Vehicle Side Support Member for Lateral Driver Restraint
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle body structures face challenges in effectively restraining drivers from moving in a left-right direction during side-impact collisions without relying on large airbags, which increase costs and require significant space for deployment.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle body structure featuring a partition separating the driver and passenger cabins, a driver's seat base member, and a side support member coupled to the partition and seat base, which provides lateral support to the driver and mitigates partition deformation during collisions by distributing forces through a framework of vertical and horizontal framework members.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large airbag is deployed to restrain the driver from moving in a left-right direction during side-impact collision, then the driver protection is improved, but the cost increases and a large space needs to be secured for housing the airbag
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the driver restraint function from the airbag system and implements it through a separate side support member structure. The side support member is coupled to the partition and driver's seat base member, providing lateral support without requiring a large airbag deployment space, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining protection reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the driver protection system into multiple components: the partition separating driver and passenger cabins, the driver's seat base member, and the side support member. This segmentation allows the restraint function to be distributed across structural elements rather than relying on a single large airbag system
2Strength
If the side support member is coupled to the partition at a higher position and to the driver's seat base member at a position on the front side of the hip point, then the strength against force from the driver is improved, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The side support member is pre-positioned and coupled to the partition and driver's seat base member before collision occurs. The coupling positions are strategically determined in advance (higher position on partition, front side of hip point on base member) to optimize strength against lateral forces without requiring complex adaptive mechanisms during the collision event
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle includes: a partition that separates a driver cabin into which a driver climbs and a passenger cabin into which a passenger climbs and that is coupled to a roof and a floor; a driver's seat base member to which a driver's seat is fixed; and a side support member that is coupled to the partition and the driver's seat base member and partially located on a lateral side of the buttocks or the hips of the driver seated in the driver's seat. A shoulder anchor of a driver's seatbelt device and a shoulder anchor of a passenger's seatbelt device are fixed to the partition. A side support member restrains the driver from moving in a left-right direction and retains the driver in the driver's seat.