JP2019166990A - Seat position control device - Google Patents

Abstract

To realize a seat position control device that reduces an injury value of an occupant in a case where an abnormal relative acceleration arises in a vehicle.SOLUTION: Whether there is a possibility of a collision between a vehicle and an object is determined by a collision determination unit 141. If it is determined that there is a possibility of the collision, a drive signal is output to an output unit 143 in order to execute position control for a seat before the collision, and the position control for the seat on which an occupant is seated is executed by a position change unit 15. When an impact determination unit 142 determines that an impact has been applied to a seat on which an occupant is seated even if the collision determination unit 141 determines that there is no possibility of a collision, a position control is executed for the seat on which the occupant is seated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle seat attitude control device.

  Conventionally, in order to control the posture of an occupant seated on a vehicle seat such as an automobile, a seat posture control device that controls the posture of the seat on which the occupant is seated has been known. Things are known.

  A seat posture control device described in Patent Literature 1 includes a detection unit that detects vehicle peripheral information and a vehicle state, a change unit that changes the posture of a seat on which an occupant is seated, and an operation that controls the change unit. A control unit. The seat posture control device generates a travel plan of the vehicle based on the information detected by the detection unit, predicts an acceleration applied to the vehicle in advance based on the travel plan, and adjusts the predicted acceleration by the changing unit. By changing the posture of the seat, it is possible to mitigate acceleration changes that occur in the occupant.

JP 2017-71370 A

  By the way, in recent years, development of an automatic driving system for a vehicle in which the vehicle is driven by executing a control system mounted on the vehicle for acceleration, steering and braking of a vehicle such as an automobile has been advanced. In a situation where the vehicle is automatically traveling by such an automatic driving system, it is assumed that the passengers are seated face to face. That is, two seats adjacent to each other in the vehicle body direction of the vehicle seats face each other, and an occupant can be seated on each of these two seats.

  However, in such a situation, if an abnormal relative acceleration occurs in the vehicle, such as when the vehicle collides with another object, the occupants facing each other generate acceleration ahead of the seats where they are seated. There is a risk that injury may occur due to contact between passengers.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when abnormal relative acceleration occurs in the vehicle, the load caused by the relative acceleration applied to the occupant seated in the seat is alleviated. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seat posture control device for preventing a collision between seated passengers.

  In order to achieve the above object, the seat posture control device according to claim 1 reduces a load applied to an occupant seated on a vehicle seat (4, 5) when the vehicle (1) collides with an object. An object detection unit (11) that detects an object around the vehicle and a physical quantity acquisition unit (12) that acquires a physical quantity related to the possibility of collision of the object with the vehicle. And a collision determination unit (141) that determines the possibility of collision between the object and the vehicle based on the physical quantity acquired by the physical quantity acquisition unit, and the collision determination unit determines that the vehicle and the object collide, Before the collision with the object, the occupant is seated based on the output signal (143) that outputs a drive signal for changing the posture of the seat on which the occupant is seated and the drive signal from the output unit. Seat surface (6) and seat bar Comprises click is operated (7), the attitude changing unit for changing the posture of the seat (15), the. In such a configuration, the posture changing unit tilts the seat back to the side opposite to the occupant and lifts the end (6a) on the seat surface opposite to the seat back.

  Thereby, before the vehicle and the object collide, the posture of the seat on which the occupant is seated can be changed in advance, and the occupant can be in a posture capable of reducing the load caused by the relative acceleration accompanying the collision. In addition, even when sitting in a state where the occupants face each other, by setting these seats to the above posture, each occupant has a posture that can reduce the load, and a posture that prevents a collision between the occupants, The seat posture control device can reduce the injury value of the passenger.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the bracket | parenthesis of each said means shows an example of a corresponding relationship with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later.

It is a side view showing a schematic structure of a vehicle carrying a seat posture control device according to an embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the seat attitude | position control apparatus shown by FIG. It is the schematic which shows the load concerning the passenger | crew who is seated on the seat when the vehicle which does not mount a seat attitude | position control apparatus collides. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a load applied to an occupant when there is an occupant seated in a facing state when a vehicle not equipped with a seat posture control device collides. It is the schematic which shows the state by which the attitude | position control of the seat was made | formed in the vehicle carrying the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the load concerning the passenger | crew who is seated on the said seat in the state to which the attitude | position control of the seat shown to FIG. 4A was performed. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of the seat posture control apparatus shown in FIG. It is a side view which shows schematic structure of the vehicle carrying the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on the modification 1. As shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on the modification 1. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a part of an operation example of the seat posture control apparatus according to the first modification. It is an upper surface perspective view which shows the state which looked at the seat from upper direction among the vehicles carrying the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on the modification 2. As shown in FIG. It is an upper surface perspective view which shows the state which looked at the seat from upper direction among the vehicles carrying the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on the modification 3. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a part of an operation example of a seat posture control apparatus according to Modification 3. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on the modification 4. 14 is a flowchart showing a part of an operation example of a seat posture control apparatus according to Modification 4; It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on the modification 5. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a part of an operation example of a seat posture control apparatus according to Modification 5. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the seat attitude | position control apparatus which concerns on the modification 6. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a part of an operation example of a seat posture control apparatus according to Modification 6;

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, parts that are the same or equivalent to each other will be described with the same reference numerals.

