Side airbag device

Abstract

To protect an occupant by displacing a lower body of the occupant at the same timing as when side collision of a vehicle occurs.SOLUTION: A side airbag device comprises: a bag-like outer back 10 that presses a knee part KN and a thigh part FE of an occupant CR seated on a seat 40 in a vehicle to oppose to a door 50 of the vehicle, from a direction of the door; a bag-like inner back 20, provided inside the outer back 10, which presses only the thigh part FE of the occupant CR, from the direction of the door; an inflator 30, provided on a surface opposing to the door 50 of the vehicle of a seat pan, which supplies gas to the inner back 20; a first vent hole 21, provided in the inner back 20, through which gas is ejected to the outer back 10; and a second vent hole 11, provided in the outer back 10, through which gas is ejected to the outside, where amounts of gas ejected through the first vent hole 21 are larger than amounts of gas ejected through the second vent hole 11.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a side airbag device.

Background Art

[0002] When a vehicle is impacted from the side, a side airbag device that detects the collision and inflates and deploys an airbag between the door trim and the occupant to protect the occupant from the collision has been put into practical use.

[0003] As this type of device, there is provided a leg airbag that seats on an occupant seat and inflates and presses the legs of an occupant whose side faces the vehicle side wall portion during a vehicle collision. By this pressing, the leg airbag rotates the thigh portion of the occupant in a direction away from the vehicle side wall portion with the occupant's waist as a fulcrum, and discloses a side airbag device that protects the occupant while suppressing the load applied to the occupant's lateral abdomen (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] By the way, the body of an occupant sitting on a vehicle seat is supported by the back muscles with the spinal cord and abdominal muscles for the heavy chest, head, and arms. On the other hand, regarding the lower body of the occupant, although there is contact friction between the feet and thighs and the floor or the vehicle seat, the lower limb including the knees is fixed only by joints. Therefore, when a side collision of a vehicle occurs, a force is generated to push the occupant toward the center of the vehicle as the door deforms inward due to the side collision. Here, the chests and heads of passengers with many joints and large inertial masses are located above the doors. Therefore, although the chests and heads are not pushed into the central part of the vehicle by the force trying to push the passenger's body into the central part of the vehicle, on the other hand, the lower body and abdomen of the passenger who has lost the escape space may be strongly compressed by the deformation of the door.

[0006] To improve such a situation, it is preferable to displace the lower body of the passenger by a certain displacement at the same timing with respect to the side of the passenger. However, although there are safety devices that displace the upper body of the passenger at the same timing, such as side airbags and curtain airbags, there is a problem that there is no safety device that displaces the lower body part of the passenger at the same timing. Also, the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 rotates the thigh part of the passenger in a direction away from the vehicle side wall part by pressing the leg airbag with the waist of the passenger as a fulcrum, and does not displace the lower body of the passenger at the same timing. Therefore, there is a problem that even if the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 is used, it is impossible to avoid the risk that the lower body and abdomen of the passenger are strongly compressed by the deformation of the door.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a side airbag device that displaces the lower body of a passenger at the same timing and protects the passenger when a side collision with a vehicle occurs.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] Embodiment 1; One or more embodiments of the present invention include a bag-shaped outer back that seats on a vehicle seat and presses the knees to thighs of a passenger facing the vehicle door from the door direction, a bag-shaped inner back provided inside the outer back that presses only the thighs of the passenger from the door direction, an inflater provided on a surface of a seat pan facing the vehicle door that supplies gas to the inner back, a first vent hole provided in the inner back for discharging the gas to the outer back, and a second vent hole provided in the outer back for discharging the gas to the outside. A side airbag device is proposed, characterized in that the gas discharge amount of the first vent hole is larger than the gas discharge amount of the second vent hole.

[0009] Embodiment 2; One or more embodiments of the present invention include a first air chamber in the inner back that, when inflated and deployed, presses only the thighs of the passenger from the door direction, and a second air chamber that is deployed such that a convex air chamber is formed at an upper portion of a door side end of the first air chamber in a seat back direction. The inflater is provided at a lower portion of the first air chamber. A side airbag device is proposed, characterized in that.

[0010] Embodiment 3; One or more embodiments of the present invention include a side airbag device, characterized in that the first vent hole is provided on a surface of the second air chamber facing the thighs of the passenger.

