Simulation deflates airbag design time

The hydrogen inflators responsible for deploying airbags have only recently been simulated in software. TRW engineers use commecial computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) software that allows for substantial complexity in chemical reations. By creating the first accurate simluation of a hydrogen inflator, they can see how parts in the inflator influence combustion. This, in turn, makes it possible to fine-tune the critical combustion process for individual applications. TRW pioneered the develpment of heated gas inflators. These perform as well as traditional pyrotechnics and augment inflators with hydrogen gas. The ability to accurately simulate the reactive-flow process of an HGI has substantially improved TRW's design process.