(Embodiment)
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a vehicle 1 on which a seat posture control device 10 according to the present embodiment is mounted will be briefly described with reference to FIG.

(Schematic configuration of the vehicle)
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 on which the seat posture control device 10 is mounted is a so-called automobile, and includes a box-shaped vehicle body 2.

  Hereinafter, for simplification of description, the concepts of “front”, “rear”, “upper” and “lower” in the vehicle 1 and the vehicle body 2 are defined as indicated by arrows in FIG. Further, the front-rear direction shown in FIG. 1 is referred to as “vehicle length direction”, and the left-right direction orthogonal to the front-rear direction is referred to as “vehicle width direction”.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle body 2 includes a vehicle interior 3 that is a space in which an occupant can ride, and includes a front seat 4 and a rear seat 5 in the vehicle interior 3.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the front seat 4 is disposed in the front part of the passenger compartment 3 and includes a driver seat and a passenger seat. The front seat 4 includes a seat surface 6, a seat back 7, and a headrest 8. As shown in FIG. 1, the seat back 7 extends upward from the seat surface 6 and is slightly inclined rearward. The headrest 8 is attached to the upper end portion of the seat back 7.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the rear seat 5 is arranged behind the front seat 4 in the passenger compartment 3 and, like the front seat 4, a seat surface 6, a seat back 7, and a headrest 8. It has. The rear seat 5 has, for example, a substantially rectangular seating surface having a longitudinal direction in the vehicle width direction as the seating surface 6 or a plurality of seating surfaces in a substantially square shape in the vehicle width direction. It is arranged side by side to form a seating surface 6 and is configured such that two or three passengers can be seated. In the former case, one seat back having a substantially rectangular shape whose longitudinal direction is the vehicle width direction constitutes the seat back 7. In the latter case, a plurality of substantially rectangular seatbacks whose longitudinal direction is the vertical direction of the vehicle body 2 are arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction to constitute the seatback 7.

  A seat posture control device 10 is mounted on the vehicle body 2. In the present embodiment, the seat posture control device 10 is a seat (hereinafter referred to as a “specific seat”) in which a passenger is seated among the front seat 4 and the rear seat 5 at the time of collision between the vehicle 1 and an object (not shown). The posture is controlled to reduce the injury value of the occupant.

  The specific seat can be specified by, for example, arranging a pressure sensor (not shown) on the seat surface 6 and detecting an output signal of a predetermined level or more from the pressure sensor. The detection of the specific seat is not limited to the above example, and any method can be adopted.

(Functional configuration of the device)
Hereinafter, the seat posture control device 10 of the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the seat posture control device 10 includes an object detection unit 11, a physical quantity acquisition unit 12, an acceleration sensor 13, a control unit 14, and a posture change unit 15.

  The object detection unit 11 detects an object existing around the vehicle 1 and is disposed at an arbitrary position of the vehicle body 2. For example, when the object detection unit 11 is configured as a so-called stereo camera including two camera sensors, the object detection unit 11 is attached to a front portion of a ceiling portion of the vehicle body 2 that covers the passenger compartment 3. The object detection part 11 should just be set as the structure which can detect the object which exists around the vehicle 1, and is not restricted to said example, Other well-known techniques may be used.

  Here, the “object” is different from the vehicle 1 and includes, for example, a pedestrian, a vehicle such as a two-wheeled vehicle or an automobile, an animal, a fixed obstacle, and the like. The “fixed obstacle” is, for example, a fixed object such as a pillar or a wall.

  The physical quantity acquisition unit 12 acquires a physical quantity relating to the possibility of collision between the vehicle 1 and an object existing around the vehicle 1, particularly a distance, and is disposed at an arbitrary position of the vehicle body 2. The physical quantity acquisition unit 12 is configured to acquire a distance from the object detected by the object detection unit 11 (hereinafter referred to as “detected object”) and the vehicle 1, for example, a millimeter wave radar sensor, a laser radar sensor, A well-known technique such as an ultrasonic sensor is used. For example, when the physical quantity acquisition unit 12 is configured as a millimeter wave radar sensor, the physical quantity acquisition unit 12 is disposed in a front portion of a ceiling portion of the vehicle body 2 that covers the passenger compartment 3.

  Note that more specific configurations and arrangements of the object detection unit 11 and the physical quantity acquisition unit 12 are already known or known at the time of filing of the present application, and thus description thereof is omitted in this specification. In addition, the object detection unit 11 and the physical quantity acquisition unit 12 may be configured separately from each other, or may be configured as a so-called fusion sensor integrated with these. If these are configured as so-called fusion sensors, such a configuration may be referred to as a “preventive sensor”.

  In the present embodiment, the acceleration sensor 13 is attached to each of the front seat 4 and the rear seat 5 and measures acceleration generated in the seat (hereinafter referred to as “seat acceleration”), and any acceleration sensor may be employed. . The acceleration sensor 13 is disposed at any location on the front seat 4 and the rear seat 5. The acceleration sensor 13 measures the acceleration of the seat (seat), and therefore may be referred to as a “seat acceleration sensor”.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 14 includes a collision determination unit 141, an impact determination unit 142, and an output unit 143 in the present embodiment. The control unit 14 is an electronic control unit that controls the operation of the entire seat posture control apparatus 10 and is configured as, for example, a control ECU (abbreviation of Electronic Control Unit) including a CPU, ROM, RAM, and nonvolatile RAM (not shown). The The control unit 14 is electrically connected to the object detection unit 11, the physical quantity acquisition unit 12, and the acceleration sensor 13, and is disposed at an arbitrary location on the vehicle body 2.

