DE102009001209B4 - Method and control device for controlling a reversible person restraint on an impact side facing away from a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

A method (1100) of driving a reversible occupant restraining means (580, 1050, 1060) on an impact side of a vehicle after occurrence of a side impact (540) of an object on the vehicle (500), the method (1100) comprising the steps of: Reading out (1110) information (735) relating to a triggering state of a first security device (560) and of information (730) regarding a triggering state of a second security device (550) of a vehicle (500), wherein the first security device (560) is deployed on a side facing away from the impact Side of the vehicle (500) and the second security means is disposed on an impact-facing side of the vehicle (500); - triggering (1120) the reversible occupant restraining means (580; 1050, 1060) on the impact side of the vehicle (500) the information (735) concerning the first security means (560) does not activate the first security means ( 560) and the information (730) pertaining to the second security means (550) represents a value greater than (760) a predefined threshold or indicating activation of the second security means (550).

Description

State of the art

The present invention relates to a method according to claim 1, a control device according to claim 9, and a computer program product according to claim 10.

Side collisions often lead to serious or even fatal injuries for the occupants on both sides of the vehicle, ie on the side facing the shock as well as on the side away from the impact. The risk for the occupant on the side of the vehicle facing away from the impact is about 50% if the vehicle is struck by another vehicle at a speed of 65 km / h.

110

Gesamtzahl der untersuchten verunfallten Fahrzeuge (11581)

120

Anteil von der verunfallten Fahrzeuge mit Seitenkollision (4189 Pkws)

130

Anzahl der Seitenkollisionen bei der mind.1 Person auf der stoßzugewandten Seite sitzt (2962)

140

Anzahl der Seitenkollisionen, bei der mindestens 1 Person auf der stoßabgewandten Seite sitzt (2743)

150

Anteil der Unfälle, bei der ein Anprall links erfolgt und die Fahrerseite besetzt ist (ggf. auch die Rückbank) (2310) = 78%

160

Anteil der Unfälle, bei der ein Anprall rechts erfolgt und die Beifahrerseite besetzt ist (ggf. auch die Rückbank) (652) = 22%

170

Anteil, der Unfälle, bei der ein Anprall rechts erfolgt und die Fahrerseite besetzt ist (ggf. auch die Rückbank) (1941) = 70,76%

180

Anteil der Unfälle, bei der ein Anprall links erfolgt und die Beifahrerseite besetzt ist (ggf. Rückbank) (802) = 29,24%

If one determines the accident frequency in the vehicles involved in side collisions, in which at least 1 person sits on the side facing away from the shock, it follows that, for example, of 4180 cars in side collisions, in 2743 side collisions (65.4%), at least 1 person on the shock away Vehicle side has sat. In 1 a more detailed list of the accident rates of side collisions is shown in which at least one person sits on the side of the vehicle facing away from the impact, with the individual fields of the figure 1 can be described as follows:

110

Total number of accident vehicles investigated (11581)

120

Proportion of crashed vehicles with side collision (4189 cars)

130

Number of side collisions at least 1 person sitting on the side facing the impact (2962)

140

Number of side collisions with at least 1 person sitting on the side away from the impact (2743)

150

Percentage of accidents where a collision occurs on the left and the driver's side is occupied (possibly also the back seat) (2310) = 78%

160

Proportion of accidents where a collision takes place on the right and the front passenger side is occupied (possibly also the back seat) (652) = 22%

170

Share, the number of accidents in which an impact occurs on the right and the driver's side is occupied (possibly also the back seat) (1941) = 70.76%

180

Percentage of accidents where a collision occurs on the left and the passenger side is occupied (possibly back seat) (802) = 29.24%

Although the vehicle manufacturers are trying to improve the performance of the side structure by improving the design of their vehicles, it is not possible to ensure sufficient occupant protection via the vehicle structure on the vehicle side facing away from the impact. The consequence for a belted occupant, who sits on the side facing away from the shock, is often slipping out of the seat belt in the shoulder area. The occupant is more or less fixed only by the lap belt in the lower part of the body. This provides at least a minimum level of security in which the ejection of the occupant from the vehicle is prevented despite the reduced protective effect. Due to the lack of fixation of the occupant, this can move more or less freely in the interior. The resulting most common cause of injury is collision with other occupants or collision with the vehicle interior parts in the vehicle door or B / C pillar.

In 2 is schematically the definition for a side collision on the side facing away from the vehicle, in English also referred to as "far-side crash" shown, wherein in the 2a an intrusion from the left in a occupation of the vehicle seats right and in the 2 B an intrusion from the right is shown on the left when the vehicle seats are occupied.

Basically, in the subfigures of the 3 illustrated side crash situations S1-S4 adjust, taking situation S1 no "far-side collision" represents. In the situations S2 & S4 Depending on the seat position or seat length adjustment, a collision between the two occupants is possible. The arrow in the subfigures of 3 designates the impact direction of an object on the vehicle.

In 4a-c representations are taken from freely available simulation results within which the resulting movement kinematics for the driver is again shown in a short temporal progression diagram when the vehicle is hit on the passenger side. The driver slips out of the webbing after the collision from the left with the upper body ( 4a at a time of 0 ms or at a collision time) and can move freely with the upper body and head in the interior ( 4b . 100 ms after the collision time, and 4c . 150 ms after the collision time). Due to the very strong rotation of the upper body it comes to increased Strains in the head, thorax and pelvis area. Major causes of injury are the collision of the occupant with another occupant, the neighboring seat, the consoles installed between the seats or the rebound with the driver's side facing away from the impact.

