JP2013151192A - Device for detecting side collision - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for determining a side collision improvable in responsiveness and reducible in cost.SOLUTION: A side collision detection device for detecting an impact on a side surface of a vehicle 1 includes: a first acceleration sensor for outputting a first acceleration signal indicating acceleration in a vehicle longitudinal direction (X axis) in a pillar 3 of the vehicle; a first threshold value memory 23 for storing a first threshold concerning the first acceleration signal; and a collision determination means 22 for determining a side collision based on a comparison result of the first acceleration signal and the first threshold.

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a side collision of a vehicle.

  Conventionally, as a technique for detecting a side collision, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, there is a technique for detecting a side collision based on a pressure change inside a side door of an automobile.

  Also, there is a type in which a side collision is determined by a combination of an acceleration sensor provided in a door or a pressure sensor provided in a door, an acceleration sensor provided in a B-pillar, and a floor sensor provided on a floor surface of a vehicle body.

JP 2009-300364 A

  However, in order to provide a sensor inside the door, it requires a cost related to the sensor and its installation, and it is necessary to perform arithmetic processing together with the signal of the sensor provided at another position. There is a risk of delay.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a side collision determination device capable of improving response and reducing costs.

  The invention according to claim 1, which has been made to achieve the above object, is a side collision detection device for detecting an impact applied to a side surface of a vehicle, wherein a first acceleration indicating acceleration in a vehicle longitudinal direction (X axis) in a pillar of the vehicle. Side collision based on a comparison result between the first acceleration signal that outputs one acceleration signal, first threshold value storage means that stores a first threshold value related to the first acceleration signal, and the first acceleration signal and the first threshold value And a collision judging means for judging the above.

  According to this configuration, the side collision detection device outputs the first acceleration signal indicating the acceleration in the vehicle front-rear direction (X axis) in the pillar of the vehicle, and the first acceleration signal is related to the first acceleration signal. Since there is provided a first threshold value storage means for storing a threshold value, and a collision determination means for determining a side collision based on a comparison result between the first acceleration signal and the first threshold value, a sensor in the door is not provided. There is an excellent effect that improvement and cost reduction can be achieved.

  The invention according to claim 2 stores a second acceleration sensor that outputs a second acceleration signal indicating an acceleration in a vehicle left-right direction (Y-axis) in the pillar of the vehicle, and a second threshold value related to the second acceleration signal. And a second threshold value storage unit, wherein the collision determination unit is configured to perform a side collision based on a comparison result between the first acceleration signal and the first threshold value and a comparison result between the second acceleration signal and the second threshold value. It is characterized by determining.

  According to this configuration, since the side collision protection device is not erroneously activated at the time of a frontal collision, the reliability of the side collision detection device is improved. Further, since the second threshold value can be set to a value lower than the value when the first threshold value is not used, the responsiveness of the side collision detection can be improved.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, a third acceleration sensor that outputs a third acceleration signal indicating an acceleration in the vehicle left-right direction (Y-axis) on the floor surface of the vehicle, and a third threshold value related to the third acceleration signal are stored. And a third threshold value storage means, wherein the collision determination means includes a comparison result between the first acceleration signal and the first threshold value, a comparison result between the second acceleration signal and the second threshold value, and the third threshold value. A side collision is determined based on a comparison result between an acceleration signal and the third threshold value.

  According to this configuration, the reliability of the side collision detection device can be further improved.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration sensor are two sensors for the X axis and the Y axis, respectively, or one for the X axis and the Y axis is integrated. It consists of a sensor.

  According to this structure, since the attachment form of a sensor becomes various, a sensor can be attached easily.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration sensor include a uniaxial acceleration sensor attached to a pillar so as to have an arbitrary detection angle between the X axis and the Y axis. Features.

  According to this configuration, since only one sensor is required, the cost can be reduced.

  The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that the pillar is a B pillar.

  According to this configuration, a side collision can be detected very effectively.

It is a side view of the vehicle which shows the attachment position of the acceleration sensor used for the side collision detection apparatus of this invention. It is a graph which shows the deformation | transformation condition of a vehicle side surface and B pillar when a pole test is performed as a side collision. It is the graph which provided the acceleration sensor of the X-axis and the Y-axis in B pillar, and recorded each acceleration signal. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the side collision determination apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the arithmetic processing system of the side collision determination apparatus of this invention.

  The graph shown in FIG. 2 represents a situation in which the shape of the vehicle side surface indicated by a broken line is deformed as indicated by a solid line when a pole test is performed as a side collision. At this time, since the door beam laid horizontally in the vehicle front-rear (Y) direction inside the door 2 hits the B pillar 3 via the lock mechanism of the door 2 due to a side collision with the door 2, the B pillar 3 Moves to the position indicated by the B pillar 9.

