Russell Edward Watrous

US Patent:

20030230881, Dec 18, 2003

Filed:

Jun 13, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/167489

Inventors:

Edward Hosey - Lakeland FL, US
Keith Lam - Lakeland FL, US
John Adams - Lakeland FL, US
Don Burroughs - Lakeland FL, US
Russell Watrous - Land O Lakes FL, US
Michael Kelley - Valrico FL, US

International Classification:

B60R021/26

US Classification:

280/737000

Abstract:

A low onset dual stage hybrid inflator comprising a diffuser subassembly, a gas generator subassembly, and a pressure vessel. The dual stage inflator offers a variety of different output levels of inflation gas. The four main deployment scenarios for the dual stage inflator are primary output, staged output, full output, and secondary only. For primary output, only the stored gas is released from the inflator. For staged output, the stored gas is released and after a short period of time (i.e. 30 ms), the gas generant is ignited. For the full output, the stored gas is released from the dual stage inflator at the same time the gas generant is ignited. For secondary output, only the gas generant subassembly is fired, and the hot gases from the gas generant subassembly mix with the stored gas. The combination of the hot gas and the stored gas has sufficient pressure to rupture the burst disk.