JP2021075215A - Side airbag device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a side airbag device which is inflated and expanded between two vehicle seats arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction, and can sufficiently restrict and protect occupants sitting on both seats regardless of the relative position relation in the vehicle cross direction of these seats.SOLUTION: A side airbag device 100 comprises: an intermediate chamber 124 which includes an inflator 122 and is superimposed on a first vehicle seat 104 at the inflation and expansion; front and rear chambers 126, 128 which are located on the vehicle front side and vehicle rear side of the intermediate chamber; front and rear partition parts 130, 136 which partition between the intermediate chamber, the front chamber and the rear chamber; front and rear inner vents 132, 134, 138, 140 which are provided on the front and rear partition parts and supply the gas to the front and rear chambers in the open state; and an opening/closing mechanism 120 which turns one of the front and rear inner vents into the open state and turns the other into the close state in accordance with the relative position relation in the vehicle cross direction of the first and second vehicle seats.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a side airbag device provided with a bag-shaped cushion that expands and expands to the side of an occupant of a vehicle seat when a vehicle collides sideways.

Airbag devices are almost standard equipment on recent vehicles. The airbag device is a safety device that operates in an emergency such as a vehicle collision, and expands and deploys the cushion by gas pressure to receive and protect the occupants. As an example, the side airbag device includes a bag-shaped cushion that expands and expands to the side of the occupant of the vehicle seat in the event of a side collision of the vehicle.

Normally, when a lateral impact is applied to the vehicle, the occupant moves in the vehicle width direction. For example, when a side collision occurs in which an object (collision object) such as another vehicle or a utility pole collides with the side door on the passenger seat side, the side airbags that protect the occupants are roughly classified into two types. The first is the so-called near-side airbag, which expands and expands between the passenger seat and the side door, and the occupant on the side of contact with the collision object (in this case, the occupant on the passenger seat side) is near-side when viewed from that occupant. Prevents collisions with side doors in. The second is the so-called far side airbag (Patent Document 1), which expands and expands between the driver's seat and the passenger seat, and due to a lateral impact, the occupant on the side opposite to the collision object contact side. Protects (in this case, the driver's side occupant) from moving to the center of the vehicle, which is the far side of the occupant.

The vehicle far-side airbag device described in Patent Document 1 includes an airbag that expands and expands by gas from an inflator. The airbag is fixed to the seat back frame in the side portion of the seat back of the vehicle seat on the center side in the vehicle width direction. Further, the airbag is divided into a front bag portion provided with a occupant restraint portion and a rear bag portion provided with a rear extension portion and accommodating an inflator by a front and rear partition tether.

In the airbag, the gas from the inflator housed in the rear bag portion is supplied from the rear bag portion to the front bag portion through the communication port formed in the front and rear partition tethers, so that the front bag portion and the rear bag portion are provided. Expands and expands. The occupant restraint portion expands and expands toward the vehicle front side of the side portion of the vehicle seat, and the front bag portion restrains the occupant's chest, abdominal front portion, and head. The rear extension expands and expands toward the rear of the vehicle from the side of the vehicle seat, and restrains the occupant's chest, abdomen, and shoulders.

In Patent Document 1, when a load from an occupant trying to inertially move toward the center in the vehicle width direction is applied to the occupant restraint portion due to the impact of a side collision, the airbag rotates around the vertical axis with a fixed portion to the seat back frame as a fulcrum. Try to rotate to. As a result, the rear extension portion tends to be displaced outward in the vehicle width direction (center side in the seat width direction). As a result, the rear extension portion receives a reaction force from the seat back component (for example, the rear portion of the seat back frame) toward the center side in the vehicle width direction, so that the rotation of the airbag is suppressed and the occupant is restrained. The displacement of the part on the center side in the vehicle width direction is suppressed. Therefore, in Patent Document 1, since the reaction force from the occupant restraint portion can be satisfactorily applied to the occupant, it is possible to contribute to suppressing the inertial movement of the occupant toward the center side in the vehicle width direction. , And.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-10373

As described above, the vehicle far side airbag device expands and deploys between two vehicle seats arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction, that is, a driver's seat and a passenger seat. Such a far-side airbag device may be installed only in the passenger seat, for example, and the same far-side airbag device may restrain and protect not only the passenger seat occupant but also the driver seat occupant. However, since the two vehicle seats can slide in the vehicle front-rear direction, the relative positional relationship between the seats in the vehicle front-rear direction changes. In other words, the deployment behavior of the far-side airbag device is unchanged for the passenger seat occupant, but the deployment behavior of the device for the driver's seat occupant changes depending on the above relative positional relationship. Therefore, in order to sufficiently restrain and protect the occupants in the driver's seat by one far-side airbag device installed in the passenger seat, the cushion deployment behavior in consideration of the relative positional relationship between the two vehicle seats is required. Needed.

