• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.545-550
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• 2023

A pretensioner is a safety device that protects occupants by pulling the seat belt in the event of a vehicle collision. However, since the pretensioner is driven by a explosive method, it is necessary to replace not only the gas generator but also all connecting parts including the manifold after an accident. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an elastic force-based pretensioner that can be used safely and semi-permanently. After analyzing the operating mechanism of the existing pretensioner from a thermodynamic/dynamic point of view, the spring stiffness that can be deployed within an appropriate operating time was determined by converting the gas explosion energy into elastic energy. In addition, the coil spring shape that satisfies the elastic stiffness was designed in consideration of the vehicle interior installation standard. Finally, the operating performance of the pretensioner driven by elastic force was verified through fabrication.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.5-10
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• 2011

Under the full frontal crash event, seatbelt system is the most typical and primary restraint device that prevents the second impact between an occupant and vehicle interior parts by limiting the forward motion of an occupant in the vehicle occupant packaging space. Today's restraint systems typically include the three-point seat belt with the pretensioner and the load limiter. A pretensioner preemptively tightens the seat belts removing any slack between a passenger and belt webbing which leads to early restraint of a passenger. After that a load limiter controls level of belt load by releasing the belt webbing to reduce occupant injurys. In this study, load characteristics of load limiters are optimized by the computer simulation with a MADYMO model for a frontal impact against the rigid wall at 56kph and then we suggest performance requirements. We derived optimum load characteristic from the results using four vehicle simulation models represented by the vehicle. Based on the results, we suggest the performance from the results of the second optimization using the simulation considering the design and the standardization. Finally, the performance requirements is verified by the sled tests including the load limiter device for the full vehicle condition.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.148-156
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• 2003

Many car manufacturers have frequently adopted an aggressive inflator and a lower threshold speed for airbag deployment in order to meet an injury requirement for unbolted occupant at high speed crash test. Consequently, today's occupant safety restraint system has a weakness due to an airbag induced injury at low speed crash event. This paper proposes a new crash algorithm to improve the weakness by suppressing airbag deployment at low speed crash event in case of belted condition. The proposed algorithm consists of two major blocks-crash severity algorithm and deployment logic block. The first block decides crash severity with two levels by means of velocity and crash energy calculation from acceleration signal. The second block implemented by simple AND/OR logic combines the crash severity level and seat belt status information to generate firing commands for airbag and belt pretensioner. Furthermore, it can be extended to adopt additional sensor information from passenger presence detection sensor and safing sensor. A simulation using real crash data for a 1,800cc passenger vehicle has been conducted to verify the performance of proposed algorithm.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2007

The new FMVSS 208, 213, 225 regulations include automatic suppression of airbags to prevent low-risk airbag deployment and the use of child seats with a rigid-bar anchor system. The regulations mean that children must sit in the rear seat, but do not include other specific safety measures for their protection. In the rear, restraint equipment consists of three-point shoulder/lap belts for the outside seats and a static two-point lap belt in the middle, with no additional devices such as pretensioners or load limiters; this is far from optimal for children. This study investigated injury rates using a 3-year-old-child dummy. ECE R44 sled tests used a booster, a speed of 48 km/h, and a 26- to 32-g rectangular deceleration pulse. While seated on a booster, the dummies were restrained by an adult shoulder/lap three-point belt. HIC_15 msec, Chest G and Nij were somewhat lower with an emergency locking retractor (ELR)+pretensioner+load limiter than with only an ELR or with ELR+pretensioner. However, the current seat-belt system results in injury rates that exceed the limit for OOP performance under the new FMVSS 208 regulations.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.89-94
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• 2010

The pretensioner is used to retract the belt webbing and tighten up any slack in the event of a crash. The retracting force of the pretensioner helps move the passenger into the optimum crash position in his or her seat. In this paper, the new concept of an operating mechanism of the pretensioning system is presented. The internal gear design program is developed using MATLAB. Two kinds of numerical analysis model are created. The first one, the rigid body dynamic model, is used to estimate the performance of several gear pairs. The initial performance of the new operating mechanism is analyzed and the best combination of the gear pairs is selected. The second one, the structural dynamic model, is used to calculate the deformation of the gear teeth. To decrease the deformation and interference of the teeth, the shape of the gear pairs is changed.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.881-888
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• 2013

A basic study was performed to develop a mini gas generator by using a commercial automotive airbag inflater. The mini gas generator can be used for industrial and military application like a seat belt pretensioner. Some parameters were experimentally investigated to reduce the size of the inflater. Basic combustion tests were performed in the closed chamber and measured the pressure and the temperature behavior according to the design parameters. From the study, essential parameters were determined to design a mini gas generator.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.95-101
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• 2023

As the popularization of autonomous vehicles is anticipated, it is expected that the variety of passenger postures will diversify. However, the current vehicle safety system is expected to be inadequate for accommodating these diverse passenger postures, particularly in reclined positions where severe injuries have been reported in frontal collisions. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the biomechanical responses and tolerances of occupants in reclined postures. In this study, the behavior and injuries of a Hybrid-III dummy model in a reclined position are analyzed through frontal collision sled simulations equipped with the semi-rigid seat provided by the previous study, three-point safety belt with pretensioner and load limiter, and airbag models. The results are evaluated by comparing thouse reponses with post-mortem human surrogate (PMHS) data, and the findings are expected to be applicable to the basic design of a new restraint system suitable for various postures in autonomous vehicles.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.52-60
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• 2020

Usage of EDR(Event Data Recorder) report for traffic accident analysis is currently increasing due to government regulation of EDR data release. Nevertheless, a lot of investigators simply adopt by comparing the number of ignition cycles(crash) at event to the number of ignition cycles(download) without an exact judgment whether event data occurred by this accident or not. In the EDR report, besides ignition cycles, there are many factors such as event record type, algorithm active(rear/rollover/side/frontal), time between events, event severity status(rollover/rear/right side/reft side/frontal), belt switch circuit status, driver/passenger pretensioner/air-bag deployment, PDOF(Principal Direction of Force) by ΔV to be able to decide whether or not to adopt. also the event data is considered enough to vehicle damaged state, accident situation at the scene of the accident. and there is described in "all data should be examined in conjunction with other available physical evidence from the vehicle and scene" in the CDR(Crash Data Retrieval) report. Therefore many investigators have to decide whether or not to adopt after they consider sufficiently to above factors when they are the traffic accident analysis and investigate the causes of a accident on the adopted event data. In this paper, we report to traffic accident investigators notable points and analysis methods on the basis of thousands of cases and the results of one's own experiment in NFS(National Forensic Service).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.102-106
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper is to study the failure cases in relation to system of Air Bag in vehicle happened in the field. In the first example, it was separated the soldering parts connected the wire pin between air bag module and clock spring of air bag. Whenever the pin shake by the car's vibration, the driver verified the malfunction phenomenon appeared air bag warning lamp on instrument panel in front of driver's seat. in car inside room. The second example, it verified the warning lamp lighting phenomenon of air bag by produced the circuit plate non-contacting of single an element in air bag electronic control unit. The third example, it verified the light of air bag warning indicator lamp by separated with soldering parts connecting inner pin and resistance terminal of seat belt pretensioner using passenger seat. The fourth example, when the passenger car crash a back of truck, the former bumper get jammed under the latter as the roof height of car low less than that. Therefore, the impact of Car's collision verified that don't transfer with body frame of vehicle because of no attachment impact sensor in it.