JP7053888B2 - Airbag device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an airbag device provided with a cushion that expands and expands for the purpose of protecting occupants in an emergency.

The airbag device is a safety device that operates in an emergency such as a vehicle collision, and includes, for example, a bag-shaped cushion. The cushion expands and expands with gas in an emergency to receive and protect the occupants. There are various types of airbag devices depending on the installation location and application. As an example, the driver's seat is equipped with a front airbag in the center of the steering wheel, mainly to protect the front seat occupants from the impact of a collision, and the instrument panel and its surroundings are located near the passenger seat. A passenger airbag is provided. In addition, side airbags that expand from the side of the vehicle seat to the side of the occupant to protect the occupant from side collisions and subsequent rollovers, and the ceiling of the side wall of the vehicle interior. Curtain airbags that expand and expand along the side windows from the vicinity are known.

When the cushion of the airbag device expands and expands to restrain the occupant, the occupant collides with the cushion and receives the reaction force. The reaction force received by the occupant from the cushion increases in proportion to the collision speed at the time of a vehicle collision, for example. If the reaction force received from the cushion is too high, it is predicted that the injury value of the occupant will increase, so measures to suppress this reaction force are required.

In Patent Document 1, an airbag device provided in an airbag (cushion) and provided with a vent hole for discharging gas supplied from an inflator to the outside and a lid member (patch) for covering the vent hole from the inside of the cushion. Is described.

In the airbag device of Patent Document 1, the vent hole is closed or has a small opening by the lid member at the initial stage of expansion of the airbag. For this reason, the outflow of gas from the vent hole is restricted, and the airbag expands rapidly. Further, in the airbag device, when the pressure inside the airbag is increased, the lid member is smoothly pushed out from the vent hole by the gas pressure in the airbag to open the vent hole or open the vent hole. Therefore, when the occupant plunges into the inflated airbag, gas flows out of the airbag from the vent hole, and as a result, the occupant is softly received and restrained by the airbag.

International Publication No. 2007/091511

Focusing on the stage from the vehicle collision to the restraint of the occupant, as mentioned in Patent Document 1, at this stage, the cushion is required to expand rapidly. That is, it is desirable that the cushion expands quickly without venting gas from the vent hole at all.

However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 merely covers the vent hole with the lid member, and there is room for improvement in the sealing property between the vent hole and the lid member. If the sealing performance between the vent hole and the lid member is low, gas leaks from the vent hole before the cushion expands and expands and restrains the occupant, and the internal pressure of the cushion cannot be maintained, resulting in an amount of energy absorption when the occupant is restrained. There is a problem of decrease.

In view of such problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an airbag device capable of suppressing gas leakage from a vent hole and maintaining an internal pressure until the cushion expands and expands to restrain an occupant.

In order to solve the above problems, a typical configuration of the airbag device according to the present invention is an inflator that supplies gas, a cushion that expands and expands by the gas and restrains an occupant, and a gas provided at a predetermined position on the cushion. A patch that is provided inside the cushion and is used to open and close the vent hole, and a patch that covers the vent hole until the cushion expands and expands to restrain the occupant, and when the cushion restrains the occupant, the patch It is equipped with a patch operation part that opens the vent hole by releasing it so that it pops out of the vent hole by internal pressure. It is characterized by having at least one folded portion that is folded toward and overlaps with the main body portion.

According to the above configuration, the patch covers the vent hole by the patch operating portion until the cushion expands and expands to restrain the occupant, that is, until the occupant abuts on the cushion. Further, the patch has a folded portion that is folded toward the inside of the cushion and overlaps with the main body portion. Therefore, when the cushion expands and expands, gas enters the gap between the main body and the folded portion, and the portion of the main body that overlaps with the folded portion is pressed against the cushion and adheres to the patch due to this gas pressure. This makes it possible to improve the sealing property between the patch and the cushion and prevent the patch from easily shifting from the position covering the vent hole.

