JP5125223B2 - Airbag device for vehicle - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle airbag apparatus provided with a bag body having an upper body protection part and a leg protection part, and belongs to the field of vehicle safety technology.

  A vehicle such as an automobile is provided with an airbag device for occupant protection. For example, an airbag device for a front seat (passenger seat) is housed in an instrument panel of a vehicle, and when a vehicle collision is detected or predicted, the bag body pushes open the lid of the instrument panel and seats on the front seat It is comprised so that it may expand | deploy and expand toward.

  In order to ensure the protection of the front seated occupant by such an airbag device, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a bag body is constituted by an upper body protection portion and a leg protection portion, A device that can protect a wide range from the body to the leg is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-45241

  By the way, for example, in a relatively small vehicle, there may be a case where the front and back distance between the occupant's legs, particularly the knee and the instrument panel, cannot be secured sufficiently. Even if it is configured like the one described in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that the occupant's legs cannot be sufficiently protected.

  Then, this invention makes it a subject to provide the vehicle airbag apparatus which can protect a passenger | crew's leg favorably, even when the front-and-rear distance between a passenger | crew's leg and an instrument panel cannot fully be ensured.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is configured as follows.

First, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is housed in an instrument panel and pushes open a lid provided on the instrument panel when gas is supplied when a vehicle collision is detected or predicted. And a front body protection portion that expands and inflates the bag body so as to cover the upper body of the front seat seated occupant from the front of the vehicle. A vehicle airbag apparatus configured to expand and inflate so as to cover a leg of a seated occupant from the front of the vehicle, wherein the expansion and expansion of the leg protection unit is more than the expansion and expansion of the upper body protection unit The bag body is provided with a leg protection part deployment promoting means for promoting the deployment and expansion of the leg protection part so as to end early , and the bag body has an upper body protection part upward in the instrument panel. Down The leg protection part deployment promoting means is configured by rotating the lid part around a hinge extending in the vehicle width direction on the upper side thereof; and The leg protection unit deployment promoting means is provided on the bag body, and includes a body protection unit deployment regulating unit that suppresses the supply of gas to the body protection unit at least in the initial stage of deployment of the bag body. The body protection part deployment restriction part is provided on a gas supply inlet side inside the body protection part in the bag body, and is configured by a cloth member that regulates gas supply to the inside of the body protection part. and said that you are.

Further, the invention described in claim 2 is stored in the instrument panel, and when a vehicle collision is detected or predicted, gas is supplied to open the lid provided on the instrument panel. An upper body protecting portion that is provided with a bag body that expands and inflates toward a seated occupant, and that expands and expands so that the upper body of the front seated occupant is covered from the front of the vehicle, and the front seated seat A vehicle airbag device configured to expand and inflate so as to cover an occupant's leg from the front of the vehicle, and the expansion of the leg protection unit ends earlier than the expansion of the upper body protection unit As described above, the bag body is provided with a leg protection part deployment promoting means for promoting deployment and expansion of the leg protection part, and the bag body has an upper body protection part upward and a leg protection part downward in the instrument panel. Located in The leg protection part deployment promoting means is configured by rotating the lid part around a hinge extending in the vehicle width direction on the upper side thereof, and the leg part. The protection part deployment promoting means is provided in the bag body, and includes a body protection part deployment restriction part that suppresses the supply of gas to the body protection part at least in the initial stage of deployment of the bag body, and the body protection The partial development restricting portion is formed of a bag-like cloth member that covers the upper body protecting portion of the bag body and restricts gas supply to the inside of the upper body protecting portion. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle airbag device according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the cloth constituting the upper body protection portion deployment restricting portion is broken during the deployment. It is characterized by becoming.

  Next, the effect of the present invention will be described.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a vehicle collision is detected or predicted, the bag body pushes open the lid of the instrument panel and expands toward the front seated occupant. In this case, the bag body expands and expands so as to cover the upper body of the front seated occupant from the front of the vehicle, and leg protection expands and expands so as to cover the legs of the front seated occupant from the front of the vehicle. Since it is comprised by the part, the wide range ranging from a passenger | crew's upper body to a leg can be protected.

