JP2846932B2 - Collision energy absorption structure on the side of the vehicle body - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a collision energy absorbing structure of a vehicle body side portion for protecting an occupant from an impact force of a side collision of a vehicle.

(Prior Art) In recent years, from the viewpoint of occupant protection in the event of a side collision of a vehicle, an airbag unit having an airbag is arranged inside each side door and provided on the side door or a corresponding side sill or the like. When a side collision of the vehicle is detected by the side collision sensor, the signal from the side collision sensor activates the inflator of the airbag unit to deploy the airbag in the vehicle interior, thereby reducing the collision energy for the occupant. Attempts have been made to protect the occupant by absorbing it with the airbag (for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-11).
No. 7957).

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the case where the airbag units are arranged on both sides of the vehicle body as described above, based on the behavior of the occupant at the time of the side collision, the deployment state of each airbag is as follows. There are two requirements.

One of them concerns the deployment timing between the airbag unit arranged on the left side of the vehicle body and the airbag unit arranged on the right side of the vehicle body. That is, for example, considering a case where another vehicle collides with one vehicle body side portion, when an occupant is seated on a seat on the side of the collision, the occupant is in contact with a vehicle body member (for example, a side door) on the side portion. Because of the short distance between the vehicle and the vehicle, the vehicle is swung toward the collision side by the inertial force at the time of the collision, so that it contacts the vehicle body member in a very short time (about 15 to 20 msec) after the collision occurs. Also, the occupant may be once swung to the collision side and then moved toward the side on the anti-collision side, in which case the distance to the body member on the anti-collision side is long. For this reason, the time from the occurrence of the collision to the contact with the collision is longer than the contact on the collision side.

Therefore, it can be said that it is effective to deploy the collision-side airbag and the non-collision-side airbag with a predetermined time difference in improving the occupant protection performance.

As a method for deploying the airbags on the left and right sides with a time lag, a delay circuit is generally provided in a control system of an inflator. There is a problem that the configuration is complicated and the cost is increased, and it is not always a preferable means.

Another is the size of the airbag when it is deployed. That is, the contact position of the occupant on the collision side at the time of the collision is almost constant due to the short interval between the occupant and the time from the collision to the contact, but the contact position on the non-collision side is the same. Is long and the direction of movement toward the anti-collision side is not constant since it varies depending on the collision direction. For this reason, the airbag on the collision side may have a relatively small volume when deployed, but the airbag on the anti-collision side may have a relatively large volume when deployed relatively from the viewpoint of reliably protecting the occupant whose contact position is not fixed. The volume is what is required.

In view of such a demand, the present invention enables the airbags on the collision side and the non-collision side to be deployed at an appropriate timing and in a suitable deployed state with a simple configuration, so that the occupant during a side collision can be deployed. The present invention has been made to propose a collision energy absorbing structure on the side of the vehicle body for further improving the protection performance of the vehicle.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In the present invention, as a specific means for solving such problems, air that is deployed on both sides of the vehicle body toward the interior of the vehicle at the time of a side collision of the vehicle so that an occupant can be restrained. In a vehicle provided with a bag and a side collision sensor that detects the occurrence of a side collision of the vehicle and outputs a deployment signal to the airbag, each of the airbags is set in a small deployed state and a deployed volume more than the small deployed state. Is configured to be able to take two large and small deployment forms in a large deployment state, while the low collision sensitivity sensor outputs an airbag deployment signal in response to a side collision using the side collision sensors provided on both sides of the vehicle body. It consists of a combination of a side collision sensor and a high-sensitivity side collision sensor that is more sensitive to side collisions than the low-sensitivity side collision sensor, and the high-sensitivity side collision sensor arranged on one vehicle body side is Placed A deployment signal in a small deployment state is output to the airbag, whereas a low-sensitivity side collision sensor outputs a deployment signal in a large deployment state to the airbag disposed on the other vehicle body side. The signal output system is set as described above.

(Operation) With this configuration, on the collision side, the airbag is deployed in a small deployment state in response to the deployment signal from the high-sensitivity collision sensor, and on the anti-collision side, from the low-sensitivity collision sensor. , The airbag is deployed to a large deployment state.

