JP2922175B2 - Energy absorption structure on the side of the vehicle - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an energy absorbing structure on the side of a vehicle body, and more particularly to a structure in which an airbag inflated and deployed from a seat absorbs collision energy in a side collision.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an airbag device for an automobile, an airbag that is inflated and deployed from a steering wheel or an instrument panel on a passenger seat side has been used.
Various proposals have been made and put to practical use, which buffer the inertial force applied to the occupant during a frontal collision and prevent the occupant from colliding with a steering wheel, an instrument panel, or the like in a secondary collision.

[0003] In the above airbag device, an ignition device (igniter) is operated based on an output signal from a collision detection sensor mounted on a vehicle body, and air is generated by the pressure of nitrogen gas generated from a gas generator (inflator). 2. Description of the Related Art Solid-type airbag devices that inflate and deploy bags instantaneously are widely used.

[0004] By the way, at the time of a side collision, the upper body of the occupant sitting on the seat on the collision side may collide with the door that has entered the vehicle interior. In other words, at the time of side collision, the door moves to the anti-collision side, and the seat moves to the anti-collision side via the side sill and the floor, so the lower body of the occupant sitting on the seat moves to the anti-collision side with the seat, Since the upper body of the occupant is almost free with respect to the seat,
It moves to the collision side and makes a secondary collision with the door.

Therefore, recently, in order to protect an occupant in the event of a side collision, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-117957, an ignition device, a gas generator, an airbag and the like are provided in an armrest of a door. The airbag unit is assembled, a collision sensor is installed in the door or side sill, and in a side collision, the ignition device is activated at a predetermined timing so that the airbag fully deploys immediately before the occupant touches the door, and the fully deployed air There has also been proposed an airbag device in which the upper body of an occupant is received by a bag to prevent a secondary collision with a door or the like.

[0006]

In the airbag device described in the above publication, the airbag unit is provided in the armrest of the door, so that when the seat is slid in the front-rear direction, the positions of the two are relatively shifted. Therefore, it is not preferable.

It is also required that the airbag be inflated and deployed quickly and reliably. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an energy absorbing structure of a vehicle body side portion capable of effectively preventing a secondary collision of an occupant in a side collision.

[0008]

A solution of the present invention is to provide a side collision airbag device which is deployed between a side wall portion of a vehicle body constituting a vehicle body side portion and an occupant on a seat slidable in the front-rear direction. A side collision detection sensor that detects a side collision with the vehicle body, an inflator that operates based on a signal from the side collision detection sensor, and the inflator integrally fixed to the inflator. And an airbag unit formed of an integral body of the airbag which is deployed by the operation of the airbag. The airbag unit is housed integrally in a housing portion formed in the seat pad of a seat including a seat pad and a seat skin covering the seat pad, and the seat is located in a deployment direction of the airbag. A fragile portion is formed at the seat pad portion of the above, and a broken portion is formed at a position corresponding to the fragile portion on the seat skin.

[0009]

In the energy absorbing structure for the vehicle body side according to the present invention, the output from the side collision detection sensor is received and the airbag provided in the seat is inflated and deployed at the time of a side collision. The airbag can be reliably deployed, and the relative positional relationship between the airbag and the occupant hardly changes, so that the occupant can be reliably received.

Further, since the airbag easily inflates and deploys through the fragile portion of the seat pad of the seat and the broken portion of the seat skin, the airbag can be quickly and reliably deployed from the seat.

Further, since the airbag unit made of an integral part of the inflator and the airbag is stored in the storage portion formed in the seat pad of the seat, the airbag unit can be stored in the seat even if the airbag unit is stored in the seat. Do not feel the existence of

[0012]

According to the energy absorbing structure on the side of the vehicle body according to the present invention, the airbag installed in the seat is inflated and deployed in the event of a side collision in response to the output from the side collision detection sensor. Even so, the airbag can be reliably deployed, and the relative positional relationship between the airbag and the occupant hardly changes, so that the occupant can be reliably received.