In particular, in the present invention, the leg protection portion expansion promoting means promotes the expansion and expansion of the leg protection portion so that the expansion and expansion of the leg protection portion ends earlier than the expansion and expansion of the upper body protection portion. Therefore, even when the front and rear distance between the occupant's legs, particularly the knee and the instrument panel, cannot be sufficiently secured, the occupant's legs are sufficiently protected.

In that case, according to the present invention , the lid portion is opened from the lower side by rotating upward about the upper hinge extending in the vehicle width direction on the upper side, and as a result, the instrument The leg protection part located below the upper body protection part in the panel expands and expands outside the instrument panel before the upper body protection part. Further, the supply of gas to the body protection part is suppressed at least in the initial stage of deployment of the bag body by the body protection part deployment restriction part constituting the leg protection part deployment promotion means. That is, the expansion and expansion of the leg protection part is promoted so that the expansion of the leg protection part is completed earlier than the expansion and expansion of the upper body protection part.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 2 , the same effect as that of the invention of claim 1 can be obtained.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 3 , since the cloth constituting the upper body protection part deployment restricting part is designed to break during deployment, after the break, the expansion of the body protection part is expanded. It will be done promptly.

  Hereinafter, a vehicle airbag device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, a reference example having a configuration common to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an instrument panel 1 extending in the vehicle width direction is provided at the front part of the vehicle compartment. Is provided. In the instrument panel 1, an airbag device 3 is accommodated in front of the passenger seat 2 and at the height of the abdomen of the passenger seated occupant X.

  The airbag device 3 is fixed to an instrument panel member 4 as a vehicle body strength member extending in the vehicle width direction via a bracket 5 and is accommodated in the casing 11 and the casing 11 as shown in FIG. The inflator 12 and the bag body 13 and a collision prediction detector (not shown) are included.

  The casing 11 is made of a resin having plasticity, and has a substantially horizontal upper wall portion 11a, a lower wall portion 11b inclined so that the rear side is lowered, and left and right end portions of the upper wall portion 11a and the lower wall portion 11b. The left and right side wall portions 11c, 11c provided between them, and the front wall portion 11d and the rear flange portion provided in a frame shape at the front and rear ends of the upper wall portion 11a, the lower wall portion 11b, and the side wall portions 11c, 11c. 11e, an upper rear wall portion 11g connected to the rear end side of the upper wall portion 11a via an upper hinge portion 11f, and a lower portion connected to the rear end side of the lower wall portion 11b via a lower hinge portion 11h. It has a side rear wall portion 11i and a front side wall member 11j formed of a steel plate as a separate member from these portions. The front flange portion 11d is fixed to the front side wall member 11j by bolts and nuts, the front side wall member 11j is fixed to the mounting plate portion 5a of the bracket 5 by bolts and nuts, the rear flange portion 11e, the upper rear wall portion 11g, The lower rear wall portion 11i is fixed to the inner surface of the instrument panel 1 with an adhesive.

  The upper hinge portion 11f extends rearward and downward from the front position by a slight amount from the rear end of the upper wall portion 11a. On the other hand, the lower hinge portion 11h has a hook-like shape extending slightly upward from the front position and bending backward from the rear end of the lower wall portion 11b, and is extendable.

  The inflator 12 is fixed to the front side wall member 11j, and generates expansion and expansion gas for the bag body 13 from the hole 12b of the case 12a when receiving an initiation signal from the collision prediction detection unit. The collision prediction detection unit generates an initiation signal when a collision is predicted or detected.

