JP2007283823A - Buckle device of seat belt - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a buckle device of a seat belt improved in flexibility without unnecessarily enlarging the size of a bellows boot. <P>SOLUTION: Uneven heights A, B of a bellows part 63 formed on a peripheral wall of the bellows boot 60 are set such that a peripheral wall part 63a positioned in the wire 34 tilting direction may become larger than the peripheral wall part 63b positioned in the direction perpendicular to the direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a seat belt buckle device mounted on a side portion of a vehicle seat.

  Usually, a seat belt device equipped for the front seat of a vehicle is disposed near the outside of the vehicle body of the seat, and a retractor that supports one end side of the seat belt so that the seat belt can be wound and pulled out, and an occupant seated on the seat belt The through anchor part that folds in the vicinity of the shoulder part, the lap anchor part that fixes the other end of the seat belt to the vehicle body, and the tongue that is fixed to the inside of the vehicle body and is slidably engaged with the seat belt And a buckle device that is freely mounted.

  The buckle device is generally composed of a fixing portion that can be attached to the vehicle body side, a buckle head to which a tongue of a seat belt is detachably mounted, and a connecting member that connects the fixing portion and the buckle head. In particular, when a pretensioner is provided on the side where the buckle device is provided, a bellows boot is provided between the fixed portion and the buckle head so as to cover the connecting member.

  In many cases, the bellows boot has a substantially rectangular or oval cross-sectional shape that is long in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in order to conceal a wire that is mainly used as a connecting member or a harness connected to a seat belt wearing detection switch in the buckle head. Have.

  In addition, the bellows boot is formed in a bellows shape so that the operability of the wire when the buckle head is pulled in by the pretensioner is good, and the buckle head easily tilts when the occupant engages and disengages the tongue. I am doing so.

  Further, the bellows boot is attached in a posture inclined forward because the buckle head is in a position inclined forward rather than directly above the fixed portion. For this reason, the bellows portion of the bellows boot is formed in a direction perpendicular to the axis so as not to give directionality to the bending characteristics, and a side surface is provided below the bellows and above the attachment portion with the fixed portion side. A substantially cylindrical or substantially trapezoidal base tube portion is provided.

In addition, although not a seat belt device, as an example of use of a bellows, a washing machine hose has been devised in which the large-diameter portion of the corrugated corrugated corrugation has a perfect circle shape and the small-diameter portion has an elliptical shape (for example, a patent Reference 1).
JP-A-11-137893 (FIG. 6)

  By the way, the place where the above-described buckle device is installed is a place where the size is restricted by a seat, a console, or the like, and the installation space is very limited.

  Moreover, in a substantially rectangular or substantially oval bellows boot, the longitudinal direction of the cross section tends to be inferior in flexibility as compared with other directions. In order to improve this, it is conceivable to increase the height of the irregularities of the bellows part. In this case, however, the dimension also increases in the width direction, and the occupied space increases, resulting in an obstacle to the layout. For this reason, in the case of using a conventional bellows boot, there is a problem that high flexibility cannot always be exhibited as long as restrictions on installation dimensions are observed. Even if the bellows described in Patent Document 1 is used in the buckle device, the above problem is difficult to satisfy and difficult to satisfy the restriction of the installation space because the large diameter portion is a perfect circle.

  Further, in the bellows boot, when the stroke of the pretensioner is short and the bellows part cannot be taken long enough, the amount of bending that can be absorbed by the bellows part becomes small, and the load near the root cylinder part becomes large. On the other hand, when the bellows part is continued to the root part, the bending amount can be increased, but the shape of the mounting part with the fixed side becomes complicated, and the rigidity for holding the shape is lowered and the buckle is lowered. There is a possibility that the head hangs down and the appearance is impaired.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a seat belt buckle device capable of improving flexibility without unnecessarily increasing the size of the bellows boot. .

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configurations.
(1) a fixed part that can be mounted on the vehicle body side;
A buckle head on which the tongue of the seat belt is detachably attached;
A connecting member for tiltably connecting the buckle head to the fixed portion at a position inclined in a predetermined direction;
A bellows boot that is mounted between the fixed portion and the buckle head so as to cover the periphery of the connecting member, and has a flexibility to tilt following the connecting member;
The height of the irregularities of the bellows portion formed on the peripheral wall of the bellows boot is set so that the peripheral wall portion positioned in a predetermined direction is larger than the peripheral wall portion positioned in a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction. The seat belt buckle device.
(2) a fixing part that can be mounted on the vehicle body side;
A buckle head on which the tongue of the seat belt is detachably attached;
A connecting member for tiltably connecting the buckle head to the fixed portion at a position inclined in a predetermined direction;
A bellows boot that is mounted between the fixed portion and the buckle head so as to cover the periphery of the connecting member, and has a flexibility to tilt following the connecting member;
At the lower end of the bellows boot, a horizontal mounting portion that is fixed substantially horizontally to the mounting member on the fixing portion side is provided. A triangular or substantially trapezoidal root cylinder is provided, and
A buckle device for a seat belt, wherein a groove portion parallel to the concave portion of the bellows portion is formed on at least a peripheral wall on the upper surface side of the base tube portion.
(3) The cross-sectional shape of the bellows boot is a substantially rectangular shape or a substantially oval shape whose length in a predetermined direction is longer than a direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction (1) or (2) A buckle device for a seat belt according to 1.

  According to the seat belt buckle device of the present invention, the height of the irregularities of the bellows portion formed on the peripheral wall of the bellows boot is such that the peripheral wall portion positioned in the direction in which the connecting member is inclined is positioned in a direction perpendicular to the direction. It is set to be larger than the part. As a result, in a buckle device that is installed with the direction in which the connecting member tilts as the vehicle body longitudinal direction, the size of the bellows boot is unnecessarily increased in the vehicle width direction, where there are large restrictions on the installation space due to the presence of seats, consoles, etc. In addition, the flexibility in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body can be improved.

  According to the seat belt buckle device of the present invention, a groove portion parallel to the concave portion of the bellows portion is formed on the peripheral wall on at least the upper surface side of the root tube portion of the bellows boot. Thereby, a groove part can be made into the bending origin when bent to the opposite side to the direction in which the bellows boot inclines. Therefore, it is possible to enhance the flexibility without exerting an excessive load on the root tube portion of the bellows boot while having an appropriate rigidity for maintaining the shape of the bellows boot.

  Hereinafter, a seat belt buckle device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a seat belt device including a buckle device. The seat belt device 10 is disposed near the vehicle body outside the front seat 12, and includes a retractor 14 that supports one end side of the seat belt 13 so that the seat belt 13 can be wound and withdrawn, and an occupant 11 seated on the seat 12. The through anchor portion 15 that is folded back in the vicinity of the shoulder portion, the lap anchor portion 16 that fixes the other end portion of the seat belt 13 to the vehicle body, and the seat 12 that is fixed to the inner side of the vehicle body are slidably engaged with the seat belt 13. And a buckle device 20 to which the tongue 17 is detachably mounted.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the buckle device 20 includes a pretensioner 30 that is a fixing portion that can be attached to the vehicle body side, a buckle head 21 to which a tongue 17 of a seat belt 13 is detachably attached, and a buckle head. A wire 34 and an anchor member 32 which are connecting members that tiltably connect to the rear end portion of the pretensioner 30 at a position inclined forward by a predetermined angle (approximately 60 degrees) in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, which is a predetermined direction. A bellows boot having flexibility such as a thermoplastic elastomer which is attached between the rear end portion of the pretensioner 30 and the buckle head 21 so as to cover the wire 34 and the anchor member 32 and can tilt following the wire 34. 60.

  The pretensioner 30 applies a pulling force to the buckle head 21 at the time of a vehicle collision to remove the slack of the seat belt 13, and a housing portion that is fixed to the vehicle body or the seat, and is housed in the housing portion and necessary. It is composed of a drive part that performs the operation.

  The configuration and operation of the pretensioner 30 will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The pretensioner 30 includes a main housing 36, a housing plate 35, an anchor cover 31, a cylinder tube 49, and the like as a housing portion. The main housing 36 and the housing plate 35 are fixed to the vehicle body with bolts 37, and the anchor cover 31 is mounted thereon. One end portion of the main housing 36 fixed to the vehicle body by the bolt 37 (the rear end portion of the pretensioner 30 when mounted) serves as a drawing end of the wire 34 as a connecting member, and the wire 34 is an opening portion 31 a of the anchor cover 31. To the bellows boots 60.

  One end side of the wire 34 extends to the buckle head 21 side and changes direction at a curved portion guided by the collar 39 and the guide bush 41, so that the other end passes through the main housing 36 and is connected to the other end of the main housing 36. The cylinder tube 49 is extended. An anchor member 32 is connected to one end side of the wire 34, and these connecting portions are covered with a heat shrinkable tube 33. The anchor member 32 is coupled to the channel member 24 in the buckle head 21 by a rivet 25, and thus the buckle head 21 and the wire 34 are connected via the anchor member 32. That is, a portion on one end side of the wire 34 extending above the one end portion of the main housing 36 constitutes a connecting member. In FIG. 2, 38 is a blind rivet, and 40 is a washer.

  The other end side of the main housing 36 is bifurcated, a cylinder tube 49 is connected to the straight pipe portion side, and a gas generator 50 is loaded on the branch pipe portion side. The gas generator 50 generates gas by electrical ignition in response to a trigger signal generated in response to a vehicle collision, and introduces the gas to the cylinder tube 49 side. The other end of the wire 34 is connected to a piston 44 that is a drive unit that slides in the cylinder tube 49 through a through hole provided in a partition in the main housing 36 through a gasket 42. . Then, when the gas generated by the gas generator 50 is introduced into the cylinder tube 49, the piston 44 moves through the cylinder tube 49 by the gas pressure, and the wire 34 is pulled by the movement of the piston 44, so that the buckle The pulling force is transmitted to the head 21.

  Around the wire 34 and in the vicinity of the piston 44, a gasket 42, a tension ring 43, a plurality of balls 45, an O-ring 46, a wire clamp 47, and the like are provided. The outer peripheral surface of the piston 44, the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder tube 49, and the plurality of balls 45 constitute a clutch mechanism and prevent the piston 44 from returning after the pretensioner 30 is actuated. The end of the cylinder tube 49 is sealed with an aluminum seal 48.

  Further, the gas generator 50 is fixed to the housing by caulking on the branch pipe portion side of the main housing 36. The cap 51 is a waterproof cover, and an electrical connection to the gas generator 50 is made by inserting a connector 54 attached to the tip of the gas generator harness 53 into the insertion port of the cap 51.

  The buckle head 21 incorporates a seat belt wearing detection switch, and a switch harness 52 connected to the switch runs along the outside of the pretensioner 30 and passes through the anchor cover 31 and the bellows boot 60. , Led to the buckle head 21.

  According to the pretensioner 30, when the gas generator 50 is operated at the time of a vehicle collision, the high pressure gas is fed into the cylinder tube 49, and the piston 44 strokes in the cylinder tube 49 by the gas pressure. The wire 34 connected to 44 pulls the buckle head 21, thereby removing the slack of the seat belt 13 corresponding to the movement of the piston 44, and quickly restraining and protecting the occupant 11.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bellows boot 60 is formed in a cylindrical shape so that the wire 34, the anchor member 32, and the switch harness 52 that are connected to each other are inserted, and the wire 34 is inclined. At the same time, the pretensioner 30 is fixed at an inclination of about 60 degrees. The bellows boot 60 is provided at the lower end of the bellows boot 60 and is provided at the upper end of the anchor cover 31 which is an attachment member on the pretensioner 30 side. A buckle head side mounting portion 62 sandwiched between a pair of cover members of the head 21, a bellows portion 63 formed on a peripheral wall between the horizontal mounting portion 61 and the buckle head side mounting portion 62, a horizontal mounting portion 61 and a bellows. And a base tube portion 64 (in the present embodiment, a substantially trapezoidal shape) having a substantially triangular shape or a substantially trapezoidal shape when viewed from the side.

  The cross-sectional shape of the bellows boot 60 includes a substantially rectangular shape or a substantially oval shape (including a bellows portion 63) in which the length in the vehicle body front-rear direction is longer than the vehicle width direction orthogonal thereto (in this embodiment, a substantially oval shape). ). The bellows portion 63 is formed to have a substantially uniform thickness, and the height of the unevenness of the bellows portion 63 is such that the peripheral wall portion 63a positioned in the vehicle body front-rear direction is a peripheral wall positioned in the vehicle width direction. It is set to be larger than the portion 63b.

  That is, the height A of the concave portion 63c and the convex portion 63d of the peripheral wall portion 63a located in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is set larger than the height B of the concave portion 63e and the convex portion 63f of the peripheral wall portion 63b located in the vehicle width direction. (A> B).

  Further, the root tube portion 64 is provided with a groove portion 65 parallel to the concave portion 63c of the bellows portion 63 on the peripheral wall 64a on the upper surface side. The groove portion 65 is continuous from the peripheral wall 64a on the upper surface side of the root tube portion 64 to the side surface 64b, and is formed up to a substantially intermediate portion of the side surface 64b in the vehicle width direction. The groove portion 65 has a generally U-shaped cross-section with the middle portion recessed most, and is smoothly formed so as to gradually become shallower toward the peripheral wall 64a and the side surface 64b.

  In the buckle device 20 configured as described above, an occupant inserts and engages the tongue 17 with the buckle head 21 or releases the tongue 17 while appropriately moving the position of the buckle head 21. Further, the buckle head 21 moves mainly in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body in accordance with the seating posture of the occupant. At this time, the wire 34 and the bellows boot 60 are bent following the movement of the buckle head 21. The bellows boot 60 is bent by the circumferential wall portion 63 a of the bellows portion 63 in the vehicle front-rear direction and the groove portion 65 of the root tube portion 64. It will be bent smoothly.

  In the buckle device 20 of the seat belt 10 configured as described above, the heights A and B of the concave and convex portions of the bellows portion 63 formed on the peripheral wall of the bellows boot 60 are such that the peripheral wall portion 63a positioned in the direction in which the wire 34 tilts is It is set to be larger than the peripheral wall portion 63b located in the direction orthogonal to the direction. As a result, in the buckle device 20 installed with the direction in which the wire 34 is inclined as the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, the dimensions of the bellows boot 60 are mischievous in the vehicle width direction where there are large restrictions on the installation space due to the seat 12 and the console. It is possible to increase the flexibility in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body without increasing the size.

  In addition, a groove 65 parallel to the concave portion 63 c of the bellows portion 63 is formed on the peripheral wall on at least the upper surface side of the root tube portion 64 of the bellows boot 60. Thereby, the groove part 65 can be made into the bending origin when bent to the opposite side to the direction where the bellows boot 60 inclines. Therefore, the flexibility can be enhanced while having an appropriate rigidity for maintaining the shape of the bellows boot 60 and without applying an excessive load on the root tube portion 64 of the bellows boot 60.

  The cross-sectional shape of the bellows boot 60 is a substantially rectangular shape or a substantially oval shape in which the length in the direction in which the wire 34 tilts is longer than the direction orthogonal to the direction, and therefore the unevenness of the peripheral wall portion 63a in the longitudinal direction of the cross-section. By increasing the height, good flexibility can be obtained even in the longitudinal direction. Further, by forming the groove 65 in the peripheral wall on the upper surface side of the root tube portion 64, it is possible to obtain good flexibility in the longitudinal direction.

  Further, the fixed portion has a pretensioner 30 that removes the slack of the seat belt by applying a pulling force to the buckle head 21 in the event of a vehicle collision, and the connecting member is a wire that connects the drive portion of the pretensioner 30 and the buckle head. Therefore, when the pulling force is applied to the buckle head 21 by the pretensioner 30 at the time of a vehicle collision, the bellows boot 60 is flexibly contracted in accordance with the pulling operation of the buckle head 21. For this reason, the bellows boot 60 can cover the portions connected by the wire 34 with good appearance, and can assist the stable operation of the pretensioner 30 in an emergency. Further, by connecting the buckle head 21 and the piston 44 of the pretensioner 30 via the wire 34, the installation direction of the pretensioner 30 can be freely set using the flexibility of the wire 34. The buckle head 21 can be held in a fixed position by utilizing the bending rigidity of the wire 34 and the bending rigidity of the bellows boot 60 by the bellows boot 60 covering the head.