Further, since the airbag is easily inflated and deployed through the fragile portion of the seat pad of the seat and the broken portion of the skin of the seat, the airbag can be quickly and reliably deployed from the seat.

Further, even when the airbag is stored in the seat, the presence of the airbag is not felt, and the passenger does not feel uncomfortable.

As described above, it is possible to provide an energy absorbing structure on the side of the vehicle body that can effectively prevent the secondary collision of the occupant in a side collision.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an automobile airbag apparatus for further improving the safety for a front passenger in a side collision.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the airbag device comprises two sets of side airbag units (hereinafter referred to as side collision units) provided inside the left and right front seats 1 near the left end and the right end. 2) and the left and right 1 which are respectively provided at substantially the center of the seat cushion 9 of the left and right front seats 1.
A pair of sheet sensors 3 and 4, a pair of left and right first impact detection sensors 5 and 6 respectively mounted on the left and right doors 10, and a pair of left and right second impact detection sensors 7 respectively mounted on the left and right side sills・ 8 is provided.

The side collision unit 2 will be described. The side collision unit 2 is installed in the left and right front seats 1 near the left end and the right end, respectively. Of the front seat 1 provided near the left end will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, a long and narrow accommodation portion 12 is formed in the front and rear direction in the rear half of the seat cushion 9 near the left end, and is accommodated in the lower half of the seat back 13 near the left end. A vertically elongated storage section 14 is formed to be continuous with the section 12, and a casing 15 that opens to the front half of the storage section 12 is provided inside a lower portion of the seat cushion 9,
A lower end surface of the casing 15 is fixed to a frame-shaped seat cushion frame 16, and fixed plates 17 and 18 are fixed to a rear end surface of the rear half of the housing portion 12 and a rear end surface of the housing portion 14. The fixed plate 18 is connected to a hollow pipe-shaped seat back frame 21 via a connecting rod 20.

The bag-shaped airbag 22 is provided in both storage sections 12.1.
4 is accommodated in a state of being folded in a substantially L-shape,
The outer peripheral portion at the base end of the airbag 22 is fixed in a substantially airtight manner over the fixing plates 17 and 18 and the casing 15, and the gas generated in the casing 15 is instantaneously generated by the reaction between the gas generating agent and the flame-enhancing agent. A gas generator 23 is accommodated therein, and a firing device 24 for generating heat by energization and reacting the gas generating agent with the flame-enhancing agent is provided inside the gas generator 23. Bag 22
A plurality of vent holes (not shown) for discharging the gas inside are formed, and when the ignition device 24 is energized, the gas generating agent and the flammable agent react and a large amount of gas is instantaneously output from the gas generator 23. Is generated, and this gas is supplied into the airbag 22. Incidentally, the reaction speed of the gas generating agent and the inflammation agent, the capacity of the air bag 22 and the opening area of the vent hole are, for example, about 10 msec after the ignition device 24 is activated.
Are set to predetermined values so that they are fully developed.

A pair of left and right lids 25a are formed integrally with the pad member 25 of the seat cushion 9 above the housing portion 12 so that the airbag 22 can be deployed from the front seat 1. Is closed via a skin 26 of the seat cushion 9, and a substantially T-shaped perforation 27 is formed on the skin 26 to the vicinity of the bent portion of the airbag 22 as shown in FIG. A pair of left and right lids 28a is formed integrally with the pad member 28 of the seat back 13, and the lid 28a is closed via a skin 29 of the seat back 22, and the skin 29 has a substantially T-shaped perforation 30.
Is formed up to the vicinity of the bent portion of the airbag 22, and the airbag 22 breaks the skins 26 and 29 along the perforations 27 and 30 by the gas generated from the gas generator 23, and FIG.
As shown by the imaginary line in FIG.

