JP4770775B2 - Airbag device - Google Patents

Description

  According to the present invention, an airbag disposed on a vehicle floor is inflated at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle, and both heels (heels) of the occupant are pushed up to suppress dorsiflexion and twisting of the occupant's ankle. The present invention relates to an airbag device.

  In general, various operation pedals such as an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, and a clutch pedal, and a footrest are arranged in front of the driver's seat in the passenger compartment. When the vehicle is traveling, the driver puts his feet on these operation pedals and footrests. In such a state, when the vehicle collides with the front, the toe board, the operation pedal, and the like move to the rear side of the vehicle due to the impact at the time of the collision. Along with this, dorsiflexion (a phenomenon in which the angle of the ankle becomes narrow) occurs in the occupant's ankle, varus (a phenomenon in which the ankle twists toward the inside of the vehicle), valgus (a phenomenon in which the ankle twists toward the outside of the vehicle), etc. Twist may occur.

  Therefore, an airbag device has been proposed in which an airbag under the driver's feet is inflated by gas generated by an inflator (gas generator) at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this airbag apparatus, the location on the vehicle floor and in front of the driver's seat is the location where the airbag is disposed. The airbag has a planar shape that is substantially the same as this arrangement location. The front portion of the airbag is a saddle-loading portion on which both of the driver's bags are placed. Moreover, although there is no description in the said patent document 1, generally an inflator is arrange | positioned under the front-end of a driver's seat so that boarding / alighting and a driving | operation may not be disturbed, and appearance may not be impaired as much as possible.

According to this airbag apparatus, at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle, the gas ejected from the inflator flows from the rear portion in the airbag toward the saddle placement portion. This gas inflates the entire airbag. The heel mounting portion also expands in a state of wrapping both occupants' heels. By this expansion, the occupant's ankle is pushed up while the movement in the vehicle width direction is restricted, and the above-mentioned dorsiflexion and twisting phenomena are suppressed, and the impact on the ankle is reduced.
Special table 2003-502215 gazette

  However, the above-described conventional airbag device employs a configuration in which the entire airbag is inflated in order to introduce gas from the rear portion of the airbag to the heel mounting portion. For this reason, not only are the portions necessary for gas distribution and the pushing up of the ridges expanded, but also unnecessary portions are expanded. As a result, there is a problem that the gas from the inflator is unnecessarily consumed for the expansion of such unnecessary portions.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the wasteful consumption of gas from the inflator while suppressing dorsiflexion and twisting of the occupant's ankle. The object is to provide a bag device.

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 includes an inflator disposed on a vehicle floor and below a front end of a front seat, and on the vehicle floor and in front of the front seat. to be arranged in a flat state and the seated in the front seat the heel footrest both heel is placed in the passenger and an air bag having a front portion, in the airbag ejection gas from said inflator An airbag device in which the intermediate portion and the heel mounting portion are respectively inflated by being led from the rear portion to the heel mounting portion through the front intermediate portion, thereby pushing up the occupant's heel on the heel mounting portion. in, the heel-rest portion is place the occupant of the heel is loaded is provided apart from each other about the vehicle width direction, the intermediate portion, together are spaced apart from one another about the vehicle width direction, the intermediate The width of the vehicle width direction is set smaller than the width of the vehicle width direction of the heel rest portion, the front end of the intermediate portion, and a brief that it is located behind the location where the heel is placed To do.

  According to the configuration described above, at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle, the gas ejected from the inflator flows from the rear portion in the airbag toward the saddle placement portion through the intermediate portion on the front side. At this time, the intermediate portion is inflated by the gas, but the inflation is necessary for guiding the gas from the rear portion of the airbag to the heel mounting portion, and is not directly involved in pushing up the heel. On the other hand, the heel mounting portion supplied with gas through the intermediate portion expands in a state where both occupants' wings are wrapped. By this expansion, the occupant's ankle is pushed up while restricting movement in the vehicle width direction, and ankle dorsiflexion and twist are suppressed.

  Here, in the invention according to claim 1, the width of the intermediate portion in the vehicle width direction is set to be smaller than the width of the saddle-loading portion in the vehicle width direction, but the former width is set to be extremely small. Unless this is done, the original function of the intermediate part for guiding the gas from the rear part of the airbag to the saddle-loading part is fully exhibited. Further, as described above, since the intermediate portion is not directly involved in the lifting of the heel, even if the intermediate portion is made narrow, it has almost no influence on the lifting of the heel. Further, by narrowing the intermediate portion, gas does not flow at a location different from the intermediate portion between the rear portion of the airbag and the heel mounting portion. This location is not directly related to the pushing up of the ridge and is not an essential location for gas circulation. Therefore, although the said location does not expand | swell with gas, it has almost no influence which has on the distribution | circulation of gas, and the pushing-up of a soot. Rather, since the gas does not expand, the inflator gas is not wasted.

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the dorsiflexion and twisting of the occupant's ankle is suppressed, and wasteful consumption of gas from the inflator is reduced.
In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the width means the width in the vehicle width direction.

  For example, according to the invention described in claim 2, the intermediate portion can be formed by providing a gas flow blocking portion for blocking the flow of gas between the rear portion of the airbag and the heel mounting portion. In this case, a portion of the airbag excluding the gas flow blocking portion between the rear portion and the heel mounting portion is an intermediate portion. By providing the gas flow blocking portion in this way, the width of the intermediate portion becomes smaller than when not provided.