[0011] Embodiment 4; One or more embodiments of the present invention include a side airbag device, characterized in that the second vent hole is provided at a lower portion of an outer peripheral surface of the outer back in a vehicle front direction that intersects a surface on which the first vent hole is disposed.

Advantages of the Invention

[0012] According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, when a side collision occurs to a vehicle, by applying displacement to the lower body of an occupant at the same timing, the pressure applied to the lower body and abdomen of the occupant due to the deformation of the door can be reduced, and the occupant can be protected.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

[0015] <Embodiment> The side airbag device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. In the drawings of FIGS. 1 to 4 and 6, the front side of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow FR, the rear side of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow BK, the upper side of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow UP, the left side (one side in the vehicle width direction) of the vehicle when viewed from the upper side of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow LH, and the right side (the other side in the vehicle width direction) of the vehicle is indicated by an arrow RH. In the following description, when directions such as up and down, front and back, and left and right are used, unless otherwise specified, they shall indicate the vehicle's up and down direction, front and back direction, and left and right direction.

[0016] <Configuration of Side Airbag Device 1> The configuration of the side airbag device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Here, the side airbag device 1 according to the present embodiment is provided on a seat on which an occupant sits inside the vehicle. In the present embodiment, the side airbag device 1 provided on the seat on the left side of the front seat of the vehicle will be described as an example.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 1, the side airbag device 1 according to the present embodiment includes an outer back 10, an inner back 20, and an inflater 30.

[0018] The outer back 10 is a bag-shaped airbag that sits on the vehicle seat 40 and presses the thigh FE from the knee KN of the occupant CR facing the vehicle door 50 in the direction of the vehicle door 50. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the outer back 10 expands and deploys between the seat 40 and the door trim 51 and has a shape that covers the thigh FE from the knee KN of the occupant CR. An inner back 20, which will be described later, is provided inside the outer back 10. In addition, the outer back 10 is provided with a second vent hole 11 for discharging the gas supplied from the inflater 30, which will be described later, to the outside via the inner back 20. In the present embodiment, the outer back 10 is described as having, for example, a rectangular shape for convenience as shown in FIG. 1. However, as long as it can press the thigh FE from the knee KN of the occupant CR sitting on the vehicle seat 40 and facing the vehicle door 50 in the direction of the vehicle door 50, it does not have to be rectangular.

[0019] The inner back 20 is provided inside the outer back 10, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, it is a bag-shaped airbag that presses only the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR from the direction of the vehicle door 50. Inside the inner back 20, a first vent hole 21 is provided for discharging the gas supplied from an inflater 30, which will be described later, to the outer back 10. Here, the gas discharge amount of the first vent hole 21 is larger than the gas discharge amount of the second vent hole 11. Here, the second vent hole 11 functions so that both the outer back 10 and the inner back 20 do not burst. Specifically, for example, even when a pressure is applied such that the volumes of the outer back 10 and the inner back 20 are halved within about 100 msec, the gas is discharged so that both the outer back 10 and the inner back 20 do not burst. That is, the second vent hole 11 functions so that both the outer back 10 and the inner back 20 do not burst even when the bag pressures of both the outer back 10 and the inner back 20 increase due to the deformation of the vehicle body from the start to the end of the collision. On the other hand, the first vent hole 21 functions to enable the gas supply necessary for early deployment of the outer back 10. Specifically, for example, after the collision, the inner back 20 starts to deploy in about 5 msec, and the outer back 10 functions to complete the bag deployment in about 10 msec. That is, it functions to deploy the outer back 10 in about 20 msec from the start of the gas supply from the inflater 30. Therefore, the first vent hole 21 needs to stably supply gas to both the outer back 10 and the inner back 20 while securing space against the intrusion of the door into the vehicle interior due to the collision. That is, the first vent hole 21 needs to have a vent hole size that can supply gas to the outer back 10 while maintaining the shape of the inner back 20. Specifically, for example, the inflater 30 needs to be sized such that it can pass about half of the gas volume discharged per unit time. That is, since a gas discharge amount is required, the gas discharge amount of the second vent hole 11 is preferably about 1 / 4 of the gas discharge amount of the first vent hole 21.