  The nonvolatile RAM is, for example, a flash ROM. The CPU, ROM, RAM, and nonvolatile RAM of the control unit 14 are hereinafter simply referred to as “CPU”, “ROM”, “RAM”, and “nonvolatile RAM”.

  The control unit 14 is configured such that various control operations can be realized by the CPU reading and executing the program from the ROM or the nonvolatile RAM. The ROM or nonvolatile RAM of the control unit 14 stores in advance various data used when executing a program that operates based on signals obtained from the object detection unit 11, the physical quantity acquisition unit 12, and the acceleration sensor 13. Has been. In addition to programs corresponding to the collision determination unit 141, the impact determination unit 142, and the output unit 143, various data includes, for example, data related to the seat posture.

  The collision determination unit 141 determines the presence or absence of a collision possibility between the vehicle 1 and the detected object based on the output from the object detection unit 11 and the distance obtained by the physical quantity acquisition unit 12. When the collision determination unit 141 determines that the vehicle 1 and the detected object may collide, a predetermined signal is output to the output unit 143.

  When the collision determination unit 141 determines that the vehicle 1 and the detected object do not collide, the impact determination unit 142 determines whether or not an impact has occurred in the seat based on the seat acceleration acquired from the acceleration sensor 13. Determine whether. When the impact determination unit 142 determines that an impact has occurred in the seat on which the occupant is seated, a predetermined signal is output to the output unit 143.

  The output unit 143 is used when the collision determination unit 141 determines that the vehicle 1 and the detected object may collide, or when the impact determination unit 142 determines that an impact has occurred in the seat on which the occupant is seated. Then, a drive signal for changing the posture of the specific seat is output to the posture changing unit 15. In the above case, the output unit 143 outputs drive signals for the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat to the posture changing unit 15.

  The posture changing unit 15 is configured to move the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat to predetermined positions based on the drive signal of the output unit 143. The posture changing unit 15 includes, for example, a seat posture sensor and a seat motor.

  The seat posture sensor acquires information about the posture of the seat, for example, information about the position of the seating surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat, and any device such as a tilt sensor can be adopted. The seat motor drives the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat based on a drive signal from the output unit 143, and an arbitrary one is adopted.

(Overview of operation)
Hereinafter, the outline of the operation and the effect of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, and 4B.

  In FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 4B, the state before relative acceleration is applied to passengers X and Y, which will be described later, is indicated by broken lines, and the state after relative acceleration is applied to passengers X and Y is indicated by solid lines. In FIG. 4A, the state before the posture control of the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 is indicated by a broken line, and the state after the posture control of the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 is indicated by a solid line. In FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 4B, the auxiliary line for making it easy to understand the distance from the head of the passenger | crew X or Y to a waist | hip | lumbar part is shown with the dashed-dotted line. Further, in FIGS. 3A to 4B, the definitions of “front”, “rear”, “upper”, and “lower” are indicated by arrows as in FIG.

  When the vehicle 1 is in a normal driving situation, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the seat on which the occupant X is seated has the seat surface 6 parallel to the vehicle length direction and the seat back 7 slightly It is supposed to be tilted backward. At this time, the occupant X is restrained by a seat seated by a seat belt (not shown).

  The “normal driving situation” here is determined that the collision determination unit 141 determines that the vehicle 1 does not collide with the detected object, and the impact determination unit 142 determines that an impact has occurred on the seat. It means the driving situation in the absence. This “normal driving situation” includes not only a running state but also a state such as stopping or parking.

  Here, for example, when a vehicle not equipped with the seat posture control device of the present embodiment collides with an object, a load applied to the occupant X is examined.

  When an abnormal relative acceleration occurs in the vehicle due to the collision between the vehicle and the object, as shown in FIG. 3A, the occupant X generates a relative acceleration α in the traveling direction of the vehicle, that is, a forward relative acceleration α. The applied force is applied to the occupant X. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, although the occupant X is restrained in the seat by wearing a seat belt (not shown), the head is not fixed. Rotational torque T1 is generated.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the distance in the vertical direction from the waist of the occupant X to the head (hereinafter simply referred to as “height”) is r1, and the head weight is m, the occupant X Is applied with a rotational torque T1 indicated by a thick arrow. As a result, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 3A, the occupant X looks like the head jumps forward.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the rotational torque T1 is a product of the head weight m, the relative acceleration α, and the height r1, that is, m × α × r1. As the rotational torque T1 increases, the occupant X has a posture in which the head protrudes forward, that is, a posture in which the injury value increases. For example, the occupant X may be injured due to contact with the headrest 8 of the front seat 4, or when the airbag is mounted on the front, injury due to contact with the activated airbag.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the occupant Y is seated on the front seat 4 and the occupant X is seated on the rear seat 5, and the occupant X and the occupant Y are facing each other, The injury value is higher. Such a situation may occur, for example, when the vehicle is traveling by a so-called automatic driving system regardless of the driver's operation.