  Here, as the width of the gas flow blocking portion increases, the width of the intermediate portion decreases.However, if the width of the gas flow blocking portion is excessively increased, the width of the intermediate portion becomes excessively small and the gas flow resistance is reduced. It increases and it becomes difficult for gas to pass through an intermediate part. For this reason, it is desirable that the widths of the gas flow blocking portion and the intermediate portion are set in consideration of securing gas flow in the intermediate portion.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the gas ejected from the inflator flows from the rear portion in the airbag toward the saddle rest portion, the flow is blocked by the gas flow blocking portion. For this reason, the gas passes between the rear portion of the airbag and the heel mounting portion except for the gas flow blocking portion, that is, the intermediate portion that is narrowed by the amount of the gas flow blocking portion.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the saddle-loading portion is configured such that both the saddles of an occupant are placed at locations separated from each other in the vehicle width direction. The portion is provided between the rear portion of the airbag and the saddle placement portion in the vehicle front-rear direction, and is provided at a location corresponding to the central portion of the saddle placement portion in the vehicle width direction, and the intermediate portion is the gas flow The gist is that the blocking portion is formed on both sides in the vehicle width direction.

  According to the above configuration, the gas flow from the rear portion in the airbag toward the saddle mounting portion in front of the airbag is blocked by the gas flow blocking portion located in the center portion in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, the gas flows through intermediate portions provided on both sides of the gas flow blocking portion in the vehicle width direction. From these intermediate portions, the gas is led from the rear portion of the airbag to a location separated from each other in the vehicle width direction of the saddle placement portion, that is, a location that is actually involved in placing the passenger's saddle in the saddle placement portion. As described above, the gas can be preferentially guided to the portion that is the target of the heel push-up in the heel placing portion, and the heel can be pushed up efficiently.

  Here, as the above-described airbag, the airbag includes a pair of overlapping portions obtained by folding the base fabric in half, or a pair of overlapping portions each formed of the base fabric. A thing may be used. In this case, the gas flow blocking part can be constituted by an inner coupling part that joins both the polymerized parts endlessly inside the peripheral part. The inner joint portion is obtained, for example, by stitching both overlapping portions with a sewing thread. Moreover, an inner coupling | bond part can also be obtained by mutually bonding both superposition | polymerization parts with an adhesive agent.

  With such a configuration, since the inner coupling portion is endless and the two overlapping portions are coupled, when the gas flows from the rear portion of the airbag toward the saddle mounting portion, the gas is The phenomenon of permeating through the inner coupling part (gas flow blocking part) hardly occurs.

  Further, the gas flow blocking portion can be provided in the airbag only by performing a simple operation such as connecting the pair of overlapping portions by the endless inner connecting portion inside the peripheral portions of both overlapping portions.

The gist of the invention according to claim 5 is that, in the invention according to claim 4, an opening is provided at a location surrounded by the inner coupling portion in both the polymerized portions.
As described above, the inner coupling portion that joins both the polymerized portions in an endless manner functions as a gas flow blocking portion, and when the gas flows from the rear portion of the airbag toward the saddle placement portion, the gas is coupled to the inner coupling portion ( It tries to prevent permeation through the gas flow blocking part. For this reason, the function of preventing gas flow is not required in the portion surrounded by the inner coupling portion in both polymerization portions. Therefore, as in the invention described in claim 5, an opening may be provided at a location surrounded by the inner coupling portion in both the overlapping portions. In this case, there is no problem of gas leakage, and wasteful use of the base fabric is suppressed, thereby reducing the weight.

  The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the gas flow blocking portion is provided in the vicinity of the front side of the rear portion of the airbag. The gist of the invention is that a gas distribution part that distributes the gas ejected from the inflator to both the intermediate parts is provided adjacent to the gas flow blocking part.

  The gas flow blocking portion is located at a position corresponding to the central portion in the vehicle width direction of the saddle mounting portion. Further, the gas flow blocking portion is located in the vicinity of the front side of the rear portion of the airbag in the vehicle longitudinal direction. For these reasons, the gas flow blocking part tends to prevent the flow of gas flowing from the rear part of the airbag forward. For this reason, there is a possibility that the gas stays in the vicinity of the gas flow blocking portion.

  In this regard, in the invention described in claim 6, the gas that is about to flow forward from the rear portion is divided into two in the vehicle width direction by the gas distribution portion, and is guided to the corresponding intermediate portion along the gas flow blocking portion. It is burned. Therefore, the phenomenon that the gas stays in the vicinity of the gas flow blocking portion as described above is less likely to occur.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inflator disposed on a vehicle floor and below a front end of a front seat, and an inflator disposed on the vehicle floor and in front of the front seat, and the front seat An airbag having a saddle-loading portion on the front portion on which both of the saddles of the occupants seated in the vehicle are placed, and the gas ejected from the inflator is mounted on the saddle from the rear portion in the airbag through the front intermediate portion In the airbag device in which the intermediate portion and the heel mounting portion are respectively inflated to push up the occupant's heel on the heel mounting portion, the width of the intermediate portion in the vehicle width direction is increased. , is set to be smaller than the width of the vehicle width direction of the heel rest portion, said a said heel rest portion of the air bag, the front near the location where the heel is placed, the non-inflatable portion which is not inflated by the gas It provided a summary of the.

  According to said structure, in the saddle-loading part to which gas was supplied through the said intermediate part, most parts except a non-expanding part expand | swell. Both non-expandable portions provided in the vicinity of the front side of the place where the bag is placed are not expanded by the gas. Therefore, the push-up force due to the expansion of the heel mounting portion directly acts on the occupant's feet only on the heel. It is unlikely that a portion other than the heel is pushed up directly on the occupant's feet. Accordingly, it is possible to reliably push up only the heel while having a simple configuration in which the non-inflatable portion is provided at the above-described specific portion of the heel mounting portion.

