JP6609504B2 - Vehicle cyclist protection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cyclist protection device for a vehicle.

A vehicle such as an automobile may collide with a pedestrian moving outside the vehicle.
In Patent Documents 1 and 2, a plurality of airbags are arranged side by side on a hood and deployed.
Thereby, an air bag can be developed flat between the upper part of a pedestrian who collided with the front of the vehicle, and a hood, and a hit can be weakened.

JP 2010-012966 A JP 09-030368 A

By the way, a vehicle such as an automobile may collide with, for example, a cyclist riding a bicycle in addition to a pedestrian.
And when a cyclist and a motor vehicle collide, since the waist position of a cyclist is high, the protective device of the said patent documents 1 and 2 may be unable to protect a cyclist suitably.
A cyclist may ride on the hood of an automobile after a collision, the waist may be caught on the hood, and then be flipped up by the bent hood. There is a possibility that the protection devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot sufficiently function against such a collision mode.

  Thus, in vehicles, it is required to improve the protection performance of cyclists that have collided.

  A cyclist protection device for a vehicle according to the present invention includes a hood that forms an upper surface of a front portion that projects forward from a riding portion of the vehicle, and an engagement member that releasably engages with a central portion in the front-rear direction of the hood. A hood latch that engages with the front edge of the hood, a slide piece that protrudes downward from the front edge of the hood, a slide rail that extends in the front-rear direction of the vehicle on the rear side of the slide piece, And a controller that releases the hood latch and engages the engaging member with the central portion of the hood when a cyclist collides with the hood.

  Preferably, the slide piece and the slide rail are provided on both left and right sides of the front edge portion of the hood.

In the present invention, when the cyclist collides with the hood, the hood latch is released and the engagement member engages with the central portion of the hood in the front-rear direction. Therefore, the front portion of the hood is bent due to the load of the cyclist, and is moved backward due to the inertia of the cyclist. Then, the slide piece provided so as to protrude downward from the front edge portion of the hood moves to the rear side along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle along the slide rail. Therefore, the front part of the hood is easily deformed into a mountain fold with respect to the part engaged with the engaging member. A hood that is bent by the load of a cyclist makes it difficult to push the cyclist back.
Moreover, when the hood is deformed into a mountain break, the cyclist's body colliding with the hood is supported by the mountain hood.

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a collision mode with a cyclist. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a collision mode with a pedestrian. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the cyclist protection device in the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system of the cyclist protection device of FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of control performed by the control unit of FIG. 5 at the time of collision with the cyclist. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a collision mode with a cyclist in the present embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of an automobile 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the side of the automobile 1 is shown with a cyclist traversing it.
The automobile 1 is an example of the automobile 1.
The vehicle body of the automobile 1 in FIG. 1 has a front part 2, a riding part 3, and a rear part 4.

The front part 2 is a part protruding forward from the riding part 3. A power unit such as an engine and an electric motor is disposed in the front portion 2. A hood 5 is provided on the upper surface of the front portion 2 so as to be openable and closable. A nose cone 6 including a bumper is provided on the front side of the hood 5. The upper surface of the front part 2 is constituted by the hood 5 and the upper surface of the nose cone 6.
The riding section 3 is provided with a seat or the like on which the occupant is seated. A windshield 7 is provided on the front surface of the riding portion 3 at a position above the upper surface of the front portion 2.
The rear part 4 is a part protruding rearward from the riding part 3. A luggage space is provided in the rear part 4.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a collision mode with a cyclist.
When the cyclist collides in front of the automobile 1, since the cyclist's waist position is high, the cyclist rides on the hood 5 of the automobile 1 after the collision, as shown in FIG.
Then, the hood 5 is depressed and deformed as shown in FIG. 2 (B) by the load of the cyclist riding on, and then the hood 5 pushes up the cyclist as shown in FIG. 2 (C).
Thus, the cyclist pushed up by the hood 5 moves rearward, for example, as shown in FIG. 2D according to the relative speed and the relative movement direction of the automobile 1 and the cyclist. At this time, the head of the cyclist may hit the windshield 7.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a collision mode with a pedestrian.
As shown in FIG. 3, when the pedestrian collides in front of the automobile 1, the upper body of the pedestrian rotates downward toward the hood 5 of the automobile 1 with the waist position as a fulcrum. Thus, it is difficult for the pedestrian to get on the hood 5 after the collision. Moreover, it is hard to happen to move backward on the hood 5.

Thus, the collision mode with a pedestrian is different from the collision mode with a cyclist. Therefore, even if the airbag is deployed flat on the hood 5 to protect the pedestrian, it is difficult to suitably protect the cyclist.
In this embodiment, the protection performance of the cyclist who collided is improved.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the cyclist protection device 11 in the present embodiment. FIG. 4A is a partial side view of the front portion 2 of the automobile 1. FIG. 4B is a top view of the front portion 2 of the automobile 1.
The cyclist protection device 11 of FIG. 4 includes a right engagement member 12, a right slide piece 13, a right slide rail 14, a left engagement member 15, a left slide piece 16, and a left slide rail 17.
Further, a hood latch 9 is engaged with a center portion of the front edge of the hood 5 in the vehicle width direction.

  The right engagement member 12 and the left engagement member 15 are releasably engaged with the central portion of the hood 5 in the front-rear direction. Each engagement member has a spherical hood side engagement member 18 projecting from the lower surface of the hood 5 and a pair of movable members 19 that sandwich the hood side engagement member 18 from the front and rear. In a normal state, the pair of movable members 19 are separated from the hood side engaging member 18.