Current restraint systems are designed due to the accident scenario in that the side and head airbags are fired only on the vehicle side facing the impact, so that the occupant is not hit by intruding vehicle parts and the airbag moves the occupant out of the danger zone. In the case of a rollover event in a sedan or an SUV (SUV = sport utility vehicle = off-road vehicle) ignited usually provided on both sides of the vehicle head airbags, so that no objects from the outside can penetrate into the vehicle interior and the occupant or body parts of which (head, arms, hands) can not protrude from inside the vehicle.

In the application DE 203 14 924 U1 [0006] US-A-4/513473 is a safety arrangement for a vehicle occupant seated on a vehicle seat having a three-point safety belt having a lap belt and a shoulder belt and an additional shoulder extending over the shoulder left over from the three-point safety belt and crossing the shoulder belt of the three-point safety belt Two-point shoulder strap described. In the event of a side impact, there is the risk on the side opposite this seat arrangement in the vehicle that the occupant is turning out of the shoulder belt of the three-point safety belt due to the force component acting on the vehicle inside. Therefore, in the generic safety arrangement additionally a two-point belt is provided, which runs from a likewise integrated in the shoulder region of the back belt retractor as a shoulder strap over the chest area of the vehicle occupant to a belt anchorage of the three-point belt buckle. It crosses the shoulder belt of the three-point belt. This additional two-point harness prevents unscrewing the vehicle occupant from the shoulder belt of the three-point belt.

From the DE 10 2006 002 499 A1 a method for controlling a seatbelt in a motor vehicle in a side impact is known. It is proposed that a belt tightening of the safety belt takes place on a side of the motor vehicle facing away from the side impact.

Disclosure of the invention

Against this background, the present invention provides a method, furthermore a control device which uses this method and finally a corresponding computer program product according to the independent patent claims. Advantageous embodiments emerge from the respective subclaims and the following description.

• - Auslesen einer Information über einen Auslösezustand eines ersten Sicherheitsmittels und einer Information über einen Auslösezustand eines zweiten Sicherheitsmittels eines Fahrzeugs, wobei das erste Sicherheitsmittels auf einer aufprallabgewandten Seite des Fahrzeugs angeordnet ist und das zweite Sicherheitsmittels auf einer aufprallzugewandten Seite des Fahrzeugs angeordnet ist;
• - Auslösen des reversiblen Personenrückhaltemittels auf der aufprallabgewandten Seite des Fahrzeugs, wenn die Information über das erste Sicherheitsmittel keine Aktivierung des ersten Sicherheitsmittels anzeigt und die Information über das zweite Sicherheitsmittel einen Wert repräsentiert, der größer als ein vordefinierter Schwellenwert ist oder der eine Aktivierung des zweiten Sicherheitsmittels anzeigt.

The present invention provides a method for driving a reversible occupant restraining means on an impact side of a vehicle after an occurrence of a side impact of an object on the vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

• Reading out information about a triggering state of a first security means and information about a triggering state of a second security device of a vehicle, wherein the first security means is arranged on an impact side of the vehicle and the second security means is arranged on an impact side of the vehicle;
• Triggering the reversible passenger restraint on the side of the vehicle away from the impact if the information about the first safety means does not indicate activation of the first safety means and the information about the second safety means represents a value greater than a predefined threshold or activation of the second safety means displays.

The present invention further provides a control device which is designed to execute and / or control the steps of an embodiment of the aforementioned method. Also by this embodiment of the invention in the form of a control device, the object underlying the invention can be achieved quickly and efficiently.

In the present case, a control device can be understood as meaning an electrical device which processes sensor signals and outputs control signals in dependence thereon. The control unit may have an interface, which may be formed in hardware and / or software. In the case of a hardware-based design, the interfaces can be part of a so-called system ASIC, for example, which contains various functions of the control unit. However, it is also possible that the interfaces are their own integrated circuits or at least partially consist of discrete components. In a software training, the interfaces may be software modules that For example, on a microcontroller in addition to other software modules are available.

Also of advantage is a computer program product with program code, which is stored on a machine-readable carrier such as a semiconductor memory, a hard disk memory or an optical memory and is used for carrying out and / or driving the steps of the method according to one of the embodiments described above, if the Program is executed on a control unit and / or a data processing system.

The present invention is based on the finding that an additional security gain can be achieved by a further evaluation of often already available signals of an accident sensor system. In particular, in order to improve occupant safety in the event of a side impact of an object on the vehicle under consideration, an improvement in the safety of a vehicle occupant seated on an impact side of the vehicle can be improved by early activation of a corresponding reversible safety means. In order to recognize that a side impact of an object has actually occurred on the relevant vehicle, information relating to a triggering state for a security device can be evaluated on a side facing away from the impact and for a security device on an impact-facing side. In the case of a side impact, in the case of a side impact, in particular, the safety device which is arranged on the side of the actual impact is often triggered in accordance with the usual triggering regulations; another safety means, which is arranged on a side facing away from the impact, is not triggered. This tripping behavior can be exploited such that a reversible personal protection device is triggered on a side facing away from the impact when a safety device on a side facing the impact is activated and a safety device on a side facing away from the impact is not activated. Furthermore, an "activation" of the security means on the side facing the impact can also be assumed if a corresponding value of information for this security agent is greater than a predefined threshold value. This is to ensure that not necessarily an actual triggering of this safety device on the side facing the shock to take place, but only a high probability of the occurrence of an impact on the vehicle side is to be assumed. In this case, the reversible personal protection can be activated at an early stage accordingly.