  According to the airbag device of the present invention, the width of the intermediate portion in the vehicle width direction is set to be smaller than the width of the heel mounting portion in the vehicle width direction. Wasteful consumption of gas from the inflator can be reduced while suppressing twisting.

Hereinafter, an embodiment embodying the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the following description, the forward direction of the vehicle will be described as the front (front of the vehicle), and the reverse direction of the vehicle will be described as the rear (rear of the vehicle). Further, in the following description, the vertical direction means the vertical direction of the vehicle, and the horizontal direction is the vehicle width direction of the vehicle and coincides with the horizontal direction when the vehicle moves forward.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a floor carpet 13 formed according to the shape of the upper surface of the vehicle floor is laid on the vehicle floor constituting the bottom of the vehicle compartment 11 in the vehicle body. A driver's seat 14 and a passenger seat (not shown) are arranged as front seats on the vehicle floor. The driver's seat 14 is disposed at the rear end of the seat cushion 15 that supports the buttocks and thighs of the driver D as an occupant from below and the upper body of the driver D behind the driver's D. A seat back (back portion) 16 that is supported from the side, and a headrest 17 that is disposed on the seat back 16 and supports the head of the driver D from the rear side are configured.

  An instrument panel 18 in which meters and switches are incorporated is provided in the front part of the passenger compartment 11. A steering device for arbitrarily changing the traveling direction of the vehicle is provided near the front of the driver's seat 14 in the passenger compartment 11. A part of the steering device is configured by a steering wheel 19 which is a place where an operation by the driver is performed.

  The engine room (not shown) and the vehicle compartment 11 are partitioned by a partition wall. A portion of the partition corresponding to the lower part of the instrument panel 18 constitutes a toe board 21. Various operation pedals such as an accelerator pedal 22 and a brake pedal 23 and a footrest 24 are arranged below the instrument panel 18 and in the vicinity of the rear of the toe board 21 (see FIG. 4).

  Further, when the vehicle is impacted from the front and the toe board 21 and the operation pedal move to the rear side of the vehicle, such as during a frontal collision, by pushing up the driver's heel Ph, Equipped with an airbag device that reduces impact.

In the passenger compartment 11, a seat belt device for restraining the driver D seated in the driver's seat 14 is provided, but the seat belt device is not shown in FIG.
The airbag device includes an inflator 30 as a gas generation source, and an airbag 40 that is inflated by gas from the inflator 30. The inflator 30 and the airbag 40 are disposed on the front side of the driver's seat 14 (hereinafter referred to as “driver's seat floor 41”) on the vehicle floor and between the floor carpet 13 and the upper floor carpet 13. ing. Here, the driver seat floor 41 has a substantially rectangular planar shape.

  As shown in at least one of FIGS. 1 and 2, the inflator 30 has a long shape, and the rear end portion of the driver's seat floor 41 is arranged with its axis line aligned with the vehicle width direction. Specifically, it is disposed below the front end of the driver's seat 14 (seat cushion 15). This location is used as the location where the inflator 30 is disposed because it satisfies the conditions that (i) the inflator 30 is not likely to interfere with getting on and off and driving operation (especially pedal operation), and (ii) the appearance is not impaired as much as possible. It is. The inflator 30 is provided with a bracket 31, and the inflator 30 is fixed to the driver's seat floor 41 with bolts and nuts (not shown).

  A gas generating agent (not shown) is accommodated in the inflator 30. A gas ejection port 32 is opened at a location inside the vehicle of the inflator 30. In this type of inflator 30, a gas G is generated by the combustion reaction of the gas generating agent, and this gas G is ejected from the gas outlet 32. As the inflator, instead of the above-described type using a gas generating agent, a type in which a partition of a high-pressure gas cylinder filled with a high-pressure gas is broken with an explosive or the like to eject gas may be used.

  On the other hand, the airbag 40 includes a pair of overlapping portions 42A and 42B that are each made of a base fabric and overlapped with each other. In FIG. 2, for the purpose of illustrating the overlapping portion 42B, a portion of the overlapping portion 42A is shown in a broken state. Each base fabric is formed of a material that has high strength and is flexible and can be easily deformed, such as a woven fabric made of polyester yarn, polyamide yarn, or the like.

  Here, as shown in at least one of FIGS. 2 and 3, the front and rear length of the driver's seat floor 41 is L1, the width in the vehicle width direction is W1, and the front and rear lengths of the overlapping portions 42A and 42B are L2. And the width in the vehicle width direction is W2. However, the overlapping portions 42A and 42B have a longitudinal length L2 and a width W2 in a form in which a mounting piece 81 described later is omitted. In this definition, the front / rear length L2 is set to a value slightly smaller than the front / rear length L1, and the width W2 is set to a value slightly smaller than the width W1. Therefore, both overlapping portions 42A and 42B have a size and shape that covers substantially the entire upper surface of the driver's seat floor 41.

  In addition, both superposition | polymerization parts 42A and 42B may be comprised by one base cloth other than what is comprised by two base fabrics as mentioned above. In this case, the base fabric having a predetermined shape is folded in two at the central portion. By this two-folding, a pair of front and back overlapping portions 42A and 42B connected to each other at one side are formed.

