JP3487248B2 - Airbag device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an airbag device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a case having an upward opening is arranged inside an instrument panel, an air bag and an inflator are housed in the case, and an air bag is inflated on the upper surface of the instrument panel. There is an airbag device in which an opening is provided and the opening is closed by a door. In such an airbag device, at the time of a vehicle collision, the airbag begins to expand due to the gas emitted from the inflator, the expansion pressure causes the door to be pushed open, and the airbag bulges into the vehicle compartment through the opening of the instrument panel upper surface. By this, the occupant is received and protected.

In such an airbag device, in order to control the inflation behavior of the airbag, the flow of gas ejected from the inflator may be controlled using a diffuser. The diffuser is generally a metal member arranged in the case so as to surround the inflator, and has a plurality of gas outlets on its peripheral surface. The gas emitted from the inflator is introduced into the airbag from the plurality of outlets. To send to.

[0004]

In the metal diffuser described above, it is impossible to provide the diffuser so as to project from the opening of the instrument panel. Therefore, in this case, the gas flow only in the case is prevented. Stay in control.

Therefore, conventionally, there is a case where an inner bag is provided inside the airbag and the gas generated by the inflator is supplied from the inner bag to the airbag to control the inflation behavior of the airbag.

According to the present invention, in the case where the inner bag is arranged in the air bag as described above, the gas can be relatively evenly supplied from the inner bag to the upper side and the lower side of the air bag. An object is to provide an airbag device capable of inflating a bag in a similar shape.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An airbag device of the present invention is an airbag device disposed inside an instrument panel, and has a case opened upward and an inflator housed in the case. An airbag that is folded and housed in the case and inflates and deploys from the upper surface of the instrument panel toward the vehicle rear side by the gas emitted from the inflator; and is arranged inside the airbag to control the flow of gas from the inflator. And an inner bag for supplying the air bag to the inside of the airbag, and the inflator is arranged close to the front side of the vehicle in the case, whereby an accommodation space for the airbag is formed on the rear side of the vehicle with respect to the inflator. , The airbag stored in this storage space is folded by being divided into an upper side and a lower side in its inflated shape, In which the distal end portion of the serial bag has been inserted into the insertion portion provided behind the bag front portion a between the upper side of the folded portion and the lower folding portion receiving the passenger in the expansion shape of the airbag is there.

In the airbag device of the present invention, the gas from the inflator first inflates the inner bag, and the gas is supplied from the expanded inner bag into the airbag. Here, since the tip of the inner bag is inserted between the folded portion on the upper side and the folded portion on the lower side of the airbag, the inner bag is evenly distributed from the inflated inner bag to the upper side and the lower side of the airbag. Can be supplied with gas to achieve a similar inflation behavior of the airbag. Especially, the insertion part
Behind a certain part of the front of the bag
Therefore, due to the expansion of the inner bag, a predetermined part of the bag front
It will be in a state of having a pressure, and therefore
Inflate the front part of the bag that receives passengers from the
A similar expansion behavior can be achieved. Also ,
In the present invention, since the inflator and the airbag are arranged in the case with the inflator on the front side of the vehicle and the airbag on the rear side, the control of the similar inflation behavior of the airbag can be achieved more effectively. You can

In the airbag device of the present invention, it is preferable that the inner bag has an upper hole portion for blowing gas to the upper side of the airbag and a lower hole portion for blowing gas to the lower side of the airbag. Thus, the gas can be effectively supplied from the expanded inner bag to the upper side and the lower side of the airbag.

In the airbag apparatus of the present invention, the inner bag is the vehicle rear end of the instrument panel.
It may have an expanded shape that stays on the front side of the vehicle
Yes.

The present invention also provides a method of folding an airbag in such an airbag device.
That is, the airbag folding method of the present invention is a method of folding an airbag in the airbag device, wherein gas is inflated by supplying gas from its mouth into an airbag having an inner bag inside, and the airbag is inflated. Airbags
In the method of pulling up and down while removing the internal gas and folding the upper side and the lower side respectively, when inflating the airbag, the gas supplied from the mouth portion is supplied to either the upper side or the lower side of the airbag. It is characterized in that the tip portion of the inner bag is inserted into the one side of the airbag by spraying toward one side.

According to the airbag folding method of the present invention, since the tip portion of the inner bag can be securely inserted into either one of the upper side and the lower side of the airbag, the airbag has a folded structure. It is possible to set the stable insertion position of the inner bag in.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An airbag device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an airbag device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is the airbag device 10 thereof.
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view when the airbag is inflated, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view thereof.

