JP2006298039A - Occupant seating posture detection system and seat for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable detection of seating posture having less erroneous detection without deteriorating vehicle manufacturing efficiency. <P>SOLUTION: The system 10 for detecting the seating posture of the occupant sitting on the seat of an automobile is equipped with occupant detection sensors 14, 15 which are provided at the position corresponding to at least both right and left side parts of the occupant sitting on the seat at a backrest part 12 side of the seat 10, and an ECU16 (seating posture determination means) which determines the seating posture of the occupant by the right and left balance of the output value or/and the output intensity of the occupant detection sensors 14, 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an occupant seating posture detection system and an automobile seat, and more specifically, to detect a seating posture such as whether the occupant posture seated on the car seat is a normal posture, a posture from a window, or a forward bending, The detected data is used for operation control of an air bag for protecting an occupant at the time of a collision.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an airbag system mounted on an automobile, development of an optimal airbag deployment technique corresponding to the seating posture of the occupant has been a problem from the viewpoint of ensuring the safety of the occupant. In particular, passengers in the passenger seat tend to have a greater change in posture than the driver, and it is desirable to be able to grasp the sitting posture easily and accurately.
For example, in Japanese Translation of PCT International Publication No. 2002-512145, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-114127, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-66796, etc., a plurality of ultrasonic sensors and the like are installed around a passenger such as a roof or an instrument panel in a vehicle interior. , Sensing the sitting posture of the occupant.

However, in the technique of the above publication, since it is necessary to stretch the sensor in the vicinity of the seat in the vehicle interior, there is a problem that the number of assembling steps of the automobile increases and the manufacturing efficiency decreases. In addition, if sensing is performed from the front or above the occupant, there is a problem that the posture may be erroneously detected when the occupant has a load.
Special Table 2002-512145 gazette JP 2002-114127 A JP-A-9-66796

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to detect a seating posture with few false detections without reducing the manufacturing efficiency of an automobile.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention firstly is a system for detecting a sitting posture of an occupant seated in a car seat,
An occupant detection sensor provided at a position corresponding to at least the left and right sides of the seated occupant on the backrest side of the seat;
An occupant seating posture detection system is provided, comprising: a seating posture determination unit that determines a seating posture of the occupant from a left / right balance of output values of the occupant detection sensor and / or output intensity.

  With the above configuration, since an occupant detection sensor for detecting the seating posture is incorporated in the seat, the same number of work steps as in the conventional seat assembly work can be used in the vehicle assembly process (the output of the sensor on the vehicle body side). It is necessary to connect the connector to a large number of seats. However, since the connector is already present in many current seats, the amount of work does not increase. Further, since the occupant is detected from behind by the sensor, the sitting posture can be detected correctly even if the occupant puts luggage on the knee, and erroneous detection can be prevented.

  The right / left balance of the sensor output values or / and the correspondence between the output intensity and the seating posture are, for example, when a pair of left and right sensors are used, the output intensity of the right sensor is low and the output intensity of the left sensor is If it is high, it may be determined that the occupant is seated to the left. If the output intensity of the right sensor is high and the output intensity of the left sensor is low, it may be determined that the occupant is seated to the right. When both the output intensity of the right sensor and the output intensity of the left sensor are low, it may be determined that the occupant is seated in a forward tilt. If both the output intensity of the right sensor and the output intensity of the left sensor are high, it may be determined that the occupant is seated correctly leaning against the backrest.

  For the above-described sitting posture determination, the seating posture determination means has a database that stores the right / left balance of output values of the occupant detection sensor or / and the relationship between the output intensity and the seating posture, and outputs the occupant detection sensor. It is preferable that the sitting posture is obtained by referring to the database based on the data.

  It is preferable that the occupant detection sensor includes a plurality of sensors individually attached at positions corresponding to the left and right side portions, or a single line sensor continuing at positions corresponding to the left and right side portions.

That is, if sensors are provided separately for the left and right, it is only necessary to provide at least a pair of left and right sensors, and the sensor cost can be reduced. In that case, if three or more sensors are arranged in the left-right direction of the backrest portion to increase the number of sensors, the resolution is improved and the accuracy of determining the sitting posture is improved.
On the other hand, if the occupant detection sensor is an integrated line sensor, there is an advantage that when the sensor is assembled to the backrest part in the seat manufacturing process, it can be attached with one touch and the manufacturing efficiency is improved.