In this case, the deployment of the airbag on the collision side is started early after the occurrence of the side collision, and since the volume at the time of deployment is small, the deployment can be completed in a shorter time and the occupant can be restrained.

On the other hand, after the side collision occurs, the anti-collision-side airbag starts to be deployed later than the collision-side airbag, and the deployment is delayed by a predetermined time from the collision-side airbag because the volume at the time of deployment is large. As a result, the occupant can be restrained under an appropriate deployed state.

Further, on the anti-collision side, since the volume at the time of deployment is large, it is possible to more reliably restrain and protect the occupant whose throwing direction is not constant.

(Effects of the Invention) Therefore, according to the collision energy absorbing structure of the vehicle body side according to the present invention, the airbags disposed on both sides of the vehicle body can take two deployment forms, a large deployment state and a small deployment state. That the side collision sensors arranged on each side are composed of a high sensitivity side collision sensor and a low sensitivity side collision sensor, and that in the event of a side collision, the high sensitivity side collision sensor on the collision side is deployed in the small size of the collision side airbag. The simple configuration of using the low-sensitivity side collision sensor as a large deployment state signal of the anti-collision-side airbag as a state signal, and deploying the collision-side airbag as quickly as possible after a collision, and The airbag can be deployed in a large deployment state with a delay of a predetermined time after the collision and can be deployed in a large deployment state. Thus, the effect that the occupant protection performance is improved can be obtained.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a vehicle 1 having a vehicle body side collision energy absorbing structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle 1 is a so-called four-door type vehicle provided with a total of four side doors 14 to 17, two on each of the left and right sides of the body 11.
The driver's seat 3 and the passenger's seat 4 correspond to the right front side door 14 and the left front side door 16 and the right rear side door 15 and the left The rear seats 5 are arranged so as to correspond to the rear side doors 17, respectively.

Each of the seats 3 to 5 has a seat sensor 30 to 34 for detecting a seat of the occupant and outputting a seat signal, and seat belt sensors 61 to 65 for detecting that the occupant is wearing a seat belt. Each of the side doors 14 to 17 has an airbag unit 21 to 24 described later, and a side that detects the occurrence of a side collision of the vehicle 1 and outputs a deployment signal to the airbag unit 21 to 24. Protrusion sensor 25
A, 25B, -28A, 28B are provided respectively.

(Configuration of Airbag Unit) The airbag units 21 to 24 all have the same configuration. Therefore, here, the right airbag unit 14 is disposed on the right front side door 14 with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. This will be described taking the front airbag unit 21 as an example.
and a side door 14 composed of an inner panel 14b and a bolt tightened while being housed in a recess 19a provided in a part of an armrest portion 19 formed on the upper part of the inner panel 14b so as to protrude into the vehicle interior. A first casing provided with a first inflator 35 having a large gas generating ability.
The large expanded airbag 37A housed in the folded state in the 43 and the second expanded volume housed in the second casing 44 provided with the second inflator 36 having a small gas generating capacity have the large expanded volume described above. Airbag 37
It is composed of a small airbag 37B smaller than A. And this airbag unit 21 is a large airbag 37A
The small airbag 37B and the small airbag 37B are mounted side by side in the recess 19a of the armrest portion 19, and the outside thereof is covered by a door trim 18 attached to the inner panel 14b. The position of the door trim 18 corresponding to the airbag unit 21 is the lid portion 20 that can be deployed by the inflation force of the airbags 37A and 37B.
It has been.

Each airbag 37A, 37B of this airbag unit 21
When a side collision occurs, the above-mentioned inflators 35 and 36 operate in response to a deployment signal from a side collision sensor to be described later to generate gas from them, and receive a gas pressure thereof to respectively perform a large deployment state (first (Refer to the reference numeral 37A 'in FIG. 3)
And in a small developed state (see reference numeral 37B 'shown by a chain line in FIG. 3).

(Configuration of Side Impact Sensor) In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, two side impact sensors described later are provided for each of the side doors 14 to 17, respectively.
A total of eight are provided. That is, the right front side door 14
Has a pair of side collision sensors 25A and 25B on the right rear side door 1.
5 includes a pair of side collision sensors 26A and 26B, the left front side door 16 includes a pair of side collision sensors 27A and 27B, and the left rear side door 17 includes a pair of side collision sensors 28A and 28B.

