JP4800351B2 - Vehicle occupant protection system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a drive control device for an occupant protection device that protects an occupant during a vehicle collision, and in particular, determines whether to drive the occupant protection device according to the magnitude of impact force during a vehicle collision, and based on the determination result. The present invention relates to a drive determination control device for a vehicle occupant protection device that controls driving of the occupant protection device.

  FIG. 17 is a plan view showing a front portion of a vehicle (automobile) equipped with a conventional occupant protection system. In the figure, 1 is a vehicle, 2 is an airbag as an occupant protection device mounted in front of the seat of the vehicle, 3 is an occupant protection control means for deploying the airbag 2, and this occupant protection control means 3 includes an acceleration sensor for detecting an impact at the time of a collision of the vehicle 1 and a microcomputer that inputs an acceleration detection signal as digital data from the acceleration sensor.

Next, the operation will be described.
When the vehicle 1 receives an impact due to a frontal collision, an acceleration sensor installed inside the occupant protection control means 3 detects the acceleration due to the impact and outputs an acceleration detection signal to the microcomputer. The microcomputer performs a calculation based on the acceleration detection signal input from the acceleration sensor to determine whether or not the airbag 2 should be deployed. At this time, the deceleration of the vehicle is important in determining whether the airbag 2 should be deployed. The deceleration is calculated by the occupant protection control means 3 by time-integrating the impact acceleration detection value based on the input signal from the acceleration sensor, but in practice, an offset component due to noise or the like is superimposed on the input signal. Due to the offset component, the integrated value of the impact acceleration is accumulated even during normal driving of the vehicle.

  Since the conventional vehicle occupant protection system is configured as described above, measures are taken to reset the integrated value under certain conditions so that the integrated value of impact acceleration during normal driving of the vehicle is not accumulated. However, in this case, it is difficult to select a timing condition for performing the reset, and there is a problem that processing means for resetting must be added.

  Also, in other conventional vehicle occupant protection systems, a constant subtraction value is set, the subtraction is always performed on the input value from the acceleration sensor, and the acceleration is increased when the integrated acceleration value after the subtraction is 0 or less. The method of setting the integrated value to 0 is used. However, in this method, the ratio of subtraction varies depending on whether a low impact for a long time is input or a high impact for a short time is input. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to calculate an accurate integrated value.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is capable of accurately calculating the deceleration at the time of a vehicle collision, and integrating the acceleration in the normal driving state of the vehicle without adding a significant processing means. An object of the present invention is to obtain a vehicle occupant protection system that can calculate a more accurate deceleration without accumulating.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system that can accurately determine whether or not the acceleration acceleration value at the time of a vehicle collision is a value that drives an occupant protection device.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system capable of accurately calculating an integrated acceleration value by a simple method without separating the calculation method of the integrated acceleration value in the acceleration direction and the deceleration direction. And

  Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system that can determine the discrimination between a collision and traveling on a rough road more quickly.

  Furthermore, the present invention can postpone acceleration integrated value recovery processing when the vehicle temporarily enters the reference value region due to vibration components in the middle of a collision, and more accurately calculate deceleration due to vehicle collision. An object is to obtain a vehicle occupant protection system.

The occupant protection control means of the vehicle occupant protection system according to the present invention calculates a physical quantity based on an acceleration signal, presets the maximum reference value and the minimum reference value of the physical quantity during normal driving of the vehicle, and the physical quantity is When the acceleration reference value is within the range from the maximum reference value to the minimum reference value, and the acceleration integration value is a positive value, the preset integration reference value is subtracted from the acceleration integration value at the current time. When the physical quantity is within the range from the maximum reference value to the minimum reference value, when the acceleration integrated value is a negative value, from the acceleration integrated value, an integration set in advance with respect to the current acceleration integrated value The reference value is added.

  In the vehicle occupant protection system according to the present invention, the acceleration sensor is installed so that the detection direction thereof is the vehicle front-rear direction, the positive component side of the acceleration sensor is the front direction or the rear direction of the vehicle, When the component side is opposite to the positive component side, and the occupant protection control means, when the acceleration integrated value based on the acceleration signal input from the acceleration sensor exceeds the reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the positive component side The occupant protection device on the positive component side is driven, and the occupant protection device on the negative component side is driven when the acceleration integrated value falls below the reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the negative component side.

  In the vehicle occupant protection system according to the present invention, the acceleration sensor is installed so that the detection direction thereof is the left-right direction of the vehicle, the positive component side of the acceleration sensor is set to the left direction or the right direction of the vehicle, and the acceleration sensor is negative. When the component side is opposite to the positive component side, and the occupant protection control means, when the acceleration integrated value based on the acceleration signal input from the acceleration sensor exceeds the reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the positive component side The occupant protection device on the positive component side is driven, and the occupant protection device on the negative component side is driven when the acceleration integrated value falls below the reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the negative component side.