  By this movement of the B pillar 3, acceleration in the front-rear (X) direction of the vehicle is generated along with acceleration in the left-right (Y) direction of the vehicle.

  The graph shown in FIG. 3 shows an oblique pole test at 32 km / h with the X-axis and Y-axis sensors 4 and 5 arranged at the positions indicated by the sensors 4 and 5 of the B pillar 3 as shown in FIG. It is a record of the result of having performed.

  According to the graph of FIG. 3, the oblique pole 32 km / h-Y axis (10, 12), which is an ON requirement, has an acceleration value that is generated more than the barrier 25 km / h-Y axis (14), both of which are OFF requirements. It is not ON because it is small.

  On the other hand, when the oblique pole 32 km / h-X axis (11, 13) and the barrier 25 km / h-X axis (15) are compared, the ON requirement is larger. In particular, in the portion indicated by A, the occurrence of acceleration in the X-axis direction is remarkable due to the movement of the B pillar. However, it is clear that the acceleration value in the X-axis direction is smaller than the acceleration value in the Y-axis direction.

  Thus, conventionally, the acceleration in the X-axis direction at the pillar has not been used for the side collision determination. However, according to the present invention, the side collision determination can be effectively performed based on the acceleration in the X-axis direction at the pillar. it can. The pillar provided with the X-axis sensor is preferably the B-pillar 3, but the present invention can also be implemented by providing acceleration sensors 6 and 7 in the X-axis direction on the A-pillar or C-pillar.

  Next, the configuration of the present invention will be described based on the block diagram shown in FIG.

  The control device 18 is an ECU including a microprocessor and its peripheral elements, and includes an input / output unit 21, a collision determination unit 22, and a storage unit 23.

  The input / output unit 21 detects the acceleration signal of the acceleration sensor 4 that detects acceleration in the front-rear direction (X-axis) of the vehicle 1 at the B pillar 3 and the acceleration in the left-right direction (Y-axis) of the vehicle 1 at the B pillar 3. An acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor 5 and an acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor 8 that detects acceleration in the left-right direction (Y-axis) of the vehicle 1 on the floor are input.

  The sensor 4 and the sensor 5 are separate sensors and are arranged so as to be close to each other. However, a sensor in which both are integrally formed may be arranged at one place.

  The collision determination means 22 is an acceleration signal in the front-rear direction (X axis) of the vehicle 1 input from each sensor 4, 5, 8 (6, 7), an acceleration signal in the left-right direction (Y axis) of the vehicle 1, and the vehicle 1 The collision determination is made by comparing the acceleration signal in the left-right direction (Y axis) of the floor surface with the threshold value of each acceleration signal stored and stored in the storage means 23.

  The collision determination method will be specifically described based on the flowchart of FIG. When a side collision occurs (S1), the third acceleration signal of the acceleration sensor 8 indicating the acceleration in the vehicle left-right direction (Y axis) disposed on the floor surface of the vehicle 1 is stored in the storage means 23. The collision determination unit 22 compares the threshold value with the collision determination unit 22, and determines whether or not the third acceleration signal exceeds the third threshold value (S2). As a result, if the third acceleration signal does not exceed the third threshold value, no signal is output from the input / output unit 21 to the drive circuit 23, and the occupant protection device 20 does not operate (S6). When the third acceleration signal exceeds the third threshold value, the first acceleration signal of the acceleration sensor 4 indicating the acceleration in the vehicle front-rear direction (X axis) disposed in the pillar 3 of the vehicle 1 is stored in the storage unit 23. The first threshold 16 and the collision determination means 22 are compared, and the collision determination means 22 determines whether or not the first acceleration signal exceeds the first threshold 16 (S3). As a result, if the first acceleration signal does not exceed the first threshold value 16, no signal is output from the input / output unit 21 to the drive circuit 19, and the occupant protection device 20 does not operate (S6). When the first acceleration signal exceeds the first threshold value 16, the second acceleration signal of the acceleration sensor 5 indicating the acceleration in the vehicle left-right direction (Y-axis) disposed on the pillar 3 of the vehicle 1 is stored in the storage unit 23. The calculated second threshold 17 is compared with the collision determination means 22, and the collision determination means 22 determines whether or not the acceleration signal exceeds the second threshold 17 (S4). As a result, if the second acceleration signal does not exceed the second threshold value 17, no signal is output from the input / output unit 21 to the drive circuit 19, and the occupant protection device 20 does not operate (S6). When the second acceleration signal exceeds the second threshold value 17, a determination signal is output from the input / output unit 21 to the drive circuit 19, and the drive circuit 19 deploys the occupant protection device 20 such as a side airbag (S5).

