Tong Ching Lin

US Patent:

60362278, Mar 14, 2000

Filed:

Feb 23, 1998

Appl. No.:

9/028167

Inventors:

Tong Ching Lin - Ann Arbor MI
Robert N. Baker - Utica MI

Assignee:

General Motors Corporation - Detroit MI

International Classification:

B60R 2104

US Classification:

280751

Abstract:

An energy absorption material for covering a rigid vehicle support surface provide impact protection for a vehicle occupant's head is a sheet of material formed into a waveform comprising a plurality of regular corrugations which have identical crests and valleys connected by inclined sidewalls. The material thickness of the crests and valleys is the same and thicker than that of the sidewall material. The crests and valleys are curved such that the inside radius of each of the crests is smaller than the inside radius of each of the valleys, so that the sidewalls adjacent a valley are laterally closer than the sidewalls adjacent a crest. The corrugations have a pitch equal to their height. This construction provides a deformation mode of the material in which the crests and valleys deform by bending and the sidewalls deform by buckling. The material can contain a plurality of perforations, covering 7%-15% of the area for sound absorption.