  The occupant protection control means of the vehicle occupant protection system according to the present invention calculates a physical quantity based on an acceleration signal, presets the maximum reference value and the minimum reference value of the physical quantity during normal driving of the vehicle, and the physical quantity is When the value is outside the range of the minimum reference value from the maximum reference value, the calculation for accumulating the acceleration is performed to calculate the integrated value of acceleration, and when the physical quantity is within the range of the minimum reference value from the maximum reference value, the range is The time after the physical quantity exceeds is measured, and when the measurement time is smaller than the predetermined time, the return of the acceleration integrated value is postponed.

According to the present invention, the physical quantity based on the acceleration signal is calculated, the maximum reference value and the minimum reference value during normal driving of the vehicle are set in advance, and the physical quantity based on the acceleration signal is changed from the maximum reference value to the minimum reference value. When the acceleration accumulated value is within the range, when the accumulated acceleration value is a positive value, a predetermined accumulated reference value is subtracted from the accumulated acceleration value at the present time, and the physical quantity is the maximum reference value. When the acceleration reference value is within the range of the minimum reference value, and when the acceleration integration value is a negative value , addition of a preset integration reference value to the current acceleration integration value is executed from the acceleration integration value Since it is configured, by monitoring the current acceleration integrated value, subtracting a constant value if the acceleration integrated value is a positive value, and adding a constant value if the acceleration integrated value is a negative value, Vehicle traffic Can always be return processing acceleration cumulative value to converge to zero acceleration cumulative value during running, there is an effect that the accumulated by superposition of the noise component can be suppressed. Accordingly, there is an effect that the acceleration integrated values in the acceleration direction and the deceleration direction can be calculated by a simple method without separating the calculation methods.

  According to the present invention, the acceleration sensor is installed such that the detection direction thereof is the vehicle front-rear direction, the positive component side of the acceleration sensor is the front or rear direction of the vehicle, and the negative component side of the acceleration sensor is the positive component. Driving the positive component side occupant protection device when the integrated acceleration value based on the acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor exceeds the reference value of the integrated acceleration value set on the positive component side. Since the occupant protection device on the negative component side is driven when the integrated value does not exceed the reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the negative component side, either in the case of a vehicle front collision or rear collision Also, there is an effect that it is possible to determine a collision with the same logic and to accurately control and drive the occupant protection device.

  According to this invention, the acceleration sensor is installed so that the detection direction thereof is the left-right direction of the vehicle, the positive component side of the acceleration sensor is the left direction or the right direction of the vehicle, and the negative component side of the acceleration sensor is the positive component side. When the acceleration integrated value based on the acceleration signal input from the acceleration sensor by the occupant protection control means exceeds the reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the positive component side, the occupant on the positive component side Since the protective device is driven and the occupant protection device on the negative component side is driven when the integrated acceleration value does not exceed the reference value of the integrated acceleration value set on the negative component side, the vehicle is subjected to a right-and-left collision. In this case, the right and left occupant protection devices can be controlled simultaneously.

  According to the present invention, the physical quantity based on the acceleration signal is calculated, the maximum reference value and the minimum reference value of the physical quantity during normal driving of the vehicle are set in advance, and the physical quantity is outside the range of the minimum reference value from the maximum reference value. When the physical quantity is within the range from the maximum reference value to the minimum reference value, the time after the physical quantity exceeds the range is measured. Since the configuration is such that the return of the acceleration integrated value is postponed when the measurement time is shorter than the predetermined time, the acceleration integrated value of the acceleration integrated value is temporarily entered when entering the reference value region due to the vibration component during the collision. There is an effect that the return process is postponed and the deceleration due to the vehicle collision can be calculated more accurately.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a control drive system for a vehicle occupant protection device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The same components as those in FIG.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes an occupant protection device mounted on a vehicle 1 (see FIG. 17), which includes a squib (detonation device) 2a and an airbag 2b deployed thereby. Reference numeral 3 denotes a control means of the occupant protection device 2, which is an acceleration sensor 3a for detecting an impact acceleration generated at the time of a frontal collision of the vehicle 1, and an acceleration detection signal from the acceleration sensor 3a as digital data by an A / D converter. The microcomputer 3b is configured to include an input microcomputer 3b and an ignition drive 3c that receives an output signal from the microcomputer 3b and supplies an ignition current to the squib 2a.