  Both superposition | polymerization parts 42A and 42B are couple | bonded in the airtight state in the peripheral coupling | bond part 43 provided in those peripheral parts. In the present embodiment, the peripheral joint portion 43 is configured by sewing the peripheral portions of the overlapping portions 42A and 42B with sewing threads. 2 and 3, the sewing thread is indicated by a thick broken line. However, in FIG. 2, the sewing thread is indicated by a two-dot chain line in a portion illustrated by breaking a part of the overlapping portion 42 </ b> A. The peripheral joint portion 43 may be configured by means different from the sewing using the sewing thread, for example, bonding using an adhesive. The above-described “illustration of sewing thread using thick broken lines and two-dot chain lines” and “joining using an adhesive instead of stitching” include inner coupling portions 53, 54, 62 and a peripheral coupling portion 73 described later. The same applies to.

The airbag 40 is divided into a rear portion 44, a heel mounting portion 51, and an intermediate portion between the rear portion 44 and the heel mounting portion 51 in terms of function.
The rear portion 44 is a portion that functions as an introduction portion for the gas G ejected from the inflator 30. In the state where the airbag 40 is disposed, the rear portion 44 is located at the rear end portion of the driver seat floor 41, that is, in the vicinity of the inflator 30. The rear part 44 is a tubular body connected in communication with a main body part 45 extending in the vehicle width direction over substantially the entire width of the driver seat floor 41 and a central part in the vehicle width direction of the main body part 45 at the rear end part of the airbag 40. And a gas supply unit 46. A part of the inflator 30 including at least the gas outlet 32 (inside of the vehicle) is inserted into the gas supply unit 46, and gas is supplied by a fastener 47 such as a fastening band disposed outside the gas supply unit 46. The portion 46 is fastened and fixed to the inflator 30 in an airtight state.

  The saddle placement portion 51 is a portion on which both saddles Ph of the driver D (see FIG. 1) seated in the driver's seat 14 are placed. The saddle-loading portion 51 is constituted by a portion of the airbag 40 that is in front of the central portion in the vehicle front-rear direction, and the width thereof determines the width W2 of the airbag 40. In the state where the airbag 40 is disposed, the heel mounting portion 51 is located at the front portion of the driver seat floor 41. In particular, the front end portion of the heel mounting portion 51 is located in the vicinity of the above-described various operation pedals, the footrest 24, and the like (see FIG. 4).

  In the present embodiment, the left end portion, which is the vicinity of the footrest 24, in the heel placing portion 51 is a portion 51L where the left heel Ph of the driver D is placed. In the heel mounting portion 51, a non-expanding portion 52L that is not expanded by the gas G is provided in the vicinity of the front side of the same portion 51L. Specifically, the overlapping portions 42 </ b> A and 42 </ b> B are coupled to each other by an inner coupling portion 53 provided in the vicinity of the inner side of the peripheral coupling portion 43. The inner coupling portion 53 is configured by stitching the overlapping portions 42A and 42B with sewing threads. Both ends of the inner coupling portion 53 are connected to the peripheral coupling portion 43. Therefore, the gas G cannot flow into the space between both the overlapping portions 42 </ b> A and 42 </ b> B and surrounded by the peripheral joint portion 43 and the inner joint portion 53. This space constitutes the non-inflatable portion 52L.

  Further, a portion slightly outside the vehicle with respect to the width direction of the saddle-loading portion 51 is a portion 51R where the right-side saddle Ph of the driver D is placed. In the heel mounting portion 51, a non-expanding portion 52R that is not expanded by the gas G is provided in the vicinity of the front side of the same portion 51R. Specifically, the overlapping portions 42 </ b> A and 42 </ b> B are coupled to each other by an inner coupling portion 54 provided near the inside of the peripheral coupling portion 43. The inner coupling portion 54 is configured by stitching both overlapping portions 42A and 42B with sewing threads. Both end portions of each inner coupling portion 54 are connected to the peripheral coupling portion 43. Therefore, the gas G cannot flow into the space between the overlapping portions 42A and 42B and surrounded by the peripheral joint portion 43 and the inner joint portion 54. This space constitutes the non-inflatable portion 52R.

  The intermediate portion is a portion that functions as a gas flow path that guides the gas G that has flowed into the airbag 40 from the rear portion 44 to the soot loading portion 51. The width of the intermediate portion in the vehicle width direction is set to be smaller than the width W2 of the saddle mount portion 51 in the vehicle width direction. Therefore, in the vehicle front-rear direction, a gas flow blocking portion 61 that blocks the flow of the gas G from the rear portion 44 is provided between the rear portion 44 and the heel mounting portion 51 of the airbag 40. The gas flow blocking portion 61 is provided between the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 and the saddle placement portion 51 and at a location corresponding to the central portion of the saddle placement portion 51 in the vehicle width direction. The gas flow blocking portion 61 is provided in the vicinity of the front side of the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 in the vehicle front-rear direction.

  In the present embodiment, the overlapping portions 42A and 42B are coupled in an airtight state by an endless inner coupling portion 62 on the inner side of the peripheral coupling portion 43, and the gas flow blocking portion 61 is coupled by the inner coupling portion 62. Is configured. The inner coupling portion 62 is configured by stitching both overlapping portions 42A and 42B with sewing threads.

  Furthermore, an opening 63 is provided at a location surrounded by the inner coupling portion 62 in both the overlapping portions 42A and 42B. And the intermediate part is formed in the location except the gas flow prevention part 61 between the said rear part 44 and the saddle-loading part 51, and the vehicle flow direction both sides of the gas flow prevention part 61 in this case, respectively. In order to distinguish between these intermediate portions, one located on the vehicle inner side is referred to as an intermediate portion 56L, and one located on the vehicle outer side is referred to as an intermediate portion 56R.

