JP3897917B2 - Crew protection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an occupant protection device that protects an occupant by deploying an airbag at a timing according to the occupant's sitting posture, for example, in the event of a vehicle collision.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As this type of conventional occupant protection device, for example, there is an occupant protection device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-1324 shown in FIG. 5, and its schematic configuration will be described below.
In other words, the acceleration generated by the collision is detected by the acceleration sensor 1, the acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor 1 is integrated twice by the first and second integration circuits 2 and 3, and the displacement amount is obtained. The speed is obtained using the integration circuit 2 and the first coefficient circuit 4, and further the acceleration multiplied by the coefficient is obtained using the second coefficient circuit 5, and the displacement after a predetermined time is obtained by adding these displacement amount, speed and acceleration. The amount is predicted, and the airbag is deployed by supplying an ignition signal to the detonator 7 via the adder circuit 6 when the predicted displacement amount reaches a predetermined position.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
For drivers whose seating posture, seat slide amount, etc. are determined to some extent as described above, there is no significant difference in the distance from the surface when the airbag is fully deployed to the initial position of the occupant's head. A method of deploying the airbag by predicting the displacement amount of the head of the occupant is established.
However, when trying to adapt this method to a passenger seated in the passenger seat, the person sitting in the passenger seat can fold the legs according to their preference, recline at a large angle and lie down, There is a problem that the initial value of the head of the head is greatly different and the above prediction method cannot be adopted.
[0004]
Therefore, the present invention has been made paying attention to the above-mentioned problems. For example, the position of the head of an occupant from a vehicle, for example, from an instrument panel is measured every predetermined time, and after a predetermined time from the actually measured value. An object of the present invention is to supply an ignition current to the detonator at an appropriate timing so as to predict the position and to deploy the airbag.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the first aspect of the occupant protection device, the reference value to be compared with the distance from the instrument panel side of the occupant's head corresponds to the distance in the order of the deployment restriction region, the immediate deployment region, and the deployment delay region. When it is set and it is determined that the head of the occupant is located in the deployment delay region, the timing at which the head is displaced from the deployment delay region to the immediate deployment region is predicted, and the detonator is ignited to match the timing. It is characterized by that .
[0006]
In the second invention, a reference value to be compared with the distance from the instrument panel side of the occupant's head is set corresponding to the distance in the order of the deployment restriction region, the immediate deployment region, and the deployment delay region. When it is determined that the head is positioned in the deployment restriction region, ignition driving of the detonator is suppressed .
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiment 1 FIG.
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
An acceleration sensor 10 detects acceleration acting in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. A collision determination circuit 11 receives the acceleration signal supplied from the acceleration sensor 10, determines the magnitude of the collision, and outputs an ignition signal. Reference numeral 12 denotes a first ignition control circuit. When an ignition signal is supplied from the collision determination circuit 11, an ignition current is supplied to the driver's detonator 13 to deploy an airbag provided in the steering. Reference numeral 14 denotes a second ignition control circuit. When an ignition signal is supplied from the collision determination circuit 11, the ignition signal is supplied to the detonator 15 for the passenger seat based on a control signal supplied from an ignition timing determination circuit 19 described later. Control. The passenger detonator 15 is provided with a plurality of detonators 15a and 15b for one inflator. That is, one inflator is divided into two, and the ignition current is separately supplied from the second ignition control circuit 14 to each of the detonators 15a and 15b provided corresponding to each inflator.
[0008]
An infrared sensor 16 is provided on the instrument panel in front of the passenger seat in the direction of the passenger seat, and senses infrared rays from a person sitting on the passenger seat. Similarly to the infrared sensor 16, an ultrasonic sensor 17 is provided on the instrument panel in front of the passenger seat and detects the distance to the person seated in the passenger seat. The ultrasonic sensor is directed toward the passenger seated in the passenger seat. The distance is calculated by firing at regular intervals, receiving the reflected wave, and measuring the time required from launch to reception.