Further, according to the above configuration, even if a part of the patch starts to pop out of the vent hole due to the internal pressure, the folded portion expands and closes the vent hole, so that the bent hole is not provided as compared with the case where the folded portion is not provided. Is difficult to open. That is, it is possible to further ensure the behavior that the vent hole opens only when the patch operation unit releases the patch. Therefore, it is possible to suppress gas leakage from the vent hole and maintain the internal pressure until the cushion expands and expands to restrain the occupant, and it is possible to avoid a decrease in the amount of energy absorbed when the occupant is restrained.

The folded portion of the patch may be joined to the main body portion at one or more predetermined points. As a result, the patch can more reliably store gas in the gap between the main body portion and the folded portion, and the sealing property between the patch and the cushion can be further improved.

It is preferable that the main body portion of the above patch has a polygonal shape, and the folded portion is provided on at least one side of each side of the main body portion. As described above, since the main body portion of the patch has a polygonal shape and the folded-back portion is provided on at least one side of the main body portion, the configuration of the present invention can be realized only by folding the folded-back portion and superimposing it on the main body portion.

The outer shape of the above patch when the folded portion is widened may include a curved line. As a result, even if the outer shape of the patch is, for example, a circle or an ellipse, it is possible to form a folded portion that overlaps with the main body portion.

The above patch operation part is a string-shaped tether arranged inside the cushion, one end of which is joined to the patch and the other end of which is joined to the side of the cushion that comes into contact with the occupant, and the cushion. Provided in the vicinity of the patch on the inside, it has a tether guide through which the tether passes, and the tether pulls the patch along the inner surface of the cushion through the tether guide as the cushion expands and unfolds, whereby the patch closes the vent hole. Keeping the condition, the tether should loosen and release the patch when the cushion touches the occupant, thereby opening the vent hole.

In this way, the tether pulls the patch through the tether guide as the cushion expands and unfolds, so that the patch can keep the vent hole closed. Also, when the cushion comes into contact with the occupant, the tether loosens and releases the patch, so that the gas pressure causes the patch to pop out of the vent hole and open the vent hole. Here, it is preferable that one end of the tether is joined to the patch and the other end is directly joined to the side of the cushion that comes into contact with the occupant.

Inside the cushion, one end is joined to the side of the cushion that the occupant contacts, and the other end is joined to the other part of the cushion in order to form the unfolded shape of the cushion. The patch operation part is a string-shaped tether placed inside the cushion, one end of which is joined to the patch and the other end of which is joined to a part of the main tether, and the vicinity of the patch inside the cushion. It has a tether guide through which the tether passes, and the tether pulls the patch along the inner surface of the cushion through the tether guide as the cushion expands and unfolds, thereby keeping the patch closed in the vent hole. The tether should loosen and release the patch when the cushion touches the occupant, thereby opening the vent hole.

When the main tether for forming the developed shape of the cushion is arranged inside the cushion in this way, one end of the tether may be joined to the patch and the other end may be joined to a part of the main tether. That is, the other end of the tether is indirectly joined to the side of the cushion that comes into contact with the occupant via the main tether. In this way, while utilizing the main tether, the tether pulls the patch through the tether guide when the cushion expands and expands, so that the patch can maintain the state of closing the vent hole. Also, when the cushion comes into contact with the occupant, the tether loosens and releases the patch, so that the gas pressure causes the patch to pop out of the vent hole and open the vent hole. The vent hole may be located on the front side of the vehicle of the cushion, the cushion may restrain the occupant on the rear side of the vehicle, and the tether may be joined only to the upper region when the patch is divided into upper and lower parts.

Here, the tether can be said to be a member that reacts to the restrained occupant because the cushion expands and expands and loosens when it comes into contact with the occupant. Therefore, if the tether is joined only to the upper region when the patch is divided into upper and lower parts as in the above configuration, the reaction of the tether can be more reliably transmitted to the patch.