It is preferable that the occupant detection sensor is provided in an upper half region corresponding to the shoulder position of the occupant and a lower half region corresponding to the waist position of the occupant.
With the above configuration, the left and right sensors are provided in the upper half area of the backrest portion, so that it is possible to detect the vicinity of the occupant's shoulder that most easily represents a change in the sitting posture, and to improve the accuracy of the sitting posture determination. it can. Further, the front and rear positions of the occupant's waist can be grasped by the sensor in the lower half region of the backrest part, and the presence / absence of the seating itself can be detected.

As the occupant detection sensor, it is preferable to use a displacement sensor or a temperature sensor composed of a laser sensor or an ultrasonic sensor.
As the temperature sensor, an infrared sensor, a thermistor, a current collecting type temperature sensor, or the like is preferably used.

A second aspect of the present invention is an automobile seat provided with the occupant seating posture detection system,
An ECU is provided as the seating posture determination means connected to the occupant detection sensor attached to the backrest portion, the ECU is housed in the seat, and seating posture data is connected to the ECU and connected to the receiving means on the vehicle body side. Is provided with an external connection means for transmitting the vehicle.

  With the above configuration, since an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) serving as a seating posture determination means for determining the correspondence between the sensor output data and the seating posture is built in the seat, addition of equipment on the vehicle body side is suppressed, and the vehicle The design burden can be reduced.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, since the occupant detection sensor for detecting the seating posture is incorporated in the seat in advance, the vehicle assembly process is the same as the conventional seat assembly operation. The number of work steps is sufficient, and a reduction in manufacturing efficiency can be prevented. Further, since the occupant is detected from behind by the sensor, the sitting posture can be detected correctly even if the occupant puts luggage on the knee, and erroneous detection can be prevented.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a vehicle seat 10 according to the first embodiment, a seat 11 on which an occupant is seated, a backrest 12 that is erected so as to tilt upward from the rear end side of the seat 11, and a backrest. The headrest 13 attached to the upper end of 12 is provided.

  The backrest 12 has a pair of left and right displacement sensors 14 and 15 (for example, an ultrasonic displacement sensor, a laser displacement sensor, etc.) at positions corresponding to the left and right sides of the occupant in the upper half region with the detection surface facing the occupant side. Built in on the passenger contact surface 12a side. The separation distance between the displacement sensors 14 and 15 is set to 150 mm to 400 mm. The backrest portion 12 includes an ECU 16 that receives outputs from the displacement sensors 14 and 15 via electric wires 18 and 19, and a connector 17 is attached to the tip of the electric wire 20 that outputs a signal from the ECU 16. In addition, a load sensor 26 that detects whether or not an occupant is seated is built in substantially the center of the seat portion 11, and is connected to the ECU 16 via an electric wire 27.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the ECU 16 includes A / D converters 22, 23, and 28 that convert analog outputs from the displacement sensors 14 and 15 and the load sensor 26 into digital outputs, and sensor output data and a seating posture. A database 24 that stores the relationship, a calculation unit 23 that obtains sitting posture data by referring to the database 24 based on sensor output data output from the A / D conversion units 22 and 23, and a seating calculated by the calculation unit 23 And an output unit 25 for outputting posture data to the connector 17. The connector 17 is also connected to a power line (not shown) for supplying power for driving the ECU 16 and the sensors 14, 15 and 26.

Next, the relationship between the sensor output data stored in the database 24 and the sitting posture will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, when the output intensities of the left displacement sensor 14 and the right displacement sensor 15 are substantially the same and both are not less than the reference value, it is determined as “normal posture”. When the output intensity of the left displacement sensor 14 is not lower than the reference value and the output intensity of the right displacement sensor 15 is reduced, it is determined as a “window leaning posture”. Seats are assumed). When the output intensities of the left displacement sensor 14 and the right displacement sensor 15 are substantially the same and are both below the reference value, it is determined as “forward tilt posture”. When the output intensity of the left displacement sensor 14 is lower than the reference value and the output intensity of the right displacement sensor 15 is further lowered, it is determined as “a window side oblique forward posture”.

  In addition, the reference value of the output intensity of the sensors 14 and 15 is configured such that the sensor output value at the initial stage of the seating is set as a reference value with the load sensor 26 detecting that the occupant is seated on the seat 10 as a trigger. Good. Alternatively, a reference value acquired from experimental values may be input in the database 24 in advance.

  The sitting posture data of the passenger on the seat 10 determined as described above is transmitted from the ECU 16 to the connector 17 side. The connector 17 is connected to a vehicle body side cable, and the seating posture data output from the connector 17 is transmitted to an airbag control ECU (not shown).