  When an abnormal relative acceleration occurs in the vehicle in such a seating situation, as shown in FIG. 3B, the occupant X seated in the rear seat 5 can move forward relative acceleration as described above. α is applied, a rotational torque T1 is generated, and the head protrudes forward.

  On the other hand, the occupant Y seated in the front seat 4 receives a forward relative acceleration α, and the occupant Y hits the seat back 7 of the front seat 4. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3B, the occupant Y generates a relative acceleration β in the rearward direction due to the recoil of the occupant Y that hits the seat back 7 of the front seat 4. At this time, if the head of the occupant Y is m and the height of the occupant Y is r2, the occupant Y has a posture in which the head protrudes backward by the action of the rotational torque T2. As shown in FIG. 3B, the rotational torque T2 is a product of the head weight m, the relative acceleration β, and the height r2, that is, m × β × r2.

  As a result, the head of the occupant X and the head of the occupant Y come close to each other, and the occupants X and Y may come into contact with each other to cause injury.

  Therefore, in order to prevent the injury of the passengers X and Y as described above, the seat posture control device 10 of the present embodiment is configured to execute the seat posture control shown in FIG. 4A.

  Hereinafter, for simplification of description, a state in which the seat is oriented like the rear seat 5 shown in FIG. 3B is referred to as “frontward”, and a state like the front seat 4 shown in FIG. This is referred to as “backward”.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the postures of the seat 6 and the seat back 7 are changed by the posture control (hereinafter simply referred to as “posture control”) of the seat on which the occupant is seated.

  When the posture of the seat surface 6 is controlled, as shown by a thick arrow in FIG. 4A, the end 6a opposite to the seat back 7 is lifted upward by a seat motor or the like (not shown). This is to prevent a submarine phenomenon in which the occupant slides down from the seat and sinks under another seat in accordance with the posture control of the seat back 7 described later, and reduces the injury value of the occupant. In addition, as for the seat surface 6, the edge part 6a is lifted upward as mentioned above, regardless of whether the seat is in the forward-facing state or the backward-facing state.

  When the posture control is performed, the seat back 7 falls down together with the headrest 8 further rearward by a seat motor (not shown) as shown by a thick arrow in FIG. 4A. This is because, as shown in FIG. 4B, the effect of the rotational torque applied to the occupant X is reduced by relatively reducing the distance in the vertical direction between the head and the waist of the occupant X seated. .

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the height of the occupant X sitting on the seat after the posture control is r3, the rotational torque T3 applied to the occupant X in this state is m × α × r3. This height r3 is relatively smaller than the height r1 of the occupant X sitting on the seat before posture control because the seat back 7 is tilted backward. Therefore, the rotational torque T3 applied to the occupant X in a state where the posture control is performed is smaller than the rotational torque T1 applied to the occupant X in a state where the posture control is not performed. In other words, the degree of the occupant X jumping forward is reduced by the seat posture control, and consequently the injury value of the occupant X is reduced.

  As described above, the seat back 7 falls down in a direction in which the action of the rotational torque applied to the seated occupant is reduced, that is, in a direction opposite to the occupant, by posture control. Specifically, when the posture control is performed, the seat back 7 falls toward the opposite side of the occupant, that is, rearward when in the forward state, and is opposite to the occupant when in the rearward state. Fall down to the side, that is, forward. In other words, regardless of whether the seatback 7 is in a forward-facing state or a backward-facing state, the seatback 7 falls down toward the opposite side of the occupant seated in the seat (the opposite side of the seating surface 6).

  Since this posture control is performed independently for each specific seat, whether the occupant is seated with all of them facing forward or the occupants are facing each other, The injury value can be reduced.

  The data corresponding to the positions after the posture control of the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 are stored in advance in the ROM of the control unit 14, for example, and read by the CPU when the posture control is executed.

(Example of processing operation)
Next, a specific processing operation example according to the configuration of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The CPU of the control unit 14 repeatedly activates the seat posture control routine shown in FIG. 5 every predetermined time (for example, 0.5 msec).

  When the seat posture control routine is activated, the CPU first determines whether or not an object is detected by the object detection unit 11 in step S510. If it is determined that no object has been detected, that is, if NO in step S510, the CPU once ends the seat posture control routine.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that an object has been detected, that is, if YES in step S510, the CPU advances the process to step S520. Subsequently, in step S520, the CPU acquires distance data of the detected object from the vehicle 1 from the physical quantity acquisition unit 12, and stores the data in the nonvolatile RAM while associating with the detected object. Thereafter, the CPU proceeds with the process to step S530.

  In step S530, the CPU reads the detected object and distance data stored in the nonvolatile RAM by executing step S520, and determines whether or not there is a possibility that the vehicle 1 and the detected object collide.

  In addition, about determination of the possibility of collision, you may acquire data (for example, vehicle speed etc.) other than the data mentioned above using other sensors etc. which are not illustrated, and may use the data for determination. Since a known method can be employed for the collision possibility determination process, detailed description thereof is omitted in this specification.

  If it is determined that the vehicle 1 and the detected object may collide, that is, if YES in step S530, the CPU advances the process to step S540. Subsequently, in step S540, the CPU outputs a drive signal for setting the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat to the predetermined positions described in the above operation outline. This is an instruction for the attitude control of the specific seat by the output unit 143. Based on this drive signal, the seat motor sets the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat to predetermined positions, and changes the posture of the specific seat. This is the posture change of the specific seat by the posture changing unit 15. When the process of step S540 ends, the CPU once ends the seat posture control routine.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no possibility that the vehicle 1 and the detected object collide, that is, if NO in step S530, the CPU advances the process to step S550. Subsequently, in step S550, it is determined whether or not an impact has occurred in the specific seat.