The body of the patch may be rectangular and the tethers may be joined to the two corners of the upper area of the patch, respectively. This makes it possible to cover the vent hole with the patch position stabilized.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an airbag device capable of suppressing gas leakage from a vent hole and maintaining an internal pressure until the cushion expands and expands to restrain an occupant.

It is a figure which illustrates the outline of the airbag apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which illustrates the airbag device of FIG. 1 (b). It is a figure which illustrates a part of the airbag device of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the behavior at the time of expansion and deployment of the airbag device of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the airbag device of the comparative example. It is a figure which illustrates the behavior at the time of expansion and deployment of the airbag device of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the behavior when the cushion of the airbag device of FIG. 2 restrains an occupant. It is a figure which illustrates the performance test of the cushion of this embodiment, and the cushion of a comparative example. It is a figure which illustrates the modification of the patch of FIG. 3 (b). It is a figure which illustrates the airbag device in another embodiment of this invention.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in the embodiment are merely examples for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and the drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are designated by the same reference numerals to omit duplicate description, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not shown. do.

In the present embodiment, when the occupant sits in the seat in a normal posture, the direction in which the occupant is facing is referred to as front, and the opposite direction is referred to as rear. When the occupant sits in the seat in a normal posture, the right side of the occupant is referred to as the right direction and the left side of the occupant is referred to as the left direction. Further, when the occupant sits in a normal posture, the occupant's head direction is referred to as upward, and the occupant's lumbar direction is referred to as downward. Then, in the drawings used in the following description, the front-back, left-right, up-down directions with respect to the above-mentioned occupant are referred to as Front, Back, Left, Right, Up, and Down, if necessary.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an airbag device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1A, the airbag device 100 is implemented as a frontal airbag for the front row right seat 102, that is, the driver's seat in a right-hand drive vehicle. FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a vehicle after expansion and deployment of the cushion 104 of the airbag device 100.

As shown in FIG. 1 (b), the cushion 104 is formed as a bag that swells three-dimensionally toward the seat 102 when expanded and deployed. The bag-shaped cushion 104 is wound or folded and is housed in a central portion (storage portion 108) provided in the center of the steering wheel 106. The cushion 104 is formed by stacking and sewing or adhering a plurality of base fabrics constituting the surface thereof, or by spinning using OPW (One-Piece Woven).

In addition to the cushion 104, the storage section 108 also houses the disc-shaped inflator 110 shown by the dotted line in the figure. The inflator 110 is a gas generator that operates due to an impact detection signal sent from a sensor (not shown) to supply gas to the cushion 104.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the airbag device 100 of FIG. 1 (b). The cushion 104 is expanded by the gas supplied from the inflator 110, and expands and expands between the occupant 112 and the steering wheel 106 as shown in FIG. 2 (a). Since the cushion 104 in FIG. 2A is not in contact with the occupant 112, it is in a state before the occupant 112 is restrained. FIG. 2B is an arrow view of the cushion 104 of FIG. 2A.

The base cloth 114 of the cushion 104 is provided with a vent hole 116. The vent hole 116 is located on the base cloth 114 on the front side of the cushion 104, and exhausts the gas from the inflator 110 from the inside of the cushion 110. The airbag device 100 further includes a patch 118 and a patch operation unit 120.

The patch 118 is located inside the cushion 104 and is used to open and close the vent hole 116. The patch 118 is in a state of covering the vent hole 116 from the inside of the cushion 104 by the patch operation unit 120 until the cushion 104 expands and expands to restrain the occupant 112 (a). See FIG. 3 (a)). Further, the patch 118 is joined to the tethers 122 and 124 shown in FIG. 3A of the patch operation unit 120, and is not joined to the base cloth 114 of the cushion 104. The joining is not limited to sewing, but may be adhesive or the like, and may be in a tentatively sewn state.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a part of the airbag device 100 of FIG. 3 (a) is a view taken along the line B of the cushion 104 of FIG. 2 (a). FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the outer shape of the patch 118 of FIG. 3A. FIG. 3 (c) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of the patch 118 of FIG. 3 (a).

