JP2020164028A - Air bag device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an air bag device that can further efficiently absorb impact when a pedestrian or the like collides with a vehicle.SOLUTION: An air bag device E includes a tubular front airbag 100 deployed forward from a vehicle. The front airbag 100 includes: both end parts including a left end part 100L and a right end part 100R and connected to the vehicle; and an intermediate part 100C positioned between the left end part 100L and the right end part 100R and deployed forward of the vehicle as compared to both end parts. The intermediate part 100C has a height equal to or lower than a top face of an engine hood 3 relative to a vertical direction of the vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to an airbag device deployed on the front side of a vehicle, and more particularly to an airbag device for protecting a pedestrian or a occupant of a two-wheeled vehicle (hereinafter referred to as "pedestrian or the like").

Conventionally, when a pedestrian or the like collides with a vehicle, the airbag is deployed and expanded on the front side of the front pillar of the vehicle (see, for example, Patent Document 1), or the airbag is deployed on the front side of the bumper. There are known airbag devices that protect pedestrians and the like by causing them to inflate (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-235007 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-229014

However, in an airbag device that protects a pedestrian or the like, the pedestrian or the like is generally more susceptible to a larger impact than an occupant in the vehicle, so that the shock absorption when the pedestrian or the like collides with the vehicle Was desired to be performed more efficiently.

In particular, when a two-wheeled vehicle occupant collides with a vehicle, the position of the center of gravity of the two-wheeled vehicle occupant is high and the relative speed between the two-wheeled vehicle and the vehicle is also high. , The flight distance becomes long, and the collision mode becomes irregular. As described above, in the airbag device deployed on the front side of the vehicle, it is required to reduce the injury of pedestrians and the like in consideration of the collision mode of not only pedestrians but also occupants of motorcycles.

The present invention solves the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an airbag device capable of more efficiently absorbing shock when a pedestrian or the like collides with a vehicle.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is an airbag device including an airbag that expands and expands outside the vehicle and an inflator that supplies an expansion gas that expands the airbag, and deploys the airbag in front of the vehicle. The front airbag is provided with a tubular front airbag in which both ends of the front airbag are connected to the vehicle and the middle portion between one end and the other end is more than the both ends of the vehicle. The intermediate portion is developed in front of the vehicle, and is characterized in that the intermediate portion is equal to or lower than the height of the upper surface of the bonnet in the vertical direction of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, in an airbag device that protects a pedestrian or the like, it is possible to more efficiently absorb the impact when the pedestrian or the like collides with a vehicle.

It is a perspective view of the vehicle provided with the airbag device of this invention. It is a perspective view of the vehicle when the front airbag of the airbag device of this invention is deployed. It is a block diagram of the control system of the airbag device of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control process of the airbag device of this invention. It is a top view of the vehicle when the front airbag of the airbag device of this invention is deployed. It is a schematic diagram when the front airbag of the airbag device of this invention collides with a protected person. It is a side view of the vehicle provided with the airbag device of a modification.

The present invention is an airbag device deployed on the front side of a vehicle, and is an airbag device for reducing injuries to a pedestrian or the like who is a protected person who protects a collision with a vehicle.
Hereinafter, the airbag device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle 1 provided with an airbag device E, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vehicle 1 when the front airbag of the airbag device E is deployed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vehicle 1 provided with the airbag device E has a front bumper 2 at the front end of the vehicle 1, a bonnet 3 above and behind the front bumper 2, and a lateral side of the bonnet 3. The front fender 4, the windshield 5 on the rear side of the bonnet 3, the front pillars 6 on both sides of the windshield 5, the roof 7 on the ceiling of the vehicle 1, the side doors 8 on the side of the vehicle 1, and above the side doors 8. The side mirror 9 and the like are configured as an external structure.

Further, above the front bumper 2, a front grill 10 for taking in air inside the bonnet 3 and a decorative emblem 11 are provided.

An airbag device E is provided inside (rear side) of the front bumper 2, and the front airbag 100 is folded and stored. The airbag device E may be provided inside the front grill 10 (rear side) instead of inside the front bumper 2.

The airbag device E includes a front airbag 100 made of a base cloth of a synthetic fiber cloth such as nylon, and an inflator 130 that supplies expansion gas to the inside of the front airbag 100.

Further, when the airbag device E detects in advance that the protected person collides with the vehicle 1, the airbag device E operates an inflator to supply expansion gas to the inside of the front airbag 100 to inflate the front airbag 100. .. At this time, the front bumper 2 is removed due to the pressure of the expanded front airbag 100.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the front airbag 100 in the airbag device E expands from the front bumper 2 to the front side of the vehicle 1 and expands.

