JPH04166455A - Position control device for air bag mounting seat - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the seating feeling of a passenger at a rear seat by controlling a motor-operated position regulating part to a position within a range where performance, constraining a passenger seating a rear seat, of an air bag device is satisfied when a seating passenger is detected by a seating sensor. CONSTITUTION:A seating detecting signal from a seating sensor 24 and a car speed detecting signal from a car speed sensor 32 located to a different vehicle are inputted to a control device 31, and the rotation angle detecting value of a rotary encoder 33 and a switch signal from a seat position switch 34 are inputted thereto. Based on an inputted seating detecting signal, car speed detecting signal, rotation angle detecting signal, and seat position switch signal, the control device 31 regulates the inclination angle of a seat back 3 of a front seat 1 when a passenger seats a rear seat 21 to a value within an allowable range where rear seat passenger constraining performance by an air bag device 11 is sufficiently satisfied. This constitution improves the seating feeling of a passenger seating a rear seat.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a rear seat of an air bag device in a seat equipped with an air bag, which is provided with an air bag device on the back side of the seat back to protect rear seat occupants. The present invention relates to a position control device that does not impair seating restraint performance.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an air bag mounting seat is known as a protection device for a rear seat occupant of a vehicle, for example, as described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 51-35730.

In this conventional example, when the front seat back rotates around the lower part of the seat back due to the secondary collision reaction force of the rear seat occupant, the airbag deploys in an appropriate direction so that the rear seat occupant can be restrained. The mounting part is configured to be bendable with respect to the seat back, and the mounting part is connected by a connecting rod that can rotate around a point different from the center.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in conventional airbag seats, the seat back has a parallel link mechanism and is configured to fold in the middle, so when an occupant sits on the airbag seat and operates the reclining mechanism. To,
The seating position becomes unnatural, the distance between the rear seat occupant and the air hang device changes, which impairs the airbag device's ability to restrain the rear seat occupant, and the strength and play of the parallel link mechanism pose problems. It was something.

An object of the present invention is to provide a position control device for an airbag-equipped seat that can reliably satisfy the restraint performance of an airbag device for a rear seat occupant.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides an airbag-equipped seat having a seat back equipped with an airbag device on the back side. an electric position adjustment unit that electrically controls at least one of the position and the tilt angle of the seat back; a seating sensor that detects a seated person on a rear seat of the seat equipped with the airbag; and a seating sensor that detects the seated person. In some cases, the vehicle may include a position control means for controlling the electric position adjustment section within a range that satisfies the rear seat occupant restraint performance of the airbag device.

[Operation] According to the present invention, when the seat sensor detects that the rear seat occupant is seated, the electric position adjustment section that adjusts at least one of the seat back angle and the front and back position is controlled by the airbag device to adjust the position of the rear seat occupant. By controlling the vehicle to satisfy restraint performance, the relative distance and facing angle between the airbag device and the rear seat occupant can be controlled to an appropriate state at all times.
Rear seat occupant restraint performance can be reliably demonstrated.

[Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 4 schematically show an embodiment of a position control device for an airbag-equipped seat according to the present invention.

First, a front vehicle seat, which is generally designated by the reference numeral 1, is composed of a seat cushion 2, a seat back 3, etc., which is provided upright on the rear end side. As is well known, the seat back 3 is connected and supported to the seat cushion 2 via a reclining mechanism 6 consisting of a base 7 and an arm 9 pivotally supported on the base 7 by a rotary wheel support 8. In this case, the reclining mechanism 6 employs a power reclining device using an electric motor or the like.

An air hang device 11 is provided on the back side of the seat back 3. As shown in FIG. 2, this airbag device 11 includes a base plate 12 attached to a seat bank frame, a gas generator 13 fixed to this base plate 12, and an airbag that is inflated by the operation of this gas generator 13. The airbag body 14 is provided with an airbag body 14 that is released.

Further, a vehicle rear seat 21 is disposed on the rear side of the vehicle front seat 1, and the vehicle rear seat 21 includes a seat cushion 22 and a seat back 23 erected on the rear end side. A seating sensor 24 composed of, for example, a pressure sensitive element, an optical sensor, etc. is disposed on the seat cushion 22 facing the airbag device of the front seat 1.

