JPH022683Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention relates to a high-pressure gas supply device for airbags.

In recent years, various so-called air bag devices have been researched and developed to protect the safety of occupants by instantly inflating an air bag using high-pressure gas when a vehicle such as a car collides or is rear-ended. Conventionally known methods include, for example, those that use explosives such as gunpowder or electromagnets to operate the closing body or valve body of a high-pressure gas container, but all of them are quick and smooth due to sensitive sensing. In addition, the former, which uses explosives, has safety and stability issues, and the latter, which uses electromagnets, has a slight delay in electrical operation. However, in the event of an accident such as a car collision, there is no suitable fluid valve for airbag devices that can open instantly, accurately, and smoothly. Ta.

Therefore, the inventor of the present application has already published Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 57-110877 (Japanese Patent Application No.
We have researched and developed a fluid valve for automobile safety devices disclosed in No. 55-186998). That is, a slidable bar hammer body inside a fixed cylinder is provided so that several points on the outer periphery of each side of the rod are locked to the fixed cylinder at locking positions where the locking pressure can be adjusted, and the fluid pressure is adjusted. The fixed cylindrical body holds a ball valve in which the ball valve body always closes the valve seat, and a protruding valve rod that pushes the ball valve body to open the valve is slidably inserted into the shaft hole of the valve casing. Attached to the front end of the
The protruding valve rod is positioned on the same central axis as the rod hammer body with a play interval, so that the impact force applied to the fixed cylindrical body causes the rod hammer body to impact the valve rod and instantaneously open the ball valve. This is a fluid valve for automobile safety equipment, which is characterized by: However, conventional devices have technical issues such as the long flow path between the high-pressure gas cylinder and the airbag, which is prone to breakdowns and troubles and is less safe and reliable, and the structure is large, which poses problems in terms of maintenance management. It was hot. This invention was made to solve the above technical problem.

As a result of further research and experiments, the inventor of this application found that
A high-pressure gas supply device for airbags that has an extremely rational configuration by improving the above-mentioned fluid valves and has extremely sharp, rapid, always stable, accurate, and highly safe valve opening and high-pressure gas supply functions to airbags. This was a successful idea.

Next, the high pressure gas supply device for airbags of this invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a fixed cylindrical body whose front and rear ends are closed by front and rear walls 1a and 1b, and a guide hole 1c is provided in the upper surface of the front part, and has integral brackets 7, 7.
At the rear of the fixed cylinder 1, in two places, front and rear,
Radial projecting tubes 3 that communicate with the inside are protrudingly provided at three locations on the outer periphery that are equally spaced from each other. Reference numeral 2 denotes a high-pressure gas cylinder that can slide freely within the fixed cylinder 1, which has circumferential grooves 2a on its front and rear outer peripheral surfaces, and has a valve housing 8 equipped with an outlet and an inlet 11, 10 at its front end opening 2b. It is provided. This valve housing 8 is a valve chamber 8.
a, and a horizontal conducting portion 9 having an upwardly branched outlet 11 connected to the communicating port 8b in the center of the front wall. The front end of the conductive portion 9 is closed and closed, and the rear end thereof is opened into the valve chamber 8a to open the valve seat 9.
The inlet 10 has a diameter of a. A spherical valve body 14 is provided at the inlet 10 to close the inlet 10 by fluid pressure, and locking springs 15, 1
5 so that it can be opened and closed slightly by its spring action. In addition, at the center of the conductive portion 9,
A protruding valve rod 1 for pushing the valve body 14 to open the valve
2 is slidably penetrated from the front so that its front end corresponds to the front wall 1a of the fixed cylinder 1.
Note that 13 is an O-ring. Therefore, in the valve housing 8 having the above configuration, the mounting opening 8c at the center of the rear end of the valve chamber 8a is connected to the opening 2.
b, and is integrally connected to the high pressure gas cylinder 2. The high-pressure gas cylinder 2 is slidably inserted into the fixed cylinder 1 by passing the outlet 11 of the valve housing 8 into the guide hole 1c. The balls 5 inserted from the projecting tubes 3 are respectively fitted into the front and rear circumferential grooves 2a of the high pressure gas cylinder 2, and the balls 5 are fixed to the spring 6 by the adjusting screws 4 screwed into the respective projecting tubes 3.
are press-fitted and locked into the circumferential grooves 2a by intervening, and the high-pressure gas cylinder 2 is locked and restrained at an appropriate predetermined locking pressure by screwing in and returning each adjusting screw 4. Note that 16 is a hose having one end communicating with the outlet 11, and the other end communicating with an air bag (not shown). Note that the high-pressure gas (for example, nitrogen gas is used) at the required pressure in advance is
The valve body 14 is opened from the outlet 11 through the conduction part 9, and the high pressure gas cylinder 2 is filled and press-fitted from the mouth part 2b, and the valve body 14 is pressed against the valve seat 9a by the high fluid pressure. The inlet 10 is closed.