  As shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 2, the bag body 13 is deployed and inflated rearward and upward, and protects the upper body of the occupant X from the front of the vehicle. And a leg protection portion 13b that expands and expands rearward and downward and protects the legs of the passenger in the passenger seat, mainly covering the knees from the front of the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper body protection part 13a of the bag body 13 is accommodated in the casing 11 in a bellows-folded state, and the leg protection part 13b of the bag body 13 is accommodated in the casing 11 in a rolled state. The bag body 13 is fixed to the inflator 12 so as not to leak gas. In addition, the upper body protection part 13a of the bag body 13 may be rolled.

  The instrument panel 1 is formed of a resin such as polypropylene. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the instrument panel 1 has a rectangular frame shape formed on its inner surface along the inner edge of the rear flange portion 11 e of the casing 11. Groove 20 is provided (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 4 is a continuous groove). Further, a groove 21 extending in the vehicle width direction is formed between the left and right side portions 20a, 20a of the groove 20 so as to follow the boundary between the upper rear wall portion 11g and the lower rear wall portion 11i of the casing 11. (Indicated in FIG. 4 by a dotted line is a continuous groove). These grooves 20 and 21 can be broken by the development pressure of the bag body 13. The inner portion of the instrument panel 1 that is partitioned by the breakable grooves 20 and 21 is an upper lid portion that rotates around the upper hinge portion 11f when the lid portion 30, more specifically, the bag body 13 is unfolded. 31 and a lower lid portion 32 that rotates around the lower hinge portion 11h.

Here, in the present reference example , a plurality of deployment promoting means (leg protecting part deployment promoting means) for promoting the deployment of the leg protecting part 13b are provided.

First, the first deployment promoting means is configured by making the area of the lower lid portion 32 smaller than the area of the upper lid portion 31. In other words, since the length in the vehicle width direction of the lower lid portion 32 and the upper lid portion 31 is the same, the length of the side portion (the vertical length of the lid portion) of the lower lid portion 32 is greater than that of the upper lid portion 31. It will be comprised so that it may become short. According to this first deployment promoting means, the lower lid portion 32 rotates faster than the upper lid portion 31.

Further, the second expansion promoting means is a groove of a portion (the lower side 20b of the groove 20, the lower side of the side portions 20a, 20a, and the groove 21) constituting the periphery of the lower lid portion 31 of the grooves 20, 21. Is made deeper than the depth of the groove in the other part. In other words, the instrument panel 1 is thinner at the periphery of the lower lid portion 31 than at other portions. According to the second deployment promoting means, the lower lid portion 31 is broken earlier than the upper lid portion 32 and is easy to open.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, as the third deployment promoting means , the vicinity of the central portion of the cross section of the protective portion 13a is covered on the inlet side (gas supply inlet side) of the upper body protective portion 13a of the bag body 13. Thus, the cloth member 14 is provided. Specifically, the upper side portion 14a and the lower side portion 14b of the cloth member 14 are sewn to the bellows fold portion of the upper body protection portion 13a. In this case, the thread material 15 used for the sewing is of a strength that breaks when a predetermined force is applied. Further, the sewing position of the cloth member 14 to the upper body protection portion 13a is defined by an AM90 occupant (AM90: US federal regulatory standard CRF49ch.5) in a state where the bag body 13 is fully deployed as shown in FIG. It is set at a position above the knee of an American adult male (occupant equivalent to an average body occupant of 90% of the smallest to the most). According to the third deployment promoting means , at the initial stage of deployment, the supply of gas to the upper body protection portion 13a is restricted by the cloth member 14 when gas is generated from the inflator 12.

Moreover, as a 4th expansion | deployment acceleration | stimulation means, as shown to FIG. 3, FIG. 6, the bag-shaped cloth member 16 which the lower side opens covers the upper body protection part 13a of the bag body 13 from upper direction. The surface of the bag-like cloth member 16 that contacts the front side wall member 11j of the casing 11 is fixed to the front side wall member 11j. Further, a breakable portion 16b extending vertically is formed at the center in the vehicle width direction of the rear surface portion 16a of the cloth member 16, and the breakable portion 16b is broken during the expansion and expansion of the upper body protection portion 13a. It is like that. According to the fourth deployment promoting means, the expansion of the body protection portion 13a is restrained by the bag-like cloth member 16 in the initial stage of deployment, so that the gas generated from the inflator 12 is supplied to the body protection portion 13a. It will be regulated.

