JP2005263077A - Seat belt control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seat belt control device capable of quickly and securely constraining an occupant for protection even when the occupant is heavily dressed. <P>SOLUTION: The seat belt control device is constituted so that a dressing state determination part 3 determines whether the occupant's dressing is thick or not based on the information influencing the occupant's dressing such as outside temperature, the setting temperature of an air conditioner, date and hour, present area, and cabin temperature. If it is detected that the vehicle concerned is abnormally approaching an obstacle by the front object detection sensor 2 when the occupant's dressing is thick, a winding control part 4 adjusts the degree of winding of the seat belt so as to quickly and securely constrain the occupant for protection. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a seat belt control device that adjusts the winding degree of a seat belt in accordance with the occupant's clothing situation.

  Conventionally, a seat belt device that is installed in a vehicle locks the seat belt so that it does not extend in the pull-out direction when a large deceleration acts on the vehicle, and restrains and protects the passenger on the seat. However, in such a conventional seat belt device, a constant urging force is applied to the seat belt during normal wearing, which may cause the passenger to feel a pressure.

  Therefore, a seat belt device that is comfortable when worn normally and that can reliably restrain and protect an occupant when a large deceleration acts on the vehicle has been desired.

  Here, by adjusting the seat belt retractor according to the situation between the vehicle and the object and the situation of the vehicle, the restraint protection of the occupant is efficiently performed and the comfort during normal wearing is also realized. For example, JP-A-9-132113 (Patent Document 1) is disclosed as a conventional example of a seatbelt device that can be used.

In this conventional example, the CPU determines the situation between the vehicle and the object based on the detection signal of the object in front of the vehicle from the front object detection sensor, and drives the electric motor based on the determination result to drive the seat belt. A technique for adjusting the belt tension of the seat belt in accordance with the winding and the situation between the vehicle and the object is disclosed.
JP-A-9-132113

  However, in the conventional example disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, the belt tension of the seat belt is adjusted according to the situation between the vehicle and the object. However, there is a problem in that the amount of seat belt winding required to generate a predetermined belt tension increases, and the response time until the predetermined belt tension is generated is delayed.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and the object of the present invention is to quickly generate belt tension even when the occupant's clothes are thick, and to securely restrain the occupant. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seat belt control device that can handle the above.

  In order to achieve the above object, a seatbelt control device according to the present invention is a seatbelt control device that controls the winding of a seatbelt, and detects that the own vehicle is abnormally approaching an obstacle. The vehicle is abnormally approaching an obstacle by the detection means, the clothing status determination means for determining the clothing status of the occupant based on the clothing information that is information affecting the occupant's clothing, and the abnormal approach detection means. If this is detected, a winding control unit that adjusts the winding degree of the seat belt based on the determination result of the clothing state determination unit is provided.

  In the seatbelt control device according to the present invention, the occupant's clothing situation is determined based on information that affects the occupant's clothing, and the seatbelt winding degree is adjusted based on the determination result. The belt tension can be generated quickly even when the vehicle is on the vehicle, and the occupant can be restrained and protected, and when the occupant is lightly worn, it provides a comfortable feeling without causing the occupant to feel pressure or annoyance. be able to.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a seat belt control device according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the seat belt control device 1 includes a front object detection sensor (abnormal approach detection means) 2 that detects that the host vehicle is abnormally approaching an obstacle, and information that affects the occupant's clothing. On the basis of the clothing information, the clothing status determination unit (clothing status determination means) 3 that determines the clothing status of the occupant and the front object detection sensor 2 detect that the vehicle is abnormally approaching the obstacle. And a winding control unit (winding control means) 4 that adjusts the winding degree of the seat belt based on the determination result of the clothing status determination unit 3.

  Here, the seat belt control device 1 is connected to the outside air temperature sensor 5, the air conditioner control device 6, the navigation device 7, and the vehicle interior temperature sensor 8, and obtains temperature information outside the vehicle from the outside air temperature sensor 5, Air conditioner set temperature information is acquired from the air conditioner control device 6, date and time and area information on which the vehicle is traveling are acquired from the navigation device 7, and vehicle interior temperature information is acquired from the vehicle interior temperature sensor 8. Yes. And the seatbelt control apparatus 1 utilizes these information as clothing information which is the information which affects a passenger | crew's clothing.