Next, the operation will be described.
When the vehicle 1 is traveling, the impact acceleration is always detected by the acceleration sensor 3a, and the acceleration detection signal is input to the microcomputer 3b for arithmetic processing. That is, the microcomputer 3b calculates the magnitude of the acceleration detection signal input from the acceleration sensor 3a and determines whether or not the airbag 2b should be deployed. In this determination, since the impact acceleration due to the input signal from the acceleration sensor 3a becomes large at the time of the frontal collision of the vehicle, in this case, the ignition driving device 3c is activated by the output signal from the microcomputer 3b and the ignition current is supplied to the squib 2a. As a result, the airbag 2b is deployed.

  Here, the microcomputer 3b includes control reference value setting means (memory) for setting a maximum acceleration reference value (acceleration upper limit value) GH and a minimum acceleration reference value (acceleration lower limit value) GL that are assumed during normal driving of the vehicle. , An arithmetic means for comparing and calculating a physical quantity based on an impact acceleration detection signal input from the acceleration sensor 3a via an A / D converter with the maximum acceleration reference value GH and the minimum acceleration reference value GL, and acceleration integration of the calculation result The main component is return processing means for performing return processing so that the value converges to 0 when the vehicle is running normally.

Next, the operation by the control program of the microcomputer 3b will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 1 and shows a case where a collision determination at the time of a vehicle front collision is performed. The shock acceleration detection signal input from the acceleration sensor 3a by the microcomputer 3b is defined as input G, and the polarity of this input G will be described below assuming that the input in the deceleration direction is positive.
First, during normal driving of the vehicle, the absolute value of the impact acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 3a is usually as small as 2G or less. Therefore, the input G input from the acceleration sensor 3a by the microcomputer 3b during normal driving of the vehicle is in the range from the minimum acceleration reference value GL to the maximum acceleration reference value GH.

  Therefore, in step ST1, a determination of Yes or No is made as to whether GL ≦ input G ≦ GH, and if Yes, the process proceeds to step ST2. In step ST2, it is determined whether or not the current acceleration integrated value V> 0 when the vehicle is traveling. If V> 0, the process proceeds to step ST4. In step ST4, a preset integration reference value G2 is subtracted from the current acceleration integration value V, and the process proceeds to step ST6. In step ST6, it is determined whether or not the acceleration integrated value V <0 after the subtraction in step ST4. If the acceleration integrated value V <0 after the subtraction, the process proceeds to step ST9. In step ST9, a calculation process for setting the acceleration integrated value V below 0 to 0 is performed. If the acceleration integrated value V is greater than 0 in steps ST4, ST6, and ST9, return processing for converging the acceleration integrated value V to 0 is performed.

  On the other hand, when the determination result in Step ST2 is No (when the current acceleration integrated value V is smaller than 0), the process proceeds to Step ST3. In this step ST3, a preset integration reference value G1 is added from the current acceleration integration value V, and the process proceeds to step ST5. In step ST5, it is determined whether or not the acceleration integrated value V> 0 after the addition in step ST3. If the acceleration integrated value V> 0 after the addition, the process proceeds to step ST8. In step ST8, a calculation process for setting the acceleration integrated value V exceeding 0 to 0 is performed. Further, if the acceleration integrated value V is smaller than 0 in step ST3, step ST5, and step ST8, return processing for converging the acceleration integrated value V to 0 is performed.

The above is the processing operation when the impact acceleration during normal traveling of the vehicle is small. Next, the processing operation when the microcomputer 3b inputs a large impact acceleration other than during normal traveling will be described.
If the determination result in Step ST1 is No, that is, if the input G is a large impact acceleration exceeding the range from GL to GH, the process proceeds to Step ST7. In step ST7, the input G is added to the current acceleration integrated value V. By executing such processing, the integrated acceleration value V when the vehicle is traveling normally is subjected to a large impact such as a vehicle collision from the state where the integrated acceleration value V is always converged to 0. This acceleration integrated value V becomes a larger value when the vehicle collision speed is high.

  Then, after the addition process in step ST7, the process proceeds to step ST10. In step ST10, a comparison operation is performed between the acceleration integrated value V after the addition in step ST7 and a preset threshold value Vthr for driving the passenger protection device. As a result of the calculation, if the integrated acceleration value V> threshold value Vthr after the addition, the process proceeds to step ST11 to output an airbag drive signal to the ignition drive device 3c in FIG.

Next, in the actual vehicle collision mode, the airbag drive signal output timing and the like when the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 is performed will be described below.
The impact acceleration shown in FIG. 3A occurs when the vehicle collides at a high speed and when the vehicle collides at a low speed. Here, the collision speed of the vehicle is calculated by time integration of the impact acceleration and is as shown in FIG. The magnitude of the collision is evaluated by the magnitude of the collision speed.

