JP2001247003A - Collision form discriminating device and collision form discriminating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To more exactly and quickly decide whether shock applied to a vehicle is caused by head-on collision soft crash or not. SOLUTION: When a time integrated value VG of floor G from a floor sensor mounted in the vicinity of a center console of a vehicle is less than a threshold value Vth, and front G from a front sensor mounted at a front center of the vehicle is larger than a threshold value Gth (S104, S106), shock applied to the vehicle is decided (S108) as head-on collision soft crash. The decision is based on a quick rise of front G for the time integrated value VG of floor G as compared with offset soft crash. Because the decision can be performed at the initial stage of the collision, the decision result can be effectively used for the control of starting timing of an occupant protecting device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a collision type discrimination device and a collision type discrimination method, and more particularly to a collision type discrimination device and a collision type discrimination method for discriminating a collision type of a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An occupant protection device such as an airbag device mounted on a vehicle adjusts the activation timing of the occupant protection device based on a temporal change in deceleration detected by a deceleration meter mounted on the vehicle. Is being done.

[0003]

However, the moving direction, moving amount, moving timing, etc. of the occupant at the time of the collision of the vehicle differ depending on the form of the collision. It is difficult to activate a more appropriate occupant protection device at a more accurate timing only by adjusting the activation timing. That is, it has been considered as a problem to determine the type of collision and use the same in order to activate a more appropriate occupant protection device at more accurate timing.

[0004] As one of the devices for discriminating the type of collision, the applicant has determined that the rate of change of the deceleration with respect to time detected by a G sensor (floor sensor) disposed near the center of the vehicle is lower than a predetermined lower limit. A device that determines that the vehicle collision mode is a soft crash when a condition that is largely smaller than a predetermined upper limit is satisfied and a condition that the deceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold value has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11-1999). 219
043).

[0005] The form of the collision includes a symmetrical collision where the entire front of the vehicle collides (full lap collision), an asymmetrical collision where one side of the front of the vehicle collides (offset collision), and an oblique collision where the vehicle collides at an arbitrary angle. And so on.
Symmetrical collisions include a head-on collision where the entire front of the vehicle collides with a hard object, a pole collision where the approximate center of the front of the vehicle collides with an object as seen in the example of a collision with a pole, and a rear collision such as a truck. It is classified as an underride that crashes into the bottom. Among symmetrical collisions, pole collisions and underrides are called soft crashes. It should be noted that an asymmetrical collision is a collision between a rigid object that does not deform and
They are classified into RBs (Offset Rigid Barriers) and ODBs (Offset Deformable Barriers) that collide with objects to be deformed.

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to determine whether or not a collision mode of a vehicle is a frontal collision soft crash. Also,
The collision type determination device and the collision type determination method of the present invention include:
One of the objects is to determine the collision mode more accurately and quickly.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems and Action / Effect Thereof The collision type discriminating apparatus and the collision type discriminating method of the present invention employ the following means in order to achieve at least a part of the above object.

A collision type discrimination device according to the present invention is a collision type discrimination device for discriminating a collision type of a vehicle, comprising: vehicle deceleration detecting means for detecting the deceleration of the vehicle; Integration calculation means for calculating a time integration value for each elapsed time of the vehicle, vehicle front deceleration detection means arranged at the center of the front of the vehicle and detecting deceleration of the front of the vehicle, And a collision mode determination unit configured to determine whether the collision mode is a head-on soft crash based on a trajectory of a time integration value for each elapsed time calculated by the integration calculation unit of the deceleration of the unit. And

In the collision type discriminating apparatus according to the present invention, the integral calculating means calculates a time integral value for each elapsed time of the deceleration of the vehicle detected by the vehicle deceleration detecting means. The collision mode is head-on soft crash based on the trajectory of the vehicle front deceleration detected by the vehicle front deceleration detecting means disposed at the front center of Is determined. This determination is based on the fact that the shape of the trajectory with respect to the time integral value for each elapsed time of the deceleration of the vehicle at the front of the vehicle is different between the case of the collision soft crash and the case of the offset soft crash. Therefore,
According to the collision type determination device of the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not the impact applied to the vehicle is a head-on soft crash.

