Motor vehicle with a pedestrian protection device

Abstract

Motor vehicle with a motor vehicle body (13) which has a plurality of vehicle pillars (18), and with a pedestrian protection device (30) which is arranged on one of the vehicle pillars (18) and can be adjusted between an active state and an inactive state by an actuator (40), wherein the pedestrian protection device (30) has a foldable pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) which is fixedly connected to a support structure (34) by a first section (A1) and is rotatably connected to the support structure (34) by a second section (A2), wherein the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) can be adjusted between the inactive state and the active state by the actuator (40) such that in the inactive state the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is folded together and in the active state the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is unfolded.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a motor vehicle having a motor vehicle body which has a plurality of vehicle pillars, and a pedestrian protection device which is arranged on at least one of the vehicle pillars and is adjustable between an active state and an inactive state.

[0002] In a head-on collision between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, the pedestrian's body is known to be projected over or onto the vehicle hood and impact the windshield area of the vehicle. Although the impact of a pedestrian against the windshield can cause significant injuries, the vehicle's A-pillars, which, along with the B-pillars, C-pillars, and D-pillars, form the vehicle's pillars, are considered the most dangerous parts of the windshield area of a motor vehicle. The A-pillars form part of the structure of a motor vehicle body and extend upward and rearward from the area of the rear corners of the vehicle hood along respective side edges of the windshield.The A-pillars, along with other components, serve to provide stability to the vehicle body and are therefore relatively rigid, supporting both the windshield and the vehicle roof during normal driving and in a rollover collision. These structural demands on the A-pillars make it difficult to design them to absorb sufficient impact energy from a striking pedestrian to prevent serious injury.

[0003] One known approach to reducing the risk of injury to a person in the event of a pedestrian impact with the A-pillar is to install a pedestrian airbag on the A-pillar. This airbag inflates in front of the A-pillar when vehicle sensors detect an ongoing or impending collision with a pedestrian. The airbag covers the A-pillar, reducing the risk of injury to the pedestrian.

[0004] A disadvantage of such pedestrian airbags is that they require a relatively large installation space. This is due to the initially folded and / or rolled airbag package being relatively large, and the gas generator required to inflate the airbag being also large due to the volume of gas required to achieve sufficient inflation. Both of these factors make it difficult to accommodate conventional pedestrian airbags. Mounting a pedestrian airbag module within the A-pillar requires the A-pillar to be relatively large, which restricts the driver's visibility. In addition, such pedestrian airbags can only be used once and must be completely replaced after deployment, regardless of whether or not an impact on the pedestrian protection device has actually occurred.

[0005] DE 10 2020 124 824 A1, DE 603 00 420 T2, JP 2020 - 050 282 A, JP 2009 - 030 747 A, JP 2009 - 280 008 A, and JP 2010 - 151 178 A each disclose a pedestrian protection device for a vehicle pillar, wherein a vehicle pillar cladding element is mounted on the vehicle pillar via a damping structure and is displaceable between an active and an inactive position. Upon a detected vehicle impact, the vehicle pillar cladding element is displaced into an active position, whereby an impact on the extended vehicle pillar cladding element is dampened by the damping structure. Furthermore, JP 2019 - 034 595 A discloses another embodiment of a pedestrian protection device for a vehicle pillar.

[0006] From DE 195 25 698 A1 a bumper is known which gives way under slight loads, with a spring element being arranged between a body shell and the bumper.

[0007] From DE 10 2012 221 995 A1 an element is known which is arranged displaceably on a vehicle pillar and which serves as a water collection device.

[0008] The object of the invention is to provide a motor vehicle with an alternative pedestrian protection device that can reliably reduce the risk of injury to a pedestrian in the event of an impact with the vehicle pillar of a motor vehicle and that can be designed simply and in a space-saving manner. Furthermore, the pedestrian protection device should be reversibly adjustable between an active and inactive state.

[0009] The problem is solved by the features of claim 1.