  Further, when the front object detection sensor 2 detects that the own vehicle has abnormally approached an obstacle such as a vehicle ahead, the front object detection sensor 2 transmits a detection signal, and the winding control unit 4 receives the detection signal and the winding control unit 4 The degree of removal is adjusted and determined, and a motor drive signal is transmitted to the seat belt retractor 9 of each seat.

  Next, a seat belt control method by the seat belt control device according to the present embodiment will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, first, when the front object detection sensor 2 detects an abnormal approach to the obstacle of the own vehicle and transmits a detection signal (S201), the clothing situation determination unit 3 acquires the own vehicle acquired from the navigation device 7. Is determined to be north of a predetermined position, for example, 36 degrees north latitude (S202). If it is not north of 36 degrees north latitude, it is determined whether or not the current date is between November and February (S203). If it is not between November and February, it is determined that it is not winter. In step S204, it is determined that the seat belt is not worn, and the seat belt is retracted in the operation pattern A. The operation pattern A is a seat belt winding pattern used when it is determined that the occupant is not particularly thick but is lightly worn. A detailed winding method of the operation pattern A will be described later.

  If it is determined in step S202 that it is north from 36 degrees north latitude, it is determined whether the current date and time is between September and March (S205), not between September and March. In this case, it is determined that it is not winter, and it is determined that the user is not wearing thick clothing, and the operation pattern A is set to wind the seat belt (S204).

  If it is determined in step S203 and step S205 that it is winter, then the outside temperature of the vehicle is below a predetermined temperature, for example, less than 15 ° C., using the outside temperature information acquired from the outside temperature sensor 5. It is determined whether or not there is (S206). When the outside air temperature is 15 ° C. or higher, it is determined that the occupant is not wearing thickly, and the seat belt is set to be retracted with the operation pattern A (S204).

  If it is determined in step S206 that the outside air temperature is less than 15 ° C., the temperature of the vehicle interior is set to a predetermined temperature, for example, 12 ° C. using the vehicle temperature information acquired from the vehicle interior temperature sensor 8 next. It is determined whether it is less than (S207). When the temperature in the passenger compartment is 12 ° C. or higher, it is determined that the occupant is not wearing thick, and the seat belt is wound up in the operation pattern A (S204).

  Next, when it is determined in step S207 that the temperature in the passenger compartment is less than 12 ° C., the set temperature of the air conditioner is set to a predetermined temperature, for example, 20 using the set temperature information of the air conditioner acquired from the air conditioner control device 6. It is determined whether or not the temperature is higher than C (S208). When the set temperature of the air conditioner is 20 ° C. or less, it is determined that the occupant is not wearing thickly, and the operation pattern A is set to wind the seat belt (S204).

  In step S208, if the set temperature of the air conditioner is higher than 20 ° C., it is determined that the occupant is wearing thick clothes and the seat belt is set to be wound in the operation pattern B (S209).

  Here, the operation pattern A and the operation pattern B will be described in detail. First, the problem in the case of controlling the normal seat belt will be described. When the clothes are thin, as shown in FIG. In addition, when the temperature outside and inside the vehicle is low and the occupant is wearing thick clothes, it can be seen that the seat belt is slackened by the thick clothing as shown in FIG. In such a case, a predetermined belt tension cannot be generated unless extra seat belts are wound up by the thickness of the occupant's clothes.

  Therefore, when a normal seat belt is wound in such a case, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the clothing is thin, the current for driving the seat belt retractor is the target current value X as shown by the solid line. The seat belt quickly restrains and protects the occupant, but if the clothes are thick, it takes extra time to reach the target current value X as shown by the dotted line. I understand that. This indicates that it takes a long time to restrain the occupant with a predetermined belt tension due to the slack of the seat belt.

  Therefore, when it is determined that the occupant's clothing is thin, the winding control unit 4 according to the present embodiment performs the seat belt winding control with an operation pattern A that is a normal seat belt winding control, When it is determined that the clothes are thick, the seat belt winding control is performed in the operation pattern B. In the winding control of the operation pattern B, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 4B, the target current value is increased to Y, thereby increasing the rotational speed of the motor and increasing the seat belt winding speed. As a result, even when the occupant is wearing thick clothes, the time required to reach a predetermined belt tension can be shortened so that the occupant can be restrained and protected quickly.