Next, the operation of this reference example will be described.

  That is, when a collision of the vehicle is predicted or detected, an initiation signal is output from the collision prediction detection unit to the inflator 12, and gas is generated from the inflator 12, and the upper body protection unit 13a and legs of the bag body 13 are generated by this gas. The protection portion 13b expands and expands to the state indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.

  And the upper body protection part 13a is in contact with the inner surface of the window glass 6 as shown in FIG. That is, since the upper part and the front part side of the upper body protection part 13a are supported by the window glass 6, the upper body of the occupant who has fallen forward is reliably held.

In that case, in this reference example , since the cloth member 14 (upper body protection portion deployment restriction portion) is provided on the inlet side inside the upper body protection portion 13a of the bag body 13, the gas generated from the inflator 12 is Supply to the inside of the upper body protection portion 13a is restricted by the cloth member 14. As a result, most of the generated gas is preferentially supplied into the leg protection part 13a as indicated by an arrow α in FIG. In this case, if the total supply amount of gas into the bag body 13 is the same as the conventional case, the amount of gas supplied into the leg protection unit 13b is restricted from being supplied to the upper body protection unit 13a. On the contrary, the supply of gas into the leg protection portion 13b increases. That is, the deployment of the leg protection unit 13a is accelerated, and this also promotes the expansion and expansion of the leg protection unit 13a. Therefore, even when the front and rear distance between the occupant's legs, particularly the knee and the instrument panel 1, cannot be sufficiently secured, the occupant's legs can be protected better than before. In addition, the upper body protection portion deployment restriction portion (upper body protection portion deployment regulation means) can be easily configured by the cloth member 14. Since the sewing thread material 15 of the cloth member 14 is broken during the expansion, a sufficient amount of gas is supplied to the upper body protection portion 13a and the upper body protection portion 13a rapidly expands and expands. It will be.

Further, in this reference example , the upper body protection portion 13a of the bag body 13 is covered with the bag-like cloth member 16 from above, and the upper body protection portion 13a is difficult to expand. Supply of the generated gas to the upper body protection portion 13 a is restricted by the cloth member 16. Therefore, the same effect as that of the cloth member 14 can be obtained also by this. Even when the cloth member 16 is provided, the breakable portion 16b of the cloth member 16 breaks when the cloth member 16 is expanded to a predetermined state, and thereafter, a sufficient amount of gas is also supplied into the upper body protection portion 13a. As a result, the upper body protecting portion 13a rapidly expands and expands.

Moreover, in this reference example , although the upper cover part 31 and the lower cover part 32 will open when the grooves 20a-20c and 21 fracture | rupture, the periphery of the lower cover part 31 is comprised among the grooves 20 and 21. Since the depth of the groove (the lower side 20b of the groove 20, the lower side of the side parts 20a and 20a, and the groove 21) to be made is deeper than the other parts, it will break first. . Therefore, the lower lid portion 31 opens first, and as a result, the leg protection portion 13b expands and expands outside the instrument panel 1 before the upper body protection portion 13a. That is, this also promotes the expansion and expansion of the leg protection portion 13b so that the expansion of the leg protection portion 13b ends earlier than the expansion and expansion of the upper body protection portion 13a. In this reference example , the grooves 20b and 20c are provided on the sides of the upper lid 31 and the lower lid 32 on the hinges 11f and 11h side, but they may not be provided. That is, the lower side of the side portions 20a, 20a constituting the periphery of the lower lid portion 32 and the depth of the groove of the groove 21 are made deeper than the depth of the other partial grooves, so that the lower lid portion 32 is It becomes easy to open first and the above-mentioned effects are achieved.