[0010] According to the invention, the pedestrian protection device comprises a foldable pedestrian protection structure which is fixedly connected to a support structure by a first section and is rotatably connected to the support structure by a second section, wherein the pedestrian protection structure can be adjusted by the actuator between the inactive state and the active state such that in the inactive state the pedestrian protection structure is folded together and in the active state the pedestrian protection structure is unfolded.

[0011] The support structure can be a component specifically mounted for this purpose, a component already provided on the motor vehicle, or the vehicle pillar itself. The decisive factor is that the pedestrian protection structure is, on the one hand, firmly connected to the support structure via different sections, and, on the other hand, is rotatably connected to the support structure. Due to the rotatable mounting on the support structure and the deformation of the pedestrian protection structure, the pedestrian protection structure can be folded and unfolded, thus being adjustable between the active and inactive states.

[0012] When the pedestrian protection structure is adjusted, i.e. when an impending impact of a pedestrian on the vehicle pillar is detected, the actuator is controlled by a control unit, which triggers an unfolding of the pedestrian protection structure starting from the inactive state in which the pedestrian protection structure is folded up. This causes the pedestrian protection structure or a section of the pedestrian protection structure to twist at the rotatable mounting of the pedestrian protection structure on the support structure and the pedestrian protection structure is deformed. In the active state, i.e. in the unfolded state, the pedestrian protection structure has a hollow structure such that when a pedestrian strikes the pedestrian protection structure, the pedestrian protection structure is deformed and the impact is thus cushioned and absorbed.If no impact occurs on the pedestrian protection structure or such an impact occurs that the pedestrian protection structure remains undamaged, the actuator can be actuated again to return the pedestrian protection structure to the inactive state, ie to the folded state.

[0013] The pedestrian protection structure is designed such that the pedestrian protection structure has an impact section that runs essentially parallel to the support structure in the active state and two side wall sections that run transversely to the impact section in the active state and connect the support structure to the impact section, wherein at least one of the side wall sections has at least one predetermined folding point for folding the pedestrian protection structure. This allows a predefined folding and unfolding of the pedestrian protection structure to be achieved, whereby damage to the pedestrian protection structure can be avoided, particularly during folding. When the pedestrian protection structure is folded, the pedestrian protection structure bends in a targeted manner at the predetermined folding point, thereby causing a predefined deformation of the pedestrian protection structure.In addition, predetermined bending points are preferably formed in the corners of the pedestrian protection structure, which further assists the deformation of the pedestrian protection structure. The predetermined bending points are preferably implemented by a local reduction in wall thickness. This allows a simple creation of a predetermined bending point, and the predetermined bending point can be manufactured during the production of the pedestrian protection structure.

[0014] In this way, a pedestrian protection device can be provided which can reliably reduce the risk of injury to a pedestrian in the event of an impact with the vehicle pillar of a motor vehicle and which can be designed simply and in a space-saving manner and can be reversibly adjusted.

[0015] Preferably, the pedestrian protection structure is made of plastic and is manufactured in one piece. This reduces manufacturing and assembly costs, as the pedestrian protection structure can be manufactured, in particular injection-molded, in a single manufacturing step and assembled as a whole in a single assembly step.

[0016] Preferably, the pedestrian protection structure is firmly connected to a covering element. When the pedestrian protection device is inactive, the pedestrian protection structure is covered by the covering element and is not, or not directly, visible to a person observing the motor vehicle. When the pedestrian protection structure is adjusted, the covering element moves together with the pedestrian protection structure.

[0017] In a preferred embodiment, the pedestrian protection structure is elastically deformed and prestressed in the inactive state. The prestress is to be understood such that the pedestrian protection structure is in the non-deformed state in the active state, i.e. in the unfolded state, and is elastically deformed in the inactive state and thus automatically assumes the unfolded state when an external load is removed. The actuator thus serves to hold the pedestrian protection structure in the inactive state, wherein actuation of the actuator cancels the holding function and allows the pedestrian protection structure to unfold. In addition, in the inactive state, the pedestrian protection structure is spring-loaded in the direction of rotation by a spring element which is arranged on the axis of rotation of the rotatable bearing of the pedestrian protection structure.The spring element triggers or supports the unfolding of the pedestrian protection structure, whereby the pedestrian protection structure can be adjusted to the active state in a short period of time.

