JP2005067272A - Ceiling structure of airbag-equipped vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ceiling structure of an airbag-equipped vehicle for preventing a part of an air bag deployed inside a compartment from escaping backward from an interval between an occupant head part and a ceiling. <P>SOLUTION: Since a panel member 11 installed near a ceiling 3 is turned downward to reduce a distance between a head of an occupant M and a ceiling 3 when detecting collision of the vehicle, or when pre-detecting collision of the vehicle, a part of an air bag 5 developed inside the compartment does not escape backward. Accordingly, an air bag 5 and an inflator 6 can be miniaturized. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a ceiling structure of an airbag-equipped vehicle that prevents a part of an airbag deployed toward the interior of a vehicle from escaping backward from between an occupant head and a ceiling.

Inside the instrument panel on the passenger seat side, a folded airbag and an inflator for injecting gas for inflating the airbag are housed together. Then, the airbag is inflated by the gas of the inflator when the vehicle collides. The inflated airbag is deployed from the instrument panel toward the vehicle interior side, and receives and protects the passenger on the passenger seat side that is tilted forward by the deployed airbag (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-8-244555

  However, in such a conventional technique, there is a predetermined interval that changes depending on the physique and seating state of the occupant between the occupant head and the ceiling. A part of will escape backwards. Since the escaped portion does not function as an airbag, it is necessary to increase the volume of the airbag accordingly. Therefore, the size of the airbag itself and the size of the inflator that jets gas into the airbag are increased, and it is difficult to store the airbag and the inflator in a limited space inside the instrument panel.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such a conventional technique, and an airbag that prevents a part of the airbag deployed toward the passenger compartment side from escaping rearward from between the passenger's head and the ceiling is provided. It provides a ceiling structure for equipped vehicles.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a ceiling structure of a vehicle equipped with an air bag in which an air bag that is deployed to the passenger compartment side and protects an occupant in the case of a vehicle collision is built in an instrument panel on the front passenger seat, A panel member that can rotate downward is provided in the vicinity of the upper ceiling, and the panel member is normally held along the ceiling by a drive mechanism, and is lowered when a vehicle collision is detected or when a vehicle collision is detected in advance. The distance between the occupant's head and the ceiling is reduced by turning to the right.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the panel member and the drive mechanism are housed in a sun visor.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the panel member has a two-fold structure which is less likely to be folded backward and easy to fold forward only when rotated downward.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an occupant state detection means for detecting at least one of the occupant's physique or a sitting state, and a determination means for determining a distance between the occupant head and the ceiling based on a signal from the occupant state detection means. And a control means for controlling the amount by which the panel member is rotated downward by the driving means based on a signal from the judging means.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the panel member provided near the ceiling rotates downward to reduce the distance between the occupant's head and the ceiling at the time of vehicle collision detection or vehicle collision pre-detection. Therefore, a part of the airbag deployed toward the vehicle interior side is difficult to escape backward. Accordingly, the airbag and the inflator can be reduced in size.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the panel member and the drive mechanism are housed in the sun visor, the structure of the ceiling portion does not need to be changed, and the application to the existing vehicle structure is easy.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the panel member has a double-fold structure and is difficult to fold backward, so that the airbag can be reliably prevented from escaping backward, while the passenger's head is easy to fold forward. Even if it contacts the lower end of the member, there is little discomfort given to the passenger's head.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, in order to optimally control the amount by which the panel member is rotated downward based on the occupant state such as the physique of the occupant and the seated state, It is possible to prevent the head from contacting the panel member.

  Panel member that can rotate downward near the ceiling above the passenger seat for the purpose of preventing a part of the airbag deployed toward the passenger compartment from escaping backward from between the passenger's head and the ceiling The panel member is normally held in a state substantially along the ceiling by the drive mechanism, and is rotated downward at the time of vehicle collision detection or vehicle collision pre-detection to reduce the space between the occupant head and the ceiling. This has been realized.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a state of a passenger compartment of an automobile, and an instrument panel 1 is installed in front of the passenger compartment. A front window panel 2 is provided above the instrument panel 1, and a ceiling 3 is formed from the upper end of the front window panel 2 toward the rear.

  A passenger seat 4 is installed behind the left side of the instrument panel 1, and an occupant M is seated on the passenger seat 4. Inside the instrument panel 1 located in front of the passenger seat 4, a folded airbag 5 and an inflator 6 for injecting gas for inflating the airbag 5 are housed together.

  The airbag 5 is inflated by injecting gas from the inflator 6 when the vehicle collision detection means 7 arranged at several locations in the front of the vehicle detects the vehicle collision state. The inflated airbag 5 is deployed to the inside of the passenger compartment by pushing through a predetermined opening on the surface of the instrument panel 1, and receives and protects the occupant M falling forward.

  In addition to the vehicle collision detection means 7, the automobile is also provided with a collision pre-detection means 8 for detecting in advance a situation in which a collision is unavoidable in the stage before the vehicle actually collides. A seat belt retractor (not shown) is actuated by a signal from the collision pre-detection means 8 to further enhance the occupant restraint performance.

