JP6249680B2 - Side airbag device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a side airbag device that is inflated and deployed between a vehicle occupant and a side door.

  Conventionally, a side airbag device has been proposed for the purpose of ensuring the safety of an occupant in the event of a side collision of a vehicle. The airbag is inflated and deployed between them to protect the occupant. And in recent years, for reasons such as improving the design of the vehicle interior, a configuration has been adopted in which the side airbag device is housed inside the vehicle seat during normal driving, and the airbag before being expanded and deployed is folded. In the vehicle seat, when the vehicle collides, the weak part of the vehicle seat is broken and expanded. In addition, the airbag has a vent hole, and when the airbag inflates and deploys and comes into contact with the occupant when the vehicle collides, the inflation gas in the airbag flows out from the vent hole to the occupant. It is configured to absorb the shock more efficiently.

  At this time, the conventional airbag is sewn and folded in such a manner that a pair of base fabrics made of woven fabric or the like form a bag shape as a whole at the periphery thereof, but the sewing line at that time facilitates the sewing work. In order to do this, it is formed (sewn) so as to be positioned on the center line of the bag-like airbag in the front-rear direction (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-335208 A (paragraph 0042 and FIGS. 2 and 3)

  By the way, in recent years, small vehicles such as mini vehicles have been required to be equipped with side airbags, and the same quality of the airbag itself related to passenger protection performance is the same regardless of the size of the vehicle. There is a tendency to be demanded, and a smaller vehicle such as a light vehicle has to be designed for the airbag performance in consideration of the influence of the deformation of the vehicle body, and a very difficult design is required. In particular, in the case of a small vehicle with a quick deformation of the vehicle body, in order to set the inflator output specification in the side airbag device to the same level as that of a medium-sized vehicle, for example, an air bag such as prevention of functional troubles such as rupture and danger of occupant burns etc It is necessary to achieve both the deployment behavior performance of the vehicle and the occupant restraint performance by deploying the airbag. Therefore, the position of the vent hole provided in the airbag takes into account two points that it is not blocked by the side door at the time of a side collision of the vehicle and that the high-temperature inflation gas of the inflator does not blow out directly to the occupant. Then, there is a restriction that it is limited to the front surface of the airbag.

And in the case of a small vehicle, it is desired to make the capacity of the airbag as small as possible in consideration of cost reduction while achieving both the deployment behavior performance of the airbag and the occupant restraint performance. Due to the pressure at the time of gas ejection from the inflator, a considerably strong stress is applied to the sewing part (sewing line) of the airbag, so when trying to set a vent hole within the above-mentioned position constraints, the airbag Although it is preferable to set the vent hole on the same center line as the sewing line formed in the center line in the vehicle longitudinal direction, the vent hole must be set at a position away from the center line (sewing line). The size of the airbag is increased, and it is difficult to prevent an increase in cost associated therewith.

  An object of the present invention is to enable cost reduction by reducing the capacity of an airbag.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the side airbag device according to the present invention has a sewing line in which two base fabrics are sewn in a bag shape and an airbag having a vent hole for gas discharge from an inflator at the time of a vehicle collision. In the side airbag device that fills and inflates the gas, deploys the airbag between the side door and the occupant, and discharges the gas filled in the airbag from the vent hole, the vent hole has an upper surface The airbag is formed at the center of the airbag on the vehicle front side and on the center line in the vehicle front-rear direction, and the sewing line is one of the rectangular parallelepiped so that the two base fabrics form a substantially rectangular parallelepiped bag shape. It passes through the long side and the long side that is diagonal to the long side, passes through the diagonal line of the top and bottom surfaces of the rectangular parallelepiped, and the front side of the vehicle is the front side of the airbag in front view. It is characterized by being formed so as to deviate from the center line in the direction (Claim 1).

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the vent hole is formed on the center line in the vehicle front-rear direction in the vehicle front side of the airbag as viewed from above, and the two base fabrics are formed in a substantially rectangular bag shape. As shown, the long side of the rectangular parallelepiped and the long side diagonally located on the long side pass through the diagonal of the top and bottom of the rectangular parallelepiped. Since the sewing line is formed so as to deviate from the line, it is possible to achieve both the deployment behavior performance of the airbag and the occupant restraint performance, and the vent hole is set at a position away from the sewing line without increasing the capacity of the airbag. It is possible to reduce the cost by reducing the capacity of the airbag.

It is a side view of the side airbag device concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the airbag of FIG.

  Next, an embodiment of a side airbag device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. The following is an example of application to the left side sheet.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the side airbag device 1 includes a folded airbag 2 and an inflator 3 that is a gas generator that generates inflation gas output to the airbag 2. The seat S is disposed in a storage space formed in a side portion outside the passenger compartment of the seat back 5. When a side collision (hereinafter referred to as a side collision) of another vehicle or the like is performed, the airbag 2 is inflated by filling the airbag 2 in a folded state with the gas output from the inflator 3. As shown, the airbag 2 is inflated and deployed from the side to the waist of the occupant M while sitting on the vehicle seat S and leaning against the seat back 5, and is applied to the occupant M that is applied during a side collision of the vehicle. Absorbs shock and protects passengers.

  On the other hand, the inflator 3 is composed of an ignition device, a transfer agent, a gas generating agent, etc., and the gas generating agent is a nitrogen gas generation source for inflating and deploying the airbag 2 at the time of a side collision of the vehicle. It has become. Further, the inflator 3 is fixed inside the seat back 5 as will be described later. In this embodiment, the gas jet port 3a is disposed at the upper end portion, and the lower end located at the counter electrode of the gas jet port 3a. A harness 3b is disposed in the part.