The present invention offers the advantage that a further increase in personal safety, in particular for occupants on an impact side of the vehicle, is possible by a simple and additional evaluation of already available sensor data. By further use of signals from already installed sensor groups so that an additional sensor equipment for the intended functionality is not required. At the same time, it can be exploited that the impact transmission from the impact-facing vehicle side to the side facing away from the impact takes a certain amount of time, so that the impact of the impact on the vehicle occupants takes place much later than if the vehicle occupant were seated on the side of the vehicle facing the impact. This period of time can be used to activate a reversible and therefore inexpensive to be repaid personal protection at an early stage. This reversible personal protection means may be an element of an active vehicle seat such as an adjustable, fold-out or inflatable side-rest or a fold-out side wing of the seat cushion of the vehicle seat on the side facing away from the impact. Furthermore, these personal protection means may also be located in the area of the lateral vehicle structure, such as future reversibly foldable or inflatable door inner linings and / or reversible fold-out or inflatable A- / B- & C-pillar linings and / or reversibly fold-out or inflatable systems above / below the vehicle doors in the area of the roof spar or the sill or in the area of the headliner on the side facing away from the impact. Also, the reversible personal protection means can be triggered when the information on the second security means indicates activation of the second security means. This offers the advantage that the activation of the reversible personal protection means takes place after an unquestionable activation of the second security means.

Also, in the step of reading, information about first and second irreversible security means can be read out. Such an embodiment of the present invention offers the advantage that the corresponding irreversible security means for deploying the protective effect should usually be activated very quickly. In this way, a tapping and evaluation of this information for the activation of the usually slower working reversible personal protection device with respect to its early activation has an advantage.

Further, in another embodiment of the present invention, in the readout step, information about a tripping state of a side or curtain airbag on the impact side may be used as the first safety means and information about a tripping state of a side or curtain airbag is provided on the impact side of the vehicle to be read as a second security agent. In particular, the side or head airbags are usually ignited by the conventional triggering algorithms only in an actual and verified side impact, to minimize the risk of injury to the vehicle occupants. An evaluation of the information about the triggering state of the side or head airbags, which is provided by the conventional algorithms, thus allows for a wider use of already implemented in the vehicle sensors a very secure determination of the triggering situation of the first and second security means.

Also, in a further embodiment, the method may further include a step of driving another reversible restraining means disposed on the impact-facing side of the vehicle. Such an embodiment of the present invention offers the advantage that the information additionally available with the proposed approach can also be used to further actuate at least one reversible restraining means, which is arranged on the impact-facing side of the vehicle. This provides additional protection for another vehicle occupant with minimal overhead in the triggering algorithm.

In another embodiment of the present invention, information about a status of a buckle may be used in the triggering step, wherein the reversible person restraining means is triggered when the buckle status information indicates a closed state of the buckle. Such an embodiment of the present invention has the advantage that an additional simple evaluation option is given, in which it can be detected whether a vehicle seat is occupied. If, for example, a vehicle seat is not occupied by an occupant, a risk of injury can not be assessed as high and the activation of the reversible restraint means can be dispensed with, whereby the reversible personal protection device does not draw energy from the power supply line of the vehicle. Since the on-board network of the vehicle is heavily loaded by the large number of activated means in the event of an accident, a collapse of the electrical system of the vehicle can be avoided or at least delayed in time in this way.

In particular, in the step of triggering a state of the buckle can be evaluated, which is assigned to a vehicle seat on the side facing the impact. Such an embodiment of the present invention has the advantage that it can be detected whether a person is on the vehicle seat on the side facing the impact so that after the impact there is a risk that the occupants collide, respectively on the impact-facing and the impact-facing seat to sit. If no person is seated on the vehicle seat on the side facing the impact, the activation of the reversible personal protection device may be omitted, for example, on a vehicle seat on the impact side, or at least mitigated (for example, slower or using less force).

According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the step of triggering, the information about the first security means may be delayed before being compared with the information about the second security means. Such an embodiment of the present invention offers the advantage that a different activation pattern is possible for different accident acceleration characteristics due to the impact of the object on the vehicle, so that an optimized protective effect is provided by the time-delayed (especially delayed) activation of the reversible personal protection device in different accident scenarios can be achieved for the occupant.

Also, in another embodiment of the invention, in the triggering step, a triggering decision may be made on the reversible personal protection means based on a knowledge of a longitudinal seat adjustment of a vehicle seat on an impact side of the vehicle relative to a longitudinal seat adjustment of a vehicle seat on an impact side of the vehicle. This offers the advantage that it is easy to estimate how great the risk of injury to an occupant on a vehicle seat on the side of the vehicle away from the impact will be in the event of an impact. In this way, an activation or triggering of the reversible personal protection may possibly be omitted if the seat settings no increased risk of injury by striking the occupant to this seat structure or a seated on the corresponding vehicle seat occupant is to be feared.