The right slide piece 13 is provided so as to protrude downward from the lower surface of the hood 5 at the front edge portion of the hood 5 on the front side of the right engagement member 12.
The left slide piece 16 is provided so as to protrude downward from the lower surface of the hood 5 at the front edge portion of the hood 5 on the front side of the left engagement member 15. Each slide piece may have a structure in which, for example, a roller is pivotally supported.

The right slide rail 14 extends in the front-rear direction of the automobile 1 on the rear side of the right slide piece 13.
The left slide rail 17 extends in the front-rear direction of the automobile 1 on the rear side of the left slide piece 16. Each slide piece is movable in the front-rear direction within each slide rail.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system of the cyclist protection device 11 of FIG.
In the control system of FIG. 5, an imaging device 21, a radar 22, a hood latch 9, left and right engaging members 12, 15 and a control unit 24 to which these are connected are illustrated.

The control unit 24 predicts a collision based on detection by the imaging device 21 and the radar 22 and detects the collision. Then, the hood latch 9 and the left and right engaging members 12 and 15 are operated at a necessary timing.
For example, when the collision of the cyclist is detected, the engagement of the hood latch 9 is released, and the left and right engagement members 12 and 15 are engaged with the central portion of the hood 5.

The imaging device 21 is, for example, a pair of imaging elements, and is provided forward on the roof of the riding unit 3 or the windshield 7 as shown in FIG. 1, and observes the surrounding situation in front of the automobile 1 by imaging.
As shown in FIG. 1, the radar 22 is disposed, for example, on the front surface of the front portion 2 of the automobile 1. The radar 22 emits ultrasonic waves and radio waves, and observes the surrounding situation in front of the automobile 1 according to the presence or absence of the reflected waves.
And the control part 24 can identify obstacles, such as a cyclist who passes ahead of the motor vehicle 1, and can judge the collision possibility of this obstacle.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of control performed by the control unit 24 of FIG. 5 at the time of collision with the cyclist.
The control unit 24 periodically performs the cyclist collision control of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 24 determines whether or not it has collided with the cyclist (step ST1). For example, when a collision with a cyclist is detected, it may be determined that the collision with the cyclist has occurred.

In the case of a collision with a cyclist, the control unit 24 performs control for protecting the cyclist (step ST2).
Specifically, the left and right engaging members 12 and 15 are engaged with the central portion of the hood 5, and then the hood latch 9 is disengaged.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a collision mode with a cyclist in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 7A, the cyclist colliding with the automobile 1 hits the front part 2 of the automobile 1 from the front.
When a collision with the cyclist is predicted or detected, the left and right engaging members 12 and 15 are engaged with the center of the hood 5 as shown in FIG. Is disengaged.
Thereafter, the cyclist gets on the hood 5. Due to the load of the cyclist, the front portion 2 of the hood 5 bends downward, and the left and right slide pieces 13 and 16 enter the left and right slide rails 14 and 17.
Thereafter, when the cyclist tries to move rearward due to inertia, the left and right slide pieces 13 and 16 move rearwardly in the left and right slide rails 14 and 17 while the hood 5 is bent. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7C, the hood 5 is deformed into a mountain-folded portion on the front side from the portion engaging with the left and right engaging members 12 and 15. The body of the cyclist who intends to move backward is supported by the broken hood 5.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the cyclist collides with the hood 5, the hood latch 9 is released, and the central portion of the hood 5 in the front-rear direction and the left and right engaging members 12, 15 are Engage. Therefore, the front portion of the hood 5 is bent due to the load of the cyclist, and moves backward due to the inertia of the cyclist. The left and right slide pieces 13, 16 that protrude downward from the front edge of the hood 5 move rearward along the left and right slide rails 14, 17 along the front-rear direction of the automobile 1. Therefore, the hood 5 is easily deformed into a mountain break at a portion in front of the portion where the left and right engaging members 12 and 15 are engaged. The hood 5 bent by the load of the cyclist is difficult to push back the cyclist.
Moreover, the body of the cyclist that collided with the hood 5 is supported by the hood 5 that has been broken, as the hood 5 is deformed into a fold.

  In the present embodiment, the slide piece and the slide rail are provided on both the left and right sides of the front edge portion of the hood 5. Therefore, even if the cyclist collides with the left and right sides of the hood 5 instead of the central portion in the vehicle width direction, the hood 5 can be easily deformed into a mountain using the collision load.

  The above embodiment is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications or changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

1 ... Automobile (vehicle)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Front part 3 ... Riding part 4 ... Rear part 5 ... Hood 6 ... Nose cone 7 ... Windshield 9 ... Hood latch 11 ... Cyclist protection device 12 ... Right engaging member (engaging member)
13 ... Right slide piece (slide piece)
14 ... Right slide rail (slide rail)
15 ... Left engagement member (engagement member)
16 ... Left slide piece (slide piece)
17 ... Left slide rail (slide rail)
18 ... Hood side engaging member 19 ... Movable member 21 ... Imaging device 22 ... Radar 24 ... Control part

Claims (2)

A hood that forms an upper surface of a front portion that projects forward from a riding portion of the vehicle;
An engaging member that releasably engages with a central portion in the front-rear direction of the hood;
A hood latch that engages the front edge of the hood;
A slide piece provided to project downward from the front edge of the hood;
A slide rail extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle on the rear side of the slide piece;
When a cyclist collides with the hood, a control unit that releases the hood latch and engages the engaging member with a central portion of the hood;
Having
Vehicle cyclist protection device. The slide piece and the slide rail are provided on both the left and right sides of the front edge of the hood,
The cyclist protection device for a vehicle according to claim 1.

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