Robust Design of a Driver-Side Airbag Using the Taguchi Method

In the proto design stage of a new car, the performances of an occupant protection system can be evaluated by CAE even though the real test should be carried out. The number of the real test is reduced by the exact predictions followed by the appropriate design recommendation. However, the existing researches using CAE in predicting the performances do not consider the uncertainties of parameters. That often leads to inconsistency between test and CAE. In this research, the robust design of a protection system such as airbag and load limiter is suggested considering the frontal crash. The parameter design scheme of the Taguchi method is introduced to obtain the robust design of arbitrary airbag and load limiter. It is performed based on the frontal crash test condition of US-NCAP with an arbitrary passenger car. The variances of the performances such as HIC, chest acceleration and probability of combined injury are calculated by the outer array and the Taylor series expansion. Through the analysis of the Taguchi method, the robust optimum is determined.

다구찌법을 이용한 운전석 에어백의 강건설계