The front airbag 100 is formed in a tubular shape, and is connected to both ends of the left end portion 100L and the right end portion 100R on the front side and the lower side of the vehicle.

Further, in the front airbag 100, the intermediate portion 100C between the left end portion 100L and the right end portion 100R is deployed in front of the vehicle from both ends, and the intermediate portion 100C is the bonnet 3 in the vertical direction of the vehicle. It is developed so that it is equal to or less than the height of the upper surface of.

The intermediate portion 100C has three string-shaped adjustment tethers 101 (left adjustment tether 101L, middle adjustment tether 101C, right adjustment tether 101R) connected to the vehicle 1, and is intermediated by the adjustment tether 101. The shape of the portion 100C can be deformed. Further, the adjustment tether 101 connects the vehicle 1 and the intermediate portion 101C so as to be substantially horizontal to the deployment direction of the front airbag 100.
In the present embodiment, the adjustment tether 101 is composed of three, but it may be composed of four or more, or two or less (including one).

Next, the control of the airbag device E will be described with reference to the block diagram of the control system of the airbag device E of FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control system of the airbag device E.

The airbag device E includes a collision detection unit 110, a control unit 120, an inflator 130, and a tether adjustment device 140, and the control unit 120 includes a collision detection unit 110, a control unit 120, an inflator 130, and a tether adjustment device 140. Is connected to.

The collision detection unit 110 emits an image pickup device 111 such as a camera that captures the external environment and surrounding conditions of the vehicle 1 and emits ultrasonic waves or radio waves, and acquires the external environment in front of the vehicle 1 according to the presence or absence of reflected waves. It is composed of a radar 112 and a radar 112.

The control unit 120 is composed of a processor, a memory, a storage, and the like (not shown), and controls various components included in the airbag device E in an integrated manner to realize various functions of the airbag device E. Execute the process. The processor calls the program in the present embodiment from the storage, expands it into the memory, and executes these in a predetermined order to execute the control process of the airbag device E according to the collision mode.

Specifically, the control unit 120 acquires external environment information from the image pickup device 111 and the radar 112, determines in advance that the protected person collides with the vehicle 1, and adjusts the tether according to the collision form. The 140 is operated and the inflator 130 is operated. Further, the control unit 120 has a collision form determination unit 121, and the collision form determination unit 121 acquires external environment information from the image pickup device 111 and the radar 112, and protects a cyclist who passes in front of the vehicle 1. The target person can be identified and the collision form of the protected person can be determined.

The inflator 130 is a device that burns a chemical to generate gas and supplies the generated gas to the inside of the front airbag 100 as an expansion gas.

The tether adjusting device 140 is a device for cutting the adjusting tether 101 connected to the intermediate portion 100C of the front airbag 100 and adjusting the length by winding the string-shaped adjusting tether 101.

Next, the control process of the airbag device E performed by the control unit 120 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control process of the airbag device E.

As shown in FIG. 4, in step S10, the control unit 120 acquires external environment information from the image pickup device 111 and the radar 112.

In step S20, the control unit 120 determines in advance whether or not the vehicle 1 collides with the protected person based on the acquired external environment information. When the control unit 120 determines that the vehicle 1 collides with the protected person, the process proceeds to step S30, and when it is determined that the vehicle 1 does not collide with the protected person, the control unit 120 ends this process.
Specifically, it is determined in advance whether or not the vehicle 1 collides with the protected person from the distance between the vehicle 1 and the protected person and the relative speed between the vehicle 1 and the protected person.

In step S30, the control unit 120 (collision form determination unit 121) performs a collision form determination process for determining the collision form of the protected person based on the acquired external environment information.
Specifically, the type of protected person (height, pedestrian, cyclist, etc.) that may collide with the vehicle 1 is specified, and the collision point (front part, left) of the specified protected person with the vehicle 1 is specified. Identify the front part, right front part, side part, etc.).

In step S40, the control unit 120 performs a determination process of determining which of the three adjustment tethers 101 to adjust according to the collision mode of the protected person determined in step S30. ..
For example, when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is "a pedestrian collides with the right front portion", the right adjustment tether 101R is left as it is, and the middle adjustment tether 101C and the left adjustment tether 101L are cut or length-adjusted. The adjustment tether 101 of the middle adjustment tether 101C and the left adjustment tether 101L is determined.