  When the seat belt winding control according to the operation pattern A or the operation pattern B is performed in this manner, the seat belt control process in the present embodiment is completed.

  As described above, in the seatbelt control device according to the present embodiment, the occupant's clothing situation is determined based on information that affects the occupant's clothing such as the outside air temperature and the interior temperature, and the seatbelt is based on the determination result. Therefore, even when the occupant is wearing thick clothes, the belt tension can be quickly generated to securely restrain the occupant.

  Further, in the seatbelt control device according to the present embodiment, when it is determined that the occupant's clothing state is thick, the seatbelt winding degree is greater than when the occupant's clothing state is determined to be lightly worn. Therefore, when the occupant is wearing thick clothing, belt tension can be generated quickly to ensure that the occupant is restrained and protected. A feeling can be provided.

  Furthermore, in the seat belt control device according to the present embodiment, the winding control unit 4 adjusts the winding speed of the motor as the degree of winding of the seat belt, so that even when the occupant is wearing thick clothes, belt tension is generated quickly. The occupant can be restrained and protected without fail.

  Furthermore, in the seatbelt control device according to the present embodiment, as the information that affects the occupant's clothing, at least one of the current region, the date and time, the temperature outside the vehicle, the temperature inside the passenger compartment, and the air conditioner set temperature is used. It is possible to reliably determine that the occupant's clothes are thick.

  The seat belt control device of the present invention has been described based on the illustrated embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the configuration of each part is replaced with an arbitrary configuration having the same function. be able to.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the region is divided depending on whether it is north from 36 degrees north latitude, but it may be divided by a region such as the Tohoku region, or may be divided by a prefecture such as Hokkaido.

  In the above-described embodiment, the seat belt motor winding speed is adjusted as an example of the degree of seat belt winding to be adjusted when the occupant is wearing thick clothes. However, the belt tension of the seat belt is increased. Alternatively, any other means may be used as long as the passenger can be restrained and protected quickly.

  In the above-described embodiment, the region, the date and time, the outside temperature, the interior temperature, and the set temperature of the air conditioner are described as examples of information that affects the occupant's clothing. However, information that can determine the occupant's clothing If so, other information may be used, and the occupant's clothing should be determined based on at least one piece of information without determining the occupant's clothing in consideration of all of the information described above. It may be.

  The present invention relates to a seat belt control device that controls the winding of a seat belt mounted on a vehicle, and is extremely useful as a technique for restraining and protecting an occupant quickly and surely even when the occupant wears thick clothes.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the seatbelt control apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the seatbelt control method by the seatbelt control apparatus of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the sagging of the seatbelt which arises when a passenger | crew's clothing is thick. It is a figure for demonstrating the change of the electric current which drives a seatbelt retractor.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Seatbelt control apparatus 2 Front object detection sensor (abnormal approach detection means)
3 Clothing status determination unit (clothing status determination means)
4 Winding control unit (winding control means)
5 Outside air temperature sensor 6 Air conditioner control device 7 Navigation device 8 Car interior temperature sensor 9 Seat belt retractor

Claims (4)

A seat belt control device for controlling the winding of a seat belt,
An abnormal approach detection means for detecting that the own vehicle is abnormally approaching an obstacle;
A clothing status determination means for determining a clothing status of the occupant based on clothing information that is information that affects the clothing of the occupant;
When the abnormal approach detection means detects that the vehicle is abnormally approaching an obstacle, the winding control means adjusts the degree of seat belt winding based on the determination result of the clothing status determination means; A seat belt control device comprising:   When the occupant status is determined to be heavy by the garment status determining means, the take-up control means has a greater degree of seat belt winding than when the occupant status is determined to be light. The seat belt control device according to claim 1, wherein   The seatbelt control apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the seatbelt winding degree adjusted by the winding control means is a seatbelt motor winding speed. The information affecting the occupant's clothing is at least one of a current region, date and time, outside temperature, temperature inside the passenger compartment, and air conditioner set temperature. The seat belt control device according to claim 1.

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