  In the calculation according to the flowchart, when a collision occurs, integration is started exceeding the maximum acceleration reference value (acceleration upper limit integrated value return acceleration threshold) GH. Since the impact acceleration exceeding the maximum acceleration reference value GH is generated almost continuously during the collision, an integrated value V substantially equal to the acceleration integration shown in FIG. 3 (c)).

  When the vehicle collides at such a low speed that it is not necessary to operate the occupant protection device 2, the impact acceleration is small as shown in FIG. 3 (a), and the acceleration integration as shown in FIG. 3 (b). Becomes smaller. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3C, the integrated value V does not exceed the preset drive signal output threshold Vthr. Therefore, no airbag drive signal is output.

  However, when the vehicle collides at a high speed, as shown in FIG. 3A, the impact acceleration at the time of the low-speed collision increases, and the acceleration integration also increases as shown in FIG. 4B. That is, the integrated value V obtained by executing the calculation according to the flowchart exceeds the drive signal output threshold Vthr as shown in FIG. At this time, a driving signal is output to the occupant protection device 2 and the occupant protection device 2 is driven to deploy the airbag 2b.

Furthermore, as an example in which it is not necessary to operate the occupant protection device 2, in addition to the above-described collision, there are cases of rough road traveling and cases of braking.
The impact acceleration waveform during rough road running is a vibration waveform having a large amplitude as shown in FIG. In this case, the acceleration integral is small as shown in FIG.

Since the integrated value V obtained by executing the calculation according to the flowchart is small with respect to such an input, the integrated value V does not exceed the drive signal output threshold value Vthr. Therefore, the occupant protection device 2 No drive signal is output.
Further, the impact acceleration waveform during braking reduces the occurrence of impact acceleration as shown in FIG. However, the acceleration integral is large as shown in FIG. For such an input, in the calculation according to the flowchart, since the input impact acceleration G is between the minimum acceleration reference value GL and the maximum acceleration reference value GH, acceleration integration is not performed, The acceleration integrated value V is kept at 0. As a result, the acceleration integrated value V does not exceed the drive signal output threshold Vthr, and the drive signal for the occupant protection device is not output.

  Moreover, as an example which does not need to operate the passenger | crew protection apparatus 2, electrical spurious noise etc. are mentioned besides the above physical inputs. Since spurious noise is generated on the circuit, it is input to the microcomputer 3b in a form added to the output signal from the acceleration sensor 3a. The input waveform is mostly pulse-like as shown in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the acceleration integral is sequentially accumulated and becomes larger. However, in the calculation according to the flowchart, the input impact acceleration G becomes the minimum acceleration reference value GL and the maximum acceleration reference value. Integration is not performed because it is between GH and the acceleration integrated value V is kept at 0. As a result, the acceleration integrated value V does not exceed the drive signal output threshold Vthr, and the drive signal for the occupant protection device is not output.

  According to the first embodiment described above, the drive signal output threshold value Vthr of the occupant protection device 2 is stored in advance in the memory of the microcomputer 3b, and the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 is executed. Only when the vehicle collides at high speed, there is an effect that it is possible to control the occupant protection device 2 to operate accurately.

  In the first embodiment, the case where the drive signal output threshold Vthr is set in order to extract a high-speed collision of the vehicle has been described. However, by changing the drive signal output threshold Vthr, a low-speed collision of the vehicle is detected. It is also possible to perform sensitivity adjustment so as to make a determination.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
6 is a front plan view of a vehicle equipped with an occupant protection system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the occupant protection system of FIG. 6, and the same components as those in FIGS. The same reference numerals are used for explanation.
In FIG. 6, 1 is a vehicle, 2 is a front collision occupant protection device mounted on the vehicle 1,
4 is a rear collision occupant protection device mounted on the vehicle 1, and 3 is a common control means for driving the front collision occupant protection device 2 and the rear collision occupant protection device 4. As shown in FIG. 7, the control means 3 is an acceleration sensor 3a for detecting an impact acceleration generated when the vehicle 1 collides, and an acceleration detection signal from the acceleration sensor 3a is input as digital data by an A / D converter. A microcomputer 3b, and a front collision driving device 3d and a rear collision driving device 3e that respectively input an output signal from the microcomputer 3b to drive the front collision occupant protection device 2 and the rear collision occupant protection device 4; It is the composition provided with. Here, an example of the front collision occupant protection device 2 is an air bag, and an example of the rear collision occupant protection device 4 is a whip prevention device such as a headrest. In the memory of the microcomputer 3b, a drive signal output threshold Vthr2 is set in advance.

