SAFETY AIRBAGS

IN CARS

SUMITTED TO: -

SUBMITTED BY: -

Mr V.P. Singh

Jitendra Kumar

Prof, Mechanical Engineering

1120382
M-3

SAFETY AIRBAGS IN CARS

INTRODUCTION
For years, the trusty seat belt provided the sole form of passive restraint
in our cars.
But over time, mush of the country adopted mandatory seat-belt laws.
Statistics have shown that the use of seat belts has saved thousands of
lives that might have been lost in collisions.
Air Bags have been under development for many years.
No safety device has consumed more attention and resources than the
airbag .
It is known with high confidence that when a crash occurs, the presence
of airbag reduces fatality risk to drivers.
Airbags are subject of serious government and industry research.
An airbag is a vehicle safety device .It is an occupant restraint system
consisting of a flexible fabric envelope or cushion designed to inflate
rapidly during an automobile Collision & restrain automobile drivers and
passengers in an accident, whether or not they were wearing their seat
Belts .

THE BASICS OF AIR BAGS

Newtons law of motion :

Newton's familiar first law of motion says that objects moving at a
constant velocity continue at the same velocity unless an external force
acts upon them.
If objects arent restrained, they will continue moving at the speed of
the moving car even if the car is stopped by collision.
All airbags need to do is to slow down passengers speed. Airbags
protect you by applying a restraining force to the body that is smaller
than the force the body would experience if it hit the dashboard or
steering wheel suddenly, and by spreading this force over a larger area.
Newton's third law ("For every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction.") tells us that the body must exert a force on the steering
wheel that is equal, but opposite, to the force exerted by the steering
wheel on the body. Why, then, does the steering wheel not appear to
move when the body exerts this force on it?

DEVELOPMENT OF AIR BAGS

First patent on an inflatable crash-landing device for airplanes was filed
during World War II.
Allen Breed was holding the patent to the only crash sensing technology
available at the birth of the airbag industry . Breed invented a "sensor
and safety system" in 1968, the world's first electromechanical
automotive airbag system.
rudimental patents for airbags go back to the 1950s. Patent
applications were submitted by German Walter Linderer and American
John Hedrik as early as 1951.
Walter Linderer's airbag was based on a compressed air system .
John Hedrik received U.S. Patent in 1953 for what he called a "safety
cushion assembly for automotive vehicles .
Ever since 1988, it became a binding.

KEY DATES

1973 - The Oldsmobile Toronado became the first car with a passenger
airbag;
1974 - Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile offer dual airbags as an option on
several of their full-sized cars;
1980 -Mercedes-Benz introduced the airbag in Germany as an option on its
high end model W126 .
Mid-1980's - Ford and Chrysler introduce airbags in their vehicles;
1990 - Ford makes airbags standard equipment in its vehicles.
1990 - The first recorded accident between two vehicles in which an airbag
deploy to protect each driver occurs on March 12, 1990;
1995 - Volvo offers side airbags and torso side protection airbags as an

option on 850 models;

1998 - The federal government mandates duel frontal airbags on all
passenger Vehicles .
2006-Honda introduces first airbag systems for motorcycles American Honda
Motor, Corp.

MAIN PARTS OF AN AIRBAG

1.Bag
2.Sensor
3.Inflation system

HOW AN AIRBAG WORKS

air bags are designed to inflate in frontal impacts in which the car strikes
about 16 km/hr
The air bag system can be broken down into two main components.
These are the impact sensor and the air bag module unit. The impact
sensor does what its name implies, senses impacts.
The sensors are set to a sensitivity level where they will only deploy in an
accident .
The sensors function by detecting automobile deceleration.
When the automobile decelerates at a rapid rate, the sensors are
tripped.
This deceleration detecting is the job of two or more deceleration
sensors, placed at the front of the car.
When the sensors go off, they send an electrical current to the air bag
module unit, causing it to deploy.
Time taken for all these things about .1sec.

SENSOR
The sensor is the device that tells the bag to inflate.
It works with the control module to discriminate between crash and
non- crash events.
Several crash sensors located in the front of vehicle and in the passenger
compartment.

Ball tube crash sensor

An electric current is used to heat a filament wire that ignites

the NaN3 capsules, producing N2:
2NaN3 2Na + 3N2
10Na + 2KNO3 K2O + 5Na2O+ N2
K2O + Na2O SiO2 alkaline glass

 The nitrogen gas is what causes the air bag to inflate.

This inflation occurs in an average of only 30 milliseconds.
When an occupant plunges into the air bag, the gas if forced backwards
through vents, a process which takes another forty-five milliseconds.
The whole sequence from initial detection of a crash, until the air bag is
fully deployed, happens very quickly
BAG is made of a thin, nylon fabric, which is folded into the steering
wheel or dashboard or, the seat or door.
The powdery substance released (regular cornstarch or talcum powder )
is used to keep the bags lubricated while theyre in storage.

INFLATOR ASSEMBLY
Control module activates the airbag assembly - an electric current is
sent to the detonator - ignition the sodium azide pallets evolves
nitrogen gas.

MODERN TYPES OF AIR BAGS

Curtain Air Bags
Developed by Mercedes and Volvo.
Inflate in front of windows to provide passengers better head and neck
protection.
More efficient at tipping and side impacts .

Future of airbags
Smart systems
Includes weight sensors
Determine type occupant in seat.ie.child or adult.

Infrared occupant
Detect the distance of passenger from airbags

LIMITATIONS
After airbags have been deployed, they may be difficult to re-position for
the next deployment .
The impact of an airbag can hurt a passenger who is improperly
positioned .

Deployment injuries can be most harmful to children and infants.

A vehicle must strike an inanimate object like a solid barrier between a

speed of 8 and 14 miles per hour for vehicle air bags to be deployed .
Harmful effects of sodium azide( during flatenning & recycling of
automobile)

CONCLUSIONS
Air bags are of greater importance in todays vehicles siince safety of
human life is of prior importance
So far safe riding and for saving the precious life the safety bags must
be implemented
Let?s hope every automobile manufacturer implements the same

Reference
http://www.slideshare.net
http://www.seminarsonly.com

www.safercar.gov