Automotive air bag system

摘要

An inflation system for inflating an air bag installed in a vehicle features an impact sensor for measuring an impact exerted on the vehicle and an inflator having a housing with a gas chamber and gas jettison opening for flowing the gas out of the housing and into the air bag. The inflator includes a first gas generator for inflating the air bag, a shutter for restricting gas flow through the gas jettison opening, and a second gas generator for moving the shutter to a reduced gas jettison opening area position. The housing and second gas generator are arranged such that the second gas generator directs the shutter into the outrushing gas flow leading to the jettison opening and shifts until the pressure balance on opposite sides of the axially shifting shutter are equal at which point the shuttle is in a flow limiting mode. A controller operates the first gas generator unit upon output of the impact sensor and the second gas generating unit when the output of the impact sensor is below a predetermined threshold value.