Improved passive safety measurement and analyses are required to minimise injuries to passengers in vehicles when a traffic accident arises. A lot of impact tests using the developed impact simulator have been executed to validate the proposals for the specification of new electronic single point-sensing module (ESPS). This paper describes the structure and control of the simulator that includes servomechanism, data acquisition system, sensor interface circuits, and crash recognition algorithm for the side air bag system. The aim of the tests using this equipment is to make the sensor output signals to be equal to those of real vehicle collision tests. Using the simulator, the output signals have been used to define the threshold values that decide the firing or non-firing conditions for the inflators. The results of undertaken tests are to be applicable to the development process of crash recognition algorithm for the side airbag system. (Author/publisher)
Abstract