• 1 eine Häufigkeitsverteilung von Seitenkollisionen bei denen mindestens eine Person auf der stoßabgewandten Fahrzeugseite sitzt;
• 2a-b eine Darstellung zur Definition einer „far-side“-Kollision, d.h. einer Kollision eines Objektes auf einer stoßabgewandten Fahrzeugseite
• 3 eine Darstellung von unterschiedlichen Unfallszenarien bei unterschiedlicher Besetzung eines Fahrzeugs beim Seitencrash
• 4a-c Darstellungen einer Insassensimulation eines Bewegungsablaufes am Beispiel einer Seitenkollision auf der Beifahrerseite und der daraus resultierenden Bewegung für den Fahrer
• 5 ein schematisches Blockschaltbild einer Anordnung von Komponenten eines Sicherheitssystems eines Fahrzeugs, das ein Ausführungsbeispiel der vorliegenden Erfindung einsetzt;
• 6a-c Darstellungen eines zeitlichen Ablaufs eines typischen „far-side“-Crashes mittels einer Innenraumkamera in einem Crashtest (wobei das Kollisionsfahrzeug von rechts kommt;
• 7 ein Ablaufdiagramm eines Ausführungsbeispiels der vorliegenden Erfindung als Verfahren zur Ansteuerung eines Crash-aktiven Sitzes;
• 8 ein Ablaufdiagramm einer weiteren Ausführungsvariante der vorliegenden Erfindung als Verfahren zur Ansteuerung eines Crash-aktiven Sitzes;
• 9 ein Ablaufdiagramm einer weiteren Ausführungsvariante der vorliegenden Erfindung als Verfahren zur Ansteuerung der reversiblen Sitzaktorik bei stoßabgewandter Fahrzeugkollisionen im Seitenbereich
• 10 eine Darstellung einer Auslösestrategie der Ansteuerungslogik der reversiblen Sitzaktorik bei stoßabgewandten Fahrzeugkollisionen; und
• 11 ein Ablaufdiagramm eines allgemeinen Ausführungsbeispiels der vorliegenden Erfindung als Verfahren.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. Show it:

• 1 a frequency distribution of side collisions in which at least one person sits on the side of the vehicle away from the impact;
• 2a-b a representation for the definition of a "far-side" collision, ie a collision of an object on a side facing away from the shock side
• 3 a representation of different accident scenarios with different occupation of a vehicle in a side crash
• 4a-c Representations of an occupant simulation of a movement sequence using the example of a side collision on the passenger side and the resulting movement for the driver
• 5 a schematic block diagram of an arrangement of components of a safety system of a vehicle, which employs an embodiment of the present invention;
• 6a-c Representing a time course of a typical "far-side" crash by means of an interior camera in a crash test (the collision vehicle comes from the right;
• 7 a flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention as a method for driving a crash-active seat;
• 8th a flow diagram of another embodiment of the present invention as a method for driving a crash-active seat;
• 9 a flowchart of a further embodiment of the present invention as a method for controlling the reversible seat actuator in shock-deflected vehicle collisions in the side area
• 10 a representation of a triggering strategy of the control logic of the reversible seat actuator in shock-away vehicle collisions; and
• 11 a flowchart of a general embodiment of the present invention as a method.

The same or similar elements may be provided in the following figures by the same or similar reference numerals, wherein a repeated description of these elements is omitted. Furthermore, the figures of the drawings, the description and the claims contain numerous features in combination. It is clear to a person skilled in the art that these features are also considered individually or that they can be combined to form further combinations not explicitly described here. Furthermore, the invention in the following description may be explained using different dimensions and dimensions, wherein a mention of these dimensions and dimensions is not to be understood as meaning that the invention is limited to these dimensions and dimensions.

The aim of the invention is in particular a method for controlling reversible restraint means, for example, in the seat built actuator (electric motor, pneumatic, hydraulic, etc.) to provide in vehicle collisions on the side facing away from the impact. The activation of the same restraining means can be done either at the time of collision or with a time delay. Due to the design of the actuators is here in particular to expect a systemic delay, since, for example. the control of the electric motors and the torque acting on the seat only delayed in time to collision can take place. Thus, this method should provide a feasible and necessary driving method as well as suitable triggering strategies for corresponding reversible components.

In particular, one aspect of the invention can be seen in the provision of a method for activating reversible restraint means in a side collision with the aid of inertial sensors, the collision taking place on a vehicle side facing away from the impact. Another aspect of this method is the detection of relevant vehicle side collisions in which there is an occupant on the side facing away from the impact.

The restraint used for the proposed approach are, for example, in the seat or in the door trim or in the A- / B- / C-pillar trim or in the panel in the roof spar / sill above / below the vehicle doors and are designed as reversible systems. These include e.g. all actuators which cause a lateral occupant guidance (among other things, the side cheeks in the seat as well as in the backrest area or on the headrest, in the seat mirror area or other seat components or variable inside door linings). An actuator based on a shell or split-seat concept are also conceivable here.

