JP2008143481A - Side airbag control device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a side airbag control device for properly controlling the development of a side airbag such as a curtain airbag. <P>SOLUTION: The side airbag control device 1 is provided with an airbag controller 3 for developing the side airbag 4 on side collision. It comprises load sensors A-D provided on the lower part of a seat 7 for measuring a load on the seat 7 when an occupant sits on the seat 7, and an occupant detecting unit 2 for discriminating whether the occupant is adult or child in accordance with a measurement result of the load sensors A-D and for discriminating whether the occupant sits disproportionately on the outside in the cross direction of a vehicle or not when the occupant is adult. The airbag controller 3 prohibits the development of the side airbag 4 when the occupant detecting unit 2 discriminates that the occupant sits a predetermined value or greater disproportionately on the outside in the cross direction of the vehicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a control device for a side airbag such as a curtain airbag that operates at the time of a side collision.

Conventionally, load sensors have been provided at four locations on the front, rear, left and right of the seat, and when a passenger sits on the seat, the load applied to the seat is measured by the load sensor, and from the measurement result, the passenger is an adult or seated on a child seat An occupant detection system that detects whether a child is a child is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-246456 A

  By the way, when the occupant is an adult, the occupant does not sit in a normal posture on the seat and sits with a large bias toward the outside in the vehicle width direction, or even sits leaning against the side door There is. In such a case, if the curtain airbag is activated due to a side collision, the curtain airbag will be deployed in the immediate vicinity of the occupant, which not only diminishes the effect of the curtain airbag, but is also being deployed on the shoulder of the occupant. The curtain airbag may hit directly.

  The subject of this invention is providing the side airbag control apparatus which can control appropriately expansion | deployment of side airbags, such as a curtain airbag.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a side airbag control device provided with a control means for deploying a side airbag at the time of a side collision, and is provided at the lower part of the seat, A load sensor for measuring the load applied to the seat when the passenger is seated, and determining whether the occupant is an adult or a child based on the measurement result from the load sensor, and when the occupant is an adult Determining means for determining whether or not the occupant is seated biased outward in the vehicle width direction, and the control means determines that the occupant is seated biased outward in the vehicle width direction by a predetermined value or more. When it is determined, the deployment of the side airbag is prohibited.

  According to the above configuration, when it is determined that the occupant is seated with a predetermined value or more on the outside in the vehicle width direction, the deployment of the side airbag is prohibited. It is possible to appropriately control the development of the side airbag without causing a collision.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the determination unit makes a threshold of a ratio of a load outside the vehicle width direction with respect to the total load out of the measurement results measured by the load sensor constant according to the total load. By changing the ratio, the child seats on the child seat and the child seat is fastened with the seat belt and the adult is seated are distinguished.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the side airbag is a curtain airbag.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately control the development of a side airbag such as a curtain airbag.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a side airbag control device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a vehicle seat (for example, a driver seat: hereinafter referred to as a seat), where (a) is a plan view and (b) is a side view.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a side airbag control device 1 according to the present invention includes an occupant detection unit 2 as a determination unit, an airbag controller 3 as a control unit, a side airbag (curtain airbag) 4, An occupant state display lamp 5, an airbag failure display warning lamp 6, and load sensors A to D provided on the seat 7 are provided.

  Each of the load sensors A to D is electrically connected to the occupant detection unit 2, and the airbag controller 3 is used to display the occupant detection unit 2, the side airbag 4, the occupant status display lamp 5, and the airbag system failure display. Each of the warning lamps 6 is electrically connected.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the seat 7 includes a seat cushion 8 and a seat back 9, and load sensors A to D are provided on the legs 10 below the seat cushion 8. The load sensor A is on the front leg portion outside the vehicle width direction, the load sensor B is on the rear leg portion outside the vehicle width direction, the load sensor C is on the front leg portion inside the vehicle width direction, and the load sensor D is on the vehicle width direction. Each is attached to the inner rear leg. The load sensors A to D measure a load applied to the seat 7 when the occupant sits on the seat 7 (actually, a load applied to the leg portion 10 via the seat cushion 8).

  Next, the operation of the side airbag control device 1 having the above configuration will be described.

  First, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outer load ratio distribution with respect to the total load, and is obtained by experiments. In FIG. 3, “CRS” indicates a case where a child seat is used, “ATD” indicates a case where a dummy is seated, and “Live” indicates a case where a person is actually seated on the seat. “Yr” indicates the age, for example, “6yr” indicates that the child is six years old.

  In FIG. 3, the distribution on the left side of the thick line L is data when a child or a child's dummy is seated on a seat without a child seat or seated using a child seat. The distribution on the right side of the thick line L is data when an adult or an adult dummy is seated on the seat. A thick line L indicates a threshold value which is divided into a case where a child or a child dummy is seated and a case where an adult or an adult dummy is seated.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the side airbag control device 1. When the occupant sits on the seat 7, the measurement results of the load sensors A to D are sent to the occupant detection unit 2, and the occupant detection unit 2 measures the total load W applied to the seat 7 based on the measurement results. Then, the occupant detection unit 2 determines whether or not the total load W is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value Wth1 (step S1). Here, Wth1 is set to 31 kg (see FIG. 3). In FIG. 3, the range of the threshold value Wth1 is the portion indicated by the thick line L1.

  If the total load W is less than Wth1, the passenger is determined to be a child, and in this case, the process proceeds to step S2. Step S2 is a normal routine. If there is a side collision, the side airbag 4 is deployed.

  In step S1, if the total load W is equal to or greater than Wth1, the passenger is determined to be an adult. In this case, the ratio R of the sum of the outer side loads to the total load W is calculated (step S3). That is, when the occupant is seated on the outside in the vehicle width direction with a predetermined value or more, the load sensors A and B measure a relatively large load, and the load sensors C and D measure a relatively small load. The sum of the outer side loads can be calculated, and the ratio R can be calculated by comparing the calculation result with the total load W. When the occupant is seated on the outside in the vehicle width direction with a predetermined value or more, the fact is displayed on the occupant state display lamp 5.

  Then, it is determined whether or not the ratio R of the outer side load exceeds a threshold value Rth1 corresponding to the total load W (step S4). If the ratio R of the outer load is equal to or less than the threshold value Rth1, the occupant is not so much biased to the outside in the vehicle width direction, and in this case, the process proceeds to step S1. In FIG. 3, the range of the threshold value Rth1 is the portion indicated by the thick line L2.

  If the outer load ratio R exceeds the threshold value Rth1 in step S4, it is next determined whether or not the outer load ratio R is equal to or greater than a certain value Rth2 (step S5). Here, Rth2 is set to 78% (see FIG. 3). If the outer load ratio R is equal to or less than the constant value Rth2, the process proceeds to step S2. In FIG. 3, the range of the threshold value Rth2 is the portion indicated by the thick line L3.

  In step S5, if the ratio R of the outer side load is a ratio equal to or greater than a certain value Rth2, it is determined that the side airbag is not deployed (step S6), and even if there is a side collision, the deployment of the side airbag 4 is prohibited. That is, the side airbag 4 is not deployed.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which the side airbag 4 is normally deployed due to a side collision.

  According to the present embodiment, when the adult occupant is seated on the outer side in the vehicle width direction with a predetermined value or more, the side airbag 4 is not deployed even if there is a side collision. Thus, the curtain airbag being deployed does not directly collide, and the deployment of the side airbag 4 can be controlled appropriately.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention has been explained in full detail with drawing, the said Example is only the illustration of this invention, and this invention is not limited only to the structure of the said Example. Needless to say, changes in design and the like within the scope of the present invention are included in the present invention. For example, the side airbag 4 may be weakly deployed instead of the control method of not deploying the side airbag 4 at the time of a side collision.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a side airbag control device according to the present invention. The vehicle seat is shown, (a) is the top view, (b) is a side view. It is the figure which showed the outer side load ratio distribution with respect to a total load when a passenger | crew seated on the sheet | seat. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement procedure of the side airbag control apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows a mode that there existed a side collision and the side airbag developed normally.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Side airbag control apparatus 2 Occupant detection unit 3 Airbag controller 4 Side airbag 7 Seat AD Load sensor

Claims (3)

A side airbag control device comprising a control means for deploying a side airbag at the time of a side collision,
A load sensor that is provided at a lower portion of the seat and measures a load applied to the seat when an occupant is seated on the seat;
Based on the measurement result from the load sensor, it is determined whether the occupant is an adult or a child, and if the occupant is an adult, whether or not the occupant is seated biased outward in the vehicle width direction. A discriminating means for discriminating,
The side air bag control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit prohibits the development of the side air bag when the determining unit determines that the occupant is seated with a predetermined value or more on the outside in the vehicle width direction.   The discriminating means changes the threshold value of the ratio of the load on the outer side in the vehicle width direction with respect to the total load among the measurement results measured by the load sensor at a constant rate according to the total load, so that the child is seated on the child seat. 2. The side airbag control device according to claim 1, wherein a state in which the child seat is fastened by a seat belt and a state in which an adult is seated are discriminated. The side airbag control device according to claim 1, wherein the side airbag is a curtain airbag.

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