In step S50, the control unit 120 performs a tether control process on the adjustment tether 101 determined in step S40 to operate the tether adjustment device 140 to cut the adjustment tether 101 or adjust the length. ..

In step S60, the control unit 120 performs an inflator control process for operating the inflator 130 in order to inflate the front airbag 100.

Based on the control process of the airbag device E described above, it will be described that the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 100C) can be deformed in shape according to the collision mode. FIG. 5 is a top view of the vehicle when the front airbag 100 of the airbag device E of the present invention is deployed.

FIG. 5A is a top view of the vehicle when the front airbag 100 is deployed when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is “a pedestrian collides with the front portion”.
FIG. 5B is a top view of the vehicle when the front airbag 100 is deployed when the collision mode of the protected person is determined to be "a cyclist collides with the front portion".
FIG. 5C is a top view of the vehicle when the front airbag 100 is deployed when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is “a pedestrian collides with the right front portion”.

As shown in FIG. 5A, when it is determined that the collision form of the protected person "a pedestrian collides with the front portion", the left adjustment tether 101L, the middle adjustment tether 101C, and the right adjustment tether 101R are adjusted respectively. The tether 101 is connected to the vehicle 1. Therefore, the intermediate portion 100C has an arcuate shape when viewed from above.
As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 100C) colliding with a pedestrian colliding with the front portion of the vehicle 1.

As shown in FIG. 5B, when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is "a cyclist collides with the front portion", the long-adjusted medium adjustment tether 101C is connected to the vehicle 1 and the left adjustment tether 101L is connected. And the right adjustment tether 101R is disconnected. Therefore, the intermediate portion 100C has a triangular shape when viewed from above.
As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 100C) colliding with the cyclist colliding with the front portion of the vehicle 1 while increasing the distance to the bonnet 3.

As shown in FIG. 5C, when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is "a pedestrian collides with the right front portion", the right adjustment tether 101R is connected to the vehicle 1, and the left adjustment tether 101L and the middle The adjustment tether 101C is disconnected. Therefore, the intermediate portion 100C forms an arc-shaped shape to the right in the top view.
As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 100C) colliding with the pedestrian colliding with the right front portion of the vehicle 1.

Next, the transition of the state when the front airbag 100 of the airbag device E of the present invention collides with the protected person will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic view when the front airbag 100 of the airbag device E collides with the protected person.

As shown in FIG. 6A, when the airbag device E detects in advance that the protected person collides with the vehicle 1, it operates the inflator 130 to supply the expansion gas to the inside of the front airbag 100. Then, the front airbag 100 is inflated.

Further, the front airbag 100 is deployed at a height below the height of the upper surface of the bonnet 3 and below the knee of the person to be protected with respect to the vertical direction of the vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the front airbag 100 abuts below the knee of the protected person to pay the protected person and causes the protected person to fall toward the bonnet 3.

Here, the bonnet 3 is configured to have a relatively low rigidity as compared with the front pillar 6 and the like in the external structure of the vehicle 1, and it is possible to reduce the injury of the person to be protected.

Furthermore, due to the role of the front airbag 100 as a foot sweep, even if the occupant of the two-wheeled vehicle whose flight direction is not stable at the time of collision with the vehicle 1 is the protection target person, the collision mode with the protection target person. Can be guided to a collision mode in which the motorcycle is tilted toward the bonnet 3, and impact absorption can be facilitated by a uniform collision mode assumed in advance.

<Other variant 1>
In the present embodiment, the airbag that expands and expands toward the front side of the vehicle 1 includes only the front airbag 100, but in addition to the front airbag 100, it is on the rear side of the front airbag 100. It is also desirable to provide a rear airbag on the upper surface side of the bonnet 3.
By providing a rear airbag on the upper surface side of the bonnet 3 in addition to the front airbag 100, the front airbag 100 first pays a foot to the protected person, and the protected person is rearward on the upper surface side of the bonnet 3. By letting the airbag fall down, it is possible to absorb the impact force of the protected person in the rear airbag.

<Other modification 2>
Further, in the present embodiment, the adjustment tether 101 connects the vehicle 1 and the intermediate portion 101C so as to be substantially horizontal to the deployment direction of the front airbag 100, but the adjustment tether is in front of the vehicle 1. The vehicle 1 and the intermediate portion 101C may be connected and configured so as to have a downward inclination toward the vehicle 1. FIG. 7 is a side view of the vehicle provided with the airbag device E of the second modification.

