PRESENTED BY

RAJESH KUMAR UPADHAYAY

M.TECH(MD) 2011-2013
11MTMEMD002

Air bag: A
Supplementar
y Restraint
System (SRS)

Triggering
conditions

INTRODUCTION:
Air bags are designed to keep
occupants head, neck, and chest from
slamming into the dash, steering
wheel, or windshield in a front-end
crash in a fraction of second. Air bags
are fabric bags that are filled quickly
with a gas to provide supplement
protection for vehicle passengers
during some collisions

Air bags come out when vehicle

crashing into a solid wall at 8 to 14

Purpose of air bags

Designed for frontal impact crashes which can

cause more than half of passengers deaths.

Designed to limit head and chest injuries.
Protect occupant from hitting the interior parts
of car
These are stowed in the steering wheel (driver)
and the instrument panel (front passenger).
While seatbelts are the primary restraint, air
bags offer supplemental protection and reduce
the risk of serious head injury.

How air bag works?

One or more sensors detect intensity
and direction of vehicle deceleration
during a collision.
The sensor sends an electric signal to
start a chemical reaction that inflates the
air bag with harmless nitrogen gas.
Air bags have vents, so they deflate
immediately after cushioning you.
On impact, air bag system senses the
crash, inflate, and then deflate all in the
blink of an eye.

Based on Newtons Laws

To study an auto accident, it is necessary to study the
changes in momentum that a car faces during the
collision. According to Newton's laws, "A body in motion
will stay in motion until it is acted up by an outside
force." For example when we are traveling along in a car
at 90 mile per hour, we do not feel as though we
ourselves are traveling that fast, but we feel as though it
is the car that is going that fast, but really, it is both we
and the car traveling this fast. The only way we can
really notice exactly how fast we are going would be if
we had to hit the brake. We would feel our body sliding
forward in our seat and the only reason why we do not
fly out of our seat is because we are wearing our seat
belt. This is the same idea when it comes to an accident.
An accident is the same as if we were to stop
immediately and go from 50 miles per hour to 0 in less
than a second. The amount of momentum our body has is
still 50 miles per hour where as the car has now stopped.
This is where airbags help in the event of an accident.
Before our head gets the chance to smash into the
steering wheel .

CONSTRUCTION

Airbags are
consists of following
main units.
1. Control Unit.
2. The Inflation
Unit.
3. Airbag Unit.
4. Impact Sensor.

CONTROL UNIT
Crash sensors and their associated wiring harness
Diagnostic module with readiness indicator
Electrical System
Airbag Modules With Inflators

THE INFLATION UNIT

Chemistry behind airbags

The mixture present in the airbags is of sodium azide (NaN3), together
with the fiberfrax material of potassium nitrate (KNO3) and silica
(SiO2). This mixture is ignited through an electrical impulse and
causes relatively slow detonation called as Deflagration.
This liberates precalculated volume of nitrogen gas which in turn fills
the bag.
NaN32Na+3N2
Additional nitrogen gas is provided as,

10Na+2KNO3K20+5Na20+N2
Now the two oxides react with silica forming alkaline silicate which is

safe stable and unignitable compound.

K20+Na20+siO2Alkaline silicates (Glass)

AIRBAG UNIT
Typical driver sides airbags are constructed of

light weight nylon fabric measuring 714 mm in

diameter are 152 mm deep and fill volume of
65 liters
Passenger side airbags may be as much
several times larger, and are designed to hold
100-300 liters.

Driver side airbags are of circular

shape and passenger side airbags
are of tear drop shaped

IMPACT SENSORS
Impact sensors are important components in
inflatable restraint systems. To prevent an injury
or death to the driver/occupant, its critical that
the airbags be activated immediately upon the
impact. Typically several sensors are mounted in
remote frontal areas of the vehicle, wired in
series or parallel combination with a safing
sensors located with the system diagnostics. The
primary function of the safing sensors is to
prevent an accidental detonation from shocks
and jolts not related to the accidents.
Types Of Sensors :
Electromechanical Sensor
Electronic Sensor
Silicon Micro Machined Sensors

Airbag Before
Collision

Airbag After Collision

DRIVERS

AIRBAG

Side-Impact Air Bags

APPLICATIONS
(SUPPLEMENTARY RESTRAINT
SYSTEM)
Function of SRS Airbag
Absorbs kinematic energy of occupants
Protect occupants from interior trims
Protect occupants from broken glass
Reduce occupants neck load by kinematically restraining spin of neck.
Major Components
SRS CM
LABELS FOR INFORMATION
STEERING COLUMN & WHEEL
CLOCK SPRING
D.A.B MODULE
SEAT BELT PRETENSIONER
SRS SRI
BUCKLE SWITCH
WIRING HARNESS

Operating Sequence
Crash
Crash Sensing
Igniting the Inflator
Produce gas to deploy Airbag
Bag deploying
Full deployment of the bag
Protect the front occupants
Vent gas (bag deflation)
Air bag system completed

Aerospace Applications

NASA engineers test the Mars Pathfinder air bag landing system on simulated
Martian terrain.

CONCLUSION
Inflating in a fraction of a second immediately after a serious

crash begins, airbags become energy-absorbing buffers

between people and the hard interior surfaces of vehicles
The airbags help keep people's heads and chests from
hitting the steering wheel, instrument panel, or windshield.
They prevent people from being thrown from their vehicles.
Side airbags are expected to offer increased protection from
intruding objects such as trees, poles, and the fronts of
striking vehicles, particularly taller vehicles, such as pickup
trucks and SUVs.
As belts offer more protection in other than frontal type of
crashes by preventing ejection from the vehicles, air bags
are only to supplement safety belts and not to replace them.

THANX