However, in the far-side airbag device for a vehicle of Patent Document 1, the occupant restraint portion provided on the front bag portion receives a load from an occupant who tries to inertially move toward the center side in the vehicle width direction at the time of a side collision and air. It merely restrained the bag from rotating around the fixed portion to the seat back frame as a fulcrum, and there was room for improvement in sufficiently restraining and protecting the occupants.

In view of such a problem, the present invention expands and expands between two vehicle seats arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction, and the seats are applied to both seats regardless of the relative positional relationship of the seats in the vehicle front-rear direction. The purpose is to provide a side airbag device that can sufficiently restrain and protect a seated occupant.

In order to solve the above problems, a typical configuration of the side airbag device according to the present invention is a first vehicle seat and a second vehicle seat that are arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction and can slide in the vehicle front-rear direction. Of these, in a side airbag device provided on the vehicle center side of the first vehicle seat and provided with a bag-shaped cushion that expands and expands to the side of the occupant of the first vehicle seat using gas supplied from the inflator. The cushion has an inflator inside and overlaps with at least the seat back of the first vehicle seat when viewed from the vehicle side when expanded, a front chamber located on the vehicle front side of the intermediate chamber, and a vehicle in the intermediate chamber. A rear chamber located on the rear side, a front partition that separates the intermediate chamber and the front chamber, and a front inner vent that is provided in the front partition and can be opened and closed. The front inner vent that supplies the vehicle, the rear partition that separates the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber, and the rear inner vent that can be opened and closed in the rear partition, and the gas from the inflator is sent to the rear chamber when it is open. It has a rear inner vent to supply, and the side airbag device is further either a front inner vent or a rear inner vent, depending on the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat and the second vehicle seat in the vehicle front-rear direction. It is characterized by including an opening / closing mechanism in which one is in an open state and the other is in a closed state.

In the above configuration, the opening / closing mechanism opens either the front inner vent or the rear inner vent and closes the other, depending on the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat and the second vehicle seat in the vehicle front-rear direction. Make it a state. That is, the cushion has a state in which the intermediate chamber and the front chamber expand and expand and the rear chamber does not expand and expand, and a state in which the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber expand and expand and the front chamber does not expand and expand. 2 It becomes possible to select according to the relative positional relationship of the vehicle seats. Therefore, when the occupant seated on the first vehicle seat and the occupant seated on the second vehicle seat move to the center of the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle, the occupant seated on the first vehicle seat is protected by the intermediate chamber. Further, the occupant seated in the second vehicle seat can be protected by the intermediate chamber and the front chamber, or the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber. Further, by expanding and deploying only two chambers of the cushion and not expanding and deploying the remaining one chamber, the two chambers can be rapidly expanded to maintain an appropriate internal pressure, and the occupant can be sufficiently restrained.

The front partition and the rear partition are formed by a baffle, and the opening / closing mechanism covers the front inner vent from the front chamber side of the front partition and is coupled to the front partition with a front patch. It is string-shaped and extends from the front patch through the front inner vent to a predetermined position on the side of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side, and when the cushion expands and expands, the front patch is pulled to the rear of the vehicle to close the front inner vent. The front extension part to be in a state, the rear patch that covers the rear inner vent from the rear chamber side of the rear partition and is connected to the rear partition, and the string-shaped rear patch through the rear inner vent. A rear extension portion that extends to a predetermined position on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side and pulls the rear patch to the front of the vehicle to close the rear inner vent when the cushion expands and expands, and a rear extension portion of the first vehicle seat. It is preferable to provide a cutting device installed on the side portion on the center side of the vehicle to cut the front extension portion or the rear extension portion according to the relative positional relationship and open either the front inner vent or the rear inner vent.

In the above configuration, when the cutting device of the opening / closing mechanism operates to cut the front extension portion and does not cut the rear extension portion, the front inner vent is opened and the rear inner vent is maintained in the closed state. Therefore, the intermediate chamber and the front chamber of the cushion can be expanded and expanded. On the other hand, when the cutting device operates to cut the rear extension portion and does not cut the front extension portion, the rear inner vent is opened and the front inner vent is maintained in the closed state. Therefore, the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber of the cushion can be expanded and expanded. In this way, it is possible to realize the behavior that only two chambers of the cushion are expanded and expanded, and the remaining one chamber is not expanded and expanded.