  If it is determined that no impact has occurred on the specific seat, that is, if NO in step S550, the CPU once ends the seat posture control routine.

  If it is determined that an impact has occurred in the specific seat, that is, if YES in step S550, the CPU advances the process to step S560. In step S560, the CPU outputs drive signals for seat surface 6 and seat back 7 of the specific seat. Thereby, the posture of the specific seat is changed so that the load due to the relative acceleration applied to the occupant can be reduced and the injury value can be reduced. When the process of step S560 ends, the CPU once ends the seat posture control routine. According to the seat posture control apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, when it is determined that there is a possibility of collision between the vehicle 1 and the detected object when the vehicle 1 collides with an object, the occupant is seated before the collision. The position of the specific seat can be changed so that the passenger has a safe posture. Even if it is not possible to determine that there is a possibility of collision before the vehicle 1 collides with an object, the posture of the specific seat on which the occupant is seated is changed in the same manner as described above. be able to.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when it is determined that there is a possibility of a collision, the seat posture control device 10 executes the seat control A and determines that an impact has occurred on the seat. The seat control B is executed. In any case, the rotational torque due to the relative acceleration applied to the occupant, that is, the seat posture that reduces the load and the seat posture that prevents the submarine phenomenon, the occupant posture can be a safe posture. And the injury value can be reduced. Further, in the seat posture control when it is determined that an impact has occurred, an effect of reducing an injury value by suppressing an abnormal change in acceleration applied to the occupant is expected.

  In addition, since the seat posture control is performed independently for each of the front seat 4 and the rear seat 5, it is possible to reduce the injury value of the occupant at the time of the collision between the vehicle 1 and the object, regardless of which seat the occupant is seated. realizable. In particular, when an occupant seated in the front seat 4 and an occupant seated in the rear seat 5 face each other, contact between the occupants can be prevented, and the injury value of each occupant can be reduced. Can do.

(Modification 1)
Next, Modification 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 shows only a part of the operation example of the seat posture control device 20 of the present modified example including the difference from the above embodiment in order to make the difference from the above embodiment easy to understand.

  As illustrated in FIG. 6, the seat posture control apparatus 20 according to the first modification further includes an occupant posture detection unit 16 and performs posture control of a specific seat based on the occupant posture obtained by the occupant posture detection unit 16. This is different from the above-described embodiment. In the present modification, this difference will be mainly described.

  The occupant posture detection unit 16 detects the posture of the occupant seated on the seat of the vehicle 1, and for example, a camera that images the interior of the passenger compartment 3 may be employed. For example, when the occupant posture detection unit 16 is a camera, the occupant posture detection unit 16 includes an image sensor such as a CCD (abbreviation of charge coupled device) sensor or a CMOS (abbreviation of complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor, and generates and outputs image data. It is supposed to be configured.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of occupant posture detection units 16 are arranged in the passenger compartment 3. Specifically, the occupant posture detection unit 16 is, for example, a central portion in the vehicle width direction of the passenger compartment 3 and is disposed at each of a front portion and a rear portion in the vehicle length direction, and the former moves the front seat 4 side. The first visual field region including the rear seat 5 is imaged in the second visual field region including the rear seat 5. Thereby, the passenger | crew attitude | position detection part 16 can image the passenger | crew of the front seat 4 and the rear seat 5, and can detect a passenger | crew's attitude | position.

  When the occupant posture detection unit 16 is configured by a camera, it can be referred to as a “vehicle interior camera”. The occupant posture detection unit 16 only needs to be able to detect the posture of the occupant, and the arrangement and number thereof are arbitrary, and are not limited to the above example.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the seat posture control device 20 determines the occupant posture obtained by the occupant posture detection unit 16 when the collision determination unit 141 determines that the vehicle 1 may collide with the detected object. In addition, the drive signal is output from the output unit 143.

  Specifically, in the seat posture control apparatus 20, as shown in FIG. 8, in the case of YES in step S530 of the above embodiment, step S810 is performed before proceeding to the posture control processing in step S820.

  In step S810, the CPU acquires data related to the occupant posture sitting on the seat from the occupant posture detection unit 16, and stores the data in the nonvolatile RAM while associating it with the seated seat.

  Subsequently, in step S820, in the present modification, the CPU uses the data relating to the occupant posture as an objective variable, and changes the posture of the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat so that the objective variable becomes a predetermined value. The drive signal to be changed is output. That is, step S820 is the same process as step S540 in FIG. 5 except for the point that takes into account the data obtained from the occupant posture detection unit 16.

  As a result, the posture changing unit 15 controls the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 of the specific seat to be in a predetermined position. In other words, in this modification, after specifying the occupant's posture, the seat surface 6 of the specific seat on which the occupant is seated and the seat back 7 are set to a predetermined posture, so that the occupant's posture is changed to the injury value. It is comprised so that it may control to the attitude | position which becomes low.