  Thus, by providing the gas flow prevention part 61, the width | variety of an intermediate part becomes smaller than the case where it does not provide. In the vehicle width direction, if the width of the gas flow blocking portion 61 is W4, the width of the intermediate portion 56L is W3L, the width of the intermediate portion 56R is W3R, and the total width of the intermediate portions 56L and 56R is W3, A relationship is established. Note that W4 is the width of the gas flow blocking portion 61 where the width is the largest. W3L and W3R are the widths at the smallest widths in the intermediate portions 56L and 56R.

W3 = W3L + W3R = W2-W4 (1)
From the above equation (1), the widths W3L and W3R, and consequently the width W3, become smaller as the width W4 of the gas flow blocking portion 61 becomes larger. In the present embodiment, the widths W3L and W3R are set to a substantially minimum width that can ensure the flow of the gas G, and the width W3 is set to a value (small value) that is greatly different from the width W2.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, an inner tube 71 is disposed at the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40. The inner tube 71 is a member that functions as a gas distribution unit that distributes the gas G ejected from the gas ejection port 32 of the inflator 30 to the intermediate portions 56L and 56R. Similar to the airbag 40, the inner tube 71 is formed by sewing one or two base fabrics made of woven fabric or the like. In FIG. 5, a pair of front and back overlapping portions 72A and 72B are formed by folding a single base fabric in half at the center portion, and a peripheral edge coupling portion 73 provided at the peripheral edge portions of both overlapping portions 72A and 72B. Are bound by. Further, in FIG. 5, for the illustration of the overlapping portion 72 </ b> B, a portion of the overlapping portion 72 </ b> A is shown in a broken state. The inner tube 71 includes a supply unit 74 disposed in the gas supply unit 46 and a distribution unit 75 disposed at a boundary portion between the gas supply unit 46 and the main body unit 45. Outlet ports 76 are opened at both ends of the distribution unit 75 in the vehicle width direction. The inner tube 71 is fastened and fixed to the inflator 30 together with the gas supply unit 46 by the fastener 47 at the supply unit 74 in an airtight state.

  As shown in at least one of FIGS. 2 and 3, mounting pieces 81 are formed at a plurality of locations on the peripheral edge of the airbag 40. Further, attachment pieces 82 are formed at a plurality of locations on the inner peripheral edge of the opening 63. These attachment pieces 81 and 82 may be integrally formed with the airbag 40, or may be constituted by separate members and retrofitted. Plates (not shown) made of a high-strength material, such as metal, are arranged on both the front and back surfaces of each mounting piece 81, 82, and the two plates are mutually connected by a method such as caulking with the mounting pieces 81, 82 sandwiched therebetween. It is connected to. The mounting pieces 81 and 82 and both plates are fixed to the driver's seat floor 41 with bolts and nuts (not shown).

  The airbag device further includes an impact sensor and a control device (both not shown). The impact sensor is composed of an acceleration sensor or the like, and detects an impact applied to the vehicle from the front. The control device controls the operation of the inflator 30 based on the detection signal from the impact sensor.

The airbag device of the present embodiment is configured as described above. Next, the operation of this airbag device will be described.
When the vehicle is traveling, the airbag 40 is not inflated and is flat. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, the driver D puts the foot Pf on the operation pedal such as the accelerator pedal 22 or the footrest 24. In addition, the driver D brings the bag Ph into contact with portions of the floor carpet 13 corresponding to the locations 51L and 51R of the bag loading portion 51.

  When a frontal collision occurs while the vehicle is traveling, the toe board 21, the operation pedal, and the like may move to the rear side of the vehicle due to an impact at the time of the collision, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 7B. In addition, the dashed-two dotted line in 7 (B) has shown the state of each part before a frontal collision generate | occur | produces.

  On the other hand, when an impact of a predetermined value or more is applied to the vehicle from the front due to the frontal collision or the like, and this is detected by the impact sensor, in the airbag device, the driving current is supplied from the control device to the inflator 30 based on the detection signal. Is output. By the heating based on this driving current, the gas G is generated by the gas generating agent in the inflator 30. As shown in FIG. 5, the gas G is ejected from the gas ejection port 32 into the inner tube 71. This gas G flows forward along the supply part 74 in the inner tube 71. The forward flow of the gas G is regulated by the front end of the distributor 75. Since the distribution unit 75 extends in the vehicle width direction, which is a direction substantially orthogonal to the flow direction (front) of the gas G in the supply unit 74, the gas G whose flow is restricted as described above is In the width direction, the directions are changed in directions opposite to each other, and the width direction is substantially evenly distributed. Then, each of the gas G distributed in two flows out from the corresponding outlet 76 of the distributor 75 to the substantially side.

  Here, as shown in at least one of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the gas flow blocking portion 61 is located at a position corresponding to the central portion in the vehicle width direction of the saddle mount portion 51, and in the vehicle longitudinal direction. It is located in the vicinity of the front side of the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 and tries to prevent the flow of the gas G after passing through the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40. However, in the present embodiment, as described above, the gas G is distributed to both the left and right sides by the inner tube 71, so that the phenomenon that the gas G stays in the vicinity of the rear of the gas flow blocking unit 61 hardly occurs.

