TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to the field of vehicle bumpers.

BACKGROUND

For conventional vehicle bumpers, the safer is the bumper, the expensive and driving disturbing it is.

Practically, the safety standards of vehicle bumpers have been reduced over the years.

There is a long felt need to provide a solution to the above-mentioned and other problems of the prior art.

SUMMARY

A vehicle bumper (10C), including:

a rigid body!

a plurality of inflatable elements, each containing a filling substance! and

tubes, for communicating the filling substance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 depicts a vehicle bumper according to one embodiment. Fig. 2 depicts a vehicle bumper according to another embodiment.

Fig. 3 depicts a vehicle bumper according to another embodiment. Fig. 4 depicts a gentle bump, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 depicts the gentle bump of Fig. 4, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 depicts the gentle bump of Fig. 4, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 depicts a severe bump, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 depicts the severe bump of Fig. 7, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 2. Fig. 9 depicts the severe bump of Fig. 7, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 3.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of part of the vehicle bumper of Fig. 3.

Fig. 11 is a sketch of one of the valves of Fig. 10 at the closed state.

Fig. 12 is a sketch of the valve of Fig. 11 at the open state. Fig. 13 is a top view of a vehicle including vehicle bumpers of Fig. 3.

Fig. 14 is a sectional view of the inflated element of Fig. 3, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 15 is the inflated element of Fig. 14, upon absorbing the gentle bump of Fig. 3.

Fig. 16 is the inflated element of Fig. 14, upon absorbing the severe bump of Fig. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Fig. 1 depicts a vehicle bumper according to one embodiment.

A vehicle bumper 10A includes a rigid beam 30, being fixed to the vehicle body! and an inflatable body 28, surrounding the entire of rigid beam 30.

Fig. 2 depicts a vehicle bumper according to another embodiment.

A vehicle bumper 10B includes rigid beam 30, being fixed to the vehicle body! and a plurality of shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B, etc., each disposed at a different location of rigid beam 30, thus together surrounding thereof. Rigid beams 30 and shrinkable tanks disposed on rigid beams may surround the vehicle 360 degrees. Fig. 3 depicts a vehicle bumper according to another embodiment.

A vehicle bumper 10C includes rigid beam 30, being fixed to the vehicle body! the plurality of shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B, etc., each disposed at a different location of rigid beam 30, thus together surrounding thereof and a plurality of tubes 18A, 18B serially communicating between the shrinkable tanks.

For example, tube 18A communicates between shrinkable tanks 16A and 16B; tube 18B communicates between shrinkable tanks 16B and 16C; etc.

Fig. 4 depicts a gentle bump, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 1.

Vehicle bumper 10A upon receiving a gentle bump 50A from a bumping body 32 occupying the center only of inflatable body 28, compresses the center of inflatable body 28. The compression applied on the bumped area 60A transfers the filling substance to the non-bumped areas 60B, thus enlarging them.

Fig. 5 depicts the gentle bump of Fig. 4, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 2.

Vehicle bumper 10B upon receiving gentle bump 50A from bumping body 32 occupying the center only of rigid beam 30, being applied only on shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C only of inflatable body 28, compresses shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C only. The filling substance 26 of shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C can exit outside each, through valves of each. Namely, filling substance 26 of inflated element 16A exits through valve 20A, to the environment 62; and filling substance 26 of inflated element 16B exits through valve 20B, to the environment 62. Valves 20A, 20B, etc. may constitute sacrificial membranes. Sensors may measure pressure and temperature of substance 26, to indicate the bumping protection is proper. Fig. 6 depicts the gentle bump of Fig. 4, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 3.

Vehicle bumper 10C upon receiving gentle bump 50A from bumping body 32 occupying the center only of rigid beam 30, being applied only on shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C only of inflatable body 28, compresses shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C only.

However, in contrast to the shrinkable tanks of Fig. 5, a fraction of the filling substance 26 of each of shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C exits here to compression of the neighboring shrinkable tanks.

Namely, substance 26 of inflated element 16B exits to inflated element 16C; and since inflated element 16C is as well compressed, substance 26 thereof exits to inflated element 16D, further inflating it. In contrast to bumper 10A, a valve 20D, disposed between shrinkable tanks 16D and 16E, decreases transfer of substance 26 to inflated element 16E, thus limiting the exit of substance 26 from shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C.

Fig. 7 depicts a severe bump, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 1. Vehicle bumper 10A upon receiving a severe bump 50B from bumping body 32 occupying the center only of inflatable body 28, cannot compress the center of inflatable body 28 any more, thus breaks rigid beam 30.

Fig. 8 depicts the severe bump of Fig. 7, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 2.