  On the other hand, if YES in step S550, the CPU advances the process to step S830. In step S830, the CPU executes the same process as in step S810 described above. Thereafter, in step S840, the CPU reads the data related to the posture of the occupant acquired in step S830, outputs a seat driving signal taking this into account, and executes the posture control of the specific seat.

  The seat posture control device 20 of the present modified example specifies the posture of the occupant seated in the specific seat in addition to the posture of the specific seat before execution of posture control, and then the posture of the occupant is a predetermined posture. Thus, the posture control of the specific seat is performed. That is, in the above embodiment, the posture control of the specific seat is mainly performed based on the posture of the specific seat, but according to the present modification, the posture control of the specific seat is performed after taking the posture of the occupant into consideration. In addition, the seat posture control device is more effective in reducing the injury value of the occupant.

(Modification 2)
Next, Modification 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the seat posture control device according to the second modification is employed in a vehicle 1 including a seat table 9 in a seat, and further includes a seat table driving unit 17. In the seat posture control apparatus of this modification, the CPU further drives and stores the seat table 9 in addition to the posture control of the specific seat in the seat control A in step S530 and the seat control B in step S560 shown in FIG. A drive signal for output is output. The seat posture control device of the present modification is different from the above embodiment in the above points. In the present modification, this difference will be mainly described.

  The seat table 9 is disposed, for example, in the left-right direction of the seat and on the center side in the vehicle width direction. The sheet table 9 is driven by a sheet table driving unit 17.

  The seat table driving unit 17 drives the seat table 9 at least during posture control of the specific seat, and an arbitrary motor or the like can be adopted.

  When the occupant is seated in a seat provided with the seat table 9 and the relative acceleration occurs in the occupant due to a collision between the vehicle 1 and an object, the occupant may come into contact with the seat table 9 and cause injury. In view of this, the seat posture control device of the present modification, when performing the posture control of the specific seat, causes the seat table drive unit 17 to move the seat table 9 before or simultaneously with the posture control of the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7. It is set as the structure which performs the control to accommodate.

  Thereby, when the posture control of a specific seat is executed, the seat table 9 of the specific seat is driven and stored together with the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7, and control is performed so that the injury value of the occupant does not increase. Become.

  According to this modification, when an occupant is seated in a seat provided with the seat table 9, the seat table 9 is also driven and stored when the posture control of the seat is executed. It becomes an attitude control device. As a result, in addition to the effects of the above-described embodiment, the seat posture control device can be obtained which has an effect of preventing an increase in the injury value of the occupant due to the seat table 9 during the seat posture control.

(Modification 3)
Next, Modification 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. FIG. 13 shows a part of the operation example of the seat posture control device according to the present modified example including a portion different from the above-described embodiment shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the seat posture control device according to the modified example 3 includes a seat belt drive unit 18 that winds up a seat belt (broken line portion in FIG. 10) worn by a passenger. In the seat posture control apparatus of the present modification, in addition to the posture control of the specific seat, the CPU further outputs a drive signal for driving the seat belt driving unit 18 in the seat control A of step S530 shown in FIG. . The seat posture control device of the present modification is different from the above embodiment in these respects. In the present modification, this difference will be mainly described.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the seat posture control device of the present modification operates the seat belt drive unit 18 before restraint of the occupant to the specific seat when performing the posture control of the specific seat. Is configured to do. Specifically, in the present modification, as shown in FIG. 11, if YES in step S530, the process of step S1110 is executed before seat control A.

  In step S1110, the CPU outputs a driving signal of the seat belt driving unit 18 in order to wind up the seat belt and restrain the occupant to the seat. Thereafter, the CPU proceeds with the process to step S540.

  According to this modification, before performing the posture control of the specific seat, the occupant is restrained to the specific seat in advance, and the posture control of the characteristic seat is performed after the occupant is in the same state as the posture of the specific seat. Therefore, in this modification, it becomes easy to control the occupant to the same posture as the specific seat, and an effect of further reducing the injury value of the occupant is expected compared to the above embodiment.

(Modification 4)
Next, the modification 4 is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 12, FIG. FIG. 13 shows a part of the operation example of the seat posture control device 30 according to the present modified example including a portion different from the operation example of the above-described embodiment shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the seat posture control device 30 according to the modified example 4 includes the second acceleration sensor 19 and an occupant acceleration estimation unit 144, with the acceleration sensor 13 of the above embodiment as a “first acceleration sensor”. This is different from the above embodiment. In the present modification, this difference will be mainly described.

  The second acceleration sensor 19 measures the acceleration of the vehicle 1 (hereinafter referred to as “vehicle acceleration”), and is disposed at an arbitrary position of the vehicle body 2. The vehicle acceleration obtained by the second acceleration sensor 19 is stored in, for example, a non-volatile RAM, and is mainly used by an occupant acceleration estimation unit 144 described later. The second acceleration sensor 19 may be referred to as a “vehicle acceleration sensor” or a “vehicle acceleration sensor”.

  The occupant acceleration estimation unit 144 estimates a relative acceleration applied to the occupant (hereinafter referred to as “occupant acceleration”) when an abnormal vehicle acceleration occurs based on the vehicle acceleration obtained by the second acceleration sensor 19. It is incorporated as a part of the control unit 14. A program corresponding to the occupant acceleration estimation unit 144 is stored in advance in a ROM, for example.