The patch operation unit 120 has a string-shaped tethers 122 and 124 and a tether guide 126 shown in FIG. 3A. As shown in FIG. 2A, the tether 122 is arranged inside the cushion 104, one end 128 is joined to the patch 118 (here, sewn), and the other end 130 hits the occupant 112 of the cushion 104. It is joined to the side that comes into contact. Similarly to the tether 122, the tether 124 also connects the side of the cushion 104 that comes into contact with the occupant 112 with the patch 118.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the tether guide 126 is provided inside the cushion 104 in the vicinity of the patch 118, and passes through the tethers 122 and 124, respectively. In FIG. 2A, the tether guide 126 is omitted. The tether guide 126 shown in FIG. 3A is joined to the base cloth 114 of the cushion 104 by sewing lines 132a, 132b, 132c.

The tether 122 is passed between the portion 134 of the tether guide 126, which is partitioned by the sewing lines 132a and 132b, and the base cloth 114. Further, one end 128 of the tether 122 is passed through the portion 134 of the tether guide 126 and joined to the corner 138 of the patch 118 by the sewing line 136a. The tether 124 is passed between the portion 140 of the tether guide 126 divided by the sewing lines 132a and 132c and the base cloth 114. Further, one end 142 of the tether 124 is passed through the portion 140 of the tether guide 126 and joined to the corner 144 of the patch 118 by the sewing line 136b.

As described above, the tethers 122 and 124 are joined only to the upper region 146 when the patch 118 shown in FIG. 3A is divided into upper and lower portions, and here only to the two corner portions 138 and 144 of the region 146. The region 146 is a region located above the CC line in the figure. Further, the tethers 122 and 124 pulled the patch 118 along the inner surface of the cushion 104 through the tether guide 126 when the cushion 104 expanded and expanded (see FIG. 2A), and the patch 118 closed the vent hole 116. Maintain the state. Further, since the tethers 122 and 124 are joined to the two corners 138 and 144 of the upper region 146 of the patch 118, the patch 118 holds the vent hole 116 in a state where the position of the patch 118 is stabilized. It can be kept closed.

Further, the tethers 122 and 124 joined to the corners 138 and 144 of the patch 118 are slightly pressed against the base cloth 114 by the portions 134 and 140 of the tether guide 126. Therefore, even when the cushion 104 is expanding and expanding, that is, even when the tethers 122 and 124 are not stretched, the patch 118 does not deviate from the position where the vent hole 116 is closed and covered.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the patch 118 has a polygonal (here, quadrangular) main body portion 148 and at least one (here, three) folded portions 150, 152 formed on the outer periphery of the main body portion 148. It has 154 and. The folded portions 150, 152, and 154 are provided on three sides 150a, 152a, and 154a shown by dotted lines among the sides of the main body portion 148, and are folded toward the inside of the cushion 104 as shown by the arrows in the drawing. As shown in 3 (a), it overlaps with the main body portion 148. Further, as an example, the folded-back portions 150 and 152 have width dimensions La and Lb as shown in FIG. 3 (b).

The main body 148 of the patch 118 covers the vent hole 116 as shown in FIG. 3 (a). Further, the folded portions 150, 152 and 154 are joined to the main body portion 148 at the corner portions 138 and 144 by the sewing lines 156a and 156b in a state of overlapping with the main body portion 148. Further, the folded portions 150 and 152 are joined to the main body portion 148 at the corner portions 160 and 162 by the sewing lines 158a and 158b in a state of overlapping with the main body portion 148. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3C, the folded-back portions 150 and 152 form gaps 164 and 166 with the main body portion 148. Although not shown, the folded-back portion 154 also forms a gap with the main body portion 148.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the behavior of the airbag device 100 of FIG. 3 during expansion and deployment. In the figure, the behavior is described by focusing on the gaps 164 and 166 between the folded-back portions 150 and 152 and the main body portion 148 shown in FIG. 3 (c). First, until the cushion 104 expands and expands to restrain the occupant 112, that is, until the occupant 112 abuts on the cushion 104, the main body portion 148 of the patch 118 closes and covers the vent hole 116 by the patch operating portion 120.