The front partition and the rear partition are formed by sewing, and the opening / closing mechanism is connected to the front temporary sewing portion that closes the front inner vent by temporary sewing and the string-shaped front temporary sewing portion. A front extension portion that extends to a predetermined position on the side portion on the vehicle center side of the vehicle seat and pulls the front temporary sewing portion to the rear of the vehicle to pull out or cut the front inner vent to open the front inner vent when the cushion is expanded and deployed. The rear inner vent is closed by temporary sewing, and the rear temporary sewing part is connected to the rear temporary sewing part, which is string-shaped and extends to a predetermined position on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side. The rear extension part that opens the rear inner vent by pulling the tentatively sewn part to the front of the vehicle to pull out or cut the thread, and the front extension part that is installed on the side part of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side according to the relative positional relationship. It is preferable to provide a cutting device that cuts the stretched portion or the rear stretched portion and closes either the front inner vent or the rear inner vent.

In the above configuration, when the cutting device of the opening / closing mechanism operates to cut the rear extension portion and does not cut the front extension portion, the front inner vent is opened and the rear inner vent is maintained in the closed state. Therefore, the intermediate chamber and the front chamber of the cushion can be expanded and expanded. On the other hand, when the cutting device operates to cut the front extension portion and does not cut the rear extension portion, the rear inner vent is opened and the front inner vent is maintained in the closed state. Therefore, the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber of the cushion can be expanded and expanded. In this way, it is possible to realize the behavior that only two chambers of the cushion are expanded and expanded, and the remaining one chamber is not expanded and expanded.

In the above opening / closing mechanism, at least when the second vehicle seat is located in the front of the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat, the front inner vent is opened and the rear inner vent is closed. The intermediate chamber and the front chamber may be expanded and deployed.

As a result, when the second vehicle seat is located in front of the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat, the front chamber can be expanded and expanded in addition to the intermediate chamber. Therefore, the occupant seated on the first vehicle seat can be protected by the intermediate chamber, and the occupant seated on the second vehicle seat can be protected by the intermediate chamber and the front chamber.

In the above opening / closing mechanism, at least when the second vehicle seat is located at the rear of the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat, the rear inner vent is opened and the front inner vent is closed, and the cushion is of the cushion. The intermediate chamber and the rear chamber may be expanded and deployed.

As a result, when the second vehicle seat is located relatively rear of the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat, the rear chamber can be expanded and deployed in addition to the intermediate chamber. Therefore, the occupant seated on the first vehicle seat can be protected by the intermediate chamber, and the occupant seated on the second vehicle seat can be protected by the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber. Since the rear chamber expands and expands, if the occupant seated in the rear seat moves toward the rear chamber at the time of a side collision, in addition to the occupant seated in the second vehicle seat, the occupant seated in the rear seat is also affected by the rear chamber. Can be protected.

The capacity of the front chamber and the capacity of the rear chamber should be equal. As a result, in the cushion, the internal pressure when the intermediate chamber and the front chamber are expanded and expanded is equal to the internal pressure when the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber are expanded and expanded. Therefore, in the above configuration, the internal pressure after the expansion and deployment of the cushion can be made constant regardless of the relative positional relationship between the seat for the first vehicle and the seat for the second vehicle, and the occupant restraining force due to the cushion can be stabilized. it can.

According to the present invention, the occupants seated on both seats are sufficiently expanded regardless of the relative positional relationship between the two vehicle seats arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction. A side airbag device that can be restrained and protected can be provided.

It is a figure which illustrates a part of the vehicle to which the side airbag device according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied, the seat for the first vehicle and the seat for the second vehicle. It is a figure which illustrates the side airbag apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates a part of the internal structure of the cushion of FIG. 2 (a). FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a part of the internal configuration of the cushion after the cutting device of FIG. 3A is activated. It is a figure which illustrates the state in which the cushion is expanded and expanded when the second vehicle seat of FIG. 1 is located relatively in front of the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat. It is a figure which illustrates the state in which the cushion is expanded and expanded when the second vehicle seat of FIG. 1 is located relatively rearward of the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat. It is a figure which illustrates the side airbag apparatus in other embodiment of this invention.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in such an embodiment are merely examples for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are designated by the same reference numerals to omit duplicate description, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not shown. To do.

