1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inflatable restraint system primarily designed for use within a motor vehicle to protect occupants when the vehicle is involved in an accident, and specifically, a collision or other type of crash or impact. The inflatable restraint system comprises a central processing unit or other processor operatively connected to both a sensor assembly and a valve assembly in order to initially inflate and actively regulate pressure within a first and second plurality of chambers, respectively defining impact absorption and impact resistance zones, disposed on the interior of each of one or more inflatable members mounted at strategic locations adjacent intended occupant positions within the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Every year, thousands of people in the United States alone are involved in motor vehicle accidents, many of which result in the death of one or more occupants and/or severe bodily injury to others. Aside from the devastation and havoc these accidents cause in people's lives, they also result in costs of over five billion dollars annually to the insurance industry, health care industry, health care providers, the federal government, public health agencies and many others. It should, therefore, be clear that the cost of morbidity (long term injury consequences) to the automobile and insurance industries is staggering.
Attempts to protect the occupants in a motor vehicle include seat belts, also known as restraint harnesses and more recently, inflatable air bags. Such devices are most certainly a step in the right direction, and when used properly, have saved a tremendous number of human lives. Even so, both seat belts and air bags suffer from distinct disadvantages. By way of example, harness restraints including lap belts, chest belts, etc., limit the forward or lateral motion of the body's acceleration caused by an impact, but in doing so, such restraints cause the base of the neck to act as a fulcrum or axis of rotation-flexion-extension to further accentuate the force of acceleration of the head on the neck. More specifically, when there is a collision, the motor vehicle is usually stopped by the impact, but the forces applied to the body and restrained by the seat and/or lap belts are nevertheless also acting to set the head in motion upon the neck, leading to impact injuries caused by a collision of the head against the front or side window, ceiling of the car or steering wheel. Thus, the common mechanism of injury to the brain, spine and/or spinal cord in head-on collisions is an acceleration of the head, and the neck, causing a hyperflexion-hyperextension injury, whereas in broad-side collisions, the head is accelerated to the side or laterally causing a lateral-flexion injury.
Most modern day motor vehicles use a combination of restraint harnesses and inflatable air bags, which typically, inflate during a collision in an extremely rapid manner from the steering wheel and/or front console area of the vehicle and towards the occupants. Thus, inflatable air bags are intended to cushion the occupant as he or she is thrust forward, under the forces being applied during a head on collision, and impacts the air bag. While the provision of air bags on modern day motor vehicles has certainly brought down the mortality rate, meaning that more people can survive the violent forces of a head on collision, the injury rate is thought to have increased, meaning that survivors of these and other types of crashes often suffer from serious head, neck and/or spinal cord injuries. That is because by the time the air bags are deployed, the forces caused by the vehicular impact are already acting on the body and, as set forth above, cause acceleration of the head on the neck as well as of the torso on the hip. In some instances, air bags have even been reported to cause nasal and facial fractures and, in extreme circumstances, result in the forcing of bone fragments into the brain. Further, the direction of air bag discharge is almost invariably towards the occupant and can promote hyperextension injury to the spine or posterior head injury. This is prevalent and can be particularly dangerous in elderly persons with osteoporosis, a thinning of the bones with age due to calcium depletion.
There have been some attempts to improve the protection for motor vehicle passengers, which have primarily been directed to the deployment of air bags from multiple locations within the vehicle, in order to surround an occupant with restraints. Such attempts have found favor and are promoted primarily by some European car manufactures, most notably those which proclaim the benefits of "side air bags." While adding to the expense of the automobile, these and other multi-location deployment systems have been offered in response to an increased demand to solve the problem of multiple trauma injuries, prevalent in impact accidents. Further, such attempts reflect the desire of the motor vehicle industry to control and find a solution to problems that continue to cause death, disability and injury at an ever increasing rate. Such attempts are also a positive step forward in the effort to reduce death and serious bodily injury during accidents due to direct impact to the vehicle. However, even air bags that deploy from the side or other location in a motor vehicle do not effectively address the forces at work during an impact that cause acceleration of the head relative to the neck, and/or of the neck relative to the torso, and therefore, the problem of brain, spine, neck and torso injuries resulting from such accidents have also not been adequately addressed.
Accordingly, there remains a need in this art for an inflatable restraint assembly which is designed and structured to more actively intercept at least the head and neck motion of an occupant riding in a motor vehicle undergoing a collision or other impact. More specifically, there is a need for an inflatable restraint assembly which attempts to reverse the forces of impact between a passenger and an air bag, sufficiently to diffuse such forces by applying an equal and opposite force, while buffering the passenger's impact, and thereby, reducing dynamically and actively, the range of motion of the head, neck and torso, caused by the impact. Any such improved restraint assembly developed would preferably also utilize at least two, oppositely disposed and pressure sensing inflatable members, each having a plurality of chambers, and further, through the application of microcomputer-microprocessor technology, initiate a positive gradient increase in pressures to some, but not all chambers of each pressure sensing inflatable member, for the specific purpose of slowing the acceleration forces at work on an occupant's body, while applying an equal and opposite force to the force of impact of the occupant's body with the other(s) of the inflatable members. Any such improved restraint system should further include a plurality of inflatable restraint devices or bags strategically located at various points throughout the passenger compartment, including but not necessarily limited to the ceiling, door post and seat belts, so as to provide as much surrounding or "global" protection as possible, with the goal being to significantly reduce injury by a reduction of the forces exerted on the occupant's body during impact type accidents. In addition, any such improved restraint assembly developed should also overcome the long existing problems of known restraint systems through the ability to actively oppose impact forces "intelligently" through a series of dynamic pressure measurements conducted in response to the acceleration-deceleration of the various portions of the passenger's body as the body impacts substantially oppositely disposed, but cooperatively positioned, inflatable members.
In addition to the above, any such improved restraint assembly developed should have the capability of storing data for determining and recalling related information, such as predicted speed of impact and a record of pressure sensing data. Such data could be correlated with post injury medical findings to determine, over a period of time, what impact and pressure ranges cause disabling injury as versus those impact and pressure forces which are only suspect at the present time. Such memory capabilities would serve as a meaningful tool of analysis and benefit to the medical and insurance industries, among others.