  The gas flow blocking unit 61 regulates the flow of each gas G distributed in two as described above. Here, as the airbag 40, a combination of a pair of overlapping portions 42 </ b> A and 42 </ b> B each made of a base fabric by a peripheral connecting portion 43 is used, and both overlapping portions 42 </ b> A and 42 </ b> B are endless inner bonds. The parts 62 are coupled in an airtight state. The inner coupling portion 62 constitutes a gas flow blocking portion 61. Therefore, when the gas G flows from the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 toward the heel mounting portion 51, the gas G passes through the inner coupling portion 62 (gas flow blocking portion 61) and is surrounded by the inner coupling portion 62. The phenomenon of entering the space is unlikely to occur. In particular, in the present embodiment, the opening 63 is provided in the same space. However, as described above, since the gas G is difficult to permeate the inner coupling portion 62, a problem of leakage from the opening 63 is unlikely to occur.

  The gas G flowing out from the outlet 76 of the inner tube 71 flows to both sides in the vehicle width direction while the flow direction is restricted by the gas flow blocking portion 61. Thereafter, the gas G is provided between the rear portion 44 and the saddle mounting portion 51 except for the gas flow blocking portion 61, that is, on both sides in the vehicle width direction of the gas flow blocking portion 61, and has a width corresponding to the gas flow blocking portion 61. It flows through the narrowed intermediate portions 56L and 56R. On the other hand, the locations 51L and 51R that are actually involved in placing the saddle Ph of the driver D are separated from each other in the vehicle width direction. The front ends of the intermediate portions 56L and 56R are located behind these locations 51L and 51R. For this reason, the gas G flowing through the intermediate portions 56L and 56R is preferentially guided to the locations 51L and 51R.

  In this way, the gas G ejected from the inflator 30 flows from the rear portion 44 in the airbag 40 toward the saddle placement portion 51 through the intermediate portions 56L and 56R on the front side. At this time, the intermediate portions 56L and 56R are inflated by the gas G, but the expansion is necessary for guiding the gas G from the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 to the heel mounting portion 51, and pushes up the heel Ph. Is not directly involved.

  On the other hand, the most part of the soot loading part 51 to which the gas G is supplied through the intermediate parts 56L and 56R expands. However, the gas G is not supplied to the two non-expanding portions 52L and 52R provided in the vicinity of the front side of the places 51L and 51R on which the bag Ph is placed, and the non-expanding portions 52L and 52R do not expand. Therefore, the push-up force due to the expansion of the heel placing portion 51 directly acts on the foot Pf of the driver D only on the heel Ph or the vicinity thereof. In addition, in the airbag 40, not only the places 51L and 51R on which the saddle Ph is placed, but also other places in the vehicle width direction, in particular, between the places 51L and 51R are included in the saddle placing portion 51. . Therefore, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 6 (A), the heel mounting portion 51 is expanded in a state of wrapping both the heel Ph of the driver D.

  As a result, as shown in at least one of FIGS. 6 (B) and 7 (B), the ankle Pa of the driver D is restrained from moving in the vehicle width direction by the expansion of the most part of the heel mounting portion 51. Further, it is pushed up while maintaining the angle α of the ankle Pa. In the foot Pf of the driver D, a phenomenon that a portion other than the heel Ph is directly pushed up hardly occurs.

  Therefore, even if the toe board 21 and the operation pedal move to the vehicle rear side due to the impact at the time of collision, the dorsiflexion of the ankle Pa, which is a phenomenon in which the angle α is narrowed, is suppressed, and the ankle Pa is twisted toward the inside of the vehicle. Varus, which is a phenomenon that occurs, and valgus, which is a phenomenon where the ankle Pa is twisted to the outside of the vehicle, are suppressed.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the total width W3 of the intermediate portions 56L and 56R in the vehicle width direction is smaller than the width W2 of the saddle-loading portion 51 in the vehicle width direction. However, since the widths W3L and W3R of the intermediate portions 56L and 56R are set to a substantially minimum width that can ensure the flow of the gas G, the gas G is transferred from the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 to the saddle placement portion 51. The original functions of the leading intermediate portions 56L and 56R are sufficiently exhibited. Further, as described above, since the intermediate portions 56L and 56R are not directly involved in pushing up the 踵 Ph, even if the intermediate portions 56L and 56R are made narrow, there is almost no effect on the pushing up of the 踵 Ph. . Further, by narrowing the intermediate portions 56L and 56R, the gas G does not flow between the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 and the heel mounting portion 51 at a location different from the intermediate portions 56L and 56R. This location is a location that is not directly involved in pushing up the soot Ph, and is not a location that is essential for the circulation of the gas G. Therefore, although the said location does not expand | swell with the gas G, it has almost no influence which has on the distribution | circulation of the gas G, and the push-up of the soot Ph. Rather, since it does not expand, wasteful consumption of the gas G in the inflator 30 is suppressed.

  Note that, when the airbag 40 is inflated, the airbag 40 tends to rise from the driver's seat floor 41. However, the airbag 40 is fixed to the driver's seat floor 41 at attachment pieces 81 and 82 provided at a plurality of peripheral edge portions and a plurality of inner peripheral edge portions of the opening 63, respectively. Therefore, the lifting of the airbag 40 from the driver's seat floor 41 is suppressed by fixing the attachment pieces 81 and 82.