Further, in the present reference example , the upper lid portion 31 rotates around the upper hinge 11f extending in the vehicle width direction on the upper side, and the lower lid portion 32 extends in the vehicle width direction on the lower side. It pivots about the lower hinge 11h. In this case, since the area of the lower lid portion 32 is smaller than the area of the upper lid portion 31, the lower lid portion 31 rotates faster and opens first, and as a result, the leg protection portion 1b This expands and expands outside the instrument panel 1 prior to the upper body protecting portion 1a. That is, according to the present embodiment, this also promotes the expansion and expansion of the leg protection portion 13b so that the expansion of the leg protection portion 13b ends earlier than the expansion and expansion of the upper body protection portion 13a. Become. Further, in the present reference example , the lower lid portion 32 is disposed so that the lower end portion is positioned in the vicinity of the occupant's knee, so that when the seat of the passenger seat 2 is slid forward, There is a possibility that the knee comes into contact with the portion 32 and the lower lid portion 32 may be poorly developed. However, since the upper and lower lengths of the upper lid portion 31 are longer than the upper and lower lengths of the lower lid portion 32, the bag body 13 is The upper lid 31 can be satisfactorily deployed from the large opening formed by the deployment. In other words, even if a deployment failure of the lower lid portion 32 occurs, the occupant can be well protected. Moreover, since the upper cover part 31 and the lower cover part 32 are connected with the casing 11 via the hinges 11f and 11h, the upper cover part 31 and the lower cover part 32 are prevented from scattering.

Further, in the present reference example , the lower hinge 11h is bent in a key shape, is longer than the upper hinge 11f, and can be extended. As shown in FIG. 32 becomes easy to open to the state along the instrument panel 1 surface. Therefore, this also facilitates the leg protection portion 13b of the bag body 13 to expand downward, and the leg protection effect is improved.

Further, in the present reference example , since the leg protection portion 13b of the bag body 13 is housed in the casing 11 in a roll-wrapped state, it is easy to slip through a narrow opening that is formed when the lower lid portion 32 is opened, Moreover, it will spread stably downward thereafter.

In this reference example , as described above, the first to fourth deployment promotion means are provided as the leg protection unit deployment promotion means, but one, two, or three are selected from these. May be provided .

In the present reference example , the seat cushion of the passenger seat 2 may be tilted upward at the time of collision detection or prediction. By doing so, when the collision is detected or predicted, the occupant's knee part in particular moves upward while moving slightly backward, that is, the knee part moves away from the instrument panel 1. Therefore, especially the knee of the front seated occupant X is better protected.

In the present reference example , the seat belt may be pretensioned at the time of collision detection or prediction. By doing so, the occupant is more strongly restrained by the seat belt at the time of collision detection or prediction, and the movement of the occupant to the front of the knee, that is, the movement toward the instrument panel 1 is suppressed. Therefore, this also improves the effect of protecting the knees of the front seated occupant.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in the airbag device 3 ′ according to the present embodiment, the lid portion 30 ′ formed on the instrument panel 1 ′ has a breakable frame-shaped groove 20 ′. It is formed by partitioning, but it is not divided vertically. The lid portion 30 'is configured to be rotatable about an upper hinge portion 11f' provided on the upper side thereof. Other configurations are the same as those in the reference example , and a description thereof is omitted. According to such a configuration, when the bag body 13 is unfolded, the lid 30 ′ rotates upward about the upper hinge 11f ′. Therefore, the leg protection part 13a located below the upper body protection part 13a in the instrument panel 1 ′ is first expanded and expanded.

  In addition, about the groove | channel 20b 'which comprises a lower side part, and the groove | channels 20a' and 20a 'which comprise a side part, you may make the depth of a groove | channel deeper than the groove | channel 20c' which comprises an upper side part. According to such a configuration, when the bag body 13 is expanded and inflated, the groove 20c ′ constituting the lower side portion is easily broken. That is, the lid portion 30 'can be easily opened from the lower side, and this also promotes the expansion and expansion of the leg protection portion 13b.

