JP6784559B2 - Vehicle occupant protection device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an occupant protection device for a vehicle such as an automobile.

In automobiles, research on autonomous driving has been started in recent years (Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2005-067483

By the way, in an autonomous vehicle, the driving state of the vehicle is controlled regardless of the intention of the occupant such as the driver. In this case, for example, in the case of automatically avoiding a collision, the control may be performed so as to drive closer to the limit performance of the vehicle as compared with the case where the driver operates the vehicle. For example, immediately before a collision, in order to avoid a collision, steering may be performed at the limit of the limit performance to control the collision so as to avoid the collision.
Then, for example, in a situation where the driving is controlled near the limit performance of the vehicle in this way, when the collision cannot be actually avoided, compared with the case where the collision is avoided under the steering of the driver. Collisions can occur under different circumstances than current cars.
For example, in a situation where the vehicle is making a sharp turn in automatic driving, the shoulder of the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat may have moved out of the seating position of the seat. Then, if a collision occurs in a situation where the upper body has moved out of the seat seating position before the collision, the occupant's upper body will move significantly outward from the seat seating position. Become.
In addition to this, for example, in the case of an occupant who is distracted by something other than a collision and is not prepared for a collision, the upper body of the occupant moves significantly outside the range of movement normally expected at the time of a collision. There is a possibility that it will end up.

In this way, it is expected that vehicles such as automobiles need to have a occupant protection function different from that of current automobiles, for example, during automatic driving.

The vehicle occupant protection device according to the present invention includes a seat on which an occupant sits in the vehicle and an airbag device having a front airbag that deploys in front of the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat. The front airbag forms a continuous inclined surface in which the outside of the inside of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction is the front, and both shoulders of the upper body that have moved outward from the seating position of the seat. It is sandwiched between the continuous inclined surface and the side surface of the vehicle.

Preferably, the continuous inclined surface is formed from the inside in the vehicle width direction from the inner edge of the seat.

Preferably, the deployed front airbag is formed with a front absorbing surface symmetrical in the vehicle width direction at an outer portion in the vehicle width direction.

Preferably, the front absorption surface is formed on the surface along the vehicle width direction.

Preferably, it has a control unit that controls the operation of the airbag device according to the traveling state of the vehicle, and the control unit is in a collision or a sharp turn during automatic traveling control including driving assistance for the vehicle. When there is a possibility of collision, the front airbag is deployed so as to form the continuous inclined surface, and in other cases, the front is prevented from forming the continuous inclined surface. It is preferable to deploy the airbag to support the upper body in the seating position as a whole.

In the present invention, the deployed front airbag forms a continuous inclined surface in which the outside is the front from the inside in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle, and both shoulders of the upper body that have moved outward from the seating position of the seat. Is sandwiched between the continuous inclined surface and the side surface of the vehicle body. Therefore, for example, even if the shoulders of the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat move significantly outside the seating position of the seat before the collision during automatic driving of the vehicle, both shoulders of the upper body are moved to the front airbag. It can be sandwiched and supported between a continuous inclined surface and the side of the vehicle body to protect the occupants.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an automobile to which the vehicle occupant protection device according to the embodiment of the present invention can be applied. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a normal occupant protection device in the automobile of FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a vehicle occupant protection device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an operating state in which the front airbag of the front airbag device of FIG. 3 is deployed. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the occupant protection state when deployed as shown in FIG. 4A. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the front airbag device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the front airbag device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

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

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an automobile 1 to which the vehicle occupant protection device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 1 shows an automobile 1 as viewed from above. The automobile 1 is an example of a vehicle.
The automobile 1 of FIG. 1 has a vehicle body 2. In the passenger compartment 3 of the vehicle body 2, a plurality of seats 4 on which the occupants are seated are arranged. A steering wheel 5, an accelerator pedal (not shown), and a brake pedal are arranged in front of the front right seat 4. When the occupant seated on the seat 4 operates the steering wheel 5 and the like, the automobile 1 makes a forward, stop, reverse, right turn, and left turn.