[0018] Preferably, the actuator is implemented as a cable drive unit, with the pedestrian protection structure being connected to the cable drive unit. In the inactive state, the pedestrian protection structure is held in place by the cable drive unit, i.e., by winding up a cable connected to the pedestrian protection structure, against the restoring force resulting from the elastic deformation and / or the spring force of the spring element. As soon as an impending impact on the vehicle pillar is detected, the cable drive unit is activated such that the pretension of the pedestrian protection device causes the cable to unwind, and the pedestrian protection structure unfolds.If the pedestrian protection structure is to be adjusted from the active state to the inactive state, the cable drive unit is controlled in such a way that the cable is wound onto the cable pulley, causing the pedestrian protection structure to fold up.

[0019] Preferably, two pedestrian protection structures are provided, wherein the pedestrian protection structures are arranged side by side. Preferably, a cladding element is arranged on each pedestrian protection structure, wherein the cladding elements are arranged in a wing-door manner. By providing two pedestrian protection structures, a larger area of the vehicle pillar can be covered in the width direction of the vehicle pillar, thereby further reducing the risk of injury to the person impacting.

[0020] In a preferred embodiment, the pedestrian protection structures in the active state support each other in the direction of load in the event of an impact on the pedestrian protection device, whereby higher impact forces can be absorbed by the individual pedestrian protection structures.

[0021] An embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows a front area of a motor vehicle with a pedestrian protection device in side view, Fig. 2 shows the pedestrian protection device from Fig. 1 in the inactive state in cross section, Fig. 3a shows the pedestrian protection device from Fig. 1 in the active state in cross section, and Fig. 3b shows the pedestrian protection device from Fig. 1 in active state in perspective view.

[0022] The Fig. 1 shows a front region of a motor vehicle 10, wherein the motor vehicle 10 basically has a windshield 12 and a motor vehicle body 13. The motor vehicle body 13 has, among other things, a vehicle roof 14, a front hood 16, and several vehicle pillars 18. In each of the figures, an A-pillar, which forms a vehicle pillar 18, is shown, which adjoins the windshield 12 and a vehicle door 15.

[0023] A pedestrian protection device 30 is arranged on the vehicle pillar 18, which serves to reduce the risk of injury to a pedestrian in the event of a frontal collision between the motor vehicle 10 and the pedestrian, wherein the pedestrian protection device 30 is adjustable between an inactive state and an active state. The pedestrian protection device 30 is in the Fig. 2, Fig. 3a and Fig. 3b is explained in more detail.

[0024] The pedestrian protection device 30 has two pedestrian protection structures 321, 322, a support structure 34 and an actuator 40.

[0025] The support structure 34 is attached to the vehicle pillar 18, which is made of two shell-like sheet metal elements 181, 182, and serves as the base or connection element of the pedestrian protection device 30 on the vehicle pillar 18.

[0026] The pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are made in one piece from plastic and each have an impact section AA and two side wall sections SA1, SA2. The pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are each fastened to the support structure 34 via a first section A1, which is arranged at the end on the side wall section SA2, and are mounted on the support structure 34 via a second section A2, which is arranged at the end on the side wall section SA1, so that they can rotate about a respective axis of rotation D1, D2. In the inactive state, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are preloaded in the direction of rotation by a respective spring element 361, 362 on the rotatable mounting about the axis of rotation D1, D2 such that the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are loaded into the active position.

[0027] The pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are designed such that they can be folded together and unfolded. For this purpose, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 each have a plurality of predetermined folding points 501, 502, 503, 504, 521, 522, 523, 524. The predetermined folding points 501, 502, 504, 521, 522, 524 are formed in the corners of the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322, and the predetermined folding points 503, 523 are formed on the side wall section SA2. The predetermined folding points 501, 502, 503, 504, 521, 522, 523, 524 are each formed by a reduced wall thickness. A cladding element 351, 352 is attached to each of the side wall sections SA1.