The airbag device 10 is an airbag device for a passenger seat disposed on the upper surface 1a of the instrument panel 1 in front of the passenger seat of a vehicle, and is located behind the upper surface 1a of the instrument panel 1. A case 12 arranged upward, an airbag 14 folded and housed in the case 12, an inflator 16 as a gas generator housed in the case 12, and a gas generated by the inflator 16 are rectified. And a diffuser 18. A case 1 is provided on the upper surface 1a of the instrument panel.
An opening portion 2 for inflating the airbag 14 into the vehicle compartment is set at a portion facing the opening surface of the door 2. The opening portion 2 is a door 3 that is pushed open by the inflation pressure of the airbag 14. It is blocked. When the door 3 is pushed open, the airbag 14 is configured to inflate and deploy in a space defined by the instrument panel 1, the windshield 4, and the occupant P toward the rear of the vehicle.

The door 3 is a single-opening type door that is opened toward the front side of the vehicle with the front end portion of the vehicle as the hinge portion 5. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the door 3 is provided integrally with the instrument panel 1, and a fragile portion 6 serving as a cleavage portion is provided at the vehicle front end portion, and as shown in FIG. The fragile portion 6 is cleaved by the inflation pressure of the airbag 14 and is opened forward of the vehicle with the hinge portion 5 as a fulcrum.

The case 12 is a shallow metal container having a rectangular horizontal cross section and has a substantially cylindrical shape.
However, it is fixed in the case 12 with its axial direction facing the vehicle width direction.

The inflator 16 is disposed near the occupant side in the case 12, that is, toward the front side of the vehicle, whereby the accommodation space 13 for the airbag 14 is secured on the occupant side with respect to the inflator 16, that is, the rear side of the vehicle. Has been done. More specifically, the inflator 16 is arranged in a state of being close to the side wall and the bottom surface of the case 12 that are opposite to the occupant, and occupies approximately half the space in the case 12 on the front side of the vehicle. The airbag storage space 13 occupies a substantially half space on the vehicle rear side in the case 12, and is formed between the inflator 16 and a side wall of the passenger of the case 12.

The diffuser 18 is a metal plate fixed to the inner wall surface of the case 12 so as to surround the periphery of the inflator 16, and has a peripheral surface for supplying the gas generated by the inflator 16 into the airbag 14. Gas outlet 2
0 is provided. The gas outlet 20 is provided on the upper surface of the diffuser 18 so as to blow out upward, that is, on the opening surface of the case 12, and blows out toward the rear, that is, the storage space 13 of the airbag 14 in the case 12. The rear surface of the diffuser 18 is provided.

The airbag 14 is formed by sewing one or a plurality of base fabrics in a three-dimensional shape, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a substantially rectangular shape for receiving an occupant from a substantially rectangular mouth portion. It has a substantially inverted quadrangular pyramid shape that spreads in an inverted taper shape toward the front part 22 of the. The mouth portion is attached to the peripheral edge portion of the opening of the case 12 via a bag retainer 24 by a fixing means 26 such as a rivet.

Inside the airbag 14, an inner bag 30 for controlling the flow of gas blown from the inflator 16 and supplying the gas into the airbag 14 is disposed. Inner bag 30
The rectangular mouth portion 31 is attached to the opening peripheral edge portion of the case 12 by the bag retainer 24 together with the airbag 14.

The inner bag 30 is sewn into a three-dimensional shape having an upper surface portion 32, a lower surface portion 34, and left and right side surface portions 36 using one or a plurality of base cloths (see FIG. 4). As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the inner bag 30 pops out from the opening 2 of the instrument panel 1 into the vehicle compartment and extends toward the rear of the vehicle along the door 3 whose upper surface 32 is pushed open.
Has a swelling shape that bulges rearwardly of the vehicle beyond the terminal (rear end) 3a and the lower surface portion 34 bulges rearwardly of the vehicle beyond the terminal 2a on the vehicle rear side of the instrument panel opening 2.
In addition, the inner bag 30 has an inflated shape that stays on the vehicle front side with respect to the rear end 1c of the instrument panel 1, that is, the rear surface portion 1b of the instrument panel 1 facing the occupant P, which extends to the rearmost side. There is.

The inner bag 30 includes the upper side 1 of the airbag 14.
4a, the upper hole 40 for blowing gas, and the airbag 14
A lower hole portion 42 that blows out gas is provided on the lower side 14b.

The upper hole portion 40 is provided in the upper surface portion 32 of the inner bag 30, and is provided in a portion of the upper surface portion 32 that bulges rearward of the vehicle beyond the door terminal 3a. Specifically, it is provided in the vicinity of the door terminal 3a in a portion beyond the door terminal 3a. This is to make the inner bag 30 as small as possible while effectively operating the upper hole 40.