Also in the present embodiment, a cloth member constituting the third deployment promoting means or the fourth deployment promoting means is provided inside or outside of the bag main body, thereby protecting the legs as in the reference example. The expansion and expansion of the part will be further promoted.

  The present invention can be widely applied to a vehicle airbag apparatus provided with a bag body having an upper body protection part and a leg protection part.

It is a front view of the instrument panel of the vehicle provided with the airbag apparatus for vehicles concerning a reference example . It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion indicated by an arrow B in FIG. 2. It is an enlarged view of the part shown by the arrow C of FIG. It is DD sectional drawing of FIG. It is the figure which looked at the state which wrapped the bag body from the arrow E direction of FIG. 3 (other things are abbreviate | omitting). FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 for explaining an initial state of expansion of the bag body. It is a figure equivalent to FIG. 3 about the vehicle airbag apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,1 'Instrument panel 2 Passenger seat 3, 3' Airbag apparatus 11, 11 'Casing 11f, 11f' Upper hinge 11h Lower hinge 12 Inflator 13 Bag body 13a Upper body protection part 13b Leg protection part 14 Cloth member ( Cloth provided inside the bag)
15 Thread material 16 Cloth member (cloth provided outside the bag body)
20, 20 ', 21 Grooves 20a', 20b ', 21 Parts 30, 30' constituting the peripheral edge of the lower lid part Lid part 31 Upper lid part 32 Lower lid part

Claims (3)

A bag body that is housed in an instrument panel and that expands and inflates toward a front seated occupant by pushing open a lid provided on the instrument panel when gas is supplied when a vehicle collision is detected or predicted The bag body is deployed so as to cover and expand the upper body of the front seated occupant from the front of the vehicle and to cover the legs of the front seated occupant from the front of the vehicle. A vehicle airbag device configured with an inflating leg protection unit,
Leg protector deployment promoting means for promoting the deployment and expansion of the leg protector is provided so that the deployment and expansion of the leg protector finishes earlier than the deployment and expansion of the upper body protector ,
The bag body is accommodated in the instrument panel so that the upper body protection part is located above and the leg protection part is located below,
The leg protection portion deployment promoting means is configured by rotating the lid portion around a hinge extending in the vehicle width direction on the upper side thereof, and
The leg protection unit deployment promoting means includes a body protection unit deployment regulating unit that is provided in the bag body and suppresses the supply of gas to the body protection unit at least in the initial stage of deployment of the bag body.
The body protection part deployment restriction part is a cloth member that is provided on the gas supply inlet side inside the body protection part in the bag body and regulates the gas supply to the inside of the body protection part. vehicle airbag device, characterized in that it is. A bag body that is housed in an instrument panel and that expands and inflates toward a front seated occupant by pushing open a lid provided on the instrument panel when gas is supplied when a vehicle collision is detected or predicted The bag body is deployed so as to cover and expand the upper body of the front seated occupant from the front of the vehicle and to cover the legs of the front seated occupant from the front of the vehicle. A vehicle airbag device configured with an inflating leg protection unit,
Leg protector deployment promoting means for promoting the deployment and expansion of the leg protector is provided so that the deployment and expansion of the leg protector finishes earlier than the deployment and expansion of the upper body protector,
The bag body is accommodated in the instrument panel so that the upper body protection part is located above and the leg protection part is located below,
The leg protection portion deployment promoting means is configured by rotating the lid portion around a hinge extending in the vehicle width direction on the upper side thereof, and
The leg protection unit deployment promoting means includes a body protection unit deployment regulating unit that is provided in the bag body and suppresses the supply of gas to the body protection unit at least in the initial stage of deployment of the bag body.
The upper body protection portion deployment restriction portion is formed of a bag-like cloth member that covers the upper body protection portion of the bag body and restricts the supply of gas to the inside of the upper body protection portion. An air bag device for vehicles. In the vehicle airbag device according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The vehicular airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the cloth constituting the upper body protection portion deployment restricting portion is broken during deployment .

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