Next, the operation will be described.
In the microcomputer 3b according to the second embodiment, the magnitude of the impact acceleration detection signal input from the acceleration sensor 3a is physically calculated, and drive control of the front collision occupant protection device 2 and the rear collision occupant protection device 4 is performed. decide. When a large impact acceleration that should drive the front collision occupant protection device 2 is input based on the determination, the front collision drive device 3d outputs a drive signal to the front collision occupant protection device 2 to generate a front collision. The occupant protection device 2 is driven. Similarly, when a large impact acceleration that should drive the rear collision occupant protection device 4 is input, the rear collision drive device 3e outputs a drive signal to the rear collision occupant protection device 4 to generate a rear collision. The occupant protection device 4 is driven.

  Next, the operation by the control program of the microcomputer 3b will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 7, and executes a control program for performing a collision determination at the time of a front and rear collision of the vehicle. In the flowchart of FIG. 8, steps ST1 to ST11 perform the same arithmetic processing as in the first embodiment (FIG. 2), and thus description thereof is omitted, and only steps after step ST12 are described.

Since the microcomputer 3b is preset with a drive signal output threshold Vthr2 for operating the rear collision occupant protection device 4, in step ST12, the acceleration integrated value V calculated in steps ST1 to ST11 and the acceleration integrated value V are calculated. Comparison with the drive signal output threshold Vthr2 is performed to determine a rear collision. As a result of the determination, when the acceleration integrated value V is lower than the drive signal output threshold Vthr2, the process proceeds to step ST13. In step ST13, a drive signal is output to the rear collision occupant protection device 4 to drive the rear collision occupant protection device 4.
By executing such arithmetic processing, it is possible to determine the magnitude of the impact even with respect to a rear collision of the vehicle. For forward collision, the same arithmetic processing as in the first embodiment is executed.

Next, in the actual vehicle collision mode, the airbag drive signal output timing and the like when the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 8 is performed will be described below only in the case of a rear collision. In the case of a rear collision, a negative acceleration (acceleration component) impact acceleration occurs.
Impact acceleration as shown in FIG. 9A occurs when the vehicle collides at high speed and when it collides at low speed. Here, the collision speed of the vehicle is calculated by time integration of the impact acceleration and is as shown in FIG. The magnitude of the collision is evaluated by the magnitude of the collision speed.

  In the calculation according to the flowchart, when a collision occurs, the integration starts below the minimum acceleration reference value GL. During the collision, impact acceleration that is lower than the minimum acceleration reference value GL is generated almost continuously, and therefore, an integrated value V substantially equal to the acceleration integration shown in FIG. 9 (c)).

  When the vehicle collides at such a low speed that it is not necessary to operate the occupant protection device, the impact acceleration is small as shown in FIG. 9 (a), and the acceleration integral is as shown in FIG. 9 (b). Get smaller. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 9C, the integrated value V does not exceed the preset rear drive signal output threshold Vthr2. Therefore, the drive signal of the rear collision occupant protection device 4 is not output.

  However, when the vehicle collides at high speed, as shown in FIG. 9 (a), the impact acceleration at the time of low-speed collision increases, and the absolute value of the acceleration integral also increases as shown in FIG. 9 (b). growing. That is, the integrated value V obtained by executing the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 8 is less than the drive signal output threshold Vthr2 as shown in FIG. 9C. At this time, a drive signal is output to the rear collision occupant protection device 4 to drive the rear collision occupant protection device 4.

  Further, as an example in which it is not necessary to operate the occupant protection device, except for the collision as described above, the description is omitted because it is the same as in the case of the first embodiment, but similarly, the acceleration integrated value V is the rear drive. It does not fall below the signal output threshold Vthr2, and the drive signal for the rear collision occupant protection device 4 is not output.

  According to the second embodiment described above, the driving signal output threshold Vthr2 for the rear collision is additionally set in the memory of the microcomputer 3b according to the first embodiment, and the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 8 is executed. Thus, the front collision occupant protection device 2 can be controlled so that the rear collision occupant protection device 4 can be accurately operated only when the vehicle collides at high speed.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
10 is a front plan view of a vehicle equipped with an occupant protection system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention, and FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the occupant protection system of FIG. 10, which has the same configuration as FIGS. 1 to 9 and FIG. Elements are given the same reference numerals and redundant description is omitted.
In FIG. 10, 5 is a right collision occupant protection device mounted on the vehicle 1, and 6 is a left collision occupant protection device also mounted on the vehicle 1.