In the present embodiment, when the occupant sits in the seat in a normal posture, the direction in which the occupant is facing is referred to as front, and the opposite direction is referred to as rear. When the occupant sits in the seat in a normal posture, the right side of the occupant is referred to as the right direction and the left side of the occupant is referred to as the left direction. Further, when the occupant is seated in a normal posture, the direction of the occupant's head is referred to as upward, and the direction of the occupant's lumbar region is referred to as downward. Then, in the drawings used in the following description, if necessary, the front-back, left-right, up-down directions with respect to the above-mentioned occupant are shown as Front, Back, Left, Right, Up, and Down.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a part of a vehicle 102 to which the side airbag device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied, a first vehicle seat 104 and a second vehicle seat 106. As shown by the dotted line in the drawing, the side airbag device 100 is embedded in the side portion of the seat back 108 of the first vehicle seat 104 on the vehicle center side.

The first vehicle seat 104 is a left front seat (for example, a passenger seat) in the vehicle 102, and has a seat cushion 110 on which an occupant sits in addition to the seat back 108. Further, the side door 112 is located on the outside of the vehicle of the first vehicle seat 104. The second vehicle seat 106 is a right front seat (for example, a driver's seat) in the vehicle 102, and has a seat back 114 and a seat cushion 116.

The first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 are arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction, and are guided by slide rails (not shown) and can slide in the vehicle front-rear direction as shown by arrows A and B. .. Therefore, in the vehicle 102, the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 in the vehicle front-rear direction changes (see FIG. 2B).

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the side airbag device 100 of FIG. FIG. 2A illustrates a state in which the side airbag device 100 in a state where the cushion 118 is expanded and expanded is viewed from the side of the vehicle. FIG. 2B illustrates a state in which the first vehicle seat 104, the second vehicle seat 106, and the expanded and expanded cushion 118 are viewed from above the vehicle.

The side airbag device 100 includes an opening / closing mechanism 120 in addition to the cushion 118. The cushion 118 is formed in a bag shape by, for example, spinning using OPW (One-Piece Woven). Further, the cushion 118 expands and expands by using the gas supplied from the inflator 122 (see FIG. 2A), which is a gas generator, in an emergency such as when an impact is generated on the vehicle 102. As shown in FIG. 2B, the cushion 118 expands and expands between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106, and functions as a so-called far side airbag.

The cushion 118 has three chambers, namely an intermediate chamber 124, a front chamber 126 and a rear chamber 128, as shown in FIG. 2 (a). The intermediate chamber 124 has an inflator 122 inside, and overlaps at least the seat back 108 of the first vehicle seat 104 when viewed from the vehicle side during expansion and deployment. The front chamber 126 is located on the vehicle front side of the intermediate chamber 124. The rear chamber 128 is located on the vehicle rear side of the intermediate chamber 124. Further, the volume of the front chamber 126 and the volume of the rear chamber 128 are formed to be equal to each other.

Although details will be described later, the side airbag device 100 has a configuration in which only two chambers of the cushion 118 are expanded and expanded by the opening / closing mechanism 120, and the remaining one chamber is not expanded and expanded. Therefore, in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), the intermediate chamber 124 and the front chamber 126 which are expanded and expanded are illustrated by solid lines, and the rear chamber which is not actually expanded and expanded but is tentatively expanded and expanded. The outer shape of 128 is illustrated by a virtual line.

The cushion 118 further has a front partition 130, upper and lower front inner vents 132 and 134, a rear partition 136, and upper and lower rear inner vents 138 and 140. The front partition 130 is formed by a baffle and separates the intermediate chamber 124 and the front chamber 126. The front partition 130 is formed of, for example, a long cloth material extending in the vertical direction inside the cushion 118. The front inner vents 132 and 134 are active vents that can be opened and closed vertically separated from each other in the front partition 130, and supply gas from the inflator 122 from the intermediate chamber 124 to the front chamber 126 in the open state. ..

The rear partition 136 is formed by a baffle and separates the intermediate chamber 124 and the rear chamber 128. The rear partition 136 is formed of, for example, a long cloth material extending in the vertical direction inside the cushion 118. The rear inner vents 138 and 140 are active vents that can be opened and closed vertically separated from each other in the rear partition portion 136, and supply gas from the inflator 122 to the rear chamber 128 from the intermediate chamber 124 in the open state. ..

The opening / closing mechanism 120 has a front inner vent 132, 136 or a rear inner vent 138, 140 according to the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 in the vehicle front-rear direction shown in FIG. One of the above is in the open state and the other is in the closed state. The above relative positional relationship is based on whether the second vehicle seat 106 is located in front of the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat 104 or the vehicle based on the position of the first vehicle seat 104 in the vehicle front-rear direction. It indicates whether the vehicle is located at the rear or at the same position in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. In FIG. 2B, as an example, the second vehicle seat 106 located in front of the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat 104 is shown by a solid line and is relatively rearward of the vehicle seat 104. The second vehicle seat 106 located at is indicated by a chain line.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, the dimension La in the vehicle front-rear direction when the cushion 118 is deployed is more than twice the dimension Lb in which the second vehicle seat 106 can slide in the vehicle front-rear direction. .. In this way, even if the occupant 142 seated on the first vehicle seat 104 and the occupant 144 seated on the second vehicle seat 106 move to the center of the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle 102, the cushion 118 Of these, the two expanded chambers can sufficiently restrain and protect the occupants 142 and 144 (see FIGS. 5 and 6).

