JP2001163165A - Protective bag for automobile occupant's head, protective device, and automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a protective bag for automobile occupant's head that smoothly inflates, does not generate local excess stress, and reduces required strength. SOLUTION: In the bag 1, a main gas passage 7 and an inflation part are formed between both seats 2, 3 by piling seats 2, 3 and joining then with a sewing thread S. The inflation part comprises an upper small room 8 straight to the main gas passage 7, a front small room 9 extending from the upper small room 8 to a lower part of the bag inclinedly forward, downward, and backward, an intermediate small room 10, and a rear small room 11. Gaps among small rooms 9-11, the front side of the small room 9, and the rear side of the small room 11 are all uninflatable curtain parts 12-15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a protective bag for a vehicle occupant's head, and more particularly, to a bag that expands along a side door window, a B-pillar, or the like when a vehicle collides or rolls over. More specifically, the present invention relates to a protective bag for a head of a vehicle occupant of a type in which gas is introduced into a main airway from a gas inlet and is introduced into a plurality of small rooms from the main airway. Further, the present invention relates to a protection device for a vehicle occupant head provided with the protection bag and a vehicle provided with the protection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A protective bag for a vehicle occupant head of this type is described in WO 96/26087, in particular in its FIG. 1 and FIG. The interior of the known bag includes a duct (main airway) extending from the front end (front end) of the bag to the rear end (rear end) of the bag along the upper edge of the bag. And a large number of cell sections (small chambers) connected to the duct section and extending downward. A large number of the cell portions are arranged from the front end to the rear end of the bag.

[0003]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention WO96 / 26087
In the case of the bag, the gas flows into the duct portion from the vehicle rear end side of the duct portion and flows into a number of each cell portion,
It takes a long time to fill all the cells with gas. That is, it takes a long time to complete the deployment of the bag. In order to reduce the time required for completing the deployment, it is necessary to increase the gas generation capacity of the inflator. However, in this case, excessive stress is applied to the seam of the bag.

[0004] British Patent Publication GB23227066A states that
Although a curtain airbag in which the time required for completing the deployment of the bag is shortened by providing an X-shaped small chamber in the bag is described, most of the bag is constituted by a small cell portion, and the time required for completing the deployment of the bag is described. It is presumed that is not actually so short.

The present invention provides a protective bag for a vehicle occupant head, in which the time required for completing deployment is sufficiently short without increasing the output of the inflator, a protective device provided with the protective bag, and a vehicle. The purpose is to:

[0006]

A protective bag for a vehicle occupant's head according to the present invention is disposed near an intersection between a ceiling portion and a side portion of a vehicle interior, and is provided with a gas introduced from a gas inlet. A bag that inflates downwardly along a side surface portion, the bag having an upper side portion that is arranged along a ceiling of an automobile, and gas is introduced into the bag from the gas inlet. In a protective bag for a vehicle occupant head provided with an inflating portion that inflates and expands, the inflating portion is disposed near an upper portion of the B pillar, and communicates with the upper small chamber communicating with the gas inlet and the upper small chamber. , A middle small chamber extending downward to the lower side of the bag so as to overlap the B pillar, and connected to the upper small chamber, and extending diagonally forward near the middle between the front edge of the bag and the middle small chamber to the lower side of the bag. Connected to the front compartment and the upper compartment A rear small chamber extending obliquely rearward from the rear edge of the bag to the middle of the middle small chamber up to the lower side of the bag, and further forward than the front small chamber, between the front small chamber and the middle small chamber. , Between the middle compartment and the rear compartment and on the rear side of the rear compartment is a curtain portion that does not expand, the curtain portion is the inflated upper compartment, front compartment,
It is characterized by being tensioned by the middle compartment and the rear compartment.

In the bag of the present invention, at the stage of completion of the deployment, the inflated small chambers are deployed like a skeleton, and the front side of the front small chamber, between the front small chamber and the middle small chamber, The curtain portion between the middle compartment and the rear compartment and on the rear side of the rear compartment is pulled by these compartments to be in a tensioned state (a so-called taut state) in which a predetermined tension is applied. The tensed curtain portion serves to catch the head and upper body of the occupant moving toward the window of the car.

As described above, the protection bag for the head of the vehicle occupant of the present invention inflates the inflatable portion disposed only in a part of the bag. Is significantly shorter than the conventional example in which the cell portion is expanded.

The protective bag for the head of an automobile occupant according to the present invention comprises:
Continuing to the gas inlet, extending along the upper side,
It is preferable that a main airway communicating with the upper small chamber is provided, and the upper small chamber extends in an extension direction of the main airway.

In such a protective bag for the head of a vehicle occupant, the gas introduced into the main airway from the inlet rapidly advances in the main airway and flows into the upper small chamber. Since the upper small chamber extends in the direction of the extension of the main airway, gas flows straight from the inside of the main airway into the upper small chamber. This gas then inflates each of the other compartments to complete deployment.

In the present invention, the bag has a front side arranged along the A pillar of the automobile and a rear side arranged along the C pillar or the D pillar, and has a main airway. Preferably extends along the front side and the upper side, and a gas inlet is provided below the front side.

A protection device for a vehicle occupant head according to the present invention includes the protection bag and an inflator connected to a gas inlet of the protection bag. The automobile of the present invention is provided with this protection device.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show a protective bag 1 for a head of an automobile occupant according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a front view of the bag 1, and FIGS. 1 (b) to 1 (d) are diagrams. 1 (a) is a sectional view taken along the line BB or DD of FIG.
FIG. 1 is a side view of the inside of an automobile showing an installation state of a protective bag 1.

In the protective bag 1 according to this embodiment, the window-side sheet 2 and the indoor-side sheet 3 are overlapped, and the sheets 2 and 3 are sewn together with a sewing thread S.
The main airway 7 and the inflated portion (the small chambers 8 to 1) are located between the two seats 2 and 3.
1) is formed. Reference numeral 4 designates this bag 1 as a roof side rail 32, an A-pillar 31, and a C of an automobile.
Protrusions 5 for attaching to the pillars 33 indicate through holes for fasteners such as rivets provided on the protruding pieces 4. 34 indicates a B pillar, 35 indicates a front door, and 36 indicates a rear door.

The main airway 7 extends along the edge of the bag 1 from the lower end of the front side along the A-pillar to the front side of the upper side. The inlet 6 is provided, and the inflator 30 is connected.

The sheets 2 and 3 may be joined to each other by any method other than stitching, such as adhesion or welding. However, when the sheets 2 and 3 are made of a cloth, especially a synthetic resin-coated cloth, the stitching is appropriate. .

The front small chamber 9 extends obliquely downward and forward near the middle between the front edge of the bag 1 and the middle small chamber 10. The intersection angle between the longitudinal direction of the front small chamber 9 and the longitudinal direction of the middle small chamber 10 is preferably about 40 to 55 °, particularly preferably about 42 to 50 °.

The rear compartment 11 extends obliquely downward and rearward in the vicinity of the middle between the rear edge of the bag 1 and the middle compartment 10. The crossing angle between the longitudinal direction of the rear compartment 10 and the longitudinal direction of the middle compartment 11 is 45-65 °, especially 50-65 °, especially 5 °.
The angle is preferably about 2 to 62 °.

In the present invention, the expansion section is constituted by the upper small chamber 8, the front small chamber 9, the middle small chamber 10, and the rear small chamber 11. The upper small chamber 8 extends in the extension direction of the main airway 7 along the upper side of the bag 1. The front small chamber 9, the middle small chamber 10, and the rear small chamber 11 have their upper ends communicating with the upper small chamber 8 and extend to the lower side of the bag 1. Among them, the middle small chamber 10 extends along the B pillar so as to completely cover the B pillar 34 and is wider than the B pillar 34.

The bag 1 has no inflated portion except for the main airway 7 and the small chambers 8 to 11, and is provided between the front small chamber 9 and the main airway 7 and between the front small chamber 9 and the middle small chamber 10. , Chubu Komuro 10
Curtain portions 12, 13, 1 which do not inflate between the rear compartment 11 and the rear compartment 11 and between the rear compartment 11 and the rear edge of the bag, respectively.
4,15. Although the curtain portions 12 to 15 have a configuration in which the sheets 2 and 3 are overlapped, one of the sheets 2 or 3 may be omitted. In the curtain portions 12 to 15, the sheets 2 and 3 may be bonded to each other.

This bag 1 is installed with its front part folded along the A-pillar 31 of the vehicle, its upper side along the roof side rail 32 and its rear side along the C-pillar 33. It is installed in a folded state.

The folded bag 1 has a cover (not shown).
Covered with. The cover is configured to tear when the bag 1 expands.

When the vehicle collides sideways or rolls over, the inflator 30 operates and gas flows into the main airway 7 from the gas inlet 6. This gas flows from the main airway 7 into the upper small chamber 8 and further expands the small chambers 9 to 11.