[0009]
Reference numeral 18 denotes an occupant position calculation circuit that determines whether an occupant is seated in the passenger seat based on the output from the infrared sensor 16 and is detected based on the detection signal from the ultrasonic sensor 17. When the head of the occupant is located between the distance 0 and the first reference value, it is determined that the occupant's head is in the deployment restriction region (FIG. 2), and the first reference value to the first reference value When it is located between two reference values (first reference value <second reference value), it is determined that it is in the immediate development region (FIG. 2), and is further determined to be far from the second reference value. In this case, it is determined that the head of the passenger is in the deployment delay area (FIG. 2).
[0010]
When the ignition timing determination circuit 19 receives a signal indicating from the occupant position calculation circuit 18 that the occupant's head is in a deployment restriction region, the ignition timing determination circuit 19 sends a deployment prohibition signal or one detonator to the second ignition control circuit 14. An ignition signal for igniting only 15a or 15b is supplied. When a signal indicating that the head of the occupant is in the immediate deployment region is supplied, an ignition signal for simultaneously driving both the detonators 15a and 15b is output to the second ignition control circuit 14. Further, when a signal indicating that the occupant's head is in the deployment delay region is received, the second ignition control circuit 14 temporarily holds the drive of the detonators 15a and 15b, and the occupant's head enters the immediate deployment region. A signal for igniting and driving both detonators 15a and 15b is output after waiting.
[0011]
Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
When the microcomputer including the collision determination circuit 11, the second ignition control circuit 14, the occupant position calculation circuit 18, and the ignition timing determination circuit 19 is turned on, the process proceeds from the start step 100 to the occupant position detection step 110. In this step 110, the occupant position calculation circuit 18 inputs the determination result of the presence or absence of an occupant from the infrared sensor 16, determines whether or not the occupant is seated in the passenger seat, and is seated. If it is determined, the latest data of the distance between the head of the passenger seated in the passenger seat and the instrument panel is calculated by the ultrasonic sensor 17 and the previous data is updated, and the acceleration reading step 120 is performed. move on.
[0012]
In step 120, the collision determination circuit 11 reads the acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor 10, and in the next step 130, it is determined whether or not the read acceleration signal is larger than the reference value G0.
[0013]
If it is determined in step 130 that the magnitude of the read acceleration signal is smaller than the reference value G0, the process returns to step 110 assuming that no collision has occurred to protect the passenger. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 130 that the magnitude of the read acceleration signal is larger than the reference value G0, it is determined that a collision of a magnitude that needs to protect the occupant has occurred, and the process proceeds to occupant position calculation step 140. As in 110, the latest data of the distance between the head of the passenger seated in the passenger seat and the instrument panel is calculated, and the process proceeds to the next passenger position (L) prediction step 150, and is shown in FIG. Thus, the position of the occupant after a predetermined time from the position of the occupant's head calculated in step 110 (marked with ■ in the figure) and the position of the occupant's head calculated in step 140 (marked with □ in the figure) (Δ mark in the figure) is predicted.
[0014]
The predicted position L after a predetermined time of the distance between the head of the passenger seated in the passenger seat and the instrument panel predicted in step 150 is determined to be smaller than the first reference value in step 160 If the airbag is deployed with the occupant's head very close to the instrument panel, it is determined that the airbag will be punched and dangerous, and the ignition timing is determined. The ignition drive of the passenger detonator 15 for deploying the passenger seat airbag is suppressed from the circuit 19 to the second ignition control circuit 14 (or only one detonator 15a or 15b is ignited to You may weaken the punching power).
[0015]
Next, when the distance from the instrument panel of the occupant's head is located between the first reference value and the second reference value in step 160 and step 170, the process proceeds from step 170 to step 200, and immediately If it is not deployed, it is determined that the passenger's head cannot be protected by the airbag, and a signal for immediately deploying the passenger airbag is supplied from the ignition timing determination circuit 19 to the second ignition control circuit 14. 15a and 15b are ignited simultaneously.