And each of these side collision sensors 25A, 25B to 28A, 28B
As shown in the drawing, the lateral force sensor has a conventionally known structure, and is connected to one of two side collision sensors 25A and 25B arranged on the right front side door 14. The structure of the side collision sensor 25A is briefly described taking the sensor 25A as an example.
And a pair of left and right electrode plates 55, 5 arranged in a mutually facing state.
And 6. The ball 53 is always held rearward (in the direction of arrow A) by the magnetic force of the magnet 54 disposed behind the ball 53. However, when a lateral force is applied in the direction of arrow A by a side collision. , Can move in the direction of arrow B against the magnetic force due to its inertial force. On the other hand, the respective electrode plates 55 and 56 are arranged in a position facing away from the ball 53 and in a non-contact state with each other (i.e., in a power-cut state), as shown in the drawing, in the normal state. When the ball 53 moves in the direction of arrow B due to its inertia due to a side collision and comes into contact with the respective electrode plates 55 and 56, the respective electrode plates 55 and 56 are electrically connected to each other via the ball 53. To detect the occurrence of a side collision and output a deployment signal to each of the airbag units 21 to 24.

By the way, in this embodiment, two side collision sensors are set as one set as described above, and these are arranged in each side door. In this case, the present invention is applied in this embodiment. The side collision detection sensitivity is constant between the two side collision sensors 25A and 25B, the side collision sensors 26A and 26B, the side collision sensors 27A and 27B, and the side collision sensors 28A and 28B. For example, in this embodiment, one side collision sensor 25A, 26A,
27A and 28A are high-sensitivity side collision sensors, and the other side collision sensors 25B, 26B, 27B and 28B are low-sensitivity side collision sensors.

Here, the high-sensitivity side collision sensor is a sensor configured to be turned on with a smaller lateral force when a side collision occurs. In this embodiment, the ON operation is performed about 5 msec after the side collision occurs. Things are assumed. Further, the low-sensitivity side collision sensor is a sensor that takes a relatively long time to detect a lateral force at the time of a side collision.
It is assumed that the ON operation is performed in about 200 msec.

As a method of giving the side collision sensor a sensitivity difference, for example, a method of changing the magnetic force of the magnet 54, a method of changing the ball 53
The method of changing the weight of the ball 53, the method of changing the force of the air acting on the gap between the ball 53 and the case 51, the size of the so-called air damper or the distance that the air damper acts, and the method of changing the distance between the ball 53 and the electrode plates 55 and 56 Various methods such as a changing method are conceivable.

(Control System of Each Airbag Unit) Subsequently, each airbag unit configured as described above
The control systems 21 to 24 will be described.

The basic idea of the airbag control in this embodiment is that the airbag units 21 to 24 arranged in the side doors 14 to 17 are simply operated by the respective side collision sensors arranged corresponding thereto. First, a pair of side collision sensors arranged on each side door, that is, a signal output system of the high-sensitivity side collision sensor and the low-sensitivity side collision sensor are separated, and the side collision While the small airbag of the airbag unit on the side where the sensor is provided is deployed and operated, the signal of the low-sensitivity side collision sensor is transmitted to the large side of the airbag unit provided on the side door opposite to the side door. The large airbag is output to the airbag side to operate the deployment.

Specifically, for example, the high-sensitivity side collision sensor 25A arranged on the right front side door 14 is used as a deployment signal of the small airbag 37B of the right front airbag unit 21,
The low-sensitivity side collision sensor 25B is connected to the left front side door 16
Is output as a deployment signal of the large airbag 39A of the left front airbag unit 23 arranged at the left side.
On the contrary, the high sensitivity side collision sensor 27A arranged on the left front side door 17 is used as a deployment signal of the small airbag 39B of the left front airbag unit 23, and the low sensitivity side collision sensor 27B is provided on the right side. The signal is output as a deployment signal of the large airbag 37A of the right front airbag unit 21 disposed on the front side door 14.
The same applies to the control of the airbag units 22 and 24 provided on the right rear side door 15 and the left rear side door 17 located on the rear seat 5 side.