By the way, in automobile 1, research on automatic driving has been started in recent years. Some autonomous driving is a driving support type that simply warns or interpolates the operation of the occupant, but in the future, for example, by setting a destination, it will automatically travel to that destination. Things are expected to be realized.
Further, in the automatic driving, for the protection of the occupants and the like, for example, the front image sensor 31 arranged forward in the occupant room 3, the rear image sensor 31 arranged backward in the occupant room 3, and the left and right sides of the vehicle body 2. The right image sensor 31 and the left image sensor 31 arranged on both sides are used to observe the surrounding environment of the traveling vehicle 1 based on the images captured by these sensors, and when another vehicle 1 or the like approaches, a collision occurs. It is important to implement occupant protection control to avoid.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a normal occupant protection device 10 in the automobile 1 of FIG. FIG. 2 shows a front airbag 15 deployed in front of the upper body of an occupant seated on the seat 4.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2A, when the upper body of the occupant before the collision is located in the seating position with the back to the seat 4 by being restrained by, for example, the seat belt 18, it is in a state of being separated from the upper body. The front airbag 15 can be deployed with. After that, when another automobile 1 or the like collides in front of the automobile 1, the upper body moves forward from the seating position, but the upper body moving forward can be supported by the deployed front airbag 15. Thereby, the occupant can be suitably protected.
However, for example, in the automobile 1 during automatic driving, the running state of the automobile 1 is controlled regardless of the intention of the occupant such as the driver. In this case, for example, in the case of automatically avoiding a collision, the control may be performed so as to travel closer to the limit performance of the vehicle as compared with the case where the driver operates the vehicle 1. For example, immediately before a collision, in order to avoid a collision, steering control at the limit of the limit performance may be performed to try to avoid the collision.

Then, for example, in a situation where the driving is controlled near the limit performance of the vehicle in this way, if the collision cannot be actually avoided and the collision occurs, the collision is being avoided by the steering of a general driver. A collision may occur under a different situation than in the case of a collision.
For example, as shown in FIG. 2 (B), under the condition of making a sharp turn by automatic driving, the shoulder of the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat 4 moves far outside the seating position of the seat 4. there is a possibility. Then, in a state where the shoulders of the upper body are moving outside the normally expected range, even if the front airbag 15 is deployed, it is possible that the entire upper body cannot be supported by hitting the front airbag 15. There is sex.
In addition to this, for example, for an occupant who is distracted by something other than a collision and is not prepared for a collision, the shoulders of his upper body become larger than the normally expected movement range at the time of a collision. There is also the possibility of moving outside.
As described above, it is expected that a vehicle such as the automobile 1 needs to have a occupant protection function different from that of the current automobile 1 during automatic driving, for example.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the vehicle occupant protection device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Further, FIG. 3 shows an automatic driving control device 30 together with the occupant protection device 10. The automatic driving control device 30 includes various types of vehicle exterior imaging sensors 31, an automatic driving control unit 32, a steering actuator 33, a brake actuator 34, and a power source 35, as described above.
The steering actuator 33 steers the automobile 1 instead of the steering wheel 5. The brake actuator 34 brakes the automobile 1 instead of the brake pedal. The power source 35 is, for example, a gasoline engine or an electric motor. The automatic driving control unit 32 controls the steering actuator 33, the brake actuator 34, and the power source 35 according to, for example, a traveling path to the destination. Further, an approaching object is identified based on the image of the external image sensor 31, and if a collision with the approaching object is expected, the steering actuator 33, the brake actuator 34, and the power source 35 are controlled so as to avoid the collision. To do.

The occupant protection device 10 of FIG. 3 includes an occupant position sensor 11, a G sensor 12, an occupant protection control unit 13, a front airbag device 14, and a three-point seat belt 18.

The occupant position sensor 11 detects the position of the head or upper body of the occupant seated on the seat 4. Based on the seating position with the back on the seat 4, the amount of movement forward or the amount of movement to the left and right sides in the vehicle width direction is detected. The occupant position sensor 11 may be composed of, for example, a plurality of proximity sensors arranged in the detection direction.

The G sensor 12 detects the acceleration acting on the automobile 1. The direction of the detected acceleration may be the front-back direction, the left-right direction, or the up-down direction.

The front airbag device 14 includes a front airbag 15 that deploys in front of the upper body of an occupant seated on the seat 4, and an inflator 16 that discharges gas into the front airbag 15.

The three-point seatbelt device 17 includes a seatbelt 18 hung on both sides of the waist of an occupant seated on the seat 4 and in front of one shoulder, and an actuator (not shown) for winding the seatbelt 18.

An external imaging sensor 31, an automatic driving control unit 32, a G sensor 12, an occupant position sensor 11, a front airbag device 14, and a three-point seatbelt device 17 are connected to the occupant protection control unit 13.
Then, the occupant protection control unit 13 controls the operation of the occupant protection device 10 according to, for example, the traveling state of the automobile 1. Specifically, it controls the operation of the front airbag device 14 and the three-point seatbelt device 17.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an operating state in which the front airbag 15 of the front airbag device 14 of FIG. 3 is deployed.