5 shows a schematic block diagram of the arrangement of components that can be used for an embodiment of the inventive approach. Thereby are at a vehicle 500 a first sensor 510 and a second sensor 520 arranged, which may be formed as peripheral sensors, so that they can measure, for example, an acceleration or a pressure or a structure-borne noise. In addition, there is an evaluation unit 530 , which also have a central sensor 590 can dispose of. The central sensor 590 can fulfill the same or similar functions as the peripheral sensors 510 and 520 , Wherein triggering the person restraint or the security means and / or plausibility of such a triggering signals of this central sensor 590 is usable. The sensors 510 and 520 are with an evaluation unit 530 connected according to one Triggering algorithm a side impact 540 detected on the passenger side and a corresponding side or head airbag 550 can ignite on the passenger side. Usually, a side impact 540 on the passenger side a side or head airbag 560 on the driver's side not or strongly delayed detonated, since it is not likely that an occupant in the driver's seat 570 through the side impact 540 is thrown to a vehicle structure on the driver's side. Such a contact between the occupant in the driver's seat 570 and the vehicle structure on the driver's side occurs at most in a rebound after a side impact 540 on, as will be explained in more detail below.

To a vehicle occupant on a side facing away from the impact with respect to the side impact 540 Nevertheless, a special approach is proposed below. After in the example off 5 the side impact 540 on the passenger side of the vehicle 500 occurs, is intended by the approach proposed below, an occupant in the driver's seat 570 that is on the driver's side of the vehicle 500 to be protected. The specific approach proposed here provides, in particular, for an evaluation of information about the activation of safety devices, such as the side or head airbag 550 and 560 can be done and reversible personal protection 580 can be activated early. These personal protective equipment 580 For example, active elements of a seat such as an adjustable seat side bolster or an adjustable seat back trim can be used to prevent the occupant from sitting in the driver's seat 570 is thrown from a predetermined optimum seating position. This can ensure that more in the vehicle 500 Built-in security agents to protect the driver optimally.

The activation of these reversible personal protective equipment 580 can be done in particular when information about a security agent 560 on the side facing away from the shock indicating no activation and information about a triggering state of a security agent 550 represent a value greater than a predefined threshold on the vehicle side facing the shock. In particular, the information about the triggering state of the security means 550 On the shock-facing vehicle side a release of this safety device 550 Show. As a result, the result of a conventional triggering algorithm can be used and the reversible personal protection 580 then be triggered when the evaluation unit 530 the security agent 550 on the shock-facing vehicle side triggers and the security agent 560 does not trip on the side facing away from the shock. In this way, the protection of vehicle occupants can be increased efficiently by simple and cost-effective further use of the evaluation results of a sensor already installed as standard.

The typical ignition times for thorax, head, side airbags and combinations thereof, which are installed on the side facing the shock, are in the millisecond range depending on the impact type and crash severity. The reason for such a short tripping time is the small distance of the airbag to the occupant and the necessary inflation time of around 20-30 ms, depending on the size of the airbags. On the side facing away from the impact, times around 800-1200 ms after contact are sufficient due to the movement sequence. In the sequence of the subfigures of 6 By way of example, the course of a "far-side" crash (ie "far-side" accident) is shown, it being assumed that a collision vehicle comes from the right, ie from the collision direction 600 , The 6a indicates the situation at impact time, while the 6b and 6c indicate the situation at the times 300 ms and 800 ms after the collision time. Like from the 6 it can be seen, a passenger dummy slips out of the belt approx. 300 ms after impact collision of the collision vehicle with the vehicle in question ( 6b) and is held only by the lap belt. As a result, it is coupled to the vehicle movement and hits the vehicle door assigned to it approximately 800 ms after the start of contact by repelling or rebounding ( 6c ). The impact of the head, as already mentioned, leads to very serious injuries.

The above sequence of 6a-c shows that a control of reversible systems on the side facing away from the vehicle (left) is possible without time problems. The retention effect of the reversible components needs to be made in a time range of up to 1 s after impact contact.

• • Anpassung der Bewegungskinematik des Insassen, d.h. frühzeitige Ankopplung des Insassen auf der stoßabgewandten Seite an die Fahrzeugbewegung und damit Herabsetzung der Wahrscheinlichkeit für einen Insassen/Insassen-Kontakt und damit verbunden Reduktion der Verletzungswahrscheinlichkeit;
• • Allgemeine Reduktion der Belastungen im Kopf- und Thoraxbereich;
• • Reduktion der Belastungen im Beckenbereich;
• • Durch den Einsatz von Inertialsensoren für die Kollisionserkennung (Beschleunigungs-, Druck-, Körperschall-, kapazitive, induktive u.a. Kontaktsensoren) wird keine zusätzliche Sensorik benötigt; daher ist eine sehr kostengünstige Realisierung möglich.
• • Es ist kein zusätzlicher Hardware-Aufwand erforderlich, da die Ansteuerung durch bestehende Algorithmik mit leichten Modifikationen erfolgen kann.
• • Eine Ausnutzung von in Zukunft verfügbaren sitz- und/oder tür und/oder A-/B-/C-Säulen- und/oder Dachholm- und/oder Schwellerintegrierten Rückhaltekomponenten ist möglich.
• • Eine Anpassung an eine tatsächliche Unfallkonstellation ist möglich (Real-World Safety), wodurch eine bessere Anpassung an unterschiedliche, nicht normgerechte Crash-Situationen ermöglicht wird.

