JP6848550B2 - Curtain airbag device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a curtain airbag device deployed on a side portion of a vehicle interior.

In recent years, various airbags have been developed and become widespread from the viewpoint of passive safety of vehicles. One of them is called a curtain airbag, side curtain airbag, side airbag, etc., which deploys on the side of the vehicle interior to protect the occupant's head when the vehicle receives an impact from the side. There is a device (hereinafter referred to as a curtain airbag device) (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-012995 JP-A-2009-274540

By the way, the curtain airbag device needs to be widely deployed in a curtain shape (particularly long in the front-rear direction of the vehicle interior) so that the airbag covers the side window portion of the vehicle. Further, the curtain airbag of the curtain airbag device is divided into at least a plurality of chambers arranged in the front-rear direction of the passenger compartment. Therefore, when the curtain airbag is deployed, the central portion of the chamber becomes a convex portion protruding toward the vehicle interior side, and the edge portion of the chamber and the space between the chamber and the chamber become a concave portion recessed with respect to the vehicle interior side. When a plurality of chambers are deployed side by side in the front-rear direction of the passenger compartment, this unevenness also occurs side-by-side in the front-rear direction of the passenger compartment.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are schematic plan views showing two chambers 21c and 21d arranged in front of and behind the passenger compartment when the curtain airbag is deployed. In FIG. 4, F indicates the front of the passenger compartment, and R indicates the rear of the passenger compartment. The central portion of each of the chambers 21c and 21d is a convex portion 22 protruding toward the occupant's head 5 in the passenger compartment 1, and the vicinity between the front and rear adjacent chambers 21c and 21d is relative to the occupant's head 5. It is a dented recess 23.

As shown in FIG. 4A, when the convex portion 22 at the center of the chambers 21c and 21d collides with the occupant's head 5 during deployment, the convex portion 22 applies a rotational force to the occupant's head 5, so that the head The unit 5 may rotate at high speed. There is room for improvement in the curtain airbag having such a configuration in which the rapid rotation of the head 5 occurs.

However, depending on the position of the occupant's head, even if it is possible to prevent the convex portion 22 at the center of the chambers 21c and 21d from colliding with the head 5 at the time of deployment for a certain occupant, the other occupants can be prevented from colliding with the head 5. In some cases, it is unavoidable that the convex portion 22 at the center of the chambers 21c and 21d collides with the head 5 at the time of deployment.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to prevent the convex portion at the center of the chamber from colliding with the occupant's head when the curtain airbag is deployed, depending on the position of the occupant's head. It is an object of the present invention to provide a curtain airbag device capable of being able to do so.

(1) In order to achieve the above object, the curtain airbag device of the present invention is provided with a curtain airbag that expands so that a plurality of chambers are arranged in the front-rear direction on the side portion of the vehicle interior when an impact is received. A curtain airbag device that allows only a pair of chambers that are part of the plurality of chambers and are lined up in the front and rear to move toward the vehicle interior during the deployment, and allows the remaining chambers to move toward the vehicle interior. A tether that regulates the protrusion movement to the chamber is provided for each different combination of the chamber pairs, and a tether release that is provided for each of the tethers and can release the corresponding tether at the time of the deployment is provided. It is characterized by having an airbag control device that operates all of the other tether releases except one of the plurality of tether releases according to the position of the occupant's head.

For example, when a curtain airbag in which a plurality of chambers are arranged so as to be arranged in the front-rear direction on the side of the vehicle interior is provided with two chamber pairs arranged in the front-rear direction, the airbag control device has a position of the occupant's head. If it is in the front, it releases the tether of the rear chamber pair. Only the tether release is activated to effectively operate only the tether of the front chamber pair. If the occupant's head position is in the rear, the tether of the front chamber pair is activated. Release the tether Only the tether release is activated so that only the tether of the rear chamber pair works effectively.

(2) The chamber pair is arranged at each assumed head position so as to receive the occupant's head in a recess formed between the front and rear of the chamber pair at the time of deployment, and the airbag control device. Except for the tether release of the tether, which estimates the head position of the occupant and allows only the chamber pair arranged with respect to the estimated head position to move toward the vehicle interior. It is preferable to activate all of the tether releases in.

(3) It is preferable that the airbag control device includes an occupant physique detection sensor that detects the physique of the occupant, and estimates the head position of the occupant based on the detection information of the occupant physique detection sensor.

(4) The airbag control device includes a seat information detection sensor that detects the front-rear position of the seat on which the occupant sits and the inclination of the seat back of the seat, and the airbag control device is based on the detection information of the seat information detection sensor. It is also preferable to estimate the head position of the occupant.

According to the present invention, when the curtain airbag is deployed, a tether configured to allow protrusion movement of only two chamber pairs, which are a part of a plurality of chambers and arranged in front and behind, toward the vehicle interior. Each of the different combinations of chamber pairs is provided, and during deployment, the airbag controller activates all but one of the multiple tether releases, depending on the position of the occupant's head. Therefore, only a specific chamber pair in which the tether is effectively operated without the tether release is activated moves toward the vehicle interior.
By associating the position of the occupant's head with this protruding chamber pair, the occupant's head can be received in the recess between the two front and rear chamber pairs, and the curtain airbag can be used. It is possible to prevent the convex portion at the center of the chamber from colliding with the occupant's head during deployment. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the rotation of the head when the head hits the chamber with respect to various head positions of various occupants.

