JP2501410B2 - Air bag equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air bag device which expands when a vehicle is rapidly decelerated, and more particularly to an air bag device which operates a plurality of air bag bodies with a single acceleration sensor.

2. Description of the Related Art As an acceleration sensor for operating an air bag device, a so-called mechanically operated air bag device is used in which an inertial body is used and a firing pin activates a gas generating means when the inertial body moves by inertia. . Here, when a plurality of air bag main bodies are provided in a single vehicle (for example, when the air bag main bodies are provided on both the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side), it is necessary to install the above-described acceleration sensors. In addition, both air bag bodies must be operated at the same time when the vehicle rapidly decelerates. In order to realize this, it is necessary to manufacture the inertial body of each acceleration sensor and its related parts with extremely high precision to match the operation deceleration of the acceleration sensor. Even if each acceleration sensor is manufactured with high accuracy, the sudden deceleration acting on the driver's seat side and the passenger's seat side may be slightly different depending on where the vehicle collides.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In consideration of the above facts, an object of the present invention is to obtain an air bag device capable of simultaneously operating a plurality of air bag main bodies at the time of sudden deceleration of a vehicle by a single mechanically operated sensor. Is.

The present invention according to claim 1 is an air bag device for operating a plurality of air bag bodies by a single acceleration sensor, and an inertial body that inertially moves when the vehicle is suddenly decelerated. A firing pin that moves due to inertial movement of the inertial body, and a first gas generation means that operates by the movement of the firing pin to generate gas and that activates one air bag body;
A detection means for detecting the movement of the firing pin; and a second gas generation means for actuating a detection signal from the detection means to generate gas and actuating another air bag body. It has a feature. The present invention according to claim 2 is the same as the present invention according to claim 1,
The one air bag body is provided on the driver's seat side, and the other air bag body is provided on the passenger seat side.

According to the present invention described in claim 1, when the vehicle is suddenly decelerated, the inertial body inertially moves to move the firing pin. In addition, in order to move the firing pin, a means for releasing the accumulated energy of the elastic body by the inertial body can be applied. When the firing pin moves, the first gas generating means operates to generate gas. As a result, the one air bag body is operated. Here, when the firing pin moves, this movement is detected by the detection means. Therefore, the second gas generating means is activated by the detection signal of the detecting means to generate gas. Therefore, the other air bag body is activated. The second gas generating means may use a detonator that ignites with an electric signal. With this, the first gas generating means and the second gas generating means can be simultaneously and reliably operated by the single mechanically actuated sensor at the time of sudden deceleration of the vehicle, and thus the plurality of air bag bodies can be simultaneously and simultaneously operated. It can be operated reliably. It should be noted that if a structure in which an electric signal is sent from a single acceleration sensor to a plurality of electric detonators to operate a plurality of gas generating means without using a mechanically actuated sensor as in the present invention is relatively expensive. Multiple electric detonators are required, leading to higher costs. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, one air bag body is provided on the driver seat side, and the other air bag body is provided on the passenger seat side, so that the vehicle decelerates rapidly. At the same time, the air bag main body provided on the driver's seat side and the air bag main body provided on the passenger seat side can be operated simultaneously. That is, when the inertial body moves inertially during rapid deceleration of the vehicle, the first gas generating means operates to operate the air bag main body on the driver side. At the same time, the detection means detects that the firing pin has moved, which causes the second gas generating means to operate to operate the air bag body on the passenger side. In addition, when installing one air bag main body on the driver side,
This may be attached to the steering wheel, and if another air bag body is provided on the passenger side, it may be attached to the dashboard board.