[0028] The actuator 40 is designed as a cable drive unit and has an electric motor 42 driven by a cable pulley 41 and a cable 43. The cable 43 is fastened, on the one hand, to the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 or to the cladding elements 351, 352 firmly connected to the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322, and, on the other hand, is wound onto the cable pulley 41. The electric motor 42 and the cable pulley 41 are arranged in a cavity of the vehicle pillar 18, with the cable 43 extending through an opening 44 of the vehicle pillar 18 and an opening 46 of the support structure 34.

[0029] In the normal state, the pedestrian protection device 30 is in the inactive state, with the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 folded and covered by the cladding elements 351, 352. In the folded state, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are bent at the predetermined bending points 501, 502, 503, 504, 521, 522, 523, 524, thereby elastically deforming the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322. Additionally, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are spring-loaded by the spring elements 361, 362, so that the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are loaded into the active position by the elastic deformation and the spring preload of the spring elements 361, 362. The counterforce to the pre-tension is provided by the actuator 40, wherein the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are held in the inactive state, ie in the folded state, by the actuator 40 by preventing the cable 43 from unwinding from the cable pulley 41.

[0030] If an impending impact of a pedestrian on the vehicle pillar 18 is detected by a sensor device (not shown), the actuator 40 is controlled by a control unit (not shown in the figures), whereby the counterforce acting against the pretension is canceled and the cable 43 is allowed to unwind from the cable pulley 41. Due to the pretension present in the inactive state, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 unfold. When the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 unfold, the side wall section SA1 of the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 twists, and the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 deform at the predetermined bending points 501, 502, 503, 504, 521, 522, 523, 524.In the unfolded state of the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 are connected to one another in such a form-fitting manner that the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 support one another in the direction of loading in the event of a pedestrian impact. Such a form-fitting connection between the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 is shown in . Fig. 3b, wherein the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 engage with each other in sections.

[0031] In the active state, i.e., in the unfolded state, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 have a hollow structure such that when a pedestrian impacts the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322, the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 deform, thereby cushioning and dampening the impact. If no impact occurs on the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322, or if an impact occurs such that the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 remain undamaged, the actuator 40 can be actuated to return the pedestrian protection structures 321, 322 to the inactive state, i.e., the folded state.

Claims

[1] Motor vehicle with a motor vehicle body (13) having a plurality of vehicle pillars (18), and a pedestrian protection device (30) which is arranged on one of the vehicle pillars (18) and is adjustable between an active state and an inactive state by an actuator (40), characterized by , that the pedestrian protection device (30) has a foldable pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) which is fixedly connected to a support structure (34) by a first section (A1) and is rotatably connected to the support structure (34) by a second section (A2), wherein the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is adjustable by the actuator (40) between the inactive state and the active state such that in the inactive state the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is folded together and in the active state the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is unfolded, wherein the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is designed such that the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) has an impact section (AA) running parallel to the support structure (34) in the active state and two impact sections (AA) running transversely to the impact section (AA) in the active state, connecting the support structure (34) to the impact section (AA) connecting side wall sections (SA1, SA2),wherein at least one of the side wall sections (SA1, SA2) has at least one predetermined folding point (503, 523) for folding the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322). [2] Motor vehicle according to claim 1, characterized by that the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is made of plastic and in one piece. [3] Motor vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that predetermined bending points (501, 502, 504, 521, 522, 524) are formed in the corners of the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322). [4] Motor vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the predetermined bending points (501, 502, 503, 504, 521, 522, 523, 524) are each designed by a local wall thickness reduction. [5] Motor vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is firmly connected to a cladding element (351, 352). [6] Motor vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is elastically deformed and prestressed in the inactive state. [7] Motor vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is spring-loaded by a spring element (361, 362) in the inactive state. [8] Motor vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the actuator (40) is designed by a cable drive unit, wherein the pedestrian protection structure (321, 322) is connected to the cable drive unit. [9] Motor vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that two pedestrian protection structures (321, 322) are provided, wherein the pedestrian protection structures (321, 322) are arranged next to one another. [10] Motor vehicle according to claim 9, characterized bythat the pedestrian protection structures (321, 322) in the active state support each other in the direction of loading in the event of an impact on the pedestrian protection device (30).

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