  In FIG. 11, 3f is a right-side collision driving device, 3g is a left-side collision driving device, and these collision driving devices 3f and 3g receive an output signal from the microcomputer 3b and receive a right-side collision occupant. The protection device 5 and the left collision occupant protection device 6 are each driven. Here, each of the collision occupant protection devices 5 and 6 includes a side collision airbag as an example.

Next, the operation will be described.
In the microcomputer 3b according to the third embodiment, the magnitude of the impact acceleration detection signal input from the acceleration sensor 3a is physically calculated to drive the right collision occupant protection device 5 and the left collision occupant protection device 6. Determine control. When a large impact acceleration to drive the right collision occupant protection device 5 is input based on the determination, the right collision drive device 3f outputs a drive signal to the right collision occupant protection device 5. The right-hand collision occupant protection device 5 is driven. Similarly, when a large impact acceleration that should drive the left collision occupant protection device 6 is input, the left collision drive device 3g outputs a drive signal to the left collision occupant protection device 6. The left collision occupant protection device 6 is driven. In the third embodiment, the memory of the microcomputer 3b is preset with a drive signal output threshold VthrR for driving the right collision occupant protection device 5 and the left collision occupant protection device 6. is there.

  Next, the control operation of the microcomputer 3b according to the third embodiment will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 11, and executes a control program for determining the collision of the left and right sides of the vehicle. In the flowchart of FIG. 12, steps ST1 to ST9 are the same as or equivalent to those of the second embodiment (FIG. 8), and therefore the same processing units are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. Only step ST14 and subsequent steps will be described. Note that the polarity of the input G will be described assuming that the input in the right direction is positive.

  Since the microcomputer 3b is preset with a drive signal output threshold value VthrR for operating the right collision occupant protection device 5, in step ST14, the acceleration integrated value V calculated in steps ST1 to ST9 and the above-described integrated value V A right collision is determined by comparing and calculating the right collision drive signal output threshold VthrR. As a result of the determination, if the acceleration integrated value V exceeds the drive signal output threshold VthrR, the process proceeds to step ST15. In step ST15, a drive signal is output to the right collision occupant protection device 5 to drive the right collision occupant protection device 5.

Similarly, in step ST16, a left collision is determined by executing a comparison operation between the drive signal output threshold value VthrL to activate the left collision occupant protection device 6 and the acceleration integrated value V. As a result of the determination, when the acceleration integrated value V is lower than the drive signal output threshold VthrL, the process proceeds to step ST17. In step ST17, a drive signal is output to the left collision occupant protection device 6 to drive the left collision occupant protection device 6.
By executing such arithmetic processing, it is possible to determine the magnitude of impact even when the vehicle collides in the left-right direction.

Next, in the actual vehicle collision mode, since the airbag drive signal output timing and the like when the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 12 is performed are the same as in the second embodiment, description thereof is omitted. Since the driving signal of the occupant protection device is output when V exceeds the range of each threshold, and the integrated acceleration value V is within the range of each threshold for the form input that does not require the occupant protection device to be operated, the occupant protection device No drive signal is output.

  According to the third embodiment described above, the drive signal output thresholds VthrR and VthrL for the left and right side collision are set in the memory of the microcomputer 3b according to the second embodiment, and the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 12 is executed. Thus, only when the vehicle collides at high speed, the right-hand collision occupant protection device 5 has an effect that the left-hand collision occupant protection device 6 can be controlled to operate correctly. .

Embodiment 4 FIG.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the control operation of the microcomputer applied to the vehicle occupant protection system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. The same or corresponding steps as those in FIG. Duplicate explanation is omitted.
Steps ST1 to ST11 are the same as those described in the first embodiment, and therefore will not be described. Additional step ST18 for identifying a collision with a collision during rough road traveling earlier. Only step ST19 will be described.

  When the input G in step ST1 exceeds the preset integrated value return acceleration range GL to GH, the process proceeds to step ST18. In step ST18, it is determined whether or not the input G <0. As a result of the determination, if the input G <0, the process proceeds to step ST19. In step ST19, when the input G is a negative value, the input G is multiplied by a preset weighting coefficient K. By adding step ST18 and step ST19 for performing such processing, an acceleration integrated value V obtained by weighting the input G in the negative direction is calculated.

Next, drive signal output timing and the like when the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 13 is performed in an actual vehicle collision mode will be described.
FIG. 14A shows an impact acceleration waveform at the time of a vehicle collision that requires the occupant protection device to be activated, and a rough road traveling waveform that does not require the occupant protection device to be activated. The impact acceleration waveform at the time of a vehicle collision is mainly composed of a positive (deceleration) component, and is characterized by a large acceleration integration as shown in FIG.
On the other hand, the shock acceleration waveform during rough road running is a vibration waveform with a large amplitude as shown in FIG. 14, and the acceleration integral is small as shown in FIG. 14B.

