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Supplemental inflatable restraint energy management and deployment system
| Details |
Inventors: Kincaid, Kevin D.; Ravas, Jr., Richard J.; Gose, Mark W.;
Assignee: Delco Electronics Corp. (Kokomo, IN)
Primary Examiner: Dougherty; Thomas M.
Assistant Examiner: Krishnan; Aditya
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Simon; Anthony Luke, Navarre; Mark A.
A supplemental inflatable restraint deployment system comprises an energy reserve capacitor, a first supplemental inflatable restraint deployment circuit comprising a controllable current source in series with a first squib, a second supplemental inflatable restraint circuit comprising a second controllable current source in series with a second deployment squib and a control unit for providing a first pulse of first duration to the first controllable current source to activate the first squib and for providing a second pulse of second predetermined duration to the second controllable current source to activate the second squib, wherein the first and second pulses are staggered with respect to each other. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG.
1, the apparatus of this invention shown includes reserve capacitor 12 normally charged to a predetermined voltage level through a power supply coupled to line 10.
The predetermined voltage level is set to ensure storage of sufficient energy in capacitor 12 to operate the supplemental inflatable restraint system for a short time period after a battery disconnect in a deployment situation.
An example voltage level is 36 volts.
A series circuit comprising controllable current source 14 and squib 18 is coupled across capacitor 12 and powered thereby in the event of battery disconnect.
Controllable current source 14 has a line 16 coupled to a control unit (not shown) and, responsive to a control signal on line 16, is switchable between states of supplying no current to squib 18 and supplying a regulated activation current to squib 18 to deploy the supplemental inflatable restraint system.
In accordance with the apparatus of this invention, controllable current source 14 is controlled by a pulse 17, on line 16, of predetermined duration.
In response to the pulse of predetermined duration, current source 14 supplies current to squib 18 for a predetermined amount of time, which current and predetermined amount of time is sufficient to activate squib 18 and deploy the supplemental inflatable restraint system if necessary.
Through use of a predetermined pulse time and a controllable current source of known characteristic, the amount of power used by capacitor 12 during deployment can be predetermined and can be more efficiently managed allowing for capacitor 12 to be of smaller size due to elimination of wasted reserve energy.
Controllable current source 14 may be any controllable current source such as a transistor, a transmission gate or preferably according to this invention, a regulated current source as shown in FIG.
10 and described in detail further below.
The current source shown in FIG.
10 is controllable by multiple control lines coupled to a control unit or microprocessor and provides a regulated, steady current, i
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I/O Systems 