The occupant protection control unit 13 determines the traveling state of the automobile 1 when the occupant is in the automobile 1. The occupant protection control unit 13 determines whether or not the vehicle is in automatic driving, for example, based on the automatic driving signal from the automatic driving control unit 32.
Further, the occupant protection control unit 13 determines the presence or absence of an approaching object based on the image of the vehicle exterior image sensor 31, and further determines the possibility of collision with the approaching object.
Further, the occupant protection control unit 13 determines whether or not the automobile 1 is making a sharp turn based on the detected acceleration of the G sensor 12.
Further, the occupant protection control unit 13 determines whether or not the occupant's upper body has largely moved out of the seated position based on the detected value of the occupant position sensor 11.
Further, in the occupant protection control unit 13, whether the upper body of the occupant has moved significantly from the seated position to the outside based on the detection value of the occupant position sensor 11 or the information of the automatic driving control status from the automatic driving control unit 32. Judge or estimate whether or not. The occupant protection control unit 13 may determine this movement based on whether or not it exceeds the normally assumed range of FIG. 2 (A).

Then, when there is a possibility of a collision during automatic driving control, a collision may occur during a sharp turn, and the upper body has moved significantly outward before the collision, the occupant protection control unit 13 , As shown in FIG. 4A, the front airbag 15 is deployed.
In this case, the front airbag 15 forms a contact surface 15S that is continuously inclined so that the outside of the inside of the vehicle 1 in the vehicle width direction is in front in the deployed state.
The contact surface 15S is formed in a range from the inside in the vehicle width direction of the front airbag 15 to the center in the vehicle width direction of the seat 4. Here, the continuously inclined contact surface 15S may have a friction coefficient equivalent to that of the side surface of the vehicle body 2.
Further, a front absorption surface 15F along the vehicle width direction is formed on the outer portion of the contact surface 15S in the vehicle width direction.
The front absorption surface 15F may be formed symmetrically in the vehicle width direction, and is formed, for example, on a surface along the vehicle width direction. The front absorption surface 15F may be formed symmetrically in the vehicle width direction so as to have a convex shape to the rear, for example.

On the other hand, in any of the above cases, when the upper body before the collision is in the seated position, the occupant protection control unit 13 deploys the front airbag 15 in a substantially rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 4 (B). Let me. In this case, the front airbag 15 is largely deployed so as not to form the inclined contact surface 15S.

In addition to this, for example, when the occupant protection control unit 13 may collide in a situation where the automatic driving control unit 32 is executing steering control in automatic driving control including driving support for the automobile 1, FIG. The front airbag 15 may be deployed as shown in (A). In other cases, the occupant protection control unit 13 deploys the front airbag 15 in a substantially rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 4 (B).

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the occupant protection state when deployed as shown in FIG. 4A.

In FIG. 5 (A), the upper body before the collision moves outward more than the seating position.
Then, the front airbag 15 is deployed, and the outer surface of the front airbag 15 in the vehicle width direction hits the inner surface of the vehicle body. In front of the seat 4, an inclined contact surface 15S is formed in a range from a position inside the vehicle width direction with respect to the seat to a position substantially in front of the center of the seat. Then, a front absorption surface 15F along the vehicle width direction is formed between the inclined contact surface 15S and the inner surface of the vehicle body.

In this state, the upper body, which has moved to the outside larger than the seating position before the collision, hits the inner surface of the vehicle body and the front airbag 15 as shown in FIG. 5 (B). The upper body moves so as to slide on the continuously inclined contact surface 15S, and moves forward with both shoulders sandwiched between the front airbag 15 and the inner surface of the vehicle body. As a result, the kinetic energy of the upper body can be absorbed while supporting the upper body.
After that, the slipped upper body hits the front absorption surface 15F. As a result, the kinetic energy of the upper body can be absorbed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the deployed front airbag 15 forms a continuously inclined contact surface 15S in which the outside of the inside of the vehicle 1 in the vehicle width direction is the front, and the front airbag 15 is located from the seating position of the seat 4. Both shoulders of the upper body that have moved outward are sandwiched between the continuously inclined contact surface 15S and the side surface of the vehicle body 2. Therefore, for example, even if the shoulders of the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat 4 move significantly outside the seating position of the seat 4 before the collision during automatic driving of the vehicle, both shoulders of the upper body are front-aired. It can be sandwiched and supported between the continuously inclined contact surface 15S of the bag 15 and the side portion of the vehicle body 2 to protect the occupant.

In the present embodiment, in the deployed front airbag 15, the front absorption surface 15F formed on the outer portion in the vehicle width direction is formed on the surface along the vehicle width direction so as to be symmetrical in the vehicle width direction. ing. In FIG. 5A, the surface shape is substantially symmetrical with respect to the axis in the front-rear direction shown by the alternate long and short dash line. Therefore, if the impact cannot be absorbed only by sandwiching the front airbag 15 between the continuously inclined contact surface 15S and the side portion of the vehicle body 2, the impact can be further absorbed by the front absorbing surface.