  A sun visor 9 is provided near the ceiling 3 above the passenger seat 4. A recess 10 is formed on the lower surface of the sun visor 9 (see FIG. 5), and a panel member 11 and a drive mechanism 12 are provided in the recess 10.

  The panel member 11 has a structure in which two resin panels 13 are connected by two hinges 14. The two panels 13 are in a state where the corresponding end faces are in contact with each other, and two hinges 14 are attached to the upper surface side. Therefore, the panel member 11 is not easily broken when the end surfaces abut against the hinge 14 side, and is easily broken because the end surfaces are separated from each other on the opposite side of the hinge 14.

  In the concave portion 10 of the sun visor 9, rotation holes 15 (see FIG. 5) are formed on both the left and right sides of the front end. A rotation shaft 16 formed to the left and right at the front end of the panel member 11 is rotatably inserted into the rotation hole 15. Accordingly, the entire panel member 11 is rotatable downward about the rotation shaft 16 at the front end.

  In addition, rails 17 and 18 are provided on the left and right sides of the concave portion 10 formed in the sun visor 9, respectively. The rear ends of the rails 17 and 18 are connected by a rod 19, and the entire rails 17 and 18 are rotatable downward with respect to the recess 10 around the rod 19. A long hole 20 is formed in the left rail 17 along the longitudinal direction, and a pin 21 protruding leftward from the rear end of the panel member 11 is movably inserted therein.

  On the other hand, the right rail 18 is provided with a screw rod 23 that can be rotated by a motor 22. A rotating nut 24 protruding toward the right side is provided at the rear end of the panel member 11. The rotating nut 24 is rotatable about an axis, and a screw rod 23 is screwed to the rotating nut 24. The drive mechanism 12 in this embodiment is configured by a structure other than the panel member 11 among those housed in the recess 10.

  Of the drive mechanism 12, the motor 22 is connected to the control means 25, and the rotation is controlled by a signal from the control means 25. A signal from the collision pre-detection means 8 is also input to the control means 25. The control unit 25 is connected to the determination unit 26, and the determination unit 26 is connected to the occupant state detection unit 27.

  The occupant state detection means 27 detects both the physique and the sitting state of the occupant M. The physique of the passenger M uses a pressure sensor built in the seat cushion of the passenger seat 4. The seating state uses a back sonar type that detects the posture of the occupant M by transmitting an ultrasonic wave. It is possible to detect whether or not the occupant M is bent forward. The determination means 26 determines the interval (distance) of the upper space S formed between the head of the occupant M and the ceiling 3 based on the signal from the occupant state detection means 27. The control means 25 controls the number of revolutions of the motor 22 based on the signal from the judgment means 26.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  Normally, the panel member 11 is held along with the sun visor 9 along the ceiling 3. From this state, when a collision unavoidable state is detected by the collision pre-detection means 8, a signal is output to the control means 25. Since the control unit 25 is preliminarily input with the interval information of the upper space S determined based on the signal from the occupant state detection unit 27, the control unit 25 has a drive mechanism corresponding to the number of rotations corresponding to the upper space S. The twelve motors 22 are rotated.

  The motor 22 rotates in a direction to send the rotating nut 24 at the rear end of the panel member 11 to the front side. The front end of the panel member 11 cannot be moved forward because only the rotation shaft 15 is rotatably inserted into the rotation hole 15, and the panel member 11 releases the pushing force by the screw rod 23 downward. It rotates downward about the moving shaft 16 (see FIG. 2).

  The downward projection amount D due to the rotation of the panel member 11 is controlled by the control means 25 to an optimum state corresponding to the physique and seating state of the occupant M. That is, in the case of an occupant M or the like having a small physique, the upper space S of the ceiling 3 is increased, so that the rotation angle of the panel member 11 is increased and the downward projection amount D is increased (see FIG. 6). On the contrary, in the case of an occupant M or the like having a large physique, the upper space S is reduced, so that the rotation angle of the panel member 11 is reduced and the downward projection amount D is increased (see FIG. 7).

  As described above, since the panel member 11 is rotated downward to reduce the upper space S at the stage of the vehicle collision pre-detection, the vehicle collision detection means 7 actually detects the collision state after that. Even when the airbag 5 is deployed toward the vehicle interior side, a part of the airbag 5 does not escape backward from the upper space S (the portion indicated by reference numeral 5a in FIG. 3 has escaped conventionally). ) The panel member 11 is folded in two by the two panels 13, but the panel members 11 are structured so as not to be folded backward as the panel members 11 are brought into contact with each other. The unfolding force of the bag 5 can be received sufficiently, and escape from the upper space S to the rear can be surely prevented (see FIG. 3).

  Therefore, unlike the prior art, it is not necessary to increase the size of the airbag 5 so that the volume of the airbag 5 escapes backward, and the airbag 5 can be downsized. Further, since the airbag 5 is downsized, the inflator 6 that inflates the airbag 5 can be downsized.