It is a figure which shows the curtain airbag apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, (a) is the front view of the inside part (side window part) of the passenger compartment in the deployed state of a curtain airbag, (b) is the tether. It is a cross-sectional view (horizontal cross-sectional view, BB'cross-sectional view of FIG. 1A) for explaining the phase relationship of the curtain airbag, and is shown in a state where the tether is not released. It is sectional drawing (horizontal sectional view, BB'cross-sectional view of FIG. 1A) of the curtain airbag of the curtain airbag apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, and (a) is the 1st tether. The release state of the release is shown, and (b) shows the release state of the second tether release. It is a front view of the inside part (side window part) of the vehicle interior in the deployed state of a curtain airbag in the curtain airbag device which concerns on the inverse proportion of one Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing (horizontal sectional view) of the curtain airbag explaining the subject of this invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments shown below are merely examples, and there is no intention of excluding the application of various modifications and techniques not specified in the following embodiments. Each configuration of the present embodiment can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof. In addition, it can be selected as needed, or can be combined as appropriate.

〔Constitution〕
As shown in FIG. 1, in the curtain airbag device 10 according to the present embodiment, the curtain airbag 20, the inflator 30 that sends gas to the curtain airbag 20, the collision detection sensor 7, and the collision detection sensor 7 collide with each other. It is equipped with an airbag ECU (airbag control device) 8 that operates the inflator 30 when it is detected.

The curtain airbag 20 is folded and stored in a roof rail 3 provided on the upper edge of a side portion (side window portion) 2 in the passenger compartment 1, and when gas is sent from the inflator 30, FIG. 1 (a) ), The side portion 2 in the passenger compartment 1 is covered in a curtain shape. The curtain airbag 20 communicates with a plurality of chambers 21a to 21h (indicated by reference numeral 21 when the individual chambers 21a to 21h are not distinguished) that expand so as to line up in the front-rear direction of the side portion 2 in the vehicle interior 1 when deployed. It is provided with a unit 22.

Here, an example in which the number of chambers 21 is eight is illustrated, but the number of chambers 21 is not limited to this. Further, each of the chambers 21a to 21h exemplifies an example of expanding in a columnar shape extending in the vertical direction (vertical direction), but the chambers 21 may be arranged at least in the front-rear direction at the time of expansion, and in the vertical direction. It may be inclined with respect to it.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, the curtain airbag device 10 is a vehicle having only two chamber pairs arranged in front and behind, which is a part of a plurality of chambers 21a to 21e or 21a to 21f at the time of deployment. Tethers 41, 42 that allow the inward movement of the chamber 1 and regulate the inward movement of the remaining chambers of the cabin 1 and these tethers 41, 42 are released to release the tether 41, It is provided with tether releases 61 and 62 that release the restriction on the protrusion movement of the chambers 21a to 21e or 21a to 21f by 42.

The curtain airbag device 10 includes front seat corresponding parts (for example, chambers 21a to 21d) for protecting front seat occupants and rear seat corresponding parts (for example, chambers 21e to 21h) for protecting rear seat occupants. , Tethers 41 and 42 are equipped for the front seat corresponding part. In addition, the rear seat support section is equipped with a dedicated tether 50.

These tethers 41, 42, and 50 are oriented and mounted so as to intersect the plurality of chambers 21a to 21h in the front-rear direction of the passenger compartment 1. The tethers 41 and 42 for the front seats are equipped with tether releases 61 and 62 at one end (here, the front end), and the other end (here, the rear end) is connected to the chambers 21e and 21f. It is connected by 63 and 64. Both the front end portion and the rear end portion of the tether 50 for the rear seat are connected to the other portions by the couplers 66 and 65.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the tether 42 allows the inward protrusion movement of only the chamber pair consisting of the chambers 21b and 21c of the plurality of chambers 21a to 21e inward. The remaining chambers 21a, 21d, 21e are arranged outside the chamber 21 only in the chambers 21b, 21c so as to restrict the inward movement of the passenger compartment 1 [see FIG. 1 (b)].

As shown in FIG. 2B, the tether 41 allows the inward protrusion movement of only the chamber pair consisting of the chambers 21c and 21d of the plurality of chambers 21a to 21f inward. The remaining chambers 21a, 21b, 21e, 21f are arranged outside the chamber 21 only in the chambers 21c, 21d so as to restrict the inward movement of the passenger compartment 1 [see FIG. 1 (b)].

Note that FIG. 1B is for convenience to explain the phase (outside or inside) of the tethers 41 and 42 with respect to the plurality of chambers 21, and one of the tethers 41 and 42 is released during expansion and expansion. Therefore, it does not have such a shape.

