Structural and Functional Analysis of the Interchamber Processes in Gas Generators of the Vehicle Airbag Modules

Abstract

In modern passenger vehicles, minimizing injuries to drivers and passengers and reducing mortality in the road accidents are largely ensured by the passive safety systems. The airbag modules of various types are important elements in such systems. Main parameters that determine these modules effectiveness directly depend on structural and functional diagrams of their actuators (gas generators) and on the features and parameters of the gas-dynamic processes in the combustion products flow of the gas-generating pyrotechnic compositions. The paper presents results of experimental studies of the structure and parameters of gas-dynamic processes that appear during ignition and subsequent combustion of the nitrogen-containing pyrotechnic compositions used in the airbag module actuators, i.e., solid fuel and hybrid gas generators. High-speed registration of the airbag inflation processes, instrumental decomposition of the gas generators, determination of their structural layouts and 3D models were performed on the basis of the developed methodology using the tools of experimental physics of the fast processes. Based on the full-scale experiments published results, characteristic features description and comparative analysis were carried out of the intra-chamber gas-dynamic processes in combustion products flow of the gas-generating pyrotechnic compositions for various types of gas generators of the vehicle airbag modules. They included solid fuel pyrotechnic gas generators of the frontal (driver and passenger) modules with single-stage and controlled two-stage operation; hybrid gas generators of the head modules (curtains) positioned above the vehicle doors; side modules positioned in the vehicle seats, and knee modules positioned under the steering column

Please cite this article in English as:

Gonsales Astua A.V. Structural and functional analysis of the interchamber processes in gas generators of the vehicle airbag modules. Herald of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Series Natural Sciences, 2024, no. 3 (114), pp. 4--23 (in Russ.). EDN: PCFGYX

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