This results in the following advantages for reversible, seat or door or A / B / C-pillar or roof spar or sill integrated protection systems:

• Adaptation of the movement kinematics of the occupant, ie early coupling of the occupant on the side facing away from the impact to the vehicle movement and thus reduction of the probability of an occupant / occupant contact and, associated therewith, reduction of the probability of injury;
• • General reduction of head and thorax loads;
• • Reduction of the loads in the pelvic area;
• • Due to the use of inertial sensors for collision detection (acceleration, pressure, structure-borne sound, capacitive, inductive and contact sensors), there is no additional sensor technology required; therefore, a very cost-effective implementation is possible.
• • There is no additional hardware overhead, since the control can be done by existing algorithms with slight modifications.
• • Utilization of future available seat and / or door and / or A- / B- / C-pillar and / or roof spar and / or sill-integrated restraint components is possible.
• • An adaptation to an actual accident constellation is possible (Real-World Safety), which allows better adaptation to different, non-standard crash situations.

The invention may be in a central airbag control unit 530 will be realized. Other control devices, such as a seat control device, for implementing the approach proposed here are also conceivable. The communication between the sensors, the evaluation unit and / or the security or personal protection means can then take place, for example, via a BUS system (eg the CAN bus) or in direct control. Likewise, wireless communication is conceivable.

In the approach proposed here, it is assumed that a side collision is detected with a seated on the side facing away from the shock inmates. The detection of a seated on the side facing away from the occupant can be done using known approaches. For example, in the application ( DE 10 2008 005159.4 ), which is fully incorporated into the present application by this reference and in which a method is described, which generally describes the activation and ignition of restraint means in impact-collisions. This includes both reversible and irreversible retention means, which are ignited or activated with a time delay. Since the system due to the control of reversible actuators a time delay is included, thus reversible systems with the help of an inertial sensors for crash detection can be controlled so that they can achieve a corresponding retention effect.

However, a first exemplary variant provided for this embodiment does not take into account any time delay and buckle status. An embodiment of an algorithm used to trigger the reversible personal protection 700 is in 7 shown as a block diagram. The result is the following procedure:

The example in the central airbag control unit 530 executed triggering algorithm 700 meets on the basis of signals from an inertial sensor 710 (For example, a central and / or peripheral acceleration and / or pressure and / or structure-borne sound sensor and / or capacitive and / or inductive sensor) a decision about a potential occurring collision. Also, a collision or multiple collision such as a rollover by means of roll rate and / or yaw rate and / or by pitch rate sensors can be detected, as may be the case for example with another airbag control unit. The signals of the sensors 710 become a triggering algorithm 720 fed to detect a side collision, the algorithm 720 but does not necessarily lead to an activation of the passive irreversible retention means. For example, a collision with a misuse object may possibly also lead to a triggering criterion for lateral reversible systems, so is in the triggering algorithm 720 if necessary, to carry out a threshold adaptation for such systems and to carry out separately if necessary (which is shown in the block diagram) 7 not shown). For the following consideration, the algorithm will be explained with reference to an impact-facing side and a shock-facing side, it being irrelevant whether the driver's side or the passenger's side represents the impact-facing side or the shock-facing side. The evaluation and control of the personal restraint means is carried out separately and independently for each of the corresponding pages.

The triggering decision for triggering the security means can, for example in the form of so-called "fire flags" 730 (Fire flag for triggering a reversible and / or irreversible safety device on the side facing away from the vehicle) or 735 (Fire flag for triggering a reversible and / or irreversible safety device on the vehicle side facing the shock) in the evaluation unit 530 get saved. These fire flags 730 respectively. 735 which represent information about the triggering state, for example as logical "0" or logical "1", are referred to herein as a "far-side" algorithm 740 to trigger the reversible personal protection means on the side facing away from the impact of the vehicle checked for value or compared with each other (step 750 ).

For comparison, either the binary states of the flags 730 respectively. 735 or even a variant may be used in which the comparison is made on the basis of a direct comparison using an examination of a value 730 by polling against a threshold 760 - here ">0" - can be done. As long as the value to be compared 730 is less than the threshold (situation 770 ) he follows no comparison 750 of value 730 with an information 735 with respect to the safety device on the side facing away from the impact. Is the value 730 but greater than the threshold (situation 780 ) will be the comparison 750 executed.

The comparison 750 serves as a plausibility check 785 to ensure that activation of the reversible personal protection device is not unnecessary. A first possible execution of a plausibility check is at least one flag 735 for an opposite side (ie for the vehicle side facing away from the impact) or for the triggering decision for the opposing restraining means (ie the reversible passenger protection means on the vehicle side facing away from the impact). If this flag 735 has not been set, ie if the corresponding safety means has not been ignited, this flag becomes 735 usually assume the value "logical zero". In this case, after a negation 790 get a value of "logical one". This value is used in the (further) comparison logic 750 , which in this case represents an AND link, tested. In this way, it is ensured that tripping only takes place when, on the vehicle side facing away from the impact, so far no activation of the restraint systems took place. Other logical connections are also conceivable. For example, if an activation of lateral restraint means, for example in the event of a rollover, reversible systems can also be activated on the side facing away from the impact or against the impact. Therefore, the logic could be 750 also to other queries of the fire flags 730 respectively. 735 build up.