  Incidentally, the airbag 2 is formed by sewing two base fabrics 2a and 2b made of woven fabric or the like so as to form a bag shape as a whole at their peripheral edges. If the airbag 2 after sewing is formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped bag shape, the sewing line L passes through one long side of the rectangular parallelepiped and the long side diagonally located on the long side, and The rectangular parallelepiped airbag 2 is formed so as to be shifted from the center line C in the vehicle front-rear direction in a top view so as to pass on diagonal lines of the top surface and the bottom surface.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 2, two air bags 2 are filled with the gas from the inflator 3 to inflate and deploy, and when the air bag 2 comes into contact with the occupant, the gas in the air bag 2 flows out. The vent hole 6 is formed so as to be positioned on the center line C in the vehicle front-rear direction, which is the center portion of the airbag 2 on the vehicle front side in a top view. In this way, by forming the vent hole 6 at the center of the vehicle front side and on the center line in the vehicle front-rear direction, the vent hole 6 is not blocked by the side door at the time of a side collision of the vehicle. 3 When the high-temperature inflation gas of 3 is discharged from the vent hole 6, it is not directly blown out to the occupant, preventing the malfunction such as rupture and the deployment behavior of the airbag such as the danger of occupant burns. Both performance and occupant restraint performance by deploying the airbag 2 are secured.

  In addition, the pressure at the time of gas ejection from the inflator 3 causes a considerably strong stress on the sewing line L of the airbag 2, but the vent hole 6 is away from the sewing line L, so that the capacity of the airbag 2 is increased. Even if it does not, the strong stress at the time of inflation of the airbag 2 is not directly applied to the sewing line L.

  By the way, the seat back 5 includes a U-shaped seat pipe that forms an upper portion of the seat back 5, a seat frame joined thereto, an elastic seat pad formed of urethane or the like covering the periphery, and a seat pad. The side airbag apparatus 1 is accommodated in the storage space formed in the side part of the seat pad, and the storage space is covered by the seat cover. At this time, a fragile portion subjected to fragile sewing that is broken by the inflation force of the airbag 2 is formed at a front position of the storage space so that the airbag 2 is easily expanded and deployed at the time of a side collision of the vehicle. ing.

  Next, the inflating / deploying process of the side airbag device 1 will be briefly described. The inflating / deploying of the airbag 2 of the side airbag device 1 is controlled by an airbag computer (airbag ECU) having a microcomputer configuration. The airbag ECU detects whether an obstacle has collided with the side surface of the vehicle based on the vehicle deceleration information detected by the acceleration sensor provided on the vehicle, that is, the airbag 2 is inflated.・ Determine whether to deploy. When the airbag ECU determines that the airbag 2 is inflated / deployed, energization of the ignition device of the inflator 3 is started. By this energization, the filament in the ignition device is heated, thereby igniting the igniting agent. Thereafter, the flame propagates to the transfer agent and the gas generating agent in a very short time, and a large amount of nitrogen gas is generated from the gas generating agent. The nitrogen gas passes through the filter, cools and removes the scum, and is ejected into the airbag 2.

  Then, the gas output from the inflator 3 is filled and the airbag 2 is inflated, and the inflating force at that time acts on the fragile portion of the seat cover. The fragile portion is broken and the airbag 2 is moved forward of the seat pad. The airbag 2 is deployed between the side door of the vehicle and the occupant.

  Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the two vent holes 6 are formed on the center line C in the vehicle front-rear direction in the vehicle front side of the airbag 2 in a top view, and the airbag in a top view. Since the sewing line L is formed so as to deviate from the center line C in the vehicle longitudinal direction of the vehicle 2, the deployment behavior performance and the passenger restraint performance of the airbag 2 can be made compatible, and the vent 2 can be vented without increasing the capacity of the airbag 2. The hole 6 can be set at a position away from the sewing line L, and the capacity of the airbag 2 can be reduced to reduce the cost.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the embodiment, assuming that the airbag 2 after sewing has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped bag shape, the sewing line L passes through one long side of the rectangular parallelepiped and the long side diagonally located on the long side. In addition, the case where the rectangular airbag 2 is formed so as to be shifted from the center line C in the vehicle front-rear direction in the top view so as to pass on the diagonal line of the top surface and the bottom surface has been described. However, the shape of the airbag 2 is a rectangular parallelepiped. Of course, the sewing line L only needs to be formed so that at least the front side of the vehicle deviates from the center line of the airbag 2 in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed from above. Moreover, the vent hole 6 may be one.

  Moreover, although the above-described case where the present invention is applied to the left sheet has been described, it is needless to say that the present invention can be similarly applied to the right sheet.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Airbag apparatus 2 ... Airbag 3 ... Inflator 6 ... Vent hole L ... Sewing line C ... Centerline

Claims (1)

An airbag having a sewing line in which two base fabrics are sewn in a bag shape and a vent hole for gas discharge is filled with gas from an inflator at the time of a vehicle collision and inflated, and the airbag is connected to a side door and an occupant. In the side airbag device that deploys between and exhausts the gas filled in the airbag from the vent hole,
The vent hole is formed on the center line in the vehicle front-rear direction at the center of the airbag on the vehicle front side in a top view,
The sewing line passes through one long side of the rectangular parallelepiped so that the two base fabrics form a substantially rectangular parallelepiped bag shape, and the long side diagonally located on the long side, and the top and bottom surfaces of the rectangular parallelepiped. A side airbag device characterized in that it passes through a diagonal line and is formed so that at least the vehicle front side is deviated from the center line of the airbag in the vehicle front-rear direction when viewed from above.

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