Therefore, for example, when another vehicle 2 collides with the right side portion of the vehicle 1 as shown in FIG. 1, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the right front air located on the collision side The small airbag 37B of the bag unit 21 is quickly deployed by receiving a signal from the high-sensitivity side collision sensor 25A provided on the right front side door 14, while the large airbag 37B of the left front airbag unit 23 located on the side opposite to the collision side. The bag 39A is a low-sensitivity side collision sensor 25B provided on the right front side door 14 described above.
Is deployed after a predetermined time delay from the small airbag 37B.

The adoption of such an airbag unit control method requires that the airbag on the collision side be deployed as early as possible after the occurrence of the collision to restrain and protect the occupant swinging to the collision side due to the inertia of the collision. On the contrary, the airbag on the anti-collision side has an optimal restraint by deploying the airbag from the place where the time until the collision of the occupant is longer than the collision side is delayed, and deploys as large as possible. Therefore, it is based on the idea that an occupant whose throwing direction is not constant can function properly. Therefore, by adopting such a control method, the occupant protection performance in the event of a side collision is further improved.

Although the basic concept of the occupant protection in this embodiment is as described above, in this embodiment, the airbag units are further deployed and controlled in accordance with the occupant's seating state, so that accurate occupant protection without waste is achieved. As shown in FIG. 7, each of the side collision sensors 25A, 25B to 28A, 2
In addition to 8B, the seat sensors 30 to 34 and the seat belt sensors 61 to 65 are employed, and all output signals from these sensors are input to the control unit 10.

The control of the airbag corresponding to the seating state of the occupant in this manner will be described by taking the deployment of each airbag of the right front airbag unit 21 and the left front airbag unit 23 at the time of a side collision to the right front side as an example. This will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, in the item of the airbag deployment state, ○ indicates that the airbag should be deployed, and x indicates that the airbag should not be deployed. In the item of the seated state of the occupant, を indicates that the passenger is seated without wearing the seat belt. , ◎ indicates a state in which the seat belt is fastened and the user is seated, and no mark indicates that the occupant is not seated.

In the mode, the occupant is seated only in the driver's seat and the seat belt is not fastened. In this case, since the occupant is likely to be thrown to the left side due to a side collision, both airbags are deployed. Let it. In this case, the right airbag is the small airbag 37B and the left airbag is the large airbag 37A, and it goes without saying that they are deployed with a predetermined time difference.

The mode is when the occupant is seated with only the driver's seat on the seat belt.In this case, there is little possibility that the occupant will be thrown to the left and collide, so only the right airbag is deployed. And do not deploy the left airbag.

The mode is a case where the occupant is seated in a state where the seat belt is not fastened to both the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. In this case, both airbags are deployed.

In the mode, the occupant is seated in both the driver's seat and the passenger seat, but the seat belt is worn only by the occupant on the driver's seat side. In this case, the airbags on both sides are deployed together.

The mode is the reverse of the above, and in this case also, the airbags on both sides are respectively deployed.

In the mode, the occupant is seated with both the driver's seat and the passenger's seat fastened with seat belts. In this case, both airbags are deployed together.

The mode is when the occupant is seated with the seat belt only on the front passenger seat, and the mode is when the occupant is seated without the seat belt only on the front passenger seat. Also deploys the airbags on both sides respectively.

In the case where the airbag unit can take a mode in both the large airbag state and the small airbag state by controlling the deployment state of one airbag as in a second embodiment described later, For example, in the above-described modes, since the occupant is unlikely to come into contact with the left airbag, the left airbag may be deployed in a small airbag state.

As described above, by performing deployment control of the airbag unit in combination with the seat sensor and the seat belt sensor in addition to the side collision sensor, an occupant protection mode adapted to an actual collision state or occupant behavior is taken. And provide more accurate occupant protection.

Second Embodiment FIG. 9 shows an airbag unit constituting a vehicle body side collision energy absorbing structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
66 is shown. The airbag unit 66 includes a first bag 67A in the first chamber 68A of a casing 68 including a first chamber 68A having a small volume and a second chamber 68B having a large volume, and the first bag 67A The first inflator which accommodates the second bags 67B having a larger volume when deployed than the first bags 67A in a folded state and generates a small amount of gas.
An inflator 69 including a second inflator 69A and a second inflator 69B that generates a large amount of gas is provided.

