JP2001163158A - Head protective air bag device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve transportability of an air bag and a passage forming body and mountability on a vehicle in a head protective air bag device of the vehicle. SOLUTION: The head protective air bag device 10 comprises the air bag 11 stored in a state of extending back and forth along a roof side rail 21 of the vehicle and folded vertically, the passage forming body 12 that are provided in the upper part of the air bag 11 and forms a gas passage 11a extending back and forth in the air bag 11, and an inflator 13 capable of supplying gas from the longitudinal end of the air bag 11 to the gas passage 11a. The air bag 11 expands and develops like a curtain at the side part in a car room due to gas supplied from the inflator 13 to the gas passage 11a. The passage forming body 12 together with the vertically folded air bag 11 can be longitudinally folded into a plurality of parts at a portion corresponding to each slit 12a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a head protection airbag device mounted on a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of head protection airbag devices,
An airbag which is extended in the front-rear direction along the roof side rail portion of the vehicle and stored in a folded state in the vertical direction,
A passage forming body provided in an upper portion of the airbag and forming a gas passage extending in the front-rear direction inside the airbag;
An inflator capable of supplying gas to the gas passage from the front-rear end of the airbag, and the gas supplied from the inflator to the gas passage causes the airbag to be curtained at a side portion in the vehicle compartment. There is one that expands and expands in the form of, for example, German utility model D
E29813636U1, JP-A-10-119707 and the like.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional head protection airbag device, the passage forming body for forming the gas passage in the airbag is constituted by a long single tube (for example, a metal pipe). Therefore, the handling of the passage forming body is troublesome, and the transportability from the production factory to the vehicle assembly factory and the assembling property at the vehicle assembly factory are poor. Such a problem is particularly conspicuous when the passage forming body is subassembled with an airbag, an inflator, and the like at a production factory.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to address the above-described problems, and has been housed in a state where it extends in the front-rear direction along a roof side rail portion of a vehicle and is folded in a vertical direction. An airbag, a passage forming body provided in an upper portion of the airbag and forming a gas passage extending in the front-back direction inside the airbag, and gas can be supplied to the gas passage from the front-back end of the airbag. A head protection airbag device in which the gas is supplied from the inflator to the gas passage so that the airbag expands and deploys in a curtain shape on a side portion of the vehicle interior. The invention is characterized in that the passage forming body can be folded into a plurality of pieces in the front-rear direction together with the airbag folded in the direction (the invention according to claim 1). That.

In this case, the passage forming body has a substantially inverted V-shaped cross section, and has a vertical slit at a predetermined position in the front-rear direction so as to be foldable in the front-rear direction. Invention) is desirable, and the passage forming body is desirably formed of resin (the invention according to claim 3).

[0006]

In the head protection airbag device according to the present invention (the invention according to claim 1), the passage forming body is folded into a plurality in the front-rear direction together with the airbag folded in the vertical direction. Since it is possible, the airbag and the passage forming body can be folded into a plurality of pieces in the front-rear direction to reduce the size in the front-rear direction until the device is assembled to the vehicle at the vehicle assembly factory. Therefore, it is possible to improve the transportability of the airbag and the passage forming body and the assembling property to the vehicle. Further, when the head protection airbag device according to the present invention is assembled to a vehicle, the passage forming body secures a gas passage extending in the front-rear direction in the airbag. Therefore, when gas is supplied from the inflator into the airbag, the gas can be quickly guided to the entire front and rear of the airbag through the gas passage, and the inflation and deployment performance of the airbag can be improved.

Further, in the present invention, when the passage forming body has a substantially inverted V-shaped cross section, and has a vertical slit which can be folded in the front-rear direction at a predetermined position in the front-rear direction. According to the invention, the airbag and the passage forming body can be folded in the front-rear direction at a portion corresponding to the slit to reduce the size in the front-rear direction, thereby improving transportability and assemblability to a vehicle. Needless to say, since the shape of the passage forming body is simple, it can be manufactured at low cost. Further, since the passage forming body has a substantially inverted V-shaped cross section and opens downward, a gas passage having a small passage resistance and a large passage cross-sectional area can be secured in the upper part of the airbag, and the air The gas can be quickly conducted throughout the bag.