If a triggering decision is to be made for the reversible personal protective equipment on the side of the vehicle facing the impact, the illustration would be out 7 to be adapted in such a way that the fire flags to be evaluated for the execution of the algorithm would have to be exchanged. The fire flags 730 respectively. 735 provide information about the triggering state of the corresponding safety means (eg the side or head airbags 550 respectively. 560 out 5 ) again, wherein the information regarding the triggering state of the two security means is compared with each other. The comparison between the corresponding information for the safety means is thus carried out separately for the triggering of the reversible personal protection centers on each vehicle side. It is clear to the person skilled in the art that a corresponding modification of this logic, ie negated fire flag evaluation, can likewise be carried out.

Upon fulfillment of the settlement conditions 750 ie, in the present embodiment, the negated flag 735 and the flag 730 have a value of "logical one", the reversible components, such as seat-integrated inflatable or fold-out side bolsters, driven (situation 795 ) and / or a signal on a BUS system z. B. CAN bus is generated to effect activation of the corresponding components. The components to be controlled may in particular be components which are installed in the seat. Specifically, in the present embodiment, reversible personal safety means should be provided in the vehicle seat 800 be controlled on the side facing away from shock, the for 7 Assumably arranged on the shock-away side. The control 795 can be done in such a way that seat side bolsters, side bolsters in the backrest, side guides in the headrest and / or optionally also the seat back inclination to one or both sides of the vehicle seat 800 inflated and / or placed on the side facing away from the impact. In addition, components of the vehicle seat can also 810 on the impact side by the control 795 to be activated. It can in particular on the vehicle seat 810 an opening or a lowering of the seat or other active elements take place on the side facing the vehicle, which in turn on a shock-facing side of the vehicle seat 810 are arranged; Components on a shock-away side of the vehicle seat 810 can be inflated and / or placed. This makes it possible that by the placement of elements on the side facing away from shock and lowering elements on the shock-facing side of the vehicle seat 810 on the side facing the vehicle, a lateral displacement of the occupant can be intercepted in a side impact.

In addition to the in 7 is shown in the 8th a flowchart of a variant of a method 800 with a further process step 820 played. This takes place in the in 8th reproduced variant in a further process step after successful query of the "Fire Flags" 735 of the safety device on the side facing away from the vehicle or its negation 790 , the comparison 820 with a closed state 825 a buckle switch 830 , Thus, it can be estimated in a first approximation by detecting an inserted seat belt by means of the closed state of the buckle switch, whether a person on the controlled with the reversible personal protection seat 800 or not. Is determined by the status 825 of the buckle switch 830 signaled a closed state, this can also be indicated by a binary information with the result value from the comparison in step 760 logical AND is linked. The result of this further process step 820 can then be compared 750 with the flag for the triggering or the value or the information about the opposite security means are linked. Other embodiments in which the interior sensor is used to perform a specific seat occupancy or to take into account the occupant trajectories are also conceivable. Also, another position of the comparison 820 the signals of in 7 presented method with the status 830 of the buckle switch 825 be performed as exemplified in the following 9 is reproduced. It is thus also possible to perform the query in a different order. The result for polling the buckle status 825 is in a further process step, here the comparison 750 again plausibilized with information regarding the triggering for the opposite security means. The plausibility path could, for example, be such that the flag for the restraint systems on the side facing away from the impact is processed in a logic, here again a negation. If these flags have not been set, ie the corresponding safety means has not been ignited, ie a value of "logical zero" occurs, then a "logical one" is set after the negation. This is in another logic, here an AND operation 750 , with the "firing-flag" 730 (Or a processed by different steps variant thereof) for the control of an element in the seat in question 800 connected. In this way it is ensured that a triggering of the reversible personal protection means only takes place when so far no activation of the restraint systems took place on the side facing away from the shock. According to this variant, then a query of the buckle status 825 for just this personal protection. Other logical connections are also conceivable.

Another variant is in the flowchart from 9 presented. Compared to the previously presented variant of the method 800 considers the procedure 900 according to the variant 9 a delay element 910 , Due to the system design based on reversible actuators, it can be assumed that a control with a time delay of 100 ms to 2 s can be achieved. The reason for this is the time required, for example, by an electric motor to build up a corresponding actuating torque. It also comes with the use of pneumatic components to a time delay. Nonetheless, a time delay can also be kept in the algorithm and the parameters set accordingly. The structure is analogous to the procedure 700 out 7 , The time delay 910 takes place in this variant after the query 760 the status of the fire decision. A count C is in the delay element 910 thereby increased. The value I which is counted, can from a storage medium 920 taken and the count C be added.

The result is in a further process step 930 against a threshold S compared. This threshold S can also be from a (further) storage medium 940 be removed. Subsequently, as already described above, a plausibility check is carried out 750 In this case, the query takes place 820 also again at the end of the plausibility algorithm 785 , However, as stated above, this query can 820 optionally in or after every other method step and thus also at the beginning of the algorithm 740 be performed.

Other alternative or additional embodiments for controlling these actuators are likewise conceivable, it being regarded as an aspect that the crash sensing takes place via an inertial sensor system and the associated actuator system is favorably located in the seat. The control logic takes into account preferably actuator on the side facing away from the shock side.