According to the embodiment described in detail above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The gas flow blocking portion 61 is provided between the rear portion 44 and the heel mounting portion 51 of the airbag 40, and the portions excluding the gas flow blocking portion 61 between the rear portion 44 and the heel mounting portion 51 are defined as intermediate portions 56L and 56R. With this configuration, the total width W3 of the intermediate portions 56L and 56R in the vehicle width direction is set to be smaller than the width W2 of the saddle mount portion 51 in the vehicle width direction. For this reason, useless consumption of the gas G from the inflator 30 can be reduced while suppressing the dorsiflexion and twisting of the ankle Pa of the driver D. A small capacity inflator 30 can be used.

  (2) The gas flow blocking portion 61 is provided between the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 and the saddle placement portion 51 in the vehicle front-rear direction, and in a position corresponding to the central portion of the saddle placement portion 51 in the vehicle width direction. The intermediate portions 56L and 56R are formed on both sides of the gas flow blocking portion 61 in the vehicle width direction. For this reason, the gas G supplied from the inflator 30 to the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 is driven by the intermediate portions 56 </ b> L and 56 </ b> R at locations separated from each other in the vehicle width direction of the saddle-loading portion 51, i.e., the saddle-loading portion 51. The user D can be preferentially guided to the locations 51L and 51R that are actually involved in placing the bag Ph of the person D, and the bag Ph can be pushed up efficiently.

  (3) Both overlapping portions 42A and 42B are coupled in an airtight state by an endless inner coupling portion 62 provided on the inner side of the peripheral edge portion, and the inner coupling portion 62 is used as a gas flow blocking portion 61. Therefore, when the gas G flows from the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40 toward the saddle mounting portion 51, the gas G can be prevented from leaking through the inner coupling portion 62 (gas flow blocking portion 61). it can.

  In addition, the gas flow blocking portion 61 can be attached to the airbag 40 only by performing a simple operation such as stitching the pair of overlapping portions 42A and 42B endlessly inside the peripheral coupling portion 43 of both overlapping portions 42A and 42B. Can be provided.

  (4) An opening 63 is provided at a location surrounded by the inner coupling portion 62 (gas flow blocking portion 61) in both the overlapping portions 42A and 42B. Therefore, the airbag 40 can be established while using less base fabric, and the weight of the airbag 40 can be reduced.

  (5) The inner tube 71 that distributes the gas G ejected from the inflator 30 to both the intermediate portions 56L and 56R is used as a gas distribution portion, and is provided adjacent to the gas flow blocking portion 61 in the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40. . Therefore, the phenomenon in which the gas G stays in the vicinity of the rear part of the gas flow blocking unit 61 can be suppressed.

  (6) Non-inflatable portions 52L and 52R that are not inflated by the gas G are provided in the vicinity of the front side of the portions 51L and 51R where the bag Ph is placed, which is the bag placing portion 51 of the airbag 40. Therefore, it is possible to reliably push up only the kite Ph while having a simple configuration in which the non-expanded portions 52L and 52R are provided at the specific portion of the kite placing portion 51.

Note that the present invention can be embodied in another embodiment described below.
The present invention can be widely applied to an airbag apparatus in which the width W3 of the intermediate portion of the airbag 40 in the vehicle width direction is set smaller than the width W2 of the saddle-loading portion 51 in the vehicle width direction. Such a setting (W3 <W2) is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be realized in various ways.

  FIG. 8 shows one mode. In this aspect, an inner tube 71 having a shape different from that of the above embodiment is used. In the inner tube 71, the supply part 74 and the distribution part 75 are connected by a cylindrical connection part 91 extending in the vehicle front-rear direction. On both sides of the distribution portion 75 in the vehicle width direction, protrusions 92, 92 extending forward of the vehicle and having outlet ports 76 at the front end are provided at locations near the rear of the locations 51L, 51R of the saddle mount portion 51. ing.

  In the airbag 40, the partition parts 93 and 93 which partition the same part back and forth are provided in the part except the inner tube 71. The partition parts 93 and 93 are formed, for example, by stitching both overlapping parts 42A and 42B with sewing threads. The front side of the partition parts 93 and 93 is the above-described saddle mounting part 51, and the rear side is the non-expanded parts 94 and 94 that are prevented from inflow of the gas G and are not expanded by the gas G. As described above, (i) the non-expandable portions 94 and 94 are not involved in the expansion, and (ii) it is the inner tube 71 that actually expands. This corresponds to the middle part in the claims.

  The width W3 of the inner tube 71 in the vehicle width direction is the smallest in the connecting portion 91 and the largest in the distributing portion 75. However, also in this distribution part 75, the width W3 is smaller than the width W2 of the ridge mounting part 51. Therefore, the width W3 is smaller than the width W2 of the heel mounting portion 51 at any location of the inner tube 71, that is, the intermediate portion.

  In this aspect, the gas G from the inflator 30 is guided forward by the connecting portion 91 and then distributed to both sides in the vehicle width direction by the distribution portion 75. The distributed gas G passes through each protrusion 92 and is preferentially supplied from the outlet port 76 to the locations 51L and 51R of the saddle mount 51. Therefore, in this aspect, although the means for establishing the above relationship (W3 <W2) regarding the width is different from that in the above embodiment, the same effects as in the above (1) to (6) can be obtained.

  -You may provide the gas flow prevention part 61 in the said embodiment in the location which does not correspond to the center part about the vehicle width direction of the ridge mounting part 51. FIG. For example, the gas flow blocking portion 61 may be provided at a location that is greatly deviated from the central portion toward the vehicle inner side or the vehicle outer side. In an extreme case, with respect to the overlapping portions 42A and 42B, the rear portion 44 and the saddle mount portion 51 may be divided into two in the vehicle width direction to form one gas flow blocking portion 61 and the other as an intermediate portion.