[0020] Further, the inner back 20 includes a first air chamber 20A that presses only the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR from the door 50 direction when inflated and deployed, and a second air chamber 20B that is deployed such that a convex air chamber is formed at the upper part of the door side end of the first air chamber 20A in the seat back direction. Also, the first vent hole 21 is provided on the surface of the second air chamber 20B facing the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR, and the second vent hole 11 is provided at the lower part of the outer peripheral surface of the outer back 10 in the vehicle front direction, which intersects the surface on which the first vent hole 21 is disposed. In this embodiment, for the sake of convenience, the inner back 20 is described as being, for example, a combination of two rectangular air chambers as shown in FIG. 1. However, as long as it has a shape that can press only the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR sitting on the vehicle seat 40 and facing the vehicle door 50 from the vehicle door 50 direction, it does not have to be rectangular.

[0021] The inflater 30 is a device that supplies gas, and is provided on the surface of the seat pan 41 facing the vehicle door 50, and supplies gas to the inner back 20. Specifically, the inflater 30 is disposed connected to the first air chamber 20A at the lower part that is connected to and deployed with the second air chamber 20B. Note that the inflater 30 is stored in a storage box together with the folded outer back 10 and inner back 20, and the storage box is disposed on the surface of the seat pan 41 facing the vehicle door 50. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the inflator 30 is provided on the surface of the seat pan 41 facing the vehicle door 50, and is connected to the lower first air chamber 20A that is connected to and deployed in conjunction with the second air chamber 20B that constitutes the inner backrest 20. When the inflator 30 is activated and supplies gas, the supplied gas flows into the first air chamber 20A, inflates and deploys the first air chamber 20A, enters the second air chamber 20B, inflates and deploys the second air chamber 20B, and forms a convex air chamber. Furthermore, the gas supplied into the second air chamber 20B flows into the outer backrest 10 through the first vent hole 21, and inflates and deploys the outer backrest 10 more gently than the inner backrest 20.

[0022] <Electrical Configuration of the Side Airbag Device 1> The electrical configuration of the side airbag device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 5.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 4, the side airbag device 1 includes a vehicle control unit 100, a vehicle right - side collision sensor 110, a vehicle left - side collision sensor 120, a vehicle right - side inflator 130, and a vehicle left - side inflator 140.

[0024] The vehicle control unit 100 is configured to include, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and is an electronic control unit (ECU) that executes various operations for vehicle control. In the present embodiment, the vehicle control unit 100 controls the operation of the vehicle left - side inflator 140 based on the sensing signal from the vehicle left - side collision sensor 120, which will be described later.

[0025] The vehicle left - side collision sensor 120 outputs a sensing signal indicating that a collision has been detected to the vehicle control unit 100 when a collision from the right side of the vehicle occurs. As the vehicle left - side collision sensor 120, specifically, an acceleration sensor that detects the impact and vibration applied to the vehicle as acceleration can be exemplified. Moreover, as the acceleration sensor, either a piezoresistive type that utilizes the change in the electrical resistance of a semiconductor or a capacitive type that detects the change in the gap between the movable part and the fixed part of a comb - shaped electrode as capacitance may be used. Also, an acceleration sensor for detecting a collision and another acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration of the floor may be provided, and the determination of a collision may be made based on the acceleration values from both acceleration sensors. Since the vehicle right - side collision sensor 110 has the same configuration, its detailed description is omitted.

[0026] The vehicle left - side inflator 140 is disposed on the surface of the seat pan 41 of the front - left seat of the vehicle facing the door 50, and includes the folded outer back 10 and inner back 20, an ignition device, an igniter, a gas - generating agent, and a storage box for housing these components. When the vehicle left - side inflator 140 receives a control signal from the vehicle control unit 100 and the ignition device is activated, the igniter ignites, generating a large amount of gas to inflate and deploy the outer back 10 and inner back 20. Since the vehicle right - side inflator 130 has the same configuration, its detailed description is omitted.

[0027] <Control of the Side Airbag Device 1> As shown in FIG. 5, the vehicle control unit 100 determines whether a side collision has occurred on the left side of the vehicle (step S101). At this time, when the vehicle control unit 100 determines that a side collision has not occurred on the left side of the vehicle, that is, when it has not received a sensing signal from the vehicle left - side collision sensor 120 (''NO'' in step S101), the process returns to the original state and waits.