A possible strategy for controlling such seat components is exemplified in 10 shown The lateral impact 540 takes place in relation to the direction of travel now on the driver's side. The people 1010 on the shock-facing side, according to the usual retention strategy, first of all, irreversible systems (thorax and / or curtain airbags) are protected. In contrast, inmates 1020 Protected on the side facing away from the impact, for example, according to the method proposed above primarily by the actuator located in the seat. Alternatively, the irreversible retention means, such as curtain and / or head / thorax airbags, can then additionally be ignited, in particular with a time delay.

In the 10 Strategy presented provides that, starting from a state of rest 1030 the vehicle seat in the seat facing away from the impact 800 both the systems in the shock-facing 1050 as well as shock-away seat side 1060 to be triggered. In contrast, in the shock-facing seat 810 only those contrary to the direction of impact 540 built restraint systems 1040 activated, ie inflated the corresponding pad.

Furthermore, in alternative variants, an additional consideration of the occupancy situation of the front and rear seats according to the typical side crash situations in 3 respectively. Thus, the strategy to be applied, such as in 10 presented directly from the relevant situation 3 be derived.

For example, it plays for the retention performance of the impact facing 1010 or shock-away occupants 1020 In the rebound phase, ie after the first decisive movement or contact to / with the vehicle structure, a large role with which energy the occupant moves towards another occupant or to the adjacent seat structure. In this context, it may be important which seat adjustment in the longitudinal direction have the respective seats to each other. For example, the inner pads may be designed to form a ramp and thus mitigate, if not prevent, but at least mitigate the impact between the two occupants. On the other hand, there may be cases in which the side pads are not inflated, because from the seat occupancy and sitting position of the occupants can be expected with lower injury values. The relevant information can be stored on the basis of maps and, depending on the seat occupancy, seat position, occupant weight, occupant age, etc. incorporated into the decision-making. This should or may additionally be in a triggering algorithm 700 . 800 respectively. 900 be noticed, as he in the 7 to 9 is shown.

Finally, the present invention still provides a method 1100 for controlling a reversible person restraining means on an impact side of a vehicle after an occurrence of a side impact of an object on the vehicle, as shown as a flowchart in 11 is shown. The method comprises a first step of reading 1110 information regarding a triggering state of a first security means and information regarding a triggering state of a second security means of a vehicle, wherein the first security means is disposed on an impact side of the vehicle and the second security means is arranged on an impact side of the vehicle. Furthermore, the method comprises a second step of triggering 1120 the reversible occupant restraining means on the impact side of the vehicle when the information relating to the first security means does not indicate activation of the first security means and the information concerning the second security means represents a value greater than a predefined threshold or indicating activation of the second security means.

Claims (10)

A method (1100) of driving a reversible occupant restraining means (580; 1050, 1060) on an impact side of a vehicle after an occurrence of a side impact (540) of an object on the vehicle (500), the method (1100) comprising the steps of: Reading out (1110) information (735) relating to a triggering state of a first security device (560) and of information (730) regarding a triggering state of a second security device (550) of a vehicle (500), wherein the first security device (560) is deployed on a side facing away from the impact Side of the vehicle (500) is arranged and the second safety means on an impact-facing side of the vehicle (500) is arranged; Triggering (1120) the reversible occupant restraining means (580; 1050, 1060) on the impact side of the vehicle (500) if the information (735) relating to the first security means (560) does not indicate activation of the first security means (560) and the second security means (550) represents (730) a value greater than (760) a predefined threshold or indicating activation of the second security means (550). Method (1100) according to Claim 1 , characterized in that in the step of reading (1110) information (730, 735) relating to a first and second irreversible security means (550, 560) are read out. Method (1100) according to one of Claims 1 or 2 characterized in that in the step of reading (1110) information (735) on a triggering state of a side and / or head airbag (560) on the side facing away from the impact as a first security means (560) and information (730) on a tripping state of a Side and / or head airbags (550) on the side facing the impact of the vehicle (500) is read out as a second safety means. Method (1100) according to one of Claims 1 to 3 characterized in that the method (1100) further comprises a step of driving another reversible restraining means disposed on the impact-facing side of the vehicle (500). Method (1100) according to one of Claims 1 to 4 characterized in that in the triggering step (1120), information about a status (825) of a buckle (830) is used, wherein the reversible person restraint means (580, 1050, 1060) is triggered when the status information (820) 825) of the buckle (830) indicates a closed condition (825) of the buckle (830). Method (1100) according to Claim 5 , characterized in that in the step of triggering (1120), a state (825) of the buckle (830) is evaluated, which is associated with a vehicle seat (810) on the side facing the impact or impact side. Method (1100) according to one of Claims 1 to 6 , characterized in that in the step of Triggering (1120) the information (735) is delayed via the first security means (560) before a comparison (750) with the information (735) via the second security means (550). Method (1100) according to one of Claims 1 to 7 characterized in that, in the triggering step (1120), a triggering decision on deployment of the reversible personal protection means is made based on a knowledge of a longitudinal seat adjustment of a vehicle seat on an impact side relative to a longitudinal seat adjustment of a vehicle seat on an impact side , A controller (530) adapted to execute and / or control the steps of the method (1100) according to any one of Claims 1 to 8th is trained. Computer program product with program code, which is stored on a machine-readable carrier, for carrying out and / or triggering the steps of the method (1100) according to one of Claims 1 to 8th when the program is executed on a controller (530) and / or a data processing system.

Images