The fluid valve of the present invention has the above structure and is fixed integrally at an appropriate position on the body of an automobile in the direction in which the automobile moves forward and backward.

Then, operate each adjustment screw 4 in advance to adjust the fixed cylinder 1.
Adjust the locking pressure of the internal high pressure gas cylinder 2 appropriately,
The high-pressure gas cylinder 2 remains locked and does not move due to the inertial impact that occurs when a normal sudden brake is applied, and the high-pressure gas cylinder 2 is designed to slide instantaneously due to the impact only when the car collides or is rear-ended. It is something to put. Therefore, if this car were to encounter an accident such as a collision or a rear-end collision, the high-pressure gas cylinder 2 with the integrated valve housing 8 would instantly slide forward with a strong force due to the impact force at that time, causing the fixed cylinder body 1 to slide forward. The valve body 14 instantly opens the inlet 10 by the impulse of the protruding valve rod 12 that hits the front wall 1a of the cylinder, and the high-pressure gas in the high-pressure gas cylinder 2 is blown out from the outlet 11 by the hose 16, creating an air bag. It inflates instantly to cushion the impact on passengers and protect their safety.

In the case of the above embodiment, the protruding valve rod 12 is separated from the front wall 1a of the fixed cylinder body 1 as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, but as shown in the embodiment shown in FIG. The rod 12 may be integrally fixed to the front wall 1a. Further, although the illustrated embodiment shows a case in which the valve body 14 is spherical, the valve body 14 may have another shape, such as a disk shape.

This invention provides a slidable high-pressure gas cylinder in which a valve housing with an outlet and an inlet is connected directly to the mouth.
A locking device is interposed and locked inside the fixed cylinder, and the impact force applied to the fixed cylinder causes the high-pressure gas cylinder to slide instantaneously, and the correlative impulse of the valve rod causes the valve body to slide. Since the inlet is opened instantaneously and the high pressure gas from the high pressure gas cylinder is spouted from the outlet, the high pressure gas cylinder itself is connected to the valve body in the valve housing by means of a related protruding valve rod. The valve can be opened on impulse, and it can react very sensitively to shocks such as when a vehicle collides, allowing the valve to open quickly and instantly. Since it is an integrated unit rather than a separate unit, the flow path between the high-pressure gas cylinder and the air bag can be significantly shortened, and since the high-pressure gas cylinder is housed in a fixed cylinder, it is safe and does not cause malfunctions or troubles. It has an outstanding effect of ensuring that the air bag functions properly.

In addition, since the high-pressure gas cylinder and the valve device are integrally connected and housed inside the fixed cylinder, the structure can be made extremely compact, and the safety is extremely high.
It has excellent effects such as fewer breakdowns and extremely easy maintenance management.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of this invention; FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal front view, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal side view showing another embodiment of the valve rod structure, and FIG.
The figure is an enlarged perspective view of the conductive portion of the valve housing. 1... Fixed cylinder body, 1a... Front wall, 1b... Rear wall, 1c... Guide hole, 2... High pressure gas cylinder, 2
a... Circumferential groove, 2b... Mouth, 3... Projection, 4...
Adjustment screw, 5...Ball, 6...Spring, 7...Bracket, 8...Valve housing, 8a...Valve chamber, 8b...Communication port, 8c...Installation port, 9...Conducting portion, 9a ...Valve seat, 10...Inflow port, 11...Outflow port, 12...
Protruding valve rod, 13... O ring, 14... Valve body, 15
...Latching spring, 16...Hose.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A high-pressure gas cylinder 2 that can freely slide inside the fixed cylinder 1 is locked and restrained by a locking device that can adjust the locking pressure, and is installed inside, and is communicated with the mouth 2b of the high-pressure gas cylinder 2 for outflow, the inlet 11, A valve housing 8 having a valve 10 is provided, and the inlet 10 is opened by the fluid pressure of the high pressure gas cylinder 2.
A valve body 14 is provided to close the valve body 14.
A protruding valve rod 12 for pushing the valve open is provided slidably through the center of the conductive portion 9 of the valve housing 8 from the front so that its front end corresponds to the front wall 1a of the fixed cylinder 1.
It is characterized in that the valve body 14 instantaneously opens the inlet by the thrust of the valve rod 12 caused by the instantaneous sliding of the high-pressure gas cylinder 2 when an impact force is applied due to a collision of a car or the like. High pressure gas supply device for air bags.