The electric motor of the power reclining device of the reclining mechanism 6 is controlled by a control device 31 shown in FIG.
controlled by

That is, the control device 31 receives a seating detection signal from the seating sensor 240 and a vehicle speed detection signal from a vehicle speed sensor 32 separately provided in the vehicle, and also receives a rotary encoder 33 that detects the rotation angle of the electric motor of the power reclining device. The rotation angle detection value and the switch signal of the seat position switch 34 are input manually.

The control device 31 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer, and executes the processes shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 based on the input seating detection signal, vehicle speed detection signal, rotation angle detection signal, and seat position switch signal to control the rear When an occupant is seated on a seat 21, the tilt angle of a seat back 3 of a front seat 1 is regulated within an allowable range that sufficiently satisfies the rear seat occupant restraint performance of an airbag device 11.

As shown in FIG. 1, the seat back 3 of the front seat 1 is arranged along a straight line θ that is inclined rearward at approximately 25 degrees with respect to the vertical line Y, and in a normal seating state, the seat back 3 moves forward and backward around θ. It is used in the range shown by straight lines L1 and L2 inclined by about 10° in the direction. Furthermore, the allowable range for the operation of the airbag device 11 with respect to the inclination angle of the seat back 3 is preferably a range of a straight line L3 at an angle α rearward from the vertical line Y. When the seatback 3 is tilted forward from the vertical line Y, the airbag body 14 bulges toward the face side of the occupant in the rear seat 21, and when the seatback 3 is tilted backward from the straight line L3. The airbag body 1 is located on the foot side of the passenger in the rear seat 21.
4 bulges out, and the occupant restraint performance of the airbag device 11 cannot be fully demonstrated. The angle α between the vertical line Y and the straight line L3 is preferably in the range of 15° to 45°.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5 showing the processing procedure of the control device 31.

That is, the process shown in FIG.
It is executed as a timer interrupt process every c, and first step ■
The vehicle speed detection signal from the vehicle speed sensor 32 is read in step (3), and then the process proceeds to step (2), where it is determined whether the vehicle is running. This determination is made by determining whether or not the vehicle speed detection signal is zero, and when the vehicle speed detection signal is zero, it is determined that the vehicle is stopped, the timer interrupt processing is immediately terminated, and the predetermined main program is executed. When the vehicle speed detection signal is not zero, it is determined that the vehicle is running and the process proceeds to step (2). In this embodiment, the process starts when the vehicle is running, but there may also be a rear-end collision when the vehicle's ignition switch is on and the vehicle is stopped, so steps (2) and (2) may be omitted.

In step (2), the seating detection signal of the seating sensor 24 is read, and then the process proceeds to step (2), where it is determined whether or not the occupant is seated. This determination is made based on whether or not the seating detection signal is in the on state. When the seating detection signal is in the off state, it is determined that the rear seat occupant is not seated, and the timer interrupt processing is immediately terminated. The program returns to the predetermined main program, and when the seating detection signal is on, it is determined that the rear seat occupant is seated, and the process proceeds to step (3).

In this step (2), the tilt angle detection value of the rotary encoder 33 is read, and then the process proceeds to step (2), where the rear seat occupant can be effectively restrained when the airbag device 11 is deployed, which is set in advance by the tilt angle detection signal. Said 15°~4
It is determined whether the tilt angle is within the allowable range of 5 degrees.

At this time, if the detected tilt angle value is within the allowable range,
The timer interrupt process is then terminated and the program returns to the predetermined main program. If the detected tilting angle value is outside the allowable range, the process proceeds to step (2) where the detected tilting angle value is transmitted to the electric motor 6a of the reclining mechanism 6. After outputting the drive signal in the direction in which the value falls within the allowable range, the process returns to step (2).