  In the first embodiment, focusing on the fact that the integrated acceleration value during rough road traveling is small and large during a collision, the identification is performed by setting a threshold value. In this case, as shown in FIG. 14C, it is necessary to set a drive signal output threshold value equal to or higher than VthrA in advance in order to identify rough loading (no weighting) as shown in FIG. The identification timing at this time is TonA in FIG.

  In the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 13 according to the fourth embodiment, since the negative direction component is multiplied by the weighting coefficient K, the acceleration component is weighted by weighting the negative component in the vibration waveform during rough road running. The value V is greatly reduced compared to the actual acceleration integral. On the other hand, in the collision waveform, since the main component is a positive component, the amount of decrease is smaller than that in rough road traveling. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 14C, the acceleration integration value V is suppressed in rough loading (with weighting), and the drive signal output threshold value to be identified can be lowered to VthrB. In this case, the identification timing is TonB in FIG. 14C, and identification at an earlier timing is possible.

  According to the fourth embodiment described above, in the above calculation in which the weighting coefficient K on the negative component side is set, the discrimination between the impact acceleration waveform having a large vibration component such as rough road and the collision waveform is performed earlier. Therefore, it is possible to control the occupant protection device to operate accurately.

  In the fourth embodiment, only one occupant protection device is shown. However, when a plurality of occupant protection devices need to be controlled, a similar flow can be added at an earlier timing. It is possible to control the operation.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
FIG. 15 is a flowchart for explaining the control operation of the microcomputer applied to the vehicle occupant protection system according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The same or corresponding steps as those in FIG. Duplicate explanation is omitted.
Steps ST1 to ST11 are the same as those described in the first embodiment, and therefore will not be described. Added for timer processing that delays return processing for returning the acceleration integrated value. Only step ST20, step ST21, and step ST22 will be described.

If the input G in step ST1 exceeds the preset integrated value return acceleration range GL to GH, the process proceeds to step ST22. In step ST22, the time counter T is reset to a preset delay time Ttimer.
On the other hand, when the input G does not exceed the integrated value return acceleration range GL to GH, the process of step ST20 is executed. In step ST20, the sampling time Δt is subtracted from the time counter T, and the process proceeds to step ST21. In step ST21, the subtracted time counter T is evaluated. If the time counter T is less than or equal to 0, the process proceeds to step ST2 where a process of converging the acceleration integrated value V to 0 is executed. If the time counter T is equal to or greater than 0, the acceleration integrated value V is held as it is, and the process proceeds to step ST10.
By adding such processing steps, it is possible to adjust the timing for returning the acceleration integrated value V (the acceleration integrated value is converged to 0).

Next, the processing contents when the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 15 is performed in the actual vehicle collision mode will be described.
In the first embodiment to the fourth embodiment, the case where the impact acceleration at the time of collision occurs continuously has been described. However, in the actual collision, the impact acceleration waveform differs depending on the vehicle collision mode, and the layout of each component of the vehicle Thus, even in the same collision mode, the impact acceleration is different.

FIG. 16 shows a calculation result when the calculation content in the collision determination method applied to the passenger protection system according to the fifth embodiment is applied to an actual collision mode.
A vehicle and a collision mode in which a region where the generation G of the first wave and the second wave of the impact acceleration waveform is small as illustrated in FIG.
In the case of the impact acceleration waveform as shown in FIG. 16A, the acceleration integration is as shown in FIG.
FIG. 16 (c1) shows a calculation mode when the calculations of the first to fourth embodiments are applied. When the calculation value exceeds the integrated value return acceleration range GL to GH, the integration process is executed. In the integrated value return acceleration range GL to GH, the integrated value return processing (acceleration integrated value converges to 0) timing is shown.

  As shown in FIG. 16 (c2), the acceleration integrated value v when the calculations of the first to fourth embodiments are applied is calculated as follows. In the calculation result, the impact acceleration G falls within the integrated value return acceleration ranges GL to GH. At a certain time (T1 to T2), the acceleration integrated value V becomes a waveform that converges to 0 and attenuates more than the actual acceleration integration. For this reason, according to the calculation according to the flowchart of FIG. 15, the integrated value return processing is suspended for Ttime after the impact acceleration enters the integrated value return acceleration range GL to GH as shown in FIG. . Since the acceleration integrated value V is suspended during the time (T1 to T2) in which the impact acceleration G is in the integrated value return acceleration range GL to GH, the actual acceleration integration is reproduced more accurately as shown in FIG. It becomes possible.