The two bags 67A and 67B constitute one airbag 67 continuously and integrally, and in a state of being housed in the casing 68, a continuous portion thereof is formed with respect to the casing 68. Fastened by fastener 70. The fastener 70 comes off when the first bag 67A reaches the maximum inflated state, and allows the first bag 67A to be integrated with the second bag 67B.

Further, the inflator 69 has a configuration in which the first inflator 69A is activated first by receiving one deployment signal, and the second inflator 69B is subsequently activated. A signal from a high-sensitivity side collision sensor provided on a side door provided with the inflator 69 and a signal from a low-sensitivity side collision sensor provided on another side door facing the side door can be input. ing. The signals from the two side collision sensors are output when another vehicle collides with the side door on which the airbag unit 66 is disposed (ie,
When the side door is on the collision side), a signal from the high sensitivity side collision sensor provided on the side door is input, and when the side door is on the opposite side of the collision, the signal is provided on the other side door. The signal is input according to the collision state so that the signal from the high sensitivity side collision sensor is input.

Therefore, for example, when the airbag unit 66 side becomes the collision side, the inflator 69 receives the deployment signal from the high-sensitivity side collision sensor provided on the side door.
Deploys quickly after a collision. In this case, first, the first inflator 69A is actuated by the input of the above-mentioned expansion signal, and the first bag 67A is expanded (see a chain line 67B 'in FIG. 9). The deployment of the first bag 67A realizes protection of the occupant immediately after the collision.

Further, after a predetermined time delay, the second inflator 69B is operated, and the second bag 67B starts to expand (refer to a chain line symbol 67B 'in FIG. 9), and finally, a chain line symbol 67' shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, both bags are unified and unified.

On the other hand, when the airbag unit 66 side is on the opposite side of the collision, the inflator 69 receives a deployment signal from the low-sensitivity side collision sensor provided on the other side door (that is, the side door on the collision side). It deploys at a later timing than in the above case, and when the occupant is thrown out on the anti-collision side, this is restrained and protected.

That is, in this embodiment, similarly to the case of the first embodiment, the deployment timing and the deployment volume of the airbag are made different between the collision side and the non-collision side, so that the occupant at the time of a side collision can be used. Precise protection corresponding to the behavior is made possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a vehicle having a vehicle body side collision energy absorbing structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a structural explanatory view of a side collision sensor, and FIG. 5 is an expanded view of the airbag unit. FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a control system diagram of each airbag unit, FIG. 8 is an operation characteristic diagram thereof, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a structural explanatory view of an airbag unit applied to the second embodiment. 1 vehicle 2 other vehicle 3 driver seat 4 passenger seat 5 rear seat 10 control unit 11 vehicle body 14 to 17 side door 18 door trim 19 armrest 20 Lid 21-24 Airbag unit 25A-28A High-sensitivity side collision sensor 25B-28B Low-sensitivity side collision sensor 30-34 Seating sensor 37A-40A Large airbag 37B 40B …… Small airbag

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An airbag which is deployed toward the interior of a vehicle at the time of a side collision of a vehicle and is capable of restraining an occupant on both sides of the vehicle body, detects the occurrence of a side collision of the vehicle, and outputs a deployment signal to the airbag. A vehicle provided with a side collision sensor, wherein each of the airbags is configured so as to be able to take two deployment forms, a small deployment state and a large deployment state having a larger deployment volume than the small deployment state. On the other hand, the side collision sensors provided on both sides of the vehicle body are a low-sensitivity side collision sensor that outputs an airbag deployment signal in response to the side collision, and a reaction to the side collision is more sensitive than the low-sensitivity side collision sensor. The high sensitivity side collision sensor arranged on one side of the vehicle body outputs a deployment signal in a small deployment state to the airbag arranged on the side. Low on this The collision energy of the vehicle body is characterized in that a signal output system of the degree side collision sensor is set so as to output a deployment signal in a large deployment state to an airbag arranged on the other vehicle body side. Absorbing structure.