In the collision type determining apparatus according to the present invention, the collision type determining means determines that the deceleration of the front portion of the vehicle is equal to or more than a predetermined deceleration until the time integral value for each elapsed time exceeds a predetermined integral value. In such a case, the collision type may be a means for determining that the collision type is a head-on soft crash. This determination is based on a head-on soft crash.
This is based on the fact that the rise of the trajectory with respect to the time integrated value of the deceleration at the front of the vehicle for each elapsed time of the deceleration of the vehicle is larger than that in the case other than the head-on soft crash.

In the collision type discriminating apparatus according to the present invention, the vehicle front deceleration detecting means may be a means disposed at an upper portion of a front center of the vehicle. With this configuration, it is possible to more appropriately determine an underride that is a collision mode that enters the lower rear portion of the large vehicle.

[0012] A collision type determination method according to the present invention is a collision type determination method for determining a collision type of a vehicle, wherein the vehicle deceleration time is determined by a time integral value for each elapsed time exceeding a predetermined integral value. When the deceleration at the front center of the vehicle becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined deceleration, it is determined that the collision mode is a frontal collision soft crash.

According to the collision type determining method of the present invention,
It can be determined whether or not the impact acting on the vehicle is a head-on soft crash. This determination is based on the fact that the rise of the trajectory with respect to the time integral value of the deceleration of the vehicle front for each elapsed time of the vehicle front deceleration is larger in the case of a frontal collision soft crash than in the case of other than the frontal collision soft crash. .

[0014]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to examples. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing the configuration of a collision type determination device 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention using functional blocks, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the hardware configuration of the collision type determination device 20 of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which the collision type determination device 20 according to the embodiment is mounted on the vehicle 10.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the collision type discriminating apparatus 20 of the embodiment is mounted near the center console of the vehicle 10 and detects a deceleration (hereinafter referred to as a floor G). A front sensor 24 attached to the front center (crash zone) of the vehicle 10 to detect deceleration (hereinafter referred to as front G); and a time integration value V from the floor sensor 22 for each elapsed time of the floor G.
G, an integral operation unit 28, and a time integration value V for each elapsed time of the floor G of the front G from the front sensor 24.
A collision mode determination unit that determines whether the collision mode is a head-on soft crash based on the trajectory for G;

As shown in FIG. 2, the hardware configuration of the collision type discriminating apparatus 20 according to the embodiment includes a floor sensor 22 and a CPU.
And a microcomputer 40 centered at 42. The microcomputer 40 includes a CPU 4
2, a ROM 44 storing a processing program, a RAM 46 temporarily storing data, and an input / output processing circuit (I / O) 48. When the processing program stored in the ROM 44 is started, the components of the collision type determination device 20 of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 function integrally with software and hardware.

Next, the operation of the collision type discriminating apparatus 20 of the embodiment configured as described above will be described. FIG. 4 shows a microcomputer 40 of the collision type determination device 20 of the embodiment.
5 is a flowchart showing an example of a collision mode determination processing routine executed by the routine shown in FIG. This routine is repeatedly executed every predetermined time (for example, every 1 msec) immediately after the floor G detected by the floor sensor 22 exceeds a predetermined value Gst (for example, 2G or 4G).

When the collision mode determination processing routine is executed, the CPU 42 of the microcomputer 40 first executes processing for reading the floor G from the floor sensor 22 and the front G from the front sensor 24 (step S100). . Then, the time integration value VG of the read floor G is calculated (step S102). here,
The starting point of the integration range in the time integration is that the floor G is the predetermined value G
This is the time when the value exceeds st, and the end point is when the immediately preceding floor G is read.