  In the above, an example of the side collision detection method of the present invention has been described based on FIG. 5, but the processing order of each step of S2, S3, and S4 in FIG. May be. Further, S2, S3, and S4 may be executed simultaneously, and if all the determination results are YES, the process may proceed to step S5.

  Note that a uniaxial acceleration sensor may be attached to the pillar so as to have an arbitrary detection angle between the X axis and the Y axis. At this time, only one of the acceleration sensors 4 and 5 is connected to the input / output unit 21. Then, the collision determination unit 22 performs a calculation process of decomposing the signal of the uniaxial acceleration sensor into an X-axis component and a Y-axis component based on the mounting angle of the acceleration sensor, and the first acceleration signal and the second acceleration signal Can be requested. That is, it can be said that the first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration sensor are uniaxial acceleration sensors attached to the pillar so as to have an arbitrary detection angle between the X axis and the Y axis.

  As is clear from the above detailed description, according to the side collision detection apparatus of the present embodiment, the side collision detection apparatus uses the first acceleration indicating the acceleration in the vehicle longitudinal direction (X axis) in the pillar 3 of the vehicle 1. The first acceleration sensor 4 that outputs a signal, the first threshold value storage means 23 that stores a first threshold value related to the first acceleration signal, and a side surface based on a comparison result between the first acceleration signal and the first threshold value 16. Since the collision determination means 22 for determining the collision is provided and no sensor is provided in the door 2, there is an excellent effect that the response can be improved and the cost can be reduced. The second acceleration sensor 5 that outputs a second acceleration signal indicating the acceleration in the vehicle left-right direction (Y-axis) in the pillar 3 of the vehicle 1 and a second threshold value memory that stores a second threshold value 17 related to the second acceleration signal. When the side collision is determined including the detection of the side collision based on the comparison result between the second acceleration signal and the second threshold value 17 as shown in FIG. The threshold value 17 can be set to a lower value than the Y threshold value (comparative example) in the case of detecting a side collision only in the vehicle left-right direction (Y axis) without detecting the acceleration in the vehicle front-rear direction (X axis). As a result, an excellent effect is obtained in that the responsiveness to side collision can be improved.

  In addition, this invention includes what can be implemented in the aspect which added various change, correction, improvement, etc. based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. Further, it goes without saying that any of the embodiments to which the above-mentioned changes are added is included in the scope of the present invention without departing from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 3,9 B pillar 4-8 Acceleration sensor 16 1st threshold value 17 2nd threshold value 18 Control apparatus 19 Drive circuit 20 Occupant protection apparatus 21 Input-output part 22 Collision judgment means 23 Storage means

Claims (6)

In the side collision detection device that detects the impact applied to the side of the vehicle,
A first acceleration sensor that outputs a first acceleration signal indicating acceleration in the vehicle longitudinal direction (X-axis) at the pillar of the vehicle;
First threshold value storage means for storing a first threshold value relating to the first acceleration signal;
A collision determination means for determining a side collision based on a comparison result between the first acceleration signal and the first threshold;
A side collision detection device comprising: A second acceleration sensor that outputs a second acceleration signal indicating acceleration in the vehicle left-right direction (Y-axis) at the vehicle pillar;
Second threshold storage means for storing a second threshold relating to the second acceleration signal;
Further comprising
The collision determination unit determines a side collision based on a comparison result between the first acceleration signal and the first threshold and a comparison result between the second acceleration signal and the second threshold. The side collision detection apparatus according to 1. A third acceleration sensor that outputs a third acceleration signal indicating acceleration in the vehicle lateral direction (Y-axis) on the floor of the vehicle;
Third threshold value storage means for storing a third threshold value relating to the third acceleration signal;
Further comprising
The collision determination means includes a comparison result between the first acceleration signal and the first threshold value, a comparison result between the second acceleration signal and the second threshold value, and a comparison result between the third acceleration signal and the third threshold value. The side collision detection device according to claim 2, wherein side collision is determined based on the above.   The first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration sensor include two sensors for each of the X axis and the Y axis, or one sensor in which the sensors for the X axis and the Y axis are integrated. Item 4. The side collision detection device according to any one of Items 1 to 3.   4. The first acceleration sensor and the second acceleration sensor each include a single-axis acceleration sensor attached to the pillar so as to have an arbitrary detection angle between an X axis and a Y axis. The side collision detection device according to any one of the above.   The side collision detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pillar is a B pillar.

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