Therefore, in the patch 118, as shown in FIG. 4A, the gas 167A enters the gaps 164 and 166 between the main body portion 148 and the folded portions 150 and 152 when the cushion 104 is expanded and expanded. As a result, in the patch 118, under the load 167B due to the gas pressure of the gas 167A that has entered the gaps 164 and 166, the parts of the main body 148 that overlap the folded parts 150 and 152, particularly the sides 150a and 152a of the main body 148. The vicinity is pressed against the base cloth 114 of the cushion 104 and comes into close contact with the base cloth 114. As a result, in the airbag device 100, the sealing property between the patch 118 and the cushion 104 can be improved so that the patch 118 does not easily shift from the position where the patch 118 closes and covers the vent hole 116.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, even if a part of the patch 118 starts to pop out of the vent hole 116 due to the internal pressure, the folded portions 150 and 152 expand to form a bag shape and close the vent hole 116, so that the vent is bent. The hole 116 is difficult to open. Further, as shown in FIG. 4C, the patch 118 opens the vent hole 116 unless it moves outward from the main body portion 148 by the width dimensions La and Lb of the folded portions 150 and 152. There is no. In this way, in the airbag device 100, the sealing property between the patch 118 and the cushion 104 can be improved.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a comparative example airbag device 100A. FIG. 5A is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3A. 5 (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of the airbag device 100A of FIG. 5 (a). The airbag device 100A differs from the airbag device 100 in that the patch 118A does not have the folded portions 150, 152, 154.

That is, although the patch 118A has a main body portion 148A that covers the vent hole 116 as shown in FIG. 5A, the folded portions 150, 152, and 154 are not provided on the sides 168, 170, and 172. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5B, in the main body portion 148A, the portions 174 and 176 having the width dimensions Lc and Ld from the sides 168 and 170 overlap with the base cloth 114 of the cushion 104A. It's just that.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the behavior of the airbag device 100A of FIG. 5 during expansion and deployment. Note that FIG. 6 is shown corresponding to FIG. When the cushion 104A expands and expands, in the patch 118A, as shown in FIG. 6A, the main body portion 148A receives the gas 177A, and the portion of the main body portion 148A overlapping the vent hole 116 is due to the gas pressure of the gas 177A. Receives a load of 177B. However, since the main body portion 148A is not provided with the folded portions 150 and 152 (FIG. 4A), the gaps 164 and 166 also do not exist.

Therefore, in the patch 118A, the gas 177A only passes through the sides 168 and 170 of the main body portion 148A, and the portions 174 and 176 of the main body portion 148 having the width dimensions Lc and Ld (see FIG. 4B) are used as the base. It does not press against the cloth 114. Therefore, in the airbag device 100A, it is difficult to improve the sealing property between the patch 118A and the cushion 104A.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, when a part of the patch 118A starts to pop out of the vent hole 116 due to the internal pressure, the patch 118A has no folded portions 150 and 152, so that the portion of the main body portion 148A is formed. The vent hole 116 is opened as shown in FIG. 6 (c) only by moving toward the outside of the vent hole 116 by the width dimensions Lc and Ld of 174 and 176.

Therefore, in the airbag device 100A of the comparative example, since the sealing property between the patch 118A and the cushion 104A is low, gas leaks from the vent hole 116 before the cushion 104A expands and expands to restrain the occupant 112, and the cushion 104A has a gas leak. The internal pressure cannot be maintained.