  In the fifth embodiment, only one occupant protection device is shown. However, when the control of a plurality of occupant protection devices is necessary, a similar flow is added, so that the integrated value restoration process is performed. Delay processing is possible. In each of the above embodiments, the airbag and the side airbag have been described as the occupant protection device. However, the occupant protection device may be used for a seat belt pretensioner, a headrest shock absorber for preventing whiplash, and the like.

1 is a schematic block diagram showing a vehicle occupant system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drive signal output timing at the time of performing the calculation by the flowchart of FIG. 2 in an actual collision form (identification of a high-speed collision and a low-speed collision). It is explanatory drawing which shows the drive signal output timing at the time of performing the calculation by the flowchart of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drive signal output timing at the time of performing the calculation by the flowchart of FIG. 2 in an actual collision form (identification of a collision and noise). It is a front part top view of the vehicle carrying the passenger | crew protection system by Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the passenger | crew protection system of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drive signal output timing at the time of performing the calculation by the flowchart of FIG. 8 in an actual collision form (identification of a high speed collision and a low speed collision). It is a front part top view of the vehicle carrying the passenger | crew protection system by Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the passenger | crew protection system of FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 11. It is a flowchart in the case of performing arithmetic processing within the microcomputer by Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drive signal output timing at the time of performing the calculation by the flowchart of FIG. 13 in an actual collision form (identification of a collision and rough road braking). It is a flowchart in the case of performing arithmetic processing within the microcomputer by Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the processing content of the delay timer at the time of performing the calculation by the flowchart of FIG. 15 in an actual collision form (collision with a rest period). It is a top view which shows the front part of the vehicle provided with the conventional passenger | crew protection system.

Explanation of symbols

  1 vehicle, 2 occupant protection device, 2a squib (detonation device), 2b air bag, 3 control means, 3a acceleration sensor, 3b microcomputer, 3c ignition drive device, 3d front collision drive device, 3e rear collision drive device, 3f Driving device for right collision, 3g Driving device for left collision, 4 Occupant protection device for rear collision, 5 Occupant protection device for right collision, 6 Occupant protection device for left collision.

Claims (4)

An occupant protection device mounted on a vehicle, and an occupant protection control unit that has an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration due to an impact at the time of a vehicle collision, and that inputs an acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor to control and drive the occupant protection device. In the vehicle occupant protection system provided,
The occupant protection control means calculates a physical quantity based on the acceleration signal, presets a maximum reference value and a minimum reference value of the physical quantity during normal driving of the vehicle, and the physical quantity is calculated from the maximum reference value to the minimum reference value. When the acceleration integrated value is a positive value , subtracting a preset integration reference value from the acceleration integrated value to the current acceleration integrated value is performed, and the physical quantity is the maximum reference A function that, when the value is within the range of the minimum reference value from the value , adds the preset integration reference value to the current acceleration integration value from the acceleration integration value when the acceleration integration value is negative A vehicle occupant protection system comprising:   The acceleration sensor is installed so that its detection direction is the vehicle front-rear direction, the positive component side of the acceleration sensor is the front or rear direction of the vehicle, and the negative component side of the acceleration sensor is the direction opposite to the positive component side And the occupant protection control means drives the occupant protection device on the positive component side when the integrated acceleration value based on the acceleration signal input from the acceleration sensor exceeds the reference value of the integrated acceleration value set on the positive component side. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle has a function of driving an occupant protection device on the negative component side when the acceleration integrated value falls below a reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the negative component side. Occupant protection system.   The acceleration sensor is installed such that its detection direction is the left-right direction of the vehicle, the positive component side of the acceleration sensor is the left or right direction of the vehicle, and the negative component side of the acceleration sensor is the direction opposite to the positive component side And the occupant protection control means drives the occupant protection device on the positive component side when the integrated acceleration value based on the acceleration signal input from the acceleration sensor exceeds the reference value of the integrated acceleration value set on the positive component side. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle has a function of driving an occupant protection device on the negative component side when the acceleration integrated value falls below a reference value of the acceleration integrated value set on the negative component side. Occupant protection system.   The occupant protection control means calculates a physical quantity based on the acceleration signal, presets a maximum reference value and a minimum reference value of the physical quantity during normal driving of the vehicle, and the physical quantity is calculated from the maximum reference value to the minimum reference value. When the physical quantity is within the range from the maximum reference value to the minimum reference value, the time after the physical quantity exceeds the range is calculated. The vehicle occupant protection system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle occupant protection system has a function of measuring and delaying the return of the integrated acceleration value when the measurement time is shorter than a predetermined time.

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