General Motors has received a patent (8,104,793) on a counter-intuitive technique of improving crash safety: lining the frame of the car with pyrotechnics. The patent, issued last month, describes the use of pyrotechnics in conjunction with shape-memory materials, such as nitinol. Such materials change shape instantly when exposed to heat.
Parts of a car's frame can be made of a shape-memory alloy (14) and lined with a pyrotechnic material (16). In case of a crash, the pyrotechnics are triggered, and the heat instantly bends the frame into a shape that will better protect the occupants of the car.
Perhaps overreaching a bit, the patent suggests that GM's pyrotechnic frame invention "can be employed in airplanes."
Comments