On the other hand, the process shown in FIG. 5 is executed while the seat position switch is pressed down, and first reads the vehicle speed detection signal of the vehicle speed sensor 32 in step 0, then moves to step @, and performs step (2) in FIG. Similarly, it is determined whether the vehicle is running or not, and when the vehicle is stopped, the process moves to step @, and a motor drive signal is output to the electric motor 6a according to the selected direction of the seat position switch 34. After that, the process returns to step ■, and when the vehicle is running, the process proceeds to step [phase] to read the seating detection signal of the seating sensor 24, and then proceeds to step ■, in the same manner as step ■ in FIG. It is determined whether or not a passenger is seated in the rear seat, and if the passenger is not seated, the process moves to step @, and if the passenger is seated, the process moves to step (2).

In this step [phase], the tilt angle detection value of the rotary encoder 33 is read, and then the process moves to step
Similar to step ■ in the figure, it is determined whether the tilt angle is within the permissible range, and when it is within the permissible range, the process proceeds to step ■, and the motor drive signal is activated according to the selected direction of the seat position switch 34. After outputting the output to the motor 6a, the process returns to step [phase], and when the value is out of the allowable range, the process proceeds to step (2), where the warning light 35 is turned on, and the process ends.

Therefore, when the vehicle is stopped, by selecting the tilting direction of the seatback 3 with the seat position switch 34 and pressing it down, the seat position switch 34 is The seat back 3 can be tilted to any tilt angle while being pressed down.

However, when the vehicle is running and a passenger is seated in the rear seat 21, even if the seat position switch 34 is pressed, the tilt angle of the seatback 3 will not change due to the rear seat occupant restraint performance of the airbag device 11. Tilting of the seat back 3 is permitted only within a range that fully demonstrates the function of the vehicle, and tilting in any other direction is prohibited.

Furthermore, when the vehicle starts traveling and a passenger is seated on the rear seat 21, the process shown in FIG. When the tilt angle of the seat back 3 exceeds the allowable range, the electric motor 6a is driven so that the tilt angle of the seat back 3 is within the allowable range by the processing of steps The rear seat passenger restraint performance is maintained within the allowable range.

In the above embodiment, the position control device according to the present invention is applied to the reclining mechanism 6 of the vehicle front seat 1, and the case is explained while the vehicle is running. In the ON state, the position control device can be operated while the vehicle is stopped, and the present invention is also applied when an electric drive mechanism is attached to a seat slide that moves the vehicle front seat 1 in the front-rear direction. In this case, when an occupant is seated in the rear seat, the airbag device 11 regulates the sliding position within a permissible range that allows sufficient rear seat occupant restraint performance.

(Effects of the Invention) The above is the configuration of an embodiment of the position control device for an airbag-equipped seat according to the present invention.
When an occupant is seated in the rear seat of a seat equipped with a seatback, the tilt angle of the seatback of the seat equipped with a seatback and the longitudinal position of the seat equipped with a seatback are small (both of which are controlled by an airbag system to improve rear seat occupant restraint performance). It is possible to reliably regulate the performance within the allowable range that allows for sufficient performance, and there is no need to provide a link mechanism or the like to the seat back as in the conventional case, so there is no need to provide an unnatural seating posture or the airbag device. It has various excellent practical effects, such as being able to reliably prevent the distance from the rear seat occupant from changing significantly, and improving seating comfort by reducing the factors that cause rattling of the seat back.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 schematically show an embodiment of the seat back fixing device for an airbag-equipped seat according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a side view showing only the configuration of the main parts, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the control device, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing an example of the processing procedure of the control device. In the figure, ■... Vehicle front seat, 2... Seat cushion, 3... Seat back, 6... Reclining mechanism, 6a... Electric motor, 11... Air hang device, 12 ... base plate, 13 ... gas generator, 14 ... airbag body, 21 ... vehicle rear seat, 24 ... seating sensor, 31 ... control device,
32...Vehicle speed sensor, 33...Lower encoder, 34...Seat position switch. Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an airbag-equipped seat having a seatback with an airbag device attached to the back side, an electric position adjustment unit that electrically controls at least one of the longitudinal position of the airbag-equipped seat and the tilt angle of the seatback. and,
a seating sensor for detecting a seated person on a rear seat of the airbag-equipped seat; and a seating sensor for detecting a seated person on a rear seat of the airbag-equipped seat; 1. A position control device for a seat equipped with an airbag, comprising: a position control means for controlