JP2011031716A - Occupant restraint device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To uniformly distribute a gas to a cell on a side near an inflator and a cell on a far side in an occupant restraint device in which a gas feeding tube is arranged inside an upper communication passage of an airbag. <P>SOLUTION: On the gas feeding tube 29 arranged inside the upper communication passage 28 of the airbag 18 and connected to the inflator 33, a distal end opening 29a opened to the distal end and feeding the gas into the upper communication passage 28 is provided, and between a sewing part 24 for dividing the cell 27f positioned below the upper communication passage 28 and the distal end opening 29a, a gas distribution passage 36 for distributing the gas from the distal end opening 29a to the cell 27f is formed. Thereby, the gas jetted from the distal end opening 29a can be also certainly fed to the cell 27f to which the gas is hardly fed. Deployment performance and occupant restraint performance of the airbag 18 can be enhanced by uniformly distributing the gas to all cells 27a-27f. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  According to the present invention, a folded airbag is disposed along the upper edge of the door opening of the vehicle body, and the airbag is inflated with gas generated by an inflator at the time of a vehicle collision, along the inner surface of the side portion of the passenger compartment. The present invention relates to an occupant restraint device that is deployed in a curtain shape.

  In such an occupant restraint device, an upper communication passage that extends in the front-rear direction along the upper edge of the airbag is formed by sewing the base fabric of the airbag, and the gas supplied from the inflator to the rear end of the upper communication passage Patent Document 1 below discloses that an airbag is inflated and deployed downward by being distributed to a plurality of corresponding cells from a plurality of through holes formed in an intermediate portion of the upper communication path.

Japanese Patent No. 3626700

  By the way, in the above conventional one, gas is distributed to a plurality of corresponding cells from a plurality of through holes formed in the intermediate portion of the upper communication path, so that the gas from the through hole on the side far from the inflator to the cells. There has been a problem that it is difficult to distribute gas evenly to a plurality of cells because the supply amount is reduced and the gas supply amount to the cell from the through hole on the side close to the inflator is increased.

  Therefore, a gas supply tube connected to the inflator is arranged inside the upper communication path of the airbag, and gas is supplied to the cell far from the inflator from the tip opening that opens at the tip of the gas supply tube. It is conceivable to distribute gas evenly to cells close to and far from the inflator by supplying gas to the cells on the near side through a through hole that opens in the middle of the gas supply tube.

  However, even if an attempt is made to supply gas from a through hole that opens in the middle of the gas supply tube to a cell on the side near the inflator, the gas from the opening is not smoothly supplied into the corresponding cell, and the outer surface of the gas supply tube And the inner surface of the upper communication path, it flows into different cells, and there is a possibility that the gas cannot be evenly distributed to the cells closer to the inflator and the cells farther from the inflator. Further, if a through hole is formed in the middle of the gas supply tube, there is a problem that the structure of the gas supply tube is complicated accordingly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in an occupant restraint device in which a gas supply tube is arranged inside an upper communication path of an airbag, gas is evenly distributed to cells closer to and far from the inflator. The purpose is to be able to distribute.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a folded airbag is arranged along the upper edge of the door opening of the vehicle body, and the gas generated by the inflator at the time of vehicle collision is used. In the occupant restraint device that inflates the airbag and deploys it in a curtain shape along the side inner surface of the passenger compartment, a plurality of cells juxtaposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body by sewing the base fabric of the airbag, and An upper communication path disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body is formed above the plurality of cells, a gas supply tube connected to an inflator is disposed inside the upper communication path, and the gas supply tube is disposed at a tip thereof. A tip opening for opening and supplying gas into the upper communication passage is provided, and the tip is inserted into the cell between the sewing and the tip opening for partitioning the cell located below the upper communication passage. Open Occupant restraint system is proposed, wherein a gas distribution passage for distributing gas from the parts is formed.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, the amount of gas distributed to the cells located below the upper communication path is controlled by the opening area of the gas distribution path. An occupant restraint device is proposed.

  According to the invention described in claim 3, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, the amount of gas distributed to the cells located below the upper communication path is determined by the shape of the tip opening of the upper communication path. An occupant restraint device characterized by controlling is proposed.

  In addition, the 1st, 2nd base fabrics 21 and 22 of embodiment respond | correspond to the base fabric of the invention described in Claim 1. FIG.

  According to the configuration of claim 1, by sewing the airbag base fabric, the plurality of cells juxtaposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and the upper communication path disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body above the plurality of cells. Form. A gas supply tube disposed inside the upper communication path and connected to the inflator is provided with a tip opening that opens at the tip of the gas supply tube and supplies gas into the upper communication path. A gas distribution passage that distributes the gas from the tip opening is formed in the cell between the sewn sewing and the tip opening, so that the cell is located below the upper communication passage and is difficult to supply gas. In addition, it is possible to reliably supply the gas ejected from the tip opening, and the gas can be evenly distributed to all the cells, so that the airbag deployment performance and occupant restraint performance can be improved. Moreover, since it is not necessary to form a through hole in the middle of the gas supply tube, the structure of the gas supply tube can be simplified.

  According to the configuration of the second aspect, the amount of gas distributed to the cells located below the upper communication path can be arbitrarily controlled by simply changing the opening area of the gas distribution path. .

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the amount of gas distributed to the cells located below the upper communication path is arbitrarily controlled by simply changing the shape of the top opening of the upper communication path. be able to.

The figure which shows the state which the airbag of the passenger | crew restraint device expand | deployed in the vehicle interior of a motor vehicle. The enlarged view of the passenger | crew restraint apparatus which the airbag expand | deployed. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of part 3 of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. The disassembled perspective view of a gas supply tube.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a door opening 14 to which a front door 13 is attached is formed between a front pillar 11 and a center pillar 12 on a side surface of the vehicle body, and a rear door 16 is attached between the center pillar 12 and the rear pillar 15. An opening 17 is formed. A roof side rail (not shown) extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body so as to connect the upper end of the front pillar 11 and the upper end of the rear pillar 15 defines the upper edges of the door openings 14 and 17 of the front door 13 and the rear door 16. An occupant restraint device C is provided along the roof side rail. The occupant restraint device C having substantially the same structure is provided on each of the left and right sides of the vehicle body. Hereinafter, the occupant restraint device C provided on the right side of the vehicle body will be described.

  When acceleration of a predetermined value or more is detected at the time of side collision or rollover of the vehicle, the inner side surface of the vehicle body, that is, the front pillar 11, the center pillar 12, the rear pillar 15, the door glass 13a of the front door 13, and the door glass of the rear door 16. The airbag 18 of the occupant restraint device C is deployed in a curtain shape downward from the upper edges of the door openings 14 and 17 so as to be shielded between 16a and the occupant sitting on the front seat and the rear seat.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the airbag 18 extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body has a first base fabric 21 and a second base fabric 22 having substantially the same shape overlapped with each other, and an outer peripheral portion is sewn 23. The inside is sewn 24 in a predetermined pattern. A plurality of tabs 25 for attaching the airbag 18 to the vehicle body are fixed along the upper edge of the airbag 18 by the sewing 23 on the outer peripheral portion and the dedicated sewing 26. A plurality of cells 27 a to 27 f juxtaposed in the front-rear direction are formed in the airbag 18 by the sewing 24. Further, a pipe-like upper communication passage 28 is formed by the sewing 24... Over a predetermined range from the center in the front-rear direction at the upper edge of the airbag 18 to the rear.

  A gas supply tube 29 arranged along the upper edge of the rear half of the airbag 18 is formed into a pipe shape by overlapping two base fabrics 30 and 31 (see FIG. 5) and sewing 32 the outer periphery thereof. It is formed. The gas supply tube 29 has a slightly smaller diameter than the upper communication path 28, and a front end opening 29 a formed at the front end of the gas supply tube 29 is fitted to the rear end of the upper communication path 28. The tip opening 29a has a shape cut obliquely along a straight line from the front top to the back bottom. The rear end of the gas supply tube 29 is overlapped with the rear end of the upper communication passage 28, and the front end of the gas supply pipe 34 extending forward from the inflator 33 housed in the rear pillar 15 is inserted therein and fixed by the fixture 35. Is done.

  The cells 27a to 27f of the airbag 18 are divided into four cells 27a to 27d arranged in the front half and two cells 27e and 27f arranged in the rear half. The four cells 27 a to 27 d arranged in the front half of the airbag 18 communicate with the downstream end of the upper communication path 28. Of the two cells 27e and 27f arranged in the rear half of the airbag 18, the cell 27f located at the rearmost side is the sewing 24 that defines the front edge of the cell 27f, and the opening of the tip of the gas supply tube 28. It communicates with the upper communication passage 28 through a gas distribution passage 36 formed between the lower end of the portion 27a.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.

  When the acceleration sensor detects acceleration due to a side collision of the vehicle, the inflator 33 is activated to generate high-pressure gas, and the gas is supplied from the gas supply pipe 34 to the gas supply tube 29 of the airbag 18 folded. As a result, the six cells 27a to 27f are inflated by the gas ejected from the distal end opening 29a of the gas supply tube 29, so that the folded airbag 18 is formed on the door glasses 13a and 16a of the front and rear doors 13 and 16. Deploying downward along the inner surface, the occupant's head can be restrained and protected from the impact of a collision.

  Since the gas ejected from the tip opening 29a of the gas supply tube 29 is smoothly supplied to the front four cells 27a to 27d via the upper communication passage 28, the expansion is performed without any problem. On the other hand, of the two rear cells 27e and 27f, the rearmost cell 27f to which gas is first supplied is located behind the front end opening 29a of the gas supply tube 29, and therefore the front end opening 29a. The gas ejected from the gas is inverted by 180 °, then passes through the gas distribution passage 36 and is supplied to the rearmost cell 27f.

  As described above, the gas ejected from the front end opening 29a of the gas supply tube 29 is smoothly supplied to the front four cells 27a to 27d through the upper communication path 28. Since the gas ejected from the tip opening 29a of the gas supply tube 29 is supplied to the cells 27e and 27f after being inverted by 180 °, the supply amount may become insufficient.

  However, according to the present embodiment, the front end opening 29a of the gas supply tube 29 is cut so as to face diagonally forward and downward, and the sewing 24 that divides the front edge of the cell 27f located on the rearmost side, and the gas Since the gas distribution passage 36 is formed between the lower end of the distal end opening 27a of the supply tube 28, a part of the gas exiting the distal end opening 29a can smoothly make a U-turn and flow into the cell 27f. The gas can be evenly expanded by uniformly supplying gas to the four cells 27a to 27d on the front side and the two cells 27e and 27f on the rear side.

  At that time, by simply changing the shape of the distal end opening portion 27a of the gas supply tube 28, for example, the inclination angle to be cut obliquely or the cross-sectional area of the gas distribution passage 36, the rear 2 The amount of gas distributed to the individual cells 27e and 27f can be arbitrarily controlled.

  Further, since the gas supply tube 29 is configured by sewing 32 the base fabrics 30 and 31, not only can the gas supply tube 29 be configured to be lightweight and inexpensive, but also the gas supply tube 29 is bulky and obstructive when the airbag 18 is folded. In addition, since it is not necessary to form a through hole in the middle of the gas supply tube 29, the structure of the gas supply tube 29 can be simplified.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but various design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the embodiment, the inflator 33 is connected to the rear end of the airbag 18, but it may be connected to the front end of the airbag 18.

14 Door opening 17 Door opening 18 Air bag 21 First base fabric (base fabric)
22 Second base fabric (base fabric)
23 Sewing 24 Sewing 27a to 27f Cell 28 Upper communication passage 29 Gas supply tube 29a Tip opening 33 Inflator 36 Gas distribution passage

Claims (3)

A folded airbag (18) is disposed along the upper edge of the door opening (14, 17) of the vehicle body, and the airbag (18) is inflated with gas generated by the inflator (33) when the vehicle collides. In an occupant restraint device that deploys in the form of a curtain along the inner side surface of the passenger compartment,
By sewing (23, 24) the base fabric (21, 22) of the airbag (18), a plurality of cells (27a-27f) juxtaposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and the plurality of cells (27a-27f) And an upper communication passage (28) disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and a gas supply tube (29) connected to an inflator (33) is disposed inside the upper communication passage (28). The gas supply tube (29) includes a distal end opening (29a) that opens to the distal end thereof and supplies gas into the upper communication passage (28), and is located below the upper communication passage (28). Gas distribution for distributing the gas from the tip opening (29a) to the cell (27e, 27f) between the sewing (24) and the tip opening (29a) partitioning the cell (27e, 27f) A passage (36) is formed Occupant restraint system according to claim and.   The amount of gas distributed to the cells (27e, 27f) located below the upper communication path (28) is controlled by the opening area of the gas distribution path (36). Crew restraint device.   The amount of gas distributed to the cells (27e, 27f) located below the upper communication path (28) is controlled by the shape of the tip opening (29a) of the upper communication path (28). The occupant restraint device according to claim 1.

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