  In addition, the groove part 65 of the root cylinder part 64 is not limited to one place, You may provide two or more according to the characteristic requested | required. Moreover, although the groove part 65 is formed in the substantially square shape in which the intermediate part was dented most, any shape may be sufficient if it becomes a bending | flexion starting point by a dent. Further, the groove portion 65 is formed up to the middle portion of the side surface 64b in the vehicle width direction, and has an appropriate rigidity for maintaining the shape of the bellows boot, and is bent to the opposite side to the direction in which the bellows boot 60 is inclined. If it can be used as a starting point for bending, it can be extended to a desired position in the vehicle width direction of the side surface 64b, and may further continue to the peripheral wall on the lower surface side.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a buckle device for a seat belt according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This embodiment differs from that of the first embodiment in that it does not have a pretensioner. Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and description thereof is omitted or simplified.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the buckle device 70 of the present embodiment uses a bracket 71 provided on the lower side of the seat 12 as a fixing part on the vehicle body side, and connects a ring-shaped wire 72 as a connecting member at an intermediate part. And formed into a long shape. The wire 72 is fixed to the buckle head 21 by inserting a rivet 73 into one end 72 a of the wire 72, and is fixed to the bracket 71 by inserting a bolt 74 into the other end 72 b of the wire 72.

The bellows boot 60 is attached between the bracket 71 and the buckle head 21 so as to cover an intermediate portion of the wire 72.
Other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the fixing portion to which the wire 72 is fixed is not limited to the bracket 71, and may be an arbitrary member provided on the vehicle body side, such as a seat rail on the vehicle body side.

  The bracket 71 may be directly formed with a hole into which the horizontal mounting portion 61 of the bellows boot 60 is inserted, or the bellows boot 60 may be fixed by providing a mounting member on the bracket 71. Further, the base tube portion 64 and the horizontal mounting portion 61 below the bellows portion 63 of the bellows boot 60 can be appropriately deformed according to the shape of the fixing portion provided in the vehicle body, and the root tube portion 64 does not have the groove portion 65. It may be a shape.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably.

  The bellows boot of this embodiment is configured to have both a shape that changes the height of the irregularities of the bellows portion according to the direction and a shape that has a groove portion in the root tube portion of the bellows boot, but either shape The structure which has this may be sufficient.

1 is a side view of a seat belt device to which a buckle device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is a side view of a buckle device. It is a disassembled perspective view of a buckle device. (A) is a side view of a bellows boot, (b) is the figure seen from IV direction of (a). It is a side view of the seatbelt apparatus with which the buckle apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

10 Seat belt device 20, 70 Buckle device 21 Buckle head 30 Pretensioner (fixed part)
34,72 wire (connection member)
60 bellows boot 61 horizontal mounting portion 62 buckle head side mounting portion 63 bellows portion 64 root tube portion 71 bracket (fixing portion)

Claims (3)

A fixed part that can be mounted on the vehicle body side;
A buckle head on which the tongue of the seat belt is detachably attached;
A connecting member that tiltably connects the buckle head to the fixed portion at a position inclined in a predetermined direction;
A bellows boot that is mounted between the fixed portion and the buckle head so as to cover the periphery of the connecting member, and has a flexibility that can be tilted following the connecting member;
The height of the irregularities of the bellows portion formed on the peripheral wall of the bellows boot is set so that the peripheral wall portion positioned in the predetermined direction is larger than the peripheral wall portion positioned in the direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction. A seat belt buckle device. A fixed part that can be mounted on the vehicle body side;
A buckle head on which the tongue of the seat belt is detachably attached;
A connecting member that tiltably connects the buckle head to the fixed portion at a position inclined in a predetermined direction;
A bellows boot that is mounted between the fixed portion and the buckle head so as to cover the periphery of the connecting member, and has a flexibility that can be tilted following the connecting member;
At the lower end of the bellows boot, a horizontal mounting portion that is fixed substantially horizontally to the mounting member on the fixing portion side is provided, and between the bellows portion formed on the peripheral wall of the bellows boot and the horizontal mounting portion. A base tube portion having a substantially triangular shape or a substantially trapezoidal shape when viewed from the side, and
A seat belt buckle device, wherein a groove portion parallel to the concave portion of the bellows portion is formed on a peripheral wall on at least the upper surface side of the base tube portion.   The cross-sectional shape of the bellows boot is a substantially rectangular shape or a substantially oval shape in which a length in the predetermined direction is longer than a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction. Seat belt buckle device.

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