[0028] On the other hand, when the vehicle control unit 100 determines that a side collision has occurred on the left side of the vehicle ( "YES" in step S101), more specifically, when the vehicle control unit 100 receives a sensing signal from the vehicle left - side collision sensor 120 indicating that a side collision has occurred on the left side of the vehicle, the vehicle control unit 100 activates the vehicle left - side inflater 140 and executes control to inflate and deploy the outer back 10 and the inner back 20 (step S120).

[0029] Next, the vehicle control unit 100 determines whether the gas supply time by the vehicle left - side inflater 140 has elapsed the predetermined time (step S130). And when the vehicle control unit 100 determines that the gas supply time by the vehicle left - side inflater 140 has not elapsed the predetermined time ( "NO" in step S130), the process returns to the original point and waits. Here, the predetermined time is, for example, the time for supplying sufficient gas to inflate and deploy the outer back 10 and the inner back 20.

[0030] On the other hand, when the vehicle control unit 100 determines that the gas supply time by the vehicle left - side inflater 140 has elapsed the predetermined time ( "YES" in step S130), the vehicle control unit 100 controls the vehicle left - side inflater 140 to stop the gas supply by the vehicle left - side inflater 140 (step S140) and ends the process.

[0031] <Function and Effect> As described above, the outer back 10 in the side airbag device 1 according to the present embodiment seats on the vehicle seat 40 and presses the knees KN to the thighs FE of the occupant CR facing the vehicle door 50 from the direction of the vehicle door 50. That is, when a side collision of the vehicle occurs, the outer back 10 inflates and deploys so as to press the knees KN to the thighs FE of the occupant CR from the direction of the vehicle door 50. Therefore, when a side collision of the vehicle occurs, the outer back 10 can displace the thigh FE of the occupant CR away from the vehicle door 50 by a certain amount in the same timing from the knee KN of the occupant CR.

[0032] In addition, the inner back 20 in the side airbag device 1 according to the present embodiment is provided inside the outer back 10 and presses only the thigh FE of the occupant CR from the direction of the door 50. Specifically, when inflated and deployed, the inner back 20 includes a first air chamber 20A that presses only the thigh FE of the occupant CR from the direction of the door 50, and a second air chamber 20B that is deployed so that a convex air chamber is formed at the upper part of the door side end of the first air chamber 20A in the seat back direction. An inflater 30 is connected to the first air chamber 20A, and a first vent hole 21 with a larger gas discharge amount than the second vent hole 11 provided in the outer back 10 is provided on the surface of the second air chamber 20B facing the thigh FE of the occupant CR. That is, the gas supplied from the inflater 30 provided in the first air chamber 20A of the inner back 20 inflates and deploys the first air chamber 20A, enters the second air chamber 20B, inflates and deploys the second air chamber 20B, and is supplied to the outer back 10 through the first vent hole 21 to inflate and deploy the outer back 10. Therefore, when the inflater 30 is activated, the first air chamber 20A and the second air chamber 20B quickly deploy into the space between the seat 40 and the door trim 51 of the door 50. Therefore, when a side collision of the vehicle occurs, the thigh FE of the occupant CR can be quickly and stably protected.

[0033] In addition, the gas discharge amount of the second vent hole 11 provided in the outer back 10 is less than the gas discharge amount of the first vent hole 21 provided in the inner back 20. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when a side collision of the vehicle occurs and the door trim 51 surface of the door 50 is greatly deformed and intrudes into the seat 40 side, since the gas discharge amount of the first vent hole 21 is larger than the gas discharge amount of the second vent hole 11, the inner back 20 is sandwiched between the door trim 51 surface and the seat 40 as the door trim 51 surface intrudes. Then, the gas filled inside is discharged to the outer back 10 through the first vent hole 21, and the inner back 20 deforms so as to shrink. Therefore, when the door trim 51 surface is greatly deformed and intrudes into the seat 40 side, by quickly deforming the inner back 20, it is possible to prevent the displacement of only the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR caused by excessive pressure acting on the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR.

[0034] Also, while gas flows into the outer back 10 through the first vent hole 21, the outer back 10 receives the pressure due to the deformation of the door trim 51 surface, and while discharging the gas more gently to the outside from the second vent hole 11 provided in the outer back 10 than from the first vent hole 21, it deforms while following the intrusion of the door trim 51 surface. Therefore, when the door trim 51 surface is deformed and intrudes into the seat 40 side, by deforming the outer back 10 more gently than the inner back 20, it is possible to prevent the displacement of the knee portion KN and the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR at different timings caused by excessive pressure acting on the knee portion KN and the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR, and to displace the knee portion KN and the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR at the same timing and in the same manner.