As shown in FIG. 7, the adjustment tether 102 is connected to the intermediate portion 101C from the front upper portion 103 of the vehicle above both end portions (left end portion 100L, right end portion 100R) to which the front airbag 100 is connected to the vehicle 1. ing.

As shown in FIG. 7A, when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is "a pedestrian (adult) in a normal height range collides with the front portion", the tether adjusting device 140 is operated to operate the tether adjusting device 140. The adjustment tether 102 is adjusted to the length of the normal value.
As a result, the frontmost end portion of the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 101C) is deployed at a substantially horizontal position with respect to both end portions (left end portion 100L, right end portion 100R) in which the front airbag 100 is connected to the vehicle 1. There is.

As shown in FIG. 7B, when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is "a tall pedestrian (adult) collides with the front portion", the tether adjusting device 140 is operated to operate the tether adjusting device 140 to adjust the tether 102. To a length shorter than the normal value.
As a result, the frontmost end portion of the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 101C) is deployed at an upper position with respect to both end portions (left end portion 100L, right end portion 100R) in which the front airbag 100 is connected to the vehicle 1. ..

As shown in FIG. 7 (c), when it is determined that the collision mode of the protected person is "a short pedestrian (child) collides with the front portion", the tether adjusting device 140 is operated to operate the tether adjusting device 140 to adjust the tether 102. To a length longer than the normal value.
As a result, the foremost end portion of the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 101C) is deployed at a lower position with respect to both end portions (left end portion 100L, right end portion 100R) in which the front airbag 100 is connected to the vehicle 1. ..

In this way, the height of the foremost end portion of the front airbag 100 (intermediate portion 101C) can be adjusted according to the type of the protected person, so that the protected person can easily make a foot payment. Can be done.

The first adjustment tether 101 (see FIG. 2) connecting the vehicle 1 and the intermediate portion 101C so as to be substantially horizontal to the deployment direction of the front airbag 100, and a downward inclination toward the front of the vehicle 1. Two types of adjustment tethers with the second adjustment tether 102 (see FIG. 7) may be provided at the same time.

As described above, the airbag device E of the present invention can guide the collision mode to the protected person to the collision mode in which the front airbag 100 causes the collision to fall toward the bonnet 3, and a uniform collision assumed in advance. Depending on the aspect, shock absorption can be facilitated. As a result, the impact absorption when the protected person collides with the vehicle 1 can be performed more efficiently, and the injury of the protected person can be reduced.

1: Vehicle, 2: Front bumper, 3: Bonnet, 4: Front fender, 5: Windshield, 6: Front pillar, 7: Roof, 8: Side door, 9: Side mirror, 10: Front grill, 11: Emblem , 100: Front airbag, 100L: Left end, 100R: Right end, 100C: Middle part, 101: Adjustment tether (shape deformation part), 101L: Left adjustment tether, 101C: Middle adjustment tether, 101R: Right adjustment tether, 102: Adjustment tether (height change part), 103: upper front surface, 110: collision detection part, 120: control part, 130: inflator, 140: tether adjustment device (shape deformation part, height change part)

Claims (6)

In an airbag device including an airbag that expands and expands outside the vehicle and an inflator that supplies an expansion gas that expands the airbag.
Equipped with a tubular front airbag that deploys in front of the vehicle
The front airbag
Both ends of one end and the other end are connected to the vehicle, and
The middle part between one end and the other end is deployed in front of the vehicle from both ends.
The middle part
It is below the height of the upper surface of the bonnet with respect to the vertical direction of the vehicle.
An airbag device characterized by that. The front airbag is deployed in front of the vehicle from the front side and the lower side of the vehicle.
The airbag device according to claim 1. It has a shape deforming portion that deforms the shape of the intermediate portion.
The airbag device according to claim 1 or 2. The shape deformation part is
It has a string-shaped adjustment tether that connects the vehicle and the intermediate part.
By cutting the adjusting tether or adjusting the length of the adjusting tether, the shape of the intermediate portion is deformed.
The airbag device according to claim 3. Further provided with a collision form determining means for determining a collision form in which a protected person collides with a vehicle to protect a collision with a vehicle.
The shape deformation part is
It has a plurality of string-shaped adjusting tethers that connect the vehicle and a plurality of parts in the intermediate portion.
A specific adjustment tether is determined from a plurality of adjustment tethers according to a determination result by the collision form determination means, and the determined specific adjustment tether is cut or the length of the adjustment tether is adjusted to adjust the intermediate portion. Deform the shape of
The airbag device according to claim 4. It has a height changing portion that changes the height of the frontmost end portion of the intermediate portion.
The airbag device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.