The tether releases 61 and 62 are operated by the airbag ECU 8 at the time of deployment according to the position of the occupant's head. When the tether releases 61 and 62 are activated, the restriction on the protrusion movement of the chamber 21 by the tethers 41 and 42 is released. Therefore, when one of the tether releases 61 and 62 operates and the other does not operate, only the tether of the tethers 41 and 42 in which the tether release does not operate restricts the protrusion movement of the chamber 21.

For example, if the occupant's head position is in front, the airbag ECU 8 releases the tether release 61, releases the regulation of the tether 41, and enables only the tether 42, as shown in FIG. 2 (a). Make it work. As a result, only the front chamber pairs 21b and 21c are released from the restriction of the protrusion movement, and the remaining chambers 21 are restricted from the protrusion movement. Therefore, the front chamber pairs 21b and 21c receive and protect the head 5 of the occupant 4 in front.

For example, if the occupant's head position is rearward, the airbag ECU 8 releases the tether release 62, releases the regulation of the tether 42, and enables only the tether 41, as shown in FIG. 2 (b). Make it work. As a result, only the rear chamber pairs 21c and 21d are released from the protrusion movement restriction, and the remaining chambers 21 are restricted from the protrusion movement. Therefore, the rear chamber pairs 21c and 21d receive and protect the head 5 of the rear occupant 4.

Here, the airbag ECU 8 estimates the position of the head 5 of the occupant 4 based on the detection information of the occupant physique detection sensor 6 that detects the physique of the target occupant 4. Specifically, the front-rear position of the seat is detected from the seat slide amount to detect the physique of the occupant 4. It is also possible to estimate the position of the head 5 of the occupant 4 by detecting the inclination of the seat back in addition to the front-rear position of the seat.

[Action and effect]
Since the curtain airbag device according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, the following actions and effects can be obtained.
When the curtain airbag 20 is deployed, the chamber pair is selected and projected according to the position of the head 5 of the occupant 4, so that the recess 23 of the chamber pair can receive and protect the head 5 of the occupant 4. It is possible to prevent the convex portion 22 at the center of the chamber 21 from colliding with the head of the occupant. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the rotation of the head 5 when the head 5 hits the chamber 21 with respect to various head positions of various occupants, and it is possible to more appropriately protect the occupant 4.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the tether 40 is simply equipped with the tether 40 fixed so as not to be released by the fittings 67 and 68 and does not have a configuration for selectively projecting the chamber pair, it is indicated by a chain double-dashed line. As described above, it may not be possible to avoid the head portion 5 of the occupant 4 coming into contact with the convex portion 22 at the center of the chamber 21.

In the above embodiment, the example in which the two chamber pairs are simply projected has been described, but the tether and the tether release may be increased so that more chamber pairs are selectively projected.

Further, regardless of the position of the head 5 of the occupant 4, in order for the chamber pair to receive the head 5 of the occupant 4 in the recess 23 formed between the front and rear of the chamber pair, the chamber pair protrudes. Sometimes it is also preferable to finely adjust the position of the recess 23 in the front-rear direction. For example, it is considered possible if tethers are combined to act.

[Other]
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and the above embodiments can be variously modified and applied without departing from the spirit of the present invention. ..

For example, in the above embodiment, the chamber pair by the tether and the tether release is selectively projected from the front seat, but it may be equipped to the rear seat.
In addition, the physique and head position of the occupant may be determined from the camera image.

1 Car room 2 Side part in car room 1 (side window part)
6 Crew physique detection sensor 7 Collision detection sensor 8 Airbag ECU (airbag control device)
10 Curtain airbag device 20 Curtain airbag 21,21a-21h Chamber 22 Communication section 30 Inflator 40,41,42,50 Tether 61,62 Tether release 63-68 Coupler

Claims (4)

It is a curtain airbag device equipped with a curtain airbag that expands so that multiple chambers are lined up in the front-rear direction on the side of the vehicle interior when it receives an impact.
A tether that allows only a pair of chambers that are a part of the plurality of chambers and are lined up in the front and rear to move toward the vehicle interior at the time of deployment, and regulates the protrusion movement of the remaining chambers toward the vehicle interior. Are provided for each of the different combinations of the chamber pairs.
It is provided for each tether and has a tether release capable of releasing the corresponding tether at the time of deployment.
A curtain comprising, at the time of deployment, an airbag control device that activates all of the other tether releases except one of the plurality of tether releases, depending on the position of the occupant's head. Airbag device. The chamber pairs are arranged at each assumed head position so as to receive the occupant's head in a recess formed between the front and rear of the chamber pair during the deployment.
The airbag control device estimates the head position of the occupant and allows the tether of the tether to project and move only the chamber pair arranged with respect to the estimated head position toward the vehicle interior. The curtain airbag device according to claim 1, wherein all of the other tethered releases except the release are activated. Equipped with an occupant physique detection sensor that detects the occupant's physique,
The curtain airbag device according to claim 2, wherein the airbag control device estimates the head position of the occupant based on the detection information of the occupant physique detection sensor. It is equipped with a seat information detection sensor that detects the front-rear position of the seat on which the occupant sits and the inclination of the seat back of the seat.
The curtain airbag device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the airbag control device estimates the head position of the occupant based on the detection information of the seat information detection sensor.

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