Each of the shock detection sensors 5 to 8 is an existing well-known acceleration-sensitive sensor. As shown in FIG. 1, the first shock detection sensors 5 and 6 have front and rear ends connected to a door outer panel 31. The second impact detection sensors 7 and 8 are fixed to substantially the center of the vertical wall portion of the side sill 11 in the front-rear direction, and the first impact detection sensors 5 and 6 are fixed to the substantially central portion of the outer end surface of the reinforcing member 32 oriented in the direction. The sensitivity is set relatively low, and when the impact force at the time of collision exceeds a predetermined value, the ON operation is performed.
The impact detection sensors 7 and 8 are set to have relatively high sensitivity, and are turned ON even with a small impact force. Incidentally, the impact force at the time of the side collision is detected by the impact detection sensor 5 via the door outer panel 31 or the like.
, The impact detection sensors 5 to 8 are turned ON about 10 msec after the side collision.

The seat sensors 3 and 4 are turned on when the occupant sits on the seat cushion 9.

As shown in FIG. 7, the first shock detection sensor 5
6 is connected in series to the second impact detection sensors 7 and 8, respectively.
Left impact detection sensors 5 and 7 and right impact detection sensor 6
8 is connected in parallel, the left and right sheet sensors 3.4 are connected in series to the impact detection sensors 7.8, and the left sheet sensor 3 is connected in series with the heater 24A of the pair of left firing devices 24 connected in parallel. The heater 24B of the pair of right firing devices 24 connected in parallel to the right seat sensor 4
Are connected in series.

Next, the operation of the airbag device will be described.

When the impact detection sensor 5.7 or 6.8 is turned ON due to a side collision, a pair of airbags 22 installed in the front seat 1 on the side where the occupant is seated are moved.
The occupant is moved to the anti-collision side while the upper body of the occupant moving toward the collision side is restrained by the front seat 1 moving to the anti-collision side, and the inertia force applied to the occupant is reduced, while expanding and deploying to the left and right sides of the occupant. Thus, the relative speed between the collision side door 10 and the occupant is reduced, and the secondary collision with the collision side door 10 and the collision between the occupants are reliably prevented.

Further, since the airbag 22 is provided over the seat cushion 9 and the seat back 13, the airbag 22 can be reliably deployed even if the door 10 is deformed. Since the relative positional relationship of the occupants hardly fluctuates, the occupant can be reliably received.

As described above, the occupant is restrained to the front seat 1 by the airbag 22 inflated and deployed from the front seat 1 to the left and right sides of the occupant, so that the occupant is reliably received and the inertial force applied to the occupant is effectively buffered. Thus, the occupant is moved to the anti-collision side, and the secondary collision with the door 10 or the like on the collision side and the collision between the occupants can be reliably prevented.

Further, the airbag 22 is used for the front seat 1.
The airbag 22 can be reliably deployed even if the door 10 is deformed due to a side collision.

In this embodiment, the side collision unit 2 of the type that generates a gas by reacting a gas generating agent and a flame enhancer is applied. However, an air bag of a type that generates a gas by another method is used. The same applies to units.

The airbag device can be applied to a rear seat in the same manner as described above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an automobile, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cutaway perspective view of a main part of a front seat, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of a front seat, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of an airbag device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Front seat 5.6: First impact detection sensor 7.8: Second impact detection sensor 9: Seat cushion 13: Seat back 22: Air bag 23: Gas generator (inflator) 24: Fire device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60R 21/16-21/32 B60N 2/42 A47C 7/02-7/48

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle body side wall and a vehicle occupant constituting a vehicle body side.
Airbag device for side collision deployed between
Energy on the side of the vehicle body mounted on a slidable seat
In the absorption structure, a side collision detection sensor that detects a side collision with a vehicle body, and an infra- structure that operates based on a signal from the side collision detection sensor.
And the inflator integrally fixed to the inflator.
From the integrated airbag that is deployed by the operation of the air conditioner
An airbag unit, the airbag unit comprising a seat pad and the seat pad.
Of the sheet consisting of
Is integrally stored in the storage section formed in the
Seat pack of the seat located in the deployment direction of the airbag
The vulnerable part is formed in the seat part, and the vulnerable part
Vehicle body characterized by forming a break at a corresponding position
Energy absorption structure on the side.