  -It may replace with non-expanding part 52L, 52R, and may provide a notch in the front side vicinity of location 51L, 51R in both superposition | polymerization part 42A, 42B. In this case, the peripheral joint portion 43 is provided along the notch.

As the overlapping portions 42A and 42B of the airbag 40, one having a width W2 smaller than the width W1 of the driver seat floor 41 may be used.
The entire inflator 30 may be disposed in the rear portion 44 of the airbag 40.

The present invention can be applied to an airbag apparatus in which an airbag is disposed in front of the passenger seat instead of the driver seat 14.
-You may abbreviate | omit the opening 63 of the location enclosed by the inner coupling | bond part 62 (gas flow prevention part 61) in both superposition | polymerization part 42A, 42B. In this case, the overlapping portions 42A and 42B are also present at the same location.

The schematic side view which fractures | ruptures and shows the airbag apparatus in one Embodiment which actualized this invention. The top view which fractures | ruptures and shows a part of airbag about an airbag apparatus. The top view which shows the positional relationship of the heel mounting part, intermediate | middle part, and rear part in an airbag. The partial top view which shows the positional relationship with the heel mounting part in an airbag, various operation pedals, and a footrest. The partial top view which fractures | ruptures and shows a part of the airbag rear part about the rear part and inflator in an airbag. (A) is sectional drawing which expands and shows the cross-section which followed the 6-6 line in FIG. 1, (B) is sectional drawing which shows the state from which the ridge was pushed up by expansion | swelling of the ridge mounting part from the state of (A) . (A) is a partial sectional side view showing states of an accelerator pedal, a toe board, and an airbag during traveling of the vehicle, and (B) is a partial sectional side view showing each state of the accelerator pedal, a toe board, and an airbag during a frontal collision of the vehicle. Figure. FIG. 6 is a view for explaining another embodiment of the airbag, and is a plan view showing a part of the airbag in a cutaway manner.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Driver's seat (front seat), 30 ... Inflator, 40 ... Air bag, 41 ... Driver's seat floor (constituting part of vehicle floor), 42A, 42B ... Superposition part, 44 ... Rear part, 51 ... Mount Part, 51L, 51R ... location, 52L, 52R ... non-expandable part, 56L, 56R ... intermediate part, 61 ... gas flow blocking part, 62 ... inner coupling part, 63 ... opening, 71 ... inner tube (gas distribution part), D ... driver (occupant), G ... gas, Ph ... 踵, W2, W3 ... width.

Claims (7)

An inflator disposed on the vehicle floor and below the front end of the front seat;
An airbag having a saddle-loading portion on the vehicle floor and disposed in a flat state in front of the front seat and having a saddle-loading portion on the front portion on which both passengers' seats seated on the front seat are placed The gas ejected from the inflator is led from the rear part in the airbag to the saddle placing part through the intermediate part on the front side thereof, so that the intermediate part and the saddle placing part are inflated, respectively, and the saddle placing part In the airbag device that pushes up the upper passenger's heel,
In the saddle-loading portion, places where the passenger's saddle is placed are provided apart from each other in the vehicle width direction,
Said intermediate portion, together are spaced apart from one another about the vehicle width direction, the width of the vehicle width direction of the intermediate portion is set smaller than the width of the vehicle width direction of the heel rest portion,
The airbag device according to claim 1, wherein a front end of the intermediate portion is located behind a portion where the bag is placed . Between the rear portion of the airbag and the heel mounting portion, a gas flow blocking portion for blocking the flow of the gas is provided,
The airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate portion is configured by a portion excluding the gas flow blocking portion between the rear portion and the heel mounting portion. The saddle-loading portion is a portion on which both the passenger's saddles are placed at locations separated from each other in the vehicle width direction,
The gas flow blocking portion is provided between a rear portion of the airbag and the saddle placement portion in the vehicle front-rear direction, and is provided at a position corresponding to a central portion of the saddle placement portion in the vehicle width direction. The airbag device according to claim 2, wherein the airbag device is formed on both sides of the gas flow blocking portion in the vehicle width direction. The airbag includes a pair of overlapping portions obtained by folding the base fabric in half, or a pair of overlapping portions each consisting of a base fabric,
The airbag apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the gas flow blocking portion is configured by an inner coupling portion that couples the two overlapping portions in an endless manner inside the peripheral edge portion. The airbag device according to claim 4, wherein an opening is provided at a location surrounded by the inner coupling portion in both the overlapping portions. The gas flow blocking portion is provided in the vicinity of the front side of the rear portion of the airbag,
The gas distribution part which distributes the gas ejected from the inflator to the both intermediate parts is provided in the rear part adjacent to the gas flow blocking part. Airbag device. An inflator disposed on the vehicle floor and below the front end of the front seat;
An airbag having a saddle-loading portion disposed on the vehicle floor in front of the front seat and having a saddle-loading portion on the front portion on which both passengers' seats seated on the front seat are placed;
The gas ejected from the inflator is guided from the rear part in the airbag to the saddle placing part through the intermediate part on the front side thereof, thereby inflating the intermediate part and the saddle placing part, respectively. In the airbag device that pushes up the occupant's heel on the platform,
The width of the intermediate portion in the vehicle width direction is set to be smaller than the width of the saddle rest portion in the vehicle width direction,
Wherein a said heel rest portion of the air bag, the front near the location where the heel is placed, the Rue airbag device has non-inflatable portion that is not inflated is formed by the gas.

Images