  In the seat posture control device 30, as shown in FIG. 13, in the case of YES in step S550, the CPU advances the process to step S1310 and estimates the occupant acceleration before executing the seat control B in step S1320.

  The occupant acceleration estimated in step S1310 is stored in, for example, a nonvolatile RAM, and is used for determining the positions of the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 in the seat control B in step S1320. In this modification, for example, the occupant acceleration and the position data of the seating surface 6 and the seat back 7 that reduce the occupant acceleration are stored in the ROM in association with each other.

  In step S1320, based on the estimated occupant acceleration, the CPU reads and executes the position where the occupant acceleration is reduced from the ROM on the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7, and executes the driving signals for the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7. Is output.

  According to the present modification, the occupant acceleration is estimated based on the vehicle acceleration before the seat acceleration is detected, and the seat attitude control apparatus is configured to execute the seat attitude control using the estimated occupant acceleration. That is, the seat posture control can be executed at a timing earlier than the seat posture control based on the seat acceleration, and therefore the seat posture control can be performed with a time margin without increasing the responsiveness of the posture changing unit 15 to the drive signal. It becomes a device.

(Modification 5)
Next, Modification 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. FIG. 15 shows seat control corresponding to the seat control B shown in FIG. 13, and shows an operation example in this modification.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the seat posture control device 40 according to the modification 5 is configured by further adding a seat posture estimation unit 145 and a correction unit 146 to the seat posture control device 30 according to the modification 4. .

  The seat posture estimation unit 145 is a part of the control unit 14, and after the output of the drive signal by the output unit 143, based on the difference between the seat acceleration by the first acceleration sensor 13 and the vehicle acceleration by the second acceleration sensor 19, A change in seat posture, that is, a seat posture during control is estimated. A program corresponding to the seat posture estimation unit 145 is stored in, for example, a ROM.

  The correction unit 146 is a part of the control unit 14, and calculates a difference between the seat posture (position) estimated by the seat posture estimation unit 145 and the seat posture (position) after the control by the posture change unit 15. Based on this, the drive signal of the output unit 143 is corrected as necessary. A program corresponding to the correction unit 146 is stored in, for example, a ROM.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 15, in the seat control B in the present modification, in step S1510, the CPU determines the control amount such as the position of the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 and the driving force. Subsequently, the CPU proceeds with the process to step S1520, and outputs drive signals for the seating surface 6 and the seat back 7. Thereafter, in step S1530, the posture changing unit 15 drives the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7, and the seat posture estimating unit 145 estimates the seat posture before the control is completed. Then, the CPU proceeds with the process to step S1540.

  In step S1540, the CPU determines whether or not the difference between the estimated seat posture and the post-control seat posture is greater than a predetermined value. In the case of NO in step S1540, the CPU ends the seat control B process after driving the seat surface 6 and the seat back 7 without operating the correction unit 146.

  On the other hand, if YES in step S1540, in step S1550, the CPU determines the correction amount of the drive signal of output unit 143 by correction unit 146. Then, the CPU advances the process to step S1510 again, and re-determines the seat position and control amount. Thereafter, the CPU proceeds with the process to step S1520 and repeats the same process as described above.

  That is, the seat posture control device 40 of the present modification is configured to estimate the seat posture by the seat posture estimation unit 145 and perform feedback by the correction unit 146 as necessary.

  Note that the predetermined value in step S1540 is arbitrary. In addition, a known method can be adopted for determining the correction amount of the drive signal, and is not limited to the above method.

  According to the present modified example, the seat posture during posture control is estimated, and the correction is performed as necessary. Therefore, the accuracy of the seat posture control device according to the modified example 4 can be further increased.

(Modification 6)
Next, Modification 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the seat posture control apparatus 50 according to the modified example 6 is different from the above-described embodiment in that it includes an occupant posture detection unit 16 and a posture determination unit 147. In the present modification, this difference will be mainly described.

  The posture determination unit 147 is a part of the control unit 14 and determines whether or not the posture of the occupant detected by the occupant posture detection unit 16 is a dangerous posture when the posture control of the seat is executed. A program corresponding to the posture determination unit 147 is stored in, for example, a ROM. The determination about the dangerous posture is performed, for example, by storing data corresponding to the dangerous posture in the ROM and collating the detected posture data with the dangerous posture data.

  The `` dangerous posture '' here refers to, for example, a posture in which the occupant leans out without sitting on the seat or a posture in which the occupant is seated on the child seat, etc. On the contrary, it means an attitude that can increase the injury value of the occupant.

  In this modification, as shown in FIG. 17, the position of the occupant is detected before the seat control A and the seat control B are executed, and whether or not the detected position of the occupant is a dangerous posture. If the posture is dangerous, the seat control A or B is not executed. That is, in addition to the processing of the seat posture control device 20 of the first modification, the seat posture control device 50 further determines whether or not the posture is dangerous, and determines that the posture is dangerous. In such a case, the seat control A or B processing is skipped.

  Specifically, in this modified example, as shown in FIG. 17, when it is determined in step S530 that the vehicle 1 and the detected object may collide, as in modified example 1, step S810 is performed. The occupant posture detection unit 16 acquires data relating to the occupant posture. Thereafter, the CPU proceeds with the process to step S1710 to determine whether or not the occupant's posture acquired in step S810 is a dangerous posture.