Vehicle bumper 10B, upon receiving severe bump 50B from bumping body 32 occupying the center only of rigid beam 30, being applied only on shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C only of inflatable body 28, cannot compress shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C any more, thus as well breaks rigid beam

30.

Fig. 9 depicts the severe bump of Fig. 7, being applied on the vehicle bumper of Fig. 3.

Vehicle bumper 10C, upon receiving severe bump 50B from bumping body 32 occupying the center only of rigid beam 30, being applied only on shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C only of inflatable body 28, cannot compress shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C any more, thus as well breaks rigid beam 30. However, an additional fraction of the filling substance 26 of each of shrinkable tanks 16A, 16B and 16C exits here to compression of the neighboring shrinkable tanks.

Namely, substance 26 of inflated element 16B exits to inflated element 16C; and since inflated element 16C is as well compressed, substance 26 thereof exits to inflated element 16D, further inflating it! and since inflated element 16D is as well compressed, substance 26 thereof exits to inflated element 16E, further inflating it. Thus, shrinkable tanks 16D and 16E maintain elements

16A, 16B and 16C yet inflatable, thus guarding rigid beam 30.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of part of the vehicle bumper of Fig. 3.

Vehicle bumper 10C includes rigid beam 30; and shrinkable tanks 16D, 16E, etc.; tube 18D communicating between shrinkable tanks 16D and 16E; tube 18E communicating between shrinkable tanks 16E and 16F; tube 18F communicating between inflated element 16F and the environment 62. The filling substance 26 of inflated element 16D can partly exit to inflated element 16E through tube 18D, and the exiting is limited by valve 20D; the filling substance 26 of inflated element 16E can partly exit to inflated element 16E through tube 18E, and the exiting is limited by valve 20E; the filling substance 26 of inflated element 16F can partly exit to environment 62 through tube 18F, and the exiting is limited by valve 2 OF.

Fig. 11 is a sketch of one of the valves of Fig. 10 at the closed state. Valve 20 includes a cap 56 being capped by a spring 58.

Fig. 12 is a sketch of the valve of Fig. 11 at the open state.

Upon the bumping, the pressure of filling substance 26 is stronger than spring 58, thus opening cap 56 to open state 36A, to transfer substance 26 from inflated element 16D to tube 18D.

Fig. 13 is a top view of a vehicle including vehicle bumpers of Fig. 3.

A front vehicle bumper 10C and a rear vehicle bumper 10C are fixed to the vehicle body 12.

Fig. 14 is a sectional view of the inflated element of Fig. 3, according to one embodiment.

Inflated element 16C and others may constitute a cylindrical wall 74 forming a container 68 containing filling substance 26. Cylindrical wall 74 includes thick zones 64 and thin zones 66A to 66D being spirally structured in relation to thick zones 64.

A flexible membrane 72 forms the internal side of wall

74. Fig. 15 is the inflated element of Fig. 14, upon absorbing the gentle bump of Fig. 3.

Upon receiving gentle bump 50A, the near thin zones 16A and 16B only inflate, thus releasing filling substance 26 through valve 20C to the next inflated element, being 16D in Fig. 3.

Fig. 16 is the inflated element of Fig. 14, upon absorbing the severe bump of Fig. 9.

Upon receiving severe bump 50B, all of thin zones, namely 16A, 16B, 16C and 16D inflate, thus releasing filling substance 26 through valve 20C to the next inflated element, being 16D in Fig. 9.

- Numeral 10A, 10B, and 10C denote vehicle bumpers according to some embodiment of the invention!

- numeral 12 denotes the vehicle's body!

- numerals 16A, 16B, 16C, 16D, 16E, and 16F denote shrinkable tanks, for absorbing the bump!

- numerals 18A, 18B, 18C, 18D, 18E and 18F denote tubes! numerals 20A, 20B, 20C, 20D, 20E and 20F denote valves!

- numeral 26 denotes the filling substance, such as air, oil, water, gel, etc.!

- numeral 28 denotes the inflatable body!

- numeral 30 denotes the rigid body of the bumper!

numeral 32 denotes the bumping body!

- numeral 36A denotes the opened state of the valve!

- numeral 36B denotes the closed state of the valve!

- numerals 50A and 50B denote gentle and severe bumps respectively! - numeral 56 denotes the cap of the valve!

- numeral 58 denotes the spring, for closing cap 56!

- numeral 60A denotes the bumped area!

- numeral 60B denotes the non-bumped area!

numeral 62 denotes the environment!

- numerals 66A, 66B, 66C and 66D denote thin zones of the cylinder!

- numeral 68 denotes the container!

- numeral 72 denotes a membrane!

numeral 74 denotes the wall of the cylinder!

The reference numbers in the claims should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any form.