, and determining a desired seat belt force profile from the desired total restraint force profile and the airbag profile. The method preferably includes determining a load-limiting force profile sufficient to substantially achieve the desired seat belt force profile, and determining the profile of a load limiter system variable sufficient to substantially achieve the load-limiting force profile. A load limiter is also provided that is characterized by a variable load-limiting force. The load-limiter includes a tube characterized by a tube wall thickness, and a deformation apparatus slidably engaged in the tube for linear translation therein. The deformation apparatus is configured to plastically deform the tube during linear translation to generate a load-limiting force. The tube wall thickness varies over the length of the tube such that the load-limiting force varies during linear translation of the piston. |
156 |
Force-limiting energy absorber |
US10512485 |
2003-04-22 |
US07048339B2 |
2006-05-23 |
Feng Mei; Thomas Beirnaert |
A force-limiting energy absorber comprises at least a first and a second elongated metal element (12, 13), being chosen out of a group consisting of a metal wire, a profiled metal wire, a metal strand, a bundle of untwisted metal wires and a metal rope. The elongated metal elements (12, 13) are deformable in its plastic region of its load-elongation diagram for absorbing energy. The load-elongation diagram and elongation at fracture of the first elongated metal element (12) is different from the load elongation diagram and elongation at fracture of the second elongated metal element (13). |
157 |
Seat belt sensing for vehicle occupant load and misuse |
US10643891 |
2003-08-20 |
US06874819B2 |
2005-04-05 |
John O'Neill |
A vehicle safety system uses sensors mounted between a seat belt frame and a seat belt spool to detect protraction of seat belt webbing after the seat belt spool has been locked by an inertial switch or the like. The vehicle safety system gathers information from vehicle mounted crash sensors. If the vehicle safety system determines that a crash is taking place, but does not receive an output from the sensor mounted between the seat belt frame and the seat belt spool indicating seat belt webbing is being protracted, the system deploys other safety apparatus based on the assumption that the occupant of a particular seat is not properly restrained by one or more seat belts. For example seat belt use information can be used to vary the level of airbag deployment in a variable deployment airbag. An alternative embodiment detects motion of a linear energy-absorbing mechanism. |
158 |
D-ring assembly with a load limiting device |
US10460223 |
2003-06-13 |
US06860671B2 |
2005-03-01 |
Kurt Schulz |
A D-ring assembly comprising a D-ring and a load limiting device. The D-ring has a slot therethrough for receiving a seatbelt webbing and for guiding the webbing from the retractor to the torso of a vehicle occupant. The load limiting device functions by absorbing kinetic energy of the vehicle occupant during a crash to control the deceleration forces experienced by the vehicle occupant. The load limiting device has a deforming member partially embedded in a swivel ball. When a predetermined amount of force is applied on the D-ring assembly, the swivel ball rotates causing the deforming member to create a channel in the load-limiting device. |
159 |
SEAT BELT SENSING FOR VEHICLE OCCUPANT LOAD AND MISUSE |
US10643891 |
2003-08-20 |
US20050039965A1 |
2005-02-24 |
John O'Neill |
A vehicle safety system uses sensors mounted between a seat belt frame and a seat belt spool to detect protraction of seat belt webbing after the seat belt spool has been locked by an inertial switch or the like. The vehicle safety system gathers information from vehicle mounted crash sensors. If the vehicle safety system determines that a crash is taking place, but does not receive an output from the sensor mounted between the seat belt frame and the seat belt spool indicating seat belt webbing is being protracted, the system deploys other safety apparatus based on the assumption that the occupant of a particular seat is not properly restrained by one or more seat belts. For example seat belt use information can be used to vary the level of airbag deployment in a variable deployment airbag. An alternative embodiment detects motion of a linear energy-absorbing mechanism. |
160 |
Load limiting structure for vehicle occupant restraint system |
US10617715 |
2003-07-14 |
US20050012319A1 |
2005-01-20 |
Kurt Schulz |
A new and useful load-limiting device for a vehicle occupant restraint is provided. The load-limiting device comprises a longitudinal, load-limiting member connected between the vehicle occupant restraint and an anchor point such as a vehicle seat or a structural part of the vehicle. The load-limiting member is configured to deform plastically to dissipate forces applied to the load-limiting member by the vehicle occupant during a crash. Moreover, according to the preferred embodiments, the design of the load-limiting member provides a new and useful form of plastic deformation to dissipate forces applied to the load-limiting member by the vehicle occupant restraint. Specifically, in one embodiment the load-limiting member comprises a deformable strip with a pattern of perforations disposed in staggered rows extending transverse to the strip. In another embodiment the load-limiting member comprises a deformable tube with a pattern of perforations disposed in staggered rings extending about the central axis of the tube. The configuration of the load-limiting member provides a plurality of beam like segments that deform progressively, and with bending beam characteristics, to dissipate forces applied to the load-limiting member by the vehicle occupant during a crash. |