[0035] Also, the first vent hole 21 is provided, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, on the surface facing the thigh portion FE of the occupant CR in the second air chamber 20B, and the second air chamber 20B is developed so that a convex air chamber is formed at the upper part of the seat back direction door 50 side end of the first air chamber 20A. That is, the first vent hole 21 is provided on a surface facing the surface of the second air chamber 20B that receives pressure from the door trim 51 surface during a side collision of the vehicle, and a sufficient gap is provided between the installation surface of the first vent hole 21 in the second air chamber 20B and the inner wall surface of the outer backrest 10 facing the installation surface. Therefore, during a side collision of the vehicle, since the first vent hole 21 receives pressure from the back, gas can be discharged quickly. In addition, since a sufficient gap is provided between the installation surface of the first vent hole 21 in the second air chamber 20B and the inner wall surface of the outer backrest 10 facing the installation surface, before the first vent hole 21 completes sufficient gas discharge due to the pressure received from the back, the exhaust port of the first vent hole 21 does not contact the inner wall surface of the outer backrest 10 and gas discharge is not inhibited.

[0036] The second vent hole 11 is provided at the lower part of the outer peripheral surface of the outer backrest 10 in front of the vehicle, which intersects the surface on which the first vent hole 21 is arranged. That is, since the gas discharge direction from the first vent hole 21 and the gas discharge direction from the second vent hole 11 intersect, the gas supply amount from the inner backrest 20 to the outer backrest 10 increases, and even if the internal pressure of the outer backrest 10 rises, the amount of gas discharged from the second vent hole 11 to the outside remains constant. Therefore, during a side collision of the vehicle, the outer backrest 10 can deform more gently than the inner backrest 20 following the deformation of the door trim 51 surface, and keep the contact surfaces with the knees KN and thighs FE of the occupant CR parallel, so that the pressure applied to the lower body and abdomen of the occupant CR can be reduced and the occupant CR can be protected.

[0037] Note that the processing of the vehicle control unit 100 can be recorded on a computer system-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on this recording medium can be read into the vehicle control unit 100 and executed to implement the side airbag device 1 of the present invention. Here, the computer system mentioned includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices.

[0038] In addition, the "computer system" shall include a homepage providing environment (or display environment) if the WWW (World Wide Web) system is used. Further, the above program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) like the Internet or a communication line (communication wire) like a telephone line.

[0039] In addition, the above program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, it may be a so-called difference file (difference program) that can realize the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

[0040] As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and designs and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention are also included.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0041] 1; Side airbag device 10; Outer back 11; Second vent hole 20; Inner back 20A; First air chamber 20B; Second air chamber 21; First vent hole 30; Inflator 40; Seat 41; Seat pan 50; Door 51; Door trim 100; Vehicle control unit 110; Vehicle right - hand side collision sensor 120; Vehicle left - hand side collision sensor 130; Vehicle right - hand side inflator 140; Vehicle left - hand side inflator

Claims

1. A seat for a vehicle, comprising a bag-shaped outer backrest that is seated on the seat of the vehicle and presses the knees to thighs of an occupant facing the door of the vehicle from the door side, a bag-shaped inner backrest provided inside the outer backrest and pressing only the thighs of the occupant from the door side, an inflater provided on a surface of a seat pan facing the door of the vehicle and supplying gas to the inner backrest, a first vent hole provided in the inner backrest for discharging the gas to the outer backrest, a second vent hole provided in the outer backrest for discharging the gas to the outside, and a side airbag device characterized in that the gas discharge amount of the first vent hole is larger than the gas discharge amount of the second vent hole.

2. When inflated and deployed, the inner backrest has a first air chamber that presses only the thighs of the occupant from the door side, and a second air chamber that is deployed so that a convex air chamber is formed at an upper portion of a door side end of the first air chamber in a seat back direction. The side airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the inflater is provided below the first air chamber.

3. The side airbag device according to claim 2, wherein the first vent hole is provided on a surface of the second air chamber facing the thighs of the occupant.

4. The side airbag device according to claim 3, wherein the second vent hole is provided at a lower portion of an outer peripheral surface of the outer backrest in a vehicle front direction, which intersects a surface on which the first vent hole is disposed.

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