In the present invention, when the passage-forming body is formed of a resin (preferably a resin having flexibility) (the invention according to claim 3), the airbag and the passage-forming body are moved back and forth. The workability when folding in a plurality of directions in the direction can be improved, and the airbag by the passage-forming body when assembling the passage-forming body to the airbag, when transporting the device, and when assembling to the vehicle. Damage can be suppressed. In addition, the weight of the passage forming body can be reduced to reduce the weight of the device, thereby improving the transportability of the device and the assembling property to the vehicle.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The head protection airbag device 10 according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 includes an airbag 11 extending in a front-rear direction along a roof side rail 21 of a vehicle.
A passage forming body 12 provided in an upper portion of the airbag 11 and forming a gas passage 11a extending in the front-rear direction inside the airbag 11; and a roof side rail portion 2 of the vehicle.
1 from the rear end of the airbag 11 to the gas passage 1
An inflator 13 for supplying gas to 1a is provided.

[0010] As shown in FIG.
When gas is supplied from the inflator 13 to the gas passage 11a, the gas is inflated and deployed in the shape of a curtain at the side in the vehicle interior. Rear inflation part 11
d. Further, the airbag 11 has a plurality of mounting pieces 11e at the upper edge thereof, and the bolts and nuts (both not shown) are used at each of the mounting pieces 11e along the roof side rail portion 21 of the vehicle. It is assembled.
The airbag 11 is folded in a bellows shape except for the upper part as shown in FIG. 2 (in detail, the state shown in FIG. 2 is held by a tape which can be broken by gas pressure). At the roof side rail portion 2 as shown in FIG.
1 and is covered with a peripheral portion of a roof head lining (not shown) that can be elastically deformed.

The front inflatable portion 11b of the airbag 11 protects the occupant's head H1 of the first seat S1 from the side, and comprises five inflatable chambers extending vertically and communicating with each other at both upper and lower ends. Have been. The central inflatable portion 11c of the airbag 11 protects the occupant's head H2 of the second seat S2 from the side, and extends in the up-down direction and communicates with each other at both upper and lower ends. It is constituted by two expansion chambers formed between and communicating at the lower end. The rear inflating portion 11d of the airbag 11 protects the occupant's head H3 of the third seat S3 from the side, and extends in the up-down direction and communicates with each other at both upper and lower ends. It is constituted by three expansion chambers formed therebetween and communicating at the lower end. A non-expandable portion 11f is provided between the front inflatable portion 11b and the central inflatable portion 11c.
A non-expandable portion 11g is provided between 1c and the rear inflatable portion 11d.

The passage forming body 12 is formed of a resin (for example, a flexible PP (polypropylene) resin) in a substantially inverted V-shaped (angle-shaped) cross section (longitudinal cross section).
The airbag 11 is inserted through the rear end opening of the airbag 11 and is adhered to the inner surface of the airbag 11 with an adhesive previously applied to a portion surrounded by a virtual line in FIG. The passage forming body 12 is provided at a predetermined position in the front-rear direction (longitudinal direction), specifically, at the front inflatable portion 1 of the airbag 11.
1b and an intermediate portion between the central inflatable portion 11c and the central inflatable portion 1
1c and an intermediate portion between the rear expanding portion 11d and the rear expanding portion 1
1 d and an inflator 13, each of which has a vertical slit 12 a at an intermediate portion between the slits 12 a.
Can be folded together with the airbag 11 in the front-rear direction.