The lower hole portion 42 is provided in the lower surface portion 34 of the inner bag 30, and is provided in a portion of the lower surface portion 34 which bulges beyond the instrument panel terminal 2a. Specifically, it is provided in the vicinity of the terminal 2a in a portion beyond the terminal 2a. This is to make the inner bag 30 as small as possible while effectively operating the lower hole portion 42, similarly to the upper hole portion 40.

As shown in FIG. 1, the airbag 14 has an upper side 14a and a lower side 14b in an inflated shape, which are separately folded. In this embodiment, the upper side 1
4a is folded in a bellows shape, and the lower side 14b is folded in a roll shape.

The folded portion of the upper side 14a and the lower side 14b
The folded portion of is stored in the storage space 13 in a state in which the folded portion of the upper side 14a is stacked on the folded portion of the lower side 14b. An insertion portion 29 for inserting the tip portion 30a of the inner bag 30 is formed between these folded portions. The insertion section 29, in detail,
It is set on the upper side 14a of the airbag 14. That is, between the upper and lower folded portions, a space into which the tip portion 30a of the inner bag 30 can be inserted from the side of the inflator 16 is partitioned by the folded bag front portion 22, so that two spaces are provided above and below the folded portion. In this case, the space above it is the insertion portion 29. The insertion portion 29 also includes a predetermined portion 22a of the bag front surface portion 22.
It is set behind (see Figure 2). Then, the tip portion 30a of the inner bag 30 is inserted into the insertion portion 29 from the inflator 16 side. Further, the above-mentioned upper hole portion 40 and lower hole portion 42 are provided in the inserted tip portion 30a.

Here, a method of folding the airbag 14 and the inner bag 30 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5 (a), an inner bag 30 is provided inside.
The mouth portion of the airbag 14 including the air blowing device 5
Attached to the opening of 0, spray nozzle 52 to inner bag 30
Air is supplied to the airbag 14 to inflate the airbag 14. The nozzle 52 is arranged so as to be inclined to the upper side 14a so as to blow air toward the upper side 14a of the airbag 14. As a result, the inner bag 30 has the airbag upper side 14a.
Expands to a biased shape.

The airbag 14 inflated in this way
As shown in FIG. 5B, when the inner bag 30 is pulled up and down while being deflated, the inner bag 30 is in a state in which the tip portion 30a is disposed on the upper side 14a of the airbag 14. At that time, as shown in FIG. 6, the predetermined portion 22a of the front surface portion 22 of the bag is stretched so as to be positioned substantially at the center of the mouth portion of the airbag 14. The length A of the folded portion on the upper side 14a and the length B of the folded portion on the lower side 14b
The ratio of and can be appropriately set depending on the shape of the airbag 14 and the like. Further, since the airbag 14 starts to inflate from the predetermined portion 22a, as will be described later,
The predetermined part 22a is set at a portion to be initially expanded.

When the airbag 14 is stretched, both left and right sides are folded to form a belt-shaped body having a width substantially the same as the opening width of the case 12 in the vehicle width direction. The folding structure on the left and right sides of the airbag 14 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
In order to prevent the left and right folding pieces from overlapping with each other, both side portions may be vertically accordion-folded toward the inside of the airbag 14. Further, a structure may be adopted in which both side parts are alternately folded toward the inside of the airbag so that the left and right folding pieces overlap, and further, the left and right side parts may be folded in a bellows shape.

After the band-shaped body is formed in this manner, the airbag upper side 14a and the airbag lower side 14b are folded.
The upper and lower folding structures are not limited to the above-described upper side 14a being bellows-shaped and the lower side 14b being roll-shaped. It may be bellows-shaped.

By folding in this manner, an inner bag is formed behind the predetermined portion 22a of the bag front portion 22 between the folded portion on the upper side 14a and the folded portion on the lower side 14b of the airbag 14. The tip portion 30a of 30 is inserted. Here, since the inner bag 30 is a small bag that does not fly over the rear end 1c of the instrument panel to the rear of the vehicle, as shown in FIG. 1, the front end portion 30a of the inner bag 30 has an upper airbag side 14a. It does not reach the folding part. The predetermined portion 22a of the insertion portion 29 may be folded in the left-right direction,
It is not folded in the vertical direction and is composed of only one layer.