The opening / closing mechanism 120 includes the upper and lower front patches 146 and 148 shown in FIG. 2A, the upper and lower front extension portions 150 and 152, the upper and lower rear patches 154 and 156, and the upper and lower rear extension portions 158 and 160. Be prepared. The opening / closing mechanism 120 further includes front and rear cutting devices 162 and 164, a control unit 166, a first sensor 168, and a second sensor 170.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a part of the internal configuration of the cushion 118 of FIG. 2 (a). FIG. 3A is a perspective view illustrating a part of the opening / closing mechanism 120. FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 3A. FIG. 3 (c) is a view taken along the arrow D of FIG. 3 (a).

As shown in FIG. 3, the front patches 146 and 148 cover the front inner vents 132 and 134 from the front chamber 126 side of the front partition 130 and are connected to the front partition 130 by sewing lines 172 and 174. .. The front extending portions 150 and 152 are, for example, string-shaped tethers, passing through the front inner vents 132 and 134 from the front patches 146 and 148, and the seat back 108 of the first vehicle seat 104 shown in FIG. 2 (a). It extends to a predetermined location on the side of the center of the vehicle. Further, the front extending portions 150 and 152 pull the front patches 146 and 148 to the rear of the vehicle when the cushion 118 shown in FIG. 3 (a) is expanded and deployed, and the front extending portions 150 and 152 are forward as shown in FIGS. 3 (b) and 3 (c). The inner vents 132 and 134 are covered and closed.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the rear patches 154 and 156 cover the rear inner vents 138 and 140 from the rear chamber 128 side of the rear partition 136, and are connected to the rear partition by a sewing line (not shown). ing. The rear extension portions 158 and 160 are, for example, string-shaped tethers, and pass through the rear inner vents 138 and 140 from the rear patches 154 and 156 to the side portion of the seat back 108 of the first vehicle seat 104 on the vehicle center side. It extends to a predetermined location. Further, the rear extension portions 158 and 160 pull the rear patches 154 and 156 toward the front of the vehicle when the cushion 118 is expanded and deployed to close the rear inner vents 138 and 140.

The cutting devices 162 and 164 are tether cutters, which are installed on the side portion of the seat back 108 of the first vehicle seat 104 on the vehicle center side so as to be separated from each other in the vehicle front-rear direction. The cutting device 162 operates according to the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 shown in FIG. 2B in the vehicle front-rear direction, and cuts the front extension portions 150 and 152. The front inner vents 132 and 134 are opened (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a part of the internal configuration of the cushion 118 after the cutting device 162 of FIG. 3A is activated. FIG. 4A is a perspective view illustrating a part of the opening / closing mechanism 120. FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4 (c) is a view taken along the arrow D of FIG. 4 (a).

When the cutting device 162 is activated during the expansion and deployment of the cushion 118 to cut the front extension portions 150 and 152, the front patches 146 and 148 are not pulled to the rear of the vehicle by the front extension portions 150 and 152. Therefore, the front patches 146 and 148 loosen toward the front chamber 126 as shown in FIG. 4A, so that gaps 176 and 178 are formed between the front patches 146 and 148 and the front inner vents 132 and 134. As a result, the gas from the inflator 122 passes through the front inner vents 132 and 134 from the intermediate chamber 124 and further through the voids 176 and 178 as shown by arrows E, F, G and H in FIG. 4 (c). It is supplied to the front chamber 126. In this way, when the cutting device 162 of the opening / closing mechanism 120 operates to cut the front extending portions 150 and 152, the intermediate chamber 124 and the front chamber 126 of the cushion 118 can be expanded and expanded.

Further, the cutting device 164 operates according to the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 shown in FIG. 2B in the vehicle front-rear direction, and cuts the rear extension portions 158 and 160. , The rear inner vents 138 and 140 are opened. Therefore, when the cutting device 164 of the opening / closing mechanism 120 operates to cut the rear extending portions 158 and 160, the intermediate chamber 124 and the rear chamber 128 of the cushion 118 can be expanded and expanded.