The inflator 13 injects gas toward the airbag 11 at the time of a side collision of the vehicle (detected by a sensor not shown) or the like, and a bracket (not shown) is attached to the roof side rail portion 21. Assembled using. The inflator 13 has a tip 13
a is airtightly fitted into the gas passage 11a of the airbag 11, and is sub-assembled with the airbag 11, the passage forming body 12, and the like at a production factory. In the vehicle assembly factory, the airbag 11, the passage forming body 12, and the inflator 1
3 can be implemented.

In this embodiment constructed as described above, the airbag 11 is normally folded and housed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Further, when a gas is ejected from the inflator 13 at the time of a side collision of the vehicle and the gas is supplied to the gas passage 11a of the airbag 11, the airbag 11 pushes the peripheral portion of the roof head lining toward the passenger compartment. It opens and expands downward, and expands and expands in a curtain shape on the side in the vehicle compartment as shown in FIG.
At this time, in the airbag 11, each of the inflated portions 11b, 11c,
1d respectively inflates to protect the occupant heads H1, H2, H3 from the side.

By the way, in this embodiment, the passage forming body 12 can be folded into a plurality of parts in the front-rear direction at portions corresponding to the slits 12a together with the airbag 11 folded in the vertical direction. Until the device 10 is assembled in the vehicle at the factory, the airbag 1
1 and the passage forming body 12 can be folded into a plurality in the front-rear direction to reduce the size in the front-rear direction.

The specific folding method in this case is, for example, using the front slit 12a as a fold, and
1c, the front inflation portion 11b is folded over, the rear inflation portion 11d and the inflator 13 are integrally folded over the central slit 12a as a fold, and finally the inflator 13 is folded back using the rear slit 12a as a fold. Therefore, the device 10 can be folded four times. Therefore, the airbag 11 and the passage forming body 12
(If the inflator 13 is a sub-assembly, the inflator 13 also can be transported from a production factory to a vehicle assembly factory and assembled into a vehicle.

At first, the assembly of the device 10 into a vehicle is as follows.
A plurality of mounting pieces 11e provided corresponding to the central inflatable portion 11c of the airbag 11 are used to secure the roof side rail portion 21 of the vehicle.
Then, the inflator 13 and the rear inflating portion 11d
And the inflator 13 is assembled to the roof side rail portion 21 using a bracket (not shown), and the roof side rail portion 21 of the vehicle is provided by a plurality of mounting pieces 11e provided corresponding to the rear inflatable portion 11d. ,
Finally, the front inflatable portion 11b is deployed to
This is completed by assembling to the roof side rail portion 21 of the vehicle with the plurality of mounting pieces 11e provided corresponding to b, and can be easily performed by one worker alone.

In this embodiment, the device 1
In a state where 0 is mounted on the vehicle, a gas passage 11 a extending in the front-rear direction is formed in the airbag 11 by the passage forming body 12 and is secured. For this reason, when gas is supplied from the inflator 13 into the airbag 11, the gas can be quickly guided to the entire front and rear of the airbag 11 through the gas passage 11 a, thereby improving the inflation and deployment performance of the airbag 11. Can be.

In this embodiment, the front inflation portion 11b of the airbag 11 is constituted by five inflation chambers which communicate with each other at the upper and lower ends, and the three central inflation portions 11c which communicate with each other at the upper and lower ends. And two expansion chambers formed between these expansion chambers and communicating with each other at the lower end, and two expansion chambers having rear expansion portions 11d communicating with each other at both upper and lower ends. And three expansion chambers communicating at the lower end.

For this reason, the front inflatable portion 1 of the airbag 11
The flow path resistance at 1b (the part where the gas pressure supplied from the inflator 13 is low) is smaller than the flow path resistance at the central expansion section 11c, and the flow resistance at the central expansion section 11c is lower than the rear expansion section 11d. (The part where the gas pressure supplied from the inflator 13 is high) is smaller than the flow path resistance at the part.
Therefore, each inflatable portion 11b, 11b of the airbag 11 is
The gas can be allowed to flow into the c and 11d in a well-balanced manner, and the inflatable portions 11b, 11c and 11d can be inflated and deployed in a good balance.