[0016]
In step 170 , if it is determined that the distance from the instrument panel of the occupant's head is greater than the second reference value and the passenger seat is in the reclining state, the passenger's head is fully deployed when deployed immediately. The passenger's head will reach the fully-deployed position of the airbag after the airbag has been fully deployed without being in time for the airbag, and in step 190, the prediction is made in step 150. After waiting for the time, that is, the time required for the position of the occupant's head to reach the position between the first reference value and the second reference value (deployment timing time), the routine proceeds to step 200 where the ignition timing determination circuit 19 performs the second ignition control. A signal for immediately deploying the passenger airbag is supplied to the circuit 14, and the detonators 15a and 15b are simultaneously ignited. The distance measurement of the occupant's head may be obtained by image processing without using an infrared sensor or an ultrasonic sensor. Moreover, in the said embodiment, although only the one detonator 15a or 15b was expanded and driven in the expansion | deployment restriction | limiting area | region, the other detonator 15b or 15a may be driven to expand following this expansion | deployment.
[0017]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the first invention, the reference value to be compared with the distance from the instrument panel side of the occupant's head corresponds to the distance in the order of the deployment restriction region, the immediate deployment region , and the deployment delay region. When the head of the occupant is determined to be located in the deployment delay region, the timing at which the head is displaced from the deployment delay region to the immediate deployment region is predicted, and the detonator is adjusted so as to match the timing. Since it is configured to ignite, even if the passenger in the passenger seat is using the seat in a reclining state, the airbag can be deployed at an optimal timing, and the effect of improving the passenger's protection performance is exhibited.
[0018]
In the second invention, a reference value to be compared with the distance from the instrument panel side of the occupant's head is set corresponding to the distance in the order of the deployment restriction region, the immediate deployment region , and the deployment delay region . When it is determined that the head is located in the deployment restriction region, the detonator ignition drive is suppressed, so that the deployment force of the airbag is weakened, the punching force is weakened, and the occupant protection performance can be improved. The effect is demonstrated.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a circuit block according to a first embodiment of an occupant protection device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a development restriction area, an immediate development area, and a development delay area set in the timing control circuit according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 1;
4 is an explanatory diagram for predicting the position of the occupant's head in FIG. 3; FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional circuit block.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Acceleration sensor 11 Collision judgment circuit 12 First ignition control circuit 13 Driver's detonator 14 Second ignition control circuit 15 Passenger's detonator 16 Infrared sensor 17 Ultrasonic sensor 18 Passenger position calculation circuit 19 Ignition timing judgment circuit

Claims (2)

Measure the distance from the instrument panel side of the head of an occupant seated in a passenger seat that can slide back and forth and have a reclining function, and detect the acceleration signal that accompanies the collision. An ignition timing determination circuit that compares a reference value and determines an ignition timing for igniting a detonator that drives an air bag of a passenger seat; and when an acceleration signal is output from the acceleration sensor, a detonator based on the ignition timing In an occupant protection device comprising an ignition control circuit for igniting
The ignition timing determination circuit sets a reference value to be compared with a distance from the instrument panel side of the occupant's head corresponding to the distance in the order of a development restriction region, an immediate deployment region , and a deployment delay region , When it is determined that the head of an occupant is located in the deployment delay region, the timing at which the head is displaced from the deployment delay region to the immediate deployment region is predicted, and the detonator is ignited so as to match the timing. Occupant protection device. Measure the distance from the instrument panel side of the head of an occupant seated in a passenger seat that can slide back and forth and have a reclining function, and detect the acceleration signal that accompanies the collision. An ignition timing determination circuit that compares a reference value and determines an ignition timing for igniting a detonator that drives an air bag of a passenger seat; and when an acceleration signal is output from the acceleration sensor, a detonator based on the ignition timing In an occupant protection device comprising an ignition control circuit for igniting
The ignition timing determination circuit sets a reference value to be compared with a distance from the instrument panel side of the occupant's head corresponding to the distance in the order of a development restriction region, an immediate deployment region , and a deployment delay region , An occupant protection device that suppresses ignition driving of the detonator when it is determined that the head of the occupant is located in the deployment restriction region .

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