The control unit 166 controls one of the cutting devices 162 and 164 based on the detection signals from the first sensor 168 and the second sensor 170 so as not to operate the other. To do. The first sensor 168 is, for example, a side collision sensor that detects the lateral collision speed of the vehicle 102, and occupants 142 and 144 seated on the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 (FIG. 2B). ) Is a sensor that detects the physique and posture. The second sensor 170 is a sensor that detects the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 in the vehicle front-rear direction.

Hereinafter, the operation of the side airbag device 100 according to the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 in the vehicle front-rear direction will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the cushion 118 is expanded and expanded when the second vehicle seat 106 of FIG. 1 is located relatively in front of the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat 104. In this case, in the side airbag device 100, the control unit 166 of the opening / closing mechanism 120 operates the cutting device 162 to cut the front extension portions 150 and 152, and the rear extension portions 158 and 160 do not operate the cutting device 164. Do not disconnect.

Therefore, the front patches 146 and 148 are loosened to open the front inner vents 132 and 134, and the rear inner vents 138 and 140 are maintained in the closed state. Therefore, in the side airbag device 100, it is possible to realize the behavior that the intermediate chamber 124 and the front chamber 126 of the cushion 118 are expanded and expanded, and the remaining one chamber, that is, the rear chamber 128 is not expanded.

As a result, in the side airbag device 100, when the second vehicle seat 106 is located in front of the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat 104, the occupant 142 and the second vehicle seated on the first vehicle seat 102. When the occupant 144 seated on the seat 106 moves to the center of the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle 102 (see arrows I and J in the figure), the intermediate chamber 124 protects the occupant 142 while the intermediate chamber 124 and the front chamber 126 protect the occupant 142. The occupant 144 can be protected.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the cushion 118 is expanded and expanded when the second vehicle seat 106 of FIG. 1 is located relatively rearward of the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat 104. FIG. 6A shows the positional relationship between the expanded and expanded cushion 118, the first vehicle seat 104, and the second vehicle seat 106. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing, in addition to FIG. 6A, a third vehicle seat 180 as a rear seat and occupants 182, 184, and 186 seated on the third vehicle seat 180.

When the second vehicle seat 106 is located behind the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat 104, the control unit 166 of the opening / closing mechanism 120 shown in FIG. 2A is cut off in the side airbag device 100. The device 164 is operated to cut the rear extension portions 158 and 160, and the cutting device 162 is not operated and the front extension portions 150 and 152 are not cut.

Therefore, the rear patches 154 and 156 are loosened to open the rear inner vents 138 and 140, and the front inner vents 132 and 134 are maintained in the closed state. Therefore, in the side airbag device 100, it is possible to realize the behavior that the intermediate chamber 124 and the rear chamber 128 of the cushion 118 are expanded and expanded, and the remaining one chamber, that is, the front chamber 126 is not expanded.

As a result, in the side airbag device 100, when the second vehicle seat 106 is located behind the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat 104, the occupant 142 and the second vehicle seated on the first vehicle seat 102. When the occupant 144 seated on the seat 106 moves to the center of the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle 102 (see arrows K and L in FIG. 6A), the intermediate chamber 124 protects the occupant 142 while the intermediate chamber 124 and the rear. The chamber 128 can protect the occupant 144.

Therefore, in the side airbag device 100, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 (a), only two chambers of the cushion 118, that is, the intermediate chamber 124 and the front chamber 126, or only the intermediate chamber 124 and the rear chamber 128 are expanded. By deploying and not expanding and deploying the remaining one chamber, i.e. the rear chamber 128 or the front chamber 126, the two chambers can be rapidly deployed to maintain proper internal pressure and adequately constrain the occupant.

Further, since the capacity of the front chamber 126 and the capacity of the rear chamber 128 are equal, in the cushion 118, the internal pressure when the intermediate chamber 124 and the front chamber 126 are expanded and expanded and the internal pressure when the intermediate chamber 124 and the rear chamber 128 are expanded and expanded are used. Equal to the internal pressure. Therefore, in the side airbag device 100, the internal pressure of the cushion 118 after expansion and deployment can be made constant regardless of the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106, and the occupant by the cushion 118. The binding force can be stabilized.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, in the side airbag device 100, when the second vehicle seat 106 is located behind the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat 104, the intermediate chamber 124 and the rear chamber 128 Is expanded and expanded. Therefore, in the side airbag device 100, of the occupants 182, 184, and 186 seated on the third vehicle seat 180, which is the rear seat, the occupant 182 on the left side of the vehicle is on the right toward the center of the vehicle as shown by the arrow M. When moving diagonally forward, when the occupant 184 on the right side of the vehicle moves diagonally forward to the left toward the center of the vehicle as shown by arrow N, or when the occupant 186 on the center side of the vehicle moves diagonally forward as shown by arrow O. These occupants 182, 184 and 186 can be protected by the rear chamber 128 when moving towards.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the side airbag device 100A according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7A is a view corresponding to a part of FIG. 3A, and is a diagram showing a state in which the front inner vent 134A is maintained in a closed state by the opening / closing mechanism 120A. FIG. 7B is a view corresponding to a part of FIG. 4A, showing a state in which the front inner vent 134A is opened by the opening / closing mechanism 120A.