1 is a schematic sectional view of an air bag apparatus A to which the present invention is applied. The steering wheel 12 in the driver's seat has a hub 16 fixed to the tip of a steering shaft 14. A bracket 18 is fixed to the hub 16, and an inflator 22 is attached to the bracket 18. The acceleration sensor 24 shown in FIG. 2 is arranged in the inflator 22, and the inertia pin 26 causes the firing pin 28 to activate the detonator 32. That is, a compression coil spring 36 is interposed between the flange portion 28A and the sensor case 34, and the tip of the firing pin 28 is biased toward the detonator 32. However, this firing pin 28
The movement is blocked by the engagement of the block 38 with the collar portion 28A, and the tip of the arm 42 protruding from the block 38 corresponds to the inertia body 26. Therefore, when the vehicle deceleration reaches a predetermined value, the inertial body 26 moves in the direction of arrow A to rotate the arm 42 and the block 38 around the pin 44 to release the engagement with the collar portion 28A, and the firing pin 28 is released. It collides with the detonator 32 and the detonator 32 operates. The gas generating agent 46 shown in FIG. 1 is arranged near the detonator 32, and the gas generated from this gas generating agent 46 is stored in the cover 48 in a folded state and is a bag body 52 which is an air bag body. It is designed to send this gas inside. As a result, the bag body 52 is inflated to open the cover 48 and spread toward the front of the occupant. As shown in FIG. 2, contacts 54 and 56 are arranged corresponding to the flange portion 28A of the firing pin 28. These contacts 54, 56 are adapted to be turned on by the conductive collar portion 28A when the firing pin 28 moves to the stroke where it collides with the detonator 32. The contacts 54, 56 are connected, on the one hand, to the steering shaft 14 and, on the other hand, to a rotating ring 64 which is secured to the stearing shaft 14 via an insulator 62 as shown in FIG. Protrusion 6 of this rotating ring 64
4A is in contact with the connection plate 69 fixed to the vehicle body 67. Therefore, the protrusion 64A is always in contact with the connecting plate 69 even when the steering wheel 12 is rotated. Further, the connecting plate 69 is connected to the detonator 74 of the air bag device B on the passenger side by a wire 72. The steering shaft 14 is connected to the detonator 74 via a wire 75 and a power supply 76. Therefore, when the firing pin 28 turns on the contacts 54 and 56 on the driver's side, the detonator 74 on the passenger's side is actuated and the gas generating agent 77 on the passenger's side is activated.
Is designed to operate. On the passenger side as well, the bag 78 is arranged in the instrument panel with the same configuration as the driver's side. In addition, the rotating ring 64
In addition to the slip ring described above, any configuration can be applied as long as the wirings 72 and 75 can be led out from the rotating steering wheel to the air bag B. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In the normal vehicle traveling state, the block 38 engages with the collar portion 28A to hold the firing pin 28 in a state of being separated from the detonator 32, as shown in FIG. When a sudden deceleration acts on the vehicle, the inertial body 26 moves in the direction of arrow A to rotate the arm 42 and the block 38 around the pin 44 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. As a result, the block 38 is disengaged from the brim portion 28A, and the firing pin 28 is linearly moved by the urging force of the compression coil spring 36 to move the detonator 3
Collision to 2. As a result, the detonator 32 operates and the gas generating agent 46 generates a large amount of gas to inflate the bag body 52. On the other hand, at the same time, the collar portion 28A contacts the contacts 54, 56.
Contact between the contact points 54 and 56 is turned on, and this signal is transmitted through the wires 72 and 75 to the detonator 74 on the passenger side.
Is transmitted to. As a result, the detonator 74 is actuated and the gas generating agent 77 inflates the bag body 78 as in the driver's seat. As a result, the bags 52 and 78 of the driver's seat and the passenger's seat are inflated at the same time, and only one air bag device does not operate. The contact for detecting the movement of the firing pin is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration, but may be one for detecting the moving state of the firing pin, or may be provided outside the sensor case 34.

As described above, in the air bag system according to the present invention as defined in claims 1 and 2, a plurality of air bag bodies are simultaneously actuated by a single mechanically actuated sensor when the vehicle decelerates rapidly. It has an excellent effect of being able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an acceleration sensor used in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A, B Air bagging device 12 Steering wheel 14 Steering shaft 26 Inertia 28 Firing pin (detection means) 32 Detonator (first gas generating means) 74 Detonator (second gas generating means) 46 Gas generating agent (first) Gas generating means) 77 Gas generating agent (second gas generating means) 52 Bag body (one air bag body) 78 Bag body (other air bag body) 54 Contact (detection means) 56 Contact (detection means)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An air bag device for operating a plurality of air bag bodies with a single acceleration sensor, comprising : an inertial body that inertially moves when the vehicle is rapidly decelerating ; and a firing pin that moves by inertially moving the inertial body. 、 Operated by the movement of this firing pin
First gas generating means for generating gas to operate one air bag body, and detection for detecting movement of the firing pin
Means and a detection signal from this detection means to operate to generate gas.
And a second gas generating means for activating the other air bag body, and an air bag device. 2. The one air bag body is installed on the driver's seat side.
In addition to the above, the other air bag body is installed on the passenger side.
And, airbag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a.