On the other hand, in the airbag device 100 of the present embodiment, by providing the folded portions 150 and 152 on the main body portion 148 of the patch 118, the behavior shown in FIG. 4 is realized, and the sealing property between the patch 118 and the cushion 104 is realized. Can be enhanced. Since the folded-back portion 154 also forms a gap between the folded-back portion 154 and the main body portion 148, gas is accumulated in the gap, so that the sealing property with the cushion 104 is improved. Therefore, according to the airbag device 100, gas leakage from the vent hole 116 can be suppressed and the internal pressure can be maintained until the cushion 104 expands and expands to restrain the occupant 112.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the behavior when the cushion 104 of the airbag device 100 of FIG. 2 restrains an occupant. The tether 122 of the patch operation unit 120 loosens as shown in FIG. 7A when the cushion 104 abuts on the occupant 112 and restrains the occupant 112. Although not shown, the tether 124 also loosens in the same manner. In this way, the tethers 122 and 124 can be said to be members that react to the restraint of the occupant 112 because the cushion 104 expands and expands and loosens when it comes into contact with the occupant 112. In patch 118, the tethers 122 and 124 are joined only to the upper region 146 (see FIG. 3A) when the patch 118 is divided into upper and lower halves, so that the reaction of the tethers 122 and 124 is more reliable. Can receive.

The patch operation unit 120 releases the patch 118 when the tethers 122 and 124 are loosened. Then, the released patch 118 can jump out of the vent hole 116 by gas pressure and open the vent hole 116 as shown in FIG. 7 (b).

As described above, in the airbag device 100, the patch 118 covers the vent hole 116 until the cushion 104 expands and expands to restrain the occupant 112, and when the cushion 104 restrains the occupant 112, the patch 118 is released and the vent hole 116 is restrained. You can definitely get the behavior of opening.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a performance test between the cushion 104 in the present embodiment and the cushion 104A of the comparative example. In the test, a test device (impactor) simulating the occupant 112 was hit against each of the cushions 104 and 104A, and the amount of energy absorbed by each of the cushions 104 and 104A was measured. In the graph in the figure, the vertical axis represents the amount of energy absorbed (J), and the horizontal axis represents the moving distance of the impactor (mm). The energy absorption amount is calculated as an integral value of the energy absorption amounts of the cushions 104 and 104A up to the moving distance of the impactor. The moving distance of the impactor is measured as the moving distance of the impactor toward the front side of the vehicle, with the state where the impactor touches the cushions 104 and 104A as a reference of 0 mm. In the graph, the measured value of the cushion 104 of the present embodiment is shown by a solid line, and the measured value of the cushion 104A of the comparative example is shown by a dotted line.

Comparing the graphs, it is clear that the energy absorption amount (J) of the cushion 104 of the present embodiment is higher than the value of the cushion 104A of the comparative example at the moving distance of the impactor −300 mm to 0 mm. In the cushion 104 of the present embodiment, as shown in the graph, the energy absorption amount is "420 (J)", which is an improvement of 20% as compared with the energy absorption amount "350 (J)" of the cushion 104A of the comparative example. ing. This is because the cushion 104 of the present embodiment has a higher sealing property between the patch 118 and the cushion 104, so that gas leakage from the vent hole 116 is suppressed until the cushion 104 expands and expands to restrain the occupant 112. It shows that the internal pressure can be maintained. As described above, in the airbag device 100, the sealing property between the patch 118 and the cushion 104 can be improved, and it is possible to avoid a decrease in the amount of energy absorbed when the occupant is restrained.

Here, the patch 118 of the above embodiment has a rectangular main body portion 148, and the folded portions 150, 152, and 154 are provided on three sides of each side of the main body portion 148, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a modified example of the patch 118 of FIG. 3 (b). The patch 178 shown in FIG. 9A has a pentagonal main body 180, and the folded portions 182, 184, 186, and 188 are provided on the four sides 182a, 184a, 186a, and 188a of each side of the main body 180. ..