The upper small chamber 8 and three downwardly directed small chambers 9-1.
When 1 expands, each of the curtain portions 12 to 15 is in a taut state. The inflated small chambers 9 to 11 and the curtain portions 12 to 15 receive the head and upper body of the occupant approaching the window glass, and prevent the occupant's head and the like from going outside the vehicle. The curtains 12 to 15 are separated from the window glass by a predetermined distance by being pulled by the expanded small chambers 9 to 11. That is, the curtain portions 12 to 15 are separated from the window glass by a distance corresponding to at least half the thickness of the expanded small chambers 9 to 11. Therefore, even if the head or upper body of the occupant enters the curtains 12 to 15, the curtains 12 to 15 suppress the head or upper body from hitting the window glass at high speed. In addition, the B pillar 34 protruding more toward the room side than the window glass,
0 is completely covered by the central compartment 1 even if the occupant's head and upper body move at high speed toward the B pillar 34.
0 is surely accepted.

In the present invention, since only the main airway 7 and each of the small chambers 8 to 11 are inflated, the time required for completing the inflation of the bag 1 is short. Further, even if the gas pressure generated by the inflator 30 is small, the bag 1 expands sufficiently quickly, so that the stress applied from the gas to the joint (for example, the seam) between the sheets 2 and 3 is reduced. Therefore, the strength required for the bag 1 can be reduced, and suturing or the like can be simplified, and the sheets 2 and 3 can be made of a thin and low-strength material. As the seats 2 and 3 become thinner, the folded storage volume of the bag 1 also becomes smaller.

In the above embodiment, the rear side of the bag is arranged along the C pillar, but the rear side of the bag may be arranged along the D pillar.

In the present invention, the gas inlet of the bag and the inflator may be arranged on the rear side of the vehicle, for example, on the C pillar or the D pillar.

In the present invention, the main airway may be shorter than shown or omitted. For example, an inflator may be provided on the B pillar so that the gas inlet directly faces the upper small chamber.

In the present invention, it is preferable to design the position and size of the inflatable portion according to the type of vehicle so that the inflatable portion is located on the side of the occupant's head.

[0030]

As described above, the protective bag for the head of an automobile occupant of the present invention inflates as a whole more rapidly than the conventional one. For this reason, a small-capacity inflator can be used. ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it is also possible to relieve the stress applied to a bag and to reduce the required strength of the connection part, such as the seam of the bag, and the constituent materials.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 (a) is a front view of a protective bag for a vehicle occupant head according to an embodiment. Figures (b) to (d) show (a)
It is sectional drawing which follows the BB, CC, and DD line of the figure.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the inside of an automobile provided with the protective bag according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Protective bag of the head of an automobile occupant 2 Window side seat 3 Indoor side seat 4 Mounting projection 5 Hole 6 Gas inlet 7 Main airway 8 Upper small room 9 Front small room 10 Middle small room 11 Rear small room 12-15 Curtain part 30 Inflator 31 A pillar 32 Roof side rail 33 C pillar 34 B pillar

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A bag which is disposed near an intersection between a ceiling portion and a side portion in a vehicle interior and inflates downward along the side portion by gas introduced from a gas inlet, the bag comprising: Has an upper side arranged along the ceiling of the vehicle, and the bag has an inflating portion in which gas is introduced from the gas inlet and expanded. In the protective bag, the inflatable portion is arranged near the upper portion of the B pillar, and communicates with the upper small chamber connected to the gas inlet, and extends downward to the lower side of the bag so as to overlap the B pillar. A middle compartment, connected to the upper compartment, a front compartment extending obliquely forward to the lower edge of the bag near the middle of the front edge of the bag and the middle compartment, and a rear edge of the bag connected to the upper compartment; Near the middle of the room with the middle compartment A rear compartment extending obliquely rearward to the side, comprising a front side of the front compartment, between the front compartment and the middle compartment,
A non-expanding curtain portion is provided between the middle and rear compartments and behind the rear compartment, and the curtain is tensioned by the inflated upper compartment, front compartment, middle compartment and rear compartment. A protective bag for the head of an automobile occupant, characterized in that: 2. The bag according to claim 1, further comprising a main airway connected to the gas inlet, extending along the upper side, and communicating with the upper chamber. A protective bag for an automobile occupant's head, wherein the protective bag extends in an extension line direction of the main airway. 3. The bag according to claim 2, wherein the bag has a front side arranged along an A pillar of the vehicle and a rear side arranged along a C pillar or a D pillar. A main airway extending along the front side and the front side of the upper side, wherein the gas inlet is provided at a lower portion of the front side; . 4. A protection device for a vehicle occupant head comprising the protection bag for a vehicle occupant head according to claim 1, and an inflator connected to a gas inlet of the protection bag. 5. An automobile comprising the vehicle occupant head protection device according to claim 4.