In the air bag device 10 of the present embodiment having the above-described structure, the gas from the inflator 16 first inflates the inner bag 30 to push up the air bag 14, and as shown in FIGS. The door 3 of the instrument panel 1 is opened, and the airbag 14 bulges into the vehicle compartment through this opening. At that time, the part 2 of the bag front part 22
Since the inner bag 30 is inserted behind 2a, the expanded inner bag 30 causes the part 22a to swell into the vehicle compartment. Therefore, in the airbag 14, the part 22a serves as an initial inflating portion, so that the bag front surface portion 22 that receives the occupant inflates with an internal pressure (a surface tension is applied) from the initial stage of inflation.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the airbag 1
Gas is supplied to the inside of the airbag 14 from the inner bag 30 that has been stably inflated in a state where the vicinity including the mouth portion 4 is filled. The gas is blown from the upper hole portion 40 of the inner bag 30 to the airbag upper side 14a and is blown from the lower hole portion 42 to the airbag lower side 14b. At this time, the tip portion 30a of the inner bag 30 is located on the upper side 14a of the airbag 14.
Since it has been inserted between the folded portion of 1 and the folded portion of the lower side 14b, gas is relatively evenly supplied from the inflated inner bag 30 to the upper side 14a and the lower side 14b of the airbag 14.

From the above, the airbag device 1 of the present embodiment
When it is 0, a similar inflation behavior of the airbag 14 is achieved. In particular, since the inflator 16 is disposed closer to the front side of the vehicle in the case 12 and the airbag 14 is folded and stored on the rear side thereof, the inner bag 30 can be stored at an appropriate position, and the occupant surface of the airbag body 14 can be stored. Can be preferentially expanded. Further, the gas is ejected from the diffuser 18 from two directions, and the gas is spread over the entire inner bag 30 from the initial stage of the inflation and effectively inflated. Therefore, control of the similar inflation behavior of the airbag 14 is achieved more effectively.

[0037]

According to the airbag device of the present invention, the tip portion of the inner bag for supplying gas into the airbag is inserted between the folded portion on the upper side and the folded portion on the lower side of the airbag. Therefore, the gas can be uniformly supplied from the inflated inner bag to the upper side and the lower side of the airbag, and the similar inflation behavior of the airbag can be achieved.

Further, according to the folding method of the airbag of the present invention, the tip portion of the inner bag can be reliably inserted into either the upper side or the lower side of the airbag.
It is possible to set the stable insertion position of the inner bag in the folded structure of the airbag.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an airbag device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the airbag device when the airbag is inflated.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the airbag device when the airbag is inflated.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an inflated shape of an airbag and an inner bag in the airbag device.

5A is a sectional view showing a state in which the airbag is inflated before being folded, and FIG. 5B is a sectional view showing a state in which the airbag is stretched.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the airbag is stretched.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Instrument panel 10 ... Airbag device 12 …… Case 13 ... storage space 14 ... Airbag 14a ... upper side 14b ... bottom side 16 ... Inflator 22 …… Bag front 22a ... predetermined part 29 …… Insertion part 30 ... inner bag 30a ... Tip 40 ... Upper hole 42 ... Lower hole

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60R 21/16-21/32

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An airbag device disposed inside an instrument panel, wherein a case that opens upward, an inflator housed in the case, a foldable housed in the case, and an inflator emits the air. An airbag that is inflated and deployed from the upper surface of the instrument panel toward the vehicle rear side by gas, and an inner bag that is arranged inside the airbag and controls the flow of gas from the inflator to supply the gas into the airbag are provided. The inflator is arranged close to the front side of the vehicle in the case, whereby a storage space for the airbag is formed on the rear side of the vehicle with respect to the inflator, and the airbag stored in the storage space is , The folded shape is divided into an upper side and a lower side in the expanded shape, and the tip portion of the inner bag is a folded portion on the upper side. An airbag device inserted between an upper portion and a folded portion on a lower side and inserted into an insertion portion provided behind a front portion of a bag for receiving an occupant in an inflated shape of the airbag. 2. The air bag according to claim 1, wherein the inner bag has an upper hole portion for blowing gas to an upper side of the airbag and a lower hole portion for blowing gas to a lower side of the airbag. Bag device. 3. A car having an instrument panel as the inner bag.
It has an expanded shape that stays on the front side of the vehicle rather than both rear ends.
Airbag apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the that. 4. A method of folding an airbag in an airbag device according to claim 1, wherein gas is supplied from the mouth portion of the airbag having an inner bag inside. Inflating the inflated airbag, while pulling out the gas inside, and stretching it up and down to fold the upper side and the lower side, respectively, when inflating the airbag, supply the gas supplied from the mouth with the air. A method for folding an airbag, characterized in that the airbag is sprayed toward either the upper side or the lower side and the tip of the inner bag is inserted into the one side of the airbag.