Even with such a patch 178, as shown in FIG. 9B, the folded portions 182, 184, 186, and 188 are folded back and overlapped with the main body portion 180, and the sewing lines 190a, 190b, 190c, 190d, 190e are used. Similar to the above embodiment, the sealing property with the vent hole 116 can be improved only by joining to the main body portion 180. The patch 178 may be provided with folded portions on all sides of the main body portion 180. That is, in the present embodiment, if the main body portion of the patch has a polygonal shape and the folded portion is provided on at least one side of each side of the main body portion, the sealing property with the vent hole 116 can be improved. can.

Further, as in the patch 178A shown in FIG. 9 (c), the outer shape when the folded-back portions 192, 194, 196, and 198 are expanded may include a curved line. That is, even if the outer shape of the patch 18A is circular, the folded portions 192, 194, 196, 198 can be formed on the four sides 192a, 194a, 196a, 198a of the main body portion 180A as shown in FIG. 9D. Then, in the patch 178A, the folded portions 192, 194, 196, and 198 can be folded back and superposed on the main body portion 180A, and can be joined to the main body portion 180A at the sewing lines 199a, 199b, 199c, and 199d. Even with such a patch 178A, the sealing property with the vent hole 116 can be improved. The outer shape of the patch is not limited to a circular shape but may be an elliptical shape as long as a folded portion can be formed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the airbag device 100B according to another embodiment of the present invention. The airbag device 100B of FIG. 10 is shown corresponding to the airbag device 100 of FIG. 2 (a). However, FIG. 10 also shows the tether guide 126 omitted in FIG. 2 (a).

The airbag device 100B is different from the airbag device 100 in that two main tethers 123 and 125 are arranged inside the cushion 104 and a patch operation unit 120A is provided. The main tethers 123 and 125 are tethers for forming the developed shape of the cushion 104, and are arranged apart from each other in the vertical direction as shown in the figure. In the main tethers 123 and 125, one ends 123A and 125A are joined to the side of the cushion 104 to which the occupant 112 abuts, and the other ends 123B and 125B are joined to the other parts of the cushion 104. Here, the other portion of the cushion 104 is a portion of the cushion 104 located on the side facing the steering wheel 106, that is, on the front side in the drawing.

FIG. 2A shows the patch operation unit 120A in that the other end 130 of the tether 122 is joined to a portion 123C of the main tether 123 located between one end 123A and the other end 123B as shown in FIG. It is different from the patch operation unit 120 of. In this way, the other end 130 of the tether 122 is indirectly joined to the side of the cushion 104 to which the occupant 112 abuts via the main tether 123. Although not shown, the other end of the tether 124 is also indirectly joined to the side of the cushion 104 to which the occupant 112 abuts via the main tether 123, similarly to the tether 122.

As described above, according to the airbag device 100B, even when the main tethers 123 and 125 are arranged inside the cushion 104, by using the main tether 123, the tethers 122 and 124 have the cushion 104. When expanded and expanded, the patch 118 is pulled through the tether guide 126, so that the patch 118 can maintain the state of blocking the vent hole 116. Further, in the airbag device 100B, when the cushion 104 comes into contact with the occupant 112, the tethers 122 and 124 loosen and release the patch 118, so that the patch 118 jumps out of the vent hole 116 due to the gas pressure and opens the vent hole 116. be able to. Further, in the airbag device 100B, the lengths of the tethers 122 and 124 can be appropriately changed by adjusting the position of the part 123C of the main tether 123 to which the tethers 122 and 124 are joined.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can come up with various modifications or modifications within the scope of the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Will be done.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the airbag device according to the present invention is applied to an automobile has been described, but it can also be applied to an aircraft, a ship, or the like in addition to the automobile, and the same effect can be obtained. can.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for an airbag device provided with a cushion that expands and expands for the purpose of protecting occupants in an emergency.