Subsequently, the time integration value VG of the floor G is compared with the threshold value Vth (step S104), the front G is compared with the threshold value Gth (step S106), and the time integration value VG of the floor G is smaller than the threshold value Vth. When the front G is larger than the threshold value Gth, it is determined that the impact acting on the vehicle is due to a head-on soft crash (step S10).
8) When the time integration value VG of the floor G is equal to or more than the threshold value Vth or when the front G is equal to or less than the threshold value Gth, it is determined that the collision is not a soft collision, and the routine is terminated.
Here, when the time integration value VG of the floor G is smaller than the threshold value Vth and the front G is larger than the threshold value Gth, it can be determined that the frontal collision is a soft crash for the following reason.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a locus of the floor G of the front G with respect to the time integration value VG due to a difference in impact applied to the vehicle. In the figure, a curve A indicates a case where the impact applied to the vehicle is due to a frontal collision soft crash, and a curve B indicates a case where the impact applied to the vehicle is due to an offset soft crash. In the drawing, a hatched area indicates a determination area in which an impact acting on the vehicle is determined as a head-on soft crash. As shown in the figure, the frontal soft crash has a faster rise with respect to the time integrated value VG of the floor G of the front G than the offset soft crash. It can be determined whether or not there is a head-on soft crash based on whether or not a trajectory for the time integral value VG of the floor G of the front G exists in the determination region equal to or larger than Gth. In the case of the crash soft crash in FIG. 5 (curve A), when the time integration value VG of the floor G is equal to the value V0, the front G exceeds the threshold value Gth. Note that the threshold V
The threshold value th and the threshold value Gth are determined based on experimental results in consideration of the size and shape of the vehicle.

The collision type discriminating apparatus 2 of the embodiment described above
According to 0, it is possible to determine whether or not the impact applied to the vehicle is a head-on soft crash. In addition, since it is possible to determine at the early stage of the applied impact, the result of this determination can be effectively used for various controls, for example, activation timing of an occupant protection device such as an airbag device.

In the collision type discriminating apparatus 20 of the embodiment, the front sensor 24 is mounted at the front center of the vehicle 10 to determine whether or not the impact applied to the vehicle is a frontal collision soft crash, as shown in FIG. As described above, when the vehicle is mounted on the upper front center of the vehicle 10, it is possible to effectively determine an underride in a collision mode that enters the lower rear portion of a large vehicle as one mode of a frontal collision soft crash.

In the collision type discriminating apparatus 20 of the embodiment, when the time integrated value VG of the floor G is smaller than the threshold value Vth and the front G is larger than the threshold value Gth, it is determined that the impact applied to the vehicle is due to a head-on soft crash. Front G
Of the floor G with respect to the time integration value VG, and when the trajectory reaches a predetermined area, it may be determined that a head-on soft crash has occurred.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course, it can be carried out.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a collision type determination device 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the first embodiment using functional blocks.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a hardware configuration of a collision type determination device 20 of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view exemplifying a state in which the collision type determination device 20 of the embodiment is mounted on a vehicle 10.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a collision mode determination processing routine executed by the microcomputer 40 of the collision mode determination apparatus 20 of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a front G due to a difference in impact applied to a vehicle.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a locus of a floor G with respect to a time integration value VG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a mounting position of a front sensor 24.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 vehicle, 20 collision type discriminating device, 22 floor sensor, 24 front sensor, 28 integration operation unit, 30
Collision type determination unit, 40 microcomputer, 42
CPU, 44 ROM, 46 RAM, 48 input / output processing circuit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A collision type determination device for determining a collision type of a vehicle, comprising: vehicle deceleration detection means for detecting a deceleration of the vehicle; and time integration for each elapsed time of the detected deceleration of the vehicle. Integration calculation means for calculating a value; vehicle front deceleration detection means arranged at the center of the front of the vehicle for detecting deceleration of the front of the vehicle; and integration of the detected deceleration of the front of the vehicle. A collision type determination device comprising: a collision type determination unit configured to determine whether a collision type is a head-on soft crash based on a trajectory of a time integral value for each elapsed time calculated by a calculation unit. 2. The collision mode determining means determines that the collision mode is a frontal collision when the deceleration of the front portion of the vehicle becomes equal to or more than a predetermined deceleration before the time integrated value for each elapsed time exceeds a predetermined integrated value. 2. The collision type determination device according to claim 1, wherein the collision type determination device is means for determining a soft crash. 3. The collision type discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle front deceleration detecting means is a means arranged at an upper portion of a front center of the vehicle. 4. A collision type determination method for determining a collision type of a vehicle, comprising: a deceleration at a front center of the vehicle until a time integration value for each elapsed time of the deceleration of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined integration value. A collision type determination method for determining that the collision type is a head-on soft crash when the vehicle speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined deceleration.