In the present embodiment, the surface of the continuously inclined contact surface 15S of the deployed front airbag 15 has a friction coefficient equivalent to that of the side surface of the vehicle body 2. Therefore, the upper body of the occupant is sandwiched between the continuously inclined contact surface 15S of the front airbag 15 and the side portion of the vehicle body 2, and then supported by the same frictional force on both shoulders. You can move between. As a result, it is possible to support the upper body after the collision while preferably suppressing the movement of the upper body to the front and the outside.

In the present embodiment, the inclined contact surface 15S is formed in the deployed front airbag 15 in a range from the inside in the vehicle width direction to at least the center front in the vehicle width direction for the seat 4. To Therefore, even if the position of the upper body that has moved to the front and the outside is slightly shifted from front to back and left and right, it can be sandwiched between the continuously inclined contact surface 15S of the front airbag 15 and the side portion of the vehicle body 2.

In the present embodiment, the control unit 13 that controls the operation of the front airbag device 14 according to the traveling state of the automobile 1 is capable of a collision during automatic driving control including driving assistance for the automobile 1 or a collision during a sharp turn. If there is a property, the front airbag 15 is deployed so as to form a continuously inclined contact surface 15S, and in other cases, the front air is prevented so that a continuously inclined contact surface 15S is not formed. The bag 15 is unfolded to support the upper body in the sitting position as a whole. Therefore, the front airbag 15 can be appropriately deployed according to each state regardless of whether the upper body of the occupant before the collision is in the seating position of the seat 4 or is moved in front of the seating position. it can.

Further, in a situation where the automatic driving control unit 32 is executing steering control in automatic driving control including driving support for the automobile 1, the occupant protection control unit 13 sets the deployed state of the front airbag 15 based on the possibility of a collision. The same applies to the case of control.

In the present embodiment, the detection unit detects the position of the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat 4. Therefore, the position of the upper body of the occupant before the collision can be actually detected, and the front airbag 15 can be appropriately deployed according to each position.

As a result, in the present embodiment, it is possible to maintain reliable energy absorption by the protective device or low harm to the front input when the shoulder portion of the occupant deviates outward from the seating position.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, the vehicle occupant protection device 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Hereinafter, the same reference numerals as those of the first embodiment will be used for the same configuration, and the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the front airbag device 14 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 6, the inclined contact surface 15S is continuously inclined due to the concave curved surface.
As described above, the continuously inclined contact surface 15S is continuously inclined by the concave curved surface, so that the upper body and the contact surface 15S are likely to come into contact with each other with a local and high frictional force.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, the vehicle occupant protection device 10 according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. Hereinafter, the same reference numerals as those of the first embodiment will be used for the same configuration, and the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the front airbag device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In the front airbag 15 of FIG. 7, the continuously inclined contact surface 15S is formed as a convex curved surface as a whole.
When the contact surface 15S that is continuously inclined in this way is continuously inclined by the convex curved surface and the upper body slides on the inclined contact surface 15S and moves forward, the upper body is moved to the vehicle body 2. The action of pressing against the side surface can be increased, and a high impact absorption effect during sliding can be expected.

The above embodiments are examples of preferred embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications or modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention.

1 ... Automobile (vehicle)
2 ... Body 3 ... Passenger room 4 ... Seat 5 ... Handle 10 ... Crew protection device 11 ... Crew position sensor 12 ... G sensor 13 ... Crew protection control unit 14 ... Front airbag device 15 ... Front airbag 15S ... Contact surface 15F ... Front absorption surface 16 ... Inflator 17 ... Three-point seatbelt device 18 ... Seatbelt 30 ... Automatic operation control device 31 ... Image sensor 32 ... Automatic operation control unit 33 ... Steering actuator 34 ... Brake actuator 35 ... Power source

Claims (5)

The seat on which the occupant sits in the vehicle and
An airbag device having a front airbag deployed in front of the upper body of an occupant seated on the seat,
Have,
The deployed front airbag forms a continuous inclined surface in which the outside is in front of the inside in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle.
Both shoulders of the upper body, which have moved outward from the seating position of the seat, are sandwiched between the continuous inclined surface and the side surface of the vehicle.
Vehicle occupant protection device. The continuous inclined surface is formed from the inside in the vehicle width direction from the inner edge of the seat.
The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 1. The deployed front airbag has a front absorbing surface symmetrical in the vehicle width direction formed on an outer portion in the vehicle width direction.
The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 1. The front absorption surface is formed on a surface along the vehicle width direction.
The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 3. It has a control unit that controls the operation of the airbag device according to the traveling state of the vehicle.
The control unit
When there is a possibility of a collision during automatic driving control including driving assistance for the vehicle or a collision during a sharp turn, the front airbag is deployed so as to form the continuous inclined surface.
In other cases, the front airbag is deployed to totally support the upper body in the seated position so that the continuous inclined surface is not formed.
The vehicle occupant protection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 .

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