The side airbag device 100A includes a cushion 118A and an opening / closing mechanism 120A. The cushion 118A differs from the cushion 118 described above in that it has a front partition 130A formed by sewing instead of the front partition 130 formed by the baffle. Although not shown, the rear partition 136 of the cushion 118 may also be formed by sewing in the same manner as the front partition 130A and applied as the rear partition of the cushion 118A.

The opening / closing mechanism 120A has a front temporary sewing portion 188 in place of the front patch 148 that covers the front inner vent 134 from the front chamber 126 side of the front partition portion 130 shown in FIG. 3A. Different from. Although not shown, the front patch 146 and the rear patch 154 and 156 of the opening / closing mechanism 120 are also changed to members having the same configuration as the front temporary sewing portion 188, and the front temporary sewing portion of the opening / closing mechanism 120A. It may be applied as a rear tacking portion.

As shown in FIG. 7A, the front tacking portion 188 closes the front inner vent 134 by tacking. The front extension portion 152 is a string-shaped tether, and the end portion 190 is coupled to the front temporary sewing portion 188, so that the front temporary sewing portion 188 can be pulled to the rear of the vehicle when the cushion 118A is expanded and deployed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the cutting device 162 is operated during the expansion and deployment of the cushion 118A to cut the front stretched portion 152, the front tacked portion 188 is not pulled by the front stretched portion 152. The front inner vent 134 can be kept closed. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the cutting device 162 does not operate and the front extension portion 152 is not cut when the cushion 118A is expanded and deployed, the front temporary sewing portion 188 is pulled by the front extension portion 152. The front inner vent 134 can be opened by removing or cutting the thread.

Therefore, in the side airbag device 100A, the cutting devices 162 and 164 are controlled by the control unit 166 of the opening / closing mechanism 120A according to the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 ( (See FIG. 2A), only two of the cushions 118 can be expanded and expanded, and the remaining one chamber can not be expanded and expanded. Therefore, the side airbag device 100A, like the side airbag device 100, can rapidly deploy the two chambers to maintain an appropriate internal pressure, and can sufficiently restrain the occupants 142 and 144.

In addition, in the relative positional relationship between the seat 104 for the first vehicle and the seat 106 for the second vehicle in the vehicle front-rear direction in order to expand and expand only two chambers of the cushion 118 and not expand and expand the remaining one chamber. The threshold value can be set as appropriate. As an example, as described above, the threshold value may be whether the second vehicle seat 106 is located in front of the vehicle or in the rear of the vehicle relative to the first vehicle seat 104. When the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 are at the same position in the vehicle front-rear direction, the front chamber 126 may be expanded and expanded in addition to the intermediate chamber 124.

Further, even when the second vehicle seat 106 is located relatively behind the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat 104, when the rear chamber 128 expands and expands, for example, the occupant 144 near the center of the rear chamber 128. If the position where the rear chamber 128 can be reliably protected is not reached, the rear chamber 128 may not be expanded and expanded, and the front chamber 126 may be expanded and expanded. Further, the threshold value may be appropriately set in consideration of the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat 104 and the second vehicle seat 106 in the vehicle front-rear direction, the physique and posture of the occupants 142 and 144, and the like. ..

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can come up with various modifications or modifications within the scope of the claims, which naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the side airbag devices 100 and 100A according to the present invention are applied to an automobile has been described, but it is also possible to apply the side airbag devices 100 and 100A to an aircraft, a ship, etc. Can be obtained.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a side airbag device provided with a bag-shaped cushion that expands and expands to the side of an occupant of a vehicle seat when a vehicle collides sideways.