  If it is determined in step S1710 that the posture is not dangerous, that is, if NO in step S1710, the CPU advances the process to step S540 and executes seat control A. Thereafter, the CPU once ends the seat posture control routine.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1710 that the posture is dangerous, that is, if YES in step S1710, the CPU skips step S540 and ends the seat posture control routine once.

  Further, in this modified example, as shown in FIG. 17, when it is determined in step S550 that an impact has occurred in the seat, the process of step S830 is executed and the occupant posture detecting unit is performed as in modified example 1 described above. 16 obtains data relating to the posture of the occupant. Thereafter, the CPU advances the process to step S1720 to determine whether or not the occupant's posture acquired in step S830 is a dangerous posture.

  If it is determined in step S1720 that the posture is not dangerous, that is, if NO in step S1720, the CPU advances the process to step S840 and executes seat control B. Thereafter, the CPU once ends the seat posture control routine.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1720 that the posture is dangerous, that is, if YES in step S1720, the CPU skips step S540 and ends the seat posture control routine once.

  According to this modification, when the posture of the occupant is detected and the seat posture control is performed, the seat posture control is not performed when the injury value of the occupant can be increased. Is done. Therefore, the seat posture control device can prevent an increase in injury value due to the seat posture control.

(Other embodiments)
The seat posture control device shown in the above-described embodiment is an example of the seat posture control device of the present invention, and is not limited to each of the above-described embodiments, and is described in the claims. Changes can be made as appropriate within the range.

  (1) For example, in the second modification, the case where a seat table 9 is provided in a specific seat on which an occupant is seated has been described. It may be provided on the back side. In this case, when the front seat 4 is not arranged to face the rear seat 5 where the posture control is executed, for example, the control is performed such that the seat table 9 is stored with the execution of the posture control of the rear seat 5. That's fine.

  (2) The above-described embodiment and each modification may be freely combined except for those that are clearly impossible to combine.

6 Seat surface 7 Seat back 11 Object detection unit 12 Physical quantity acquisition unit 13 Acceleration sensor 14 Control unit 141 Collision determination unit 142 Impact determination unit 143 Output unit 15 Posture change unit

Claims (8)

When the vehicle (1) collides with an object, the seat posture control device is configured to relieve a load applied to an occupant seated on the seat (4, 5) of the vehicle,
An object detection unit (11) for detecting objects around the vehicle;
A physical quantity acquisition unit (12) for acquiring a physical quantity related to the possibility of collision of the object with the vehicle;
A collision determination unit (141) for determining the possibility of collision between the object and the vehicle based on the physical quantity acquired by the physical quantity acquisition unit;
When the collision determination unit determines that the vehicle and the object collide, before the collision between the vehicle and the object, a drive signal for changing the posture of the seat on which an occupant is seated among the seats An output unit (143) for outputting;
Based on a drive signal from the output unit, a posture changing unit (15) for changing the posture of the seat by operating the seat surface (6) and the seat back (7) of the seat on which the occupant is seated. And comprising
The posture changing unit is a seat posture control device that tilts the seat back to the side opposite to the occupant and lifts an end (6a) of the seating surface opposite to the seat back.   When the collision determination unit determines that the vehicle and the object collide, before the collision between the vehicle and the object, the seat belt worn by the occupant is wound up and the occupant is seated The seat posture control device according to claim 1, further comprising a seat belt driving unit (18) restraining the seat. An acceleration sensor (13) for measuring a seat acceleration which is an acceleration applied to the seat on which the occupant is seated when the vehicle and the object collide;
An impact determination unit (142) for determining whether an impact has occurred in the seat based on the seat acceleration;
The output unit outputs the drive signal when the impact determination unit determines that an impact has occurred in the seat when the collision determination unit determines that the vehicle and the object do not collide. The seat posture control apparatus according to 1. A second acceleration sensor (19) for measuring a vehicle acceleration, which is an acceleration of the vehicle when the vehicle and the object collide, using the acceleration sensor as a first acceleration sensor;
An occupant acceleration estimation unit (144) for estimating an acceleration applied to the occupant seated on the seat based on the vehicle acceleration;
The seat position control device according to claim 3, wherein the output unit outputs the drive signal based on the occupant acceleration before outputting the drive signal based on the seat acceleration. A seat posture estimation unit (145) for estimating the posture of the seat in operation by the output unit;
A correction unit (146) for correcting the driving signal by the output unit based on the posture of the seat obtained by the seat posture estimation unit;
The seat posture control device according to claim 4, wherein the seat posture estimation unit estimates the posture of the seat based on a difference between the seat acceleration and the vehicle acceleration. A seat table (9) provided in the seat;
A sheet table drive unit (17) for driving the sheet table;
The output unit also outputs a drive signal for driving the sheet table,
The seat posture control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the seat table driving unit operates earlier than the posture changing unit. An occupant posture detection unit (16) for detecting the posture of the occupant,
The seat output control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the output unit outputs the drive signal based on an occupant posture obtained by the occupant posture detection unit. A posture determination unit (147) for determining whether the posture of the passenger detected by the passenger posture detection unit is a posture in which the injury value of the passenger increases when the posture change unit changes the posture of the seat; Have
When the posture determination unit determines that the posture of the occupant increases the injury value of the occupant, the output unit outputs the drive signal of the seat on which the occupant is seated in a posture where the injury value increases. The seat posture control device according to claim 7 which is not.

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