  In particular, in this embodiment, in order to control the downward projecting amount D of the panel member 11 to the optimum state according to the upper space S based on the occupant state such as the physique of the occupant M and the seated state, the airbag 5 Both prevention of escape from the upper space S and prevention of interference with the panel member 11 of the head of the occupant M can be achieved at the same time.

  That is, if the protrusion amount D downward of the panel member 11 is increased more than necessary, escape from the upper space S of the airbag 5 can be surely prevented, but instead, the lower end portion of the panel member 11 is occupant M. There is an increased risk of interference with the head. On the contrary, if the protrusion amount D below the panel member 11 is reduced, the possibility of interference with the head of the occupant M is reduced, but the upper space S cannot be sufficiently blocked. Therefore, in this embodiment, the amount D of downward projection of the panel member 11 is optimally controlled according to the upper space S, thereby preventing both escape from the upper space S and head interference of the panel member 11. I planned.

  Even if the head of the occupant M hits the lower end of the panel member 11 due to the behavior of the occupant M at the time of the vehicle collision, the panel is caused by the interference force F from the head of the occupant M as shown in FIG. Since the member 11 can be easily bent forward, the reaction force applied from the panel member 11 to the head of the occupant M is small, and the head of the occupant M can be protected.

  As a modification, a certain angle may be given to the abutment of the end faces of the panel 13 so that the panel member 11 is bent slightly forward from the beginning. If it does so, when the passenger | crew's M head hits, the panel member 11 will be easy to bend to the front side.

  Further, in this embodiment, since the panel member 11 and the drive mechanism 12 are housed in the sun visor 9, a vehicle collision may occur during use of rotating the sun visor 9, but the airbag 5 is provided with an instrument panel. Since the sun visor 9 itself is pushed back to the original state by the airbag 5 because the airbag 5 is deployed to the vehicle interior side along the front window panel 2 after exiting from 1, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

  Thus, by installing the panel member 11 and the drive mechanism 12 in the sun visor 9, the structure of the ceiling 3 portion does not need to be changed, and application to an existing vehicle structure is easy.

  In the above description, an example in which the panel member 11 and the drive mechanism 12 are provided in the sun visor 9 has been described, but the panel member 11 and the drive mechanism 12 may be directly installed on the ceiling 3. Moreover, although the example which rotates the panel member 11 at the time of vehicle collision prior detection was shown, in the vehicle in which the collision prior detection means 8 is not installed, the panel member 11 is rotated simultaneously with the vehicle collision detection by the vehicle collision detection means 7. You may make it move. In this case, it is necessary to rotate the panel member 11 at a higher speed than in the above embodiment.

The vehicle interior side view in which the ceiling structure based on 1st Example of this invention was installed. The vehicle interior side view equivalent to FIG. 1 which shows the state which the panel member rotated below. FIG. 3 is a side view of the passenger compartment corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a state in which the airbag is deployed. The perspective view which shows the internal structure of a sun visor. The disassembled perspective view which shows a sun visor and an internal structure. The side view which shows the case where the downward protrusion amount of a panel member is large. The side view which shows the case where the downward protrusion amount of a panel member is small. The side view which shows the state in which the panel member was bent to the front side by interference with a passenger | crew head.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Instrument panel 3 Ceiling 4 Passenger seat 5 Air bag 6 Inflator 7 Vehicle collision detection means 8 Vehicle collision prior detection means 9 Sun visor 11 Panel member 12 Drive mechanism 14 Hinge 25 Control means 26 Judgment means 27 Crew state detection means M Crew S Upper Space D Projection amount of panel member F Interference force of occupant head

Claims (4)

A ceiling structure of a vehicle equipped with an airbag, in which an airbag that deploys to the passenger compartment side to protect an occupant is developed on the instrument panel on the passenger seat side when the vehicle collides,
A panel member that is rotatable downward is provided near the ceiling above the passenger seat, and the panel member is normally held substantially along the ceiling by a drive mechanism so that a vehicle collision is detected or a vehicle collision is detected in advance. A ceiling structure of a vehicle equipped with an airbag, wherein the distance between the head of the passenger and the ceiling is reduced by rotating downward at the time of detection. The ceiling structure of the air bag equipped vehicle according to claim 1,
A ceiling structure of a vehicle equipped with an airbag, wherein a panel member and a drive mechanism are housed in a sun visor. A ceiling structure of a vehicle equipped with an airbag according to claim 1 or claim 2,
A ceiling structure of a vehicle equipped with an airbag, characterized in that the panel member has a double-folded structure that is less likely to be folded backward and easy to fold forward only when rotated downward. It is a ceiling structure of an air bag equipment car given in any 1 paragraph of Claims 1-3,
An occupant state detection means for detecting at least one of the physique or sitting state of the occupant, a determination means for determining the distance between the occupant head and the ceiling based on a signal from the occupant state detection means, and a signal from the determination means And a control means for controlling the amount by which the panel member is rotated downward by the driving means based on the above.

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