Further, in this embodiment, since the passage forming body 12 is simple with a substantially inverted V-shaped cross section, it can be manufactured at a low cost. Further, since the passage forming body 12 has a substantially inverted V-shaped cross section and opens downward, the airbag 1
1, a gas passage 11a having a small passage resistance and a large passage cross-sectional area can be secured in the upper portion of the airbag 11.
The gas can be quickly led to the whole.

Further, since the passage forming body 12 is formed of a resin, the workability when the airbag 11 and the passage forming body 12 are folded into a plurality of pieces in the front-rear direction can be improved, and the airbag can be improved. Damage to the airbag 11 by the passage forming body 12 when the passage forming body 12 is assembled to the bag 11, when the apparatus 10 is transported, and when the airbag 11 is assembled to a vehicle can be suppressed. In addition, the weight of the passage forming body 12 can be reduced, so that the weight of the device 10 can be reduced. This also improves the transportability of the device 10 and the assembling property to the vehicle.

In the above embodiment, the passage forming body 12
Is formed of resin, but may be formed of another material. In addition, the passage forming body 12 is substantially
Although it was configured to have each slit 12a in the shape of a letter, the passage forming body is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment as long as it can be folded into a plurality in the front-rear direction,
For example, a plurality of short pipes and a plurality of flexible cylinders which are fitted and fixed at both ends to ends of each of the short pipes and can be bent at an intermediate portion may be used. is there.
Further, the method of folding the device 10 can be appropriately changed and implemented, and is not limited to the above embodiment.

In the above embodiment, the inflator 13 is provided along the roof side rail portion 21 behind the third seat S3, but there is not enough space in the roof side rail portion 21 behind the third seat S3. In such a case, the inflator 13 may be provided in the quarter pillar portion. In this case, the airbag 11 and the passage forming body 12 between the rear inflatable portion 11d of the airbag 11 and the inflator 13 can be bent in the vertical direction, and the inflator 13 can be disposed along the quarter pillar portion. Is desirable.

In the above-described embodiment, the inflator 13 is disposed behind the airbag 11 and gas is supplied into the airbag 11 from behind the airbag 11. It is also possible to provide the gas in front of the airbag 11 and supply the gas into the airbag 11 from the front of the airbag 11. In this case, it is also possible to arrange the inflator 13 along the front pillar.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a head protection airbag device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows a relationship between an airbag and a passage forming body.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the passage forming body shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state where the airbag shown in FIG. 1 is inflated and deployed.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Head protection airbag device, 11 ... Airbag, 1
1a: gas passage, 11b: front inflatable portion, 11c: central inflatable portion, 11d: rear inflatable portion, 11e: mounting piece, 12: passage forming body, 12a: slit, 13: inflator, 2
1: Roof side rail, S1: First seat,
S2: Second sheet, S3: Third sheet, H1, H
2, H3 ... occupant head.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Mitsuyoshi Ono 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Motor Corporation F-term (reference) 3D054 AA07 AA20 CC04 CC29 CC50 FF13 FF17

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An airbag which extends in a front-rear direction along a roof side rail portion of a vehicle and is housed in a state of being folded in a vertical direction, and is provided in an upper portion of the airbag and is provided in a front-rear direction inside the airbag. A gas passage extending from the front and rear ends of the airbag, an inflator capable of supplying gas to the gas passage, and a gas supplied from the inflator to the gas passage. In a head protection airbag device in which the airbag is inflated and deployed in a curtain shape at a side portion in a vehicle cabin, a plurality of the passage forming bodies are arranged in the front-rear direction together with the airbag folded in a vertical direction. A head protection airbag device characterized in that it can be folded individually. 2. The passage forming body has a substantially inverted V-shaped cross section.
The head protection airbag device according to claim 1, further comprising a vertical slit that is foldable in the front-rear direction at a predetermined position in the front-rear direction. 3. The head protection airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the passage forming body is formed of a resin.