  If it is set as the above structure, since the displacement sensors 14 and 15 are incorporated in the seat 10, in the vehicle assembly process, it may be the same work man-hour as the assembly | attachment work of the seat 10 as before, and the fall of manufacturing efficiency is prevented. Can do. Further, since the occupant is detected from behind by the displacement sensors 14 and 15, the sitting posture can be detected correctly even if the occupant puts a load on the knee, and the false detection rate can be reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, displacement sensors are used for the sensors 14 and 15. However, a temperature sensor (an infrared sensor, a thermistor, a current collector temperature sensor, etc.) may be used, and in that case, the same as the displacement sensor. 3 is established. That is, when the sensor output value in FIG. 3 is large, it is determined that the detected temperature is high and the occupant is close to the temperature sensor, and when the sensor output value is small, the detected temperature is low and the occupant is separated from the temperature sensor. It can be replaced to judge. (The same applies to other embodiments below.)

4 and 5 show a second embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is that the displacement sensor 31 is set in the lower half region of the backrest 12 toward the passenger.
That is, in the vehicle seat 30 of the present embodiment, the displacement sensor 31 is added to the center position of the waist height of the backrest portion 12, so that the occupant H shifts the buttocks forward as shown in FIG. It is possible to detect the sitting posture.
Further, since the lower displacement sensor 31 is installed in the lower half region of the backrest portion 12, it is possible to detect almost the occupant in any seating posture, so the load sensor of the first embodiment Instead of 26, it is also possible to detect the presence / absence of sitting.
Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is that four displacement sensors 14, 15, 41, and 42 are juxtaposed in the left-right direction.
That is, since the number of the displacement sensors 14, 15, 41, 42 is increased to three or more in the automobile seat 40 of the present embodiment, the resolution can be improved and the determination accuracy of the sitting posture can be improved. it can. Note that the number of sensors may be appropriately determined in consideration of cost and the like. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 7 shows a fourth embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is that a displacement sensor 51 composed of a line sensor is provided across the left and right.
That is, in the vehicle seat 50 of the present embodiment, the detection surface of the displacement sensor 51 formed of a line sensor is arranged on the occupant side so that a plurality of detection elements 51a are arranged in the left-right direction in the upper half region of the backrest portion 12. It is installed in.
With the above configuration, although the resolution is improved according to the number of detection elements 51a, the sensor 51 can be attached to the backrest portion 12 with one touch, and the manufacturing efficiency of the seat 50 is improved. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

1 is a perspective view of an automobile seat according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the car seat of a 1st embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the sensor output of 1st Embodiment, and a seating attitude | position. It is a perspective view of the car seat of a 2nd embodiment. It is a side view explaining the detection of the sitting posture of 2nd Embodiment. It is a perspective view of the car seat of a 3rd embodiment. It is a perspective view of the automobile seat of a 4th embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10, 30, 40, 50 Car seat 11 Seat 12 Backrest 13 Headrest 14, 15 Displacement sensor (occupant detection sensor)
16 ECU (sitting posture determination means)
17 Connector (External connection means)
24 database

Claims (6)

A system for detecting the sitting posture of a passenger seated in a car seat,
An occupant detection sensor provided at a position corresponding to at least the left and right sides of the seated occupant on the backrest side of the seat;
An occupant seating posture detection system comprising: a seating posture determination unit that determines a seating posture of the occupant from a left-right balance of output values of the occupant detection sensor and / or output intensity.   2. The occupant according to claim 1, wherein the occupant detection sensor includes a plurality of sensors individually attached at positions corresponding to the left and right side portions, or one line sensor that continues at positions corresponding to the left and right side portions. Seating posture detection system.   The seating posture determination means has a database that stores a right / left balance of output values of the occupant detection sensor or / and a relationship between output intensity and a seating posture, and refers to the database based on the occupant detection sensor output data. The occupant seating posture detection system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the seating posture is obtained.   4. The occupant detection sensor according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the occupant detection sensor is provided in an upper half region of a backrest portion substantially corresponding to a shoulder position of the occupant and a lower half region substantially corresponding to a waist position of the occupant. The described occupant sitting posture detection system.   The occupant seating posture detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a displacement sensor including a laser sensor or an ultrasonic sensor, or a temperature sensor is used as the occupant detection sensor. A vehicle seat equipped with the occupant seating posture detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
An ECU is provided as the seating posture determination means connected to the occupant detection sensor attached to the backrest portion, the ECU is housed in the seat, and seating posture data is connected to the ECU and connected to the receiving means on the vehicle body side. A seat for an automobile provided with an external connection means for transmitting.

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