100, 100A ... Side airbag device, 102 ... Vehicle, 104 ... First vehicle seat, 106 ... Second vehicle seat, 108, 114 ... Seat back, 110, 116 ... Seat cushion, 112 ... Side door, 118, 118A ... Cushion, 120, 120A ... Opening and closing mechanism, 122 ... Inflator, 124 ... Intermediate chamber, 126 ... Front chamber, 128 ... Rear chamber, 130, 130A ... Front partition, 132, 134 ... Front inner vent, 136 ... Rear partition Parts 138, 140 ... Rear inner vent, 142, 144, 182, 184, 186 ... Crew, 146, 148 ... Front patch, 150, 152 ... Front extension part, 154, 156 ... Rear patch, 158, 160 ... Rear extension Unit, 162, 164 ... Cutting device, 166 ... Control unit, 168 ... First sensor, 170 ... Second sensor, 172, 174 ... Sewing line, 176, 178 ... Void, 180 ... Third vehicle seat, 188 ... Temporary Sewing part, 190 ... The end of the front extension part

Claims (6)

Of the first vehicle seat and the second vehicle seat that are arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction and can slide in the vehicle front-rear direction, the gas supplied from the inflator provided on the vehicle center side of the first vehicle seat is supplied. In a side airbag device provided with a bag-shaped cushion that expands and expands laterally to the occupant of the first vehicle seat by utilizing the device.
The cushion
An intermediate chamber having the inflator inside and overlapping at least the seat back of the first vehicle seat when viewed from the vehicle side during expansion and deployment.
The front chamber located on the vehicle front side of the intermediate chamber and the front chamber
The rear chamber located on the rear side of the vehicle in the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber
A front partition that separates the intermediate chamber and the front chamber,
A front inner vent that is provided in the front partition and can be opened and closed, and is a front inner vent that supplies gas from the inflator to the front chamber when in the open state.
A rear partition that separates the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber,
A rear inner vent that is provided in the rear partition and can be opened and closed, and has a rear inner vent that supplies gas from the inflator to the rear chamber when in the open state.
The side airbag device also
Opening and closing in which either the front inner vent or the rear inner vent is opened and the other is closed according to the relative positional relationship between the first vehicle seat and the second vehicle seat in the vehicle front-rear direction. A side airbag device characterized by having a mechanism. The front partition and the rear partition are formed by a baffle, and the front partition and the rear partition are formed by a baffle.
The opening / closing mechanism
A front patch that covers the front inner vent from the front chamber side of the front partition and is coupled to the front partition.
It is string-shaped and extends from the front patch through the front inner vent to a predetermined position on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side, and pulls the front patch to the rear of the vehicle when the cushion is expanded and deployed. A front extension portion that closes the front inner vent and
A rear patch that covers the rear inner vent from the rear chamber side of the rear partition and is coupled to the rear partition.
It is string-shaped and extends from the rear patch through the rear inner vent to a predetermined position on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side, and pulls the rear patch to the front of the vehicle when the cushion is expanded and deployed. A rear extension portion that closes the rear inner vent, and
It is installed on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side, cuts the front extension portion or the rear extension portion according to the relative positional relationship, and opens either the front inner vent or the rear inner vent. The side airbag device according to claim 1, further comprising a cutting device to be in a state. The front partition and the rear partition are formed by sewing, and the front partition and the rear partition are formed by sewing.
The opening / closing mechanism
A front tentatively sewn portion that closes the front inner vent by tentative sewing,
It is string-shaped and is coupled to the front tentatively sewn portion and extends to a predetermined position on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side, and when the cushion is expanded and deployed, the front tentatively sewn portion is pulled to the rear of the vehicle to remove the thread. Alternatively, the anterior extension portion that opens the anterior inner vent by cutting, and the anterior extension portion.
A rear tentatively sewn portion that closes the rear inner vent by tentative sewing,
It is string-shaped and is coupled to the rear temporary sewing portion and extends to a predetermined position on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side, and when the cushion is expanded and deployed, the rear temporary sewing portion is pulled toward the front of the vehicle to remove the thread. Alternatively, a rear extension portion that opens the rear inner vent by cutting, and a rear extension portion.
It is installed on the side portion of the first vehicle seat on the vehicle center side, cuts the front extension portion or the rear extension portion according to the relative positional relationship, and closes either the front inner vent or the rear inner vent. The side airbag device according to claim 1, further comprising a cutting device to be in a state. The opening / closing mechanism opens the front inner vent and closes the rear inner vent at least when the second vehicle seat is located relatively in front of the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat. The side airbag device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the intermediate chamber and the front chamber of the cushion are expanded and deployed. The opening / closing mechanism opens the rear inner vent and closes the front inner vent at least when the second vehicle seat is located relatively rear of the vehicle with respect to the first vehicle seat. The side airbag device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the intermediate chamber and the rear chamber of the cushion are expanded and deployed. The side airbag device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the capacity of the front chamber and the capacity of the rear chamber are equal to each other.

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