A Study on Inflation Performance Analysis and Test of A Wearable Airbag for Bikers

자전거 탑승자용 웨어러블 에어백의 팽창성능 해석 및 시험에 관한 연구

Abstract

Bikers can be subjected to accidents during their bicycling. Helmets are only good, if any, for their head protection. A wearable airbag can protect the human neck area if it is properly designed. This airbag system is composed of an inflater and an airbag. The inflater contains a pressurized gas cylinder and a piercing device. The airbag is an inflatable fabric surrounding the human neck. When a bicycle accident happens, a sensor captures the motion of the biker and a microcomputer sends a signal to open a valve in the inflator to supply the pressurized gas to the airbag. An important issue of this system is that the airbag should be quickly inflated to protect the human neck. This paper deals with the airbag inflation time simulation and some issues to design a wearable airbag system. Also, a prototype was tested to show its feasibility using a human dummy mounted on a running cart.

Fig. 1. System concept diagram of the wearable airbag system.

Fig. 2. A prototype of the automatic gas inflator.

Fig. 3. Section view of the automatic gas inflator.

Fig. 4. Motion sensing module.

Fig. 5. Inflator actuation module.

Fig. 6. 3-D model and a prototype of the airbag.

Fig. 7. Flow chart for the airbag inflation time computation.

Fig. 8. Gas pressure changes in the airbag.

Fig. 9. Gas pressure changes in the cylinder.

Fig. 10. Location of the motion data acquisition module.

Fig. 11. Motion data acquisition using a dummy test.

Fig. 12. Acc- & Gyro – data from front collision test.

Fig. 13. Acc- & Gyro- data from rear collision test.

Fig. 14. Acc- & Gyro- data from side collision test.

Fig. 15. Airbag performance test.

Fig. 16. Acc - & Gyro- data from airbag performance test.

Table 1. Simulation conditions for the airbag and the gas cylinder

Table 2. Acceleration & Gyro data from front, rear, side collision tests