100, 100A, 100B ... Airbag device, 102 ... Seat, 104, 104A ... Cushion, 106 ... Steering wheel, 108 ... Storage, 110 ... Inflator, 112 ... Crew, 114 ... Base cloth, 116 ... Vent hole, 118, 118A, 178, 178A ... patch, 120, 120A ... patch operation unit, 122, 124 ... tether, 123, 125 ... main tether, 123A, 125A ... one end of main tether, 123B, 125B ... other end of main tether, 123C ... Part of main tether, 126 ... tether guide, 128, 142 ... one end of tether, 130 ... other end of tether, 132a, 132b, 132c, 136a, 136b, 156a, 156b, 158a, 158b, 190a, 190b, 190c , 190d, 190e, 199a, 199b, 199c, 199d ... Sewing line, 134, 140 ... Tether guide part, 138, 144, 160, 162 ... Corner, 146 ... Patch area, 148, 148A, 180, 180A ... Main body, 150, 152, 154, 182, 184, 186, 188, 192, 194, 196, 198 ... Folded parts, 150a, 152a, 154a, 168, 170, 172, 182a, 184a, 186a, 188a, 192a, 194a, 196a, 198a ... Each side of the main body, 164, 166 ... Gap, 167A, 177A ... Gas, 167B, 177B ... Gas pressure load, 174, 176 ... Main body part

Claims (8)

An inflator that supplies gas,
A cushion that expands and expands with the gas and restrains the occupant,
A vent hole provided at a predetermined position on the cushion to discharge the gas,
A patch provided inside the cushion and used to open and close the vent hole,
The patch covers the vent hole until the cushion expands and unfolds to restrain the occupant, and when the cushion restrains the occupant, the patch is released so that the patch pops out of the vent hole by internal pressure. It is equipped with a patch operation unit that opens the vent hole.
The patch has a main body portion that covers the vent hole, and at least one folded portion that is formed on the outer periphery of the main body portion and is folded toward the inside of the cushion portion and overlaps with the main body portion. .. The airbag device according to claim 1, wherein the folded portion of the patch is joined to the main body portion at one or more predetermined positions. The main body of the patch has a polygonal shape and has a polygonal shape.
The airbag device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the folded portion is provided on at least one side of each side of the main body portion. The airbag device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the outer shape of the patch when the folded portion is expanded includes a curved line. The patch operation unit is
A string-shaped tether arranged inside the cushion, one end of which is joined to the patch and the other end of which is joined to the side of the cushion that comes into contact with the occupant.
It has a tether guide provided inside the cushion in the vicinity of the patch and through which the tether passes.
The tether pulls the patch along the inner surface of the cushion through the tether guide as the cushion expands and unfolds, thereby maintaining the state in which the patch closes the vent hole so that the tether is the cushion. The air bag device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when it comes into contact with an occupant, it loosens and releases the patch, whereby the patch opens the vent hole. Inside the cushion, a main tether having one end joined to the side of the cushion with which the occupant abuts and the other end joined to the other part of the cushion is arranged in order to form the developed shape of the cushion. hand,
The patch operation unit is
A string-shaped tether arranged inside the cushion, one end of which is joined to the patch and the other end of which is joined to a part of the main tether.
It has a tether guide provided inside the cushion in the vicinity of the patch and through which the tether passes.
The tether pulls the patch along the inner surface of the cushion through the tether guide as the cushion expands and unfolds, thereby maintaining the state in which the patch closes the vent hole so that the tether is the cushion. The air bag device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein when it comes into contact with an occupant, it loosens and releases the patch, whereby the patch opens the vent hole. The vent hole is located on the vehicle front side of the cushion, and the cushion restrains the occupant on the vehicle rear side.
The airbag device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the tether is joined only to the upper region when the patch is divided into upper and lower parts. The main body of the patch is a quadrangle.
The airbag device according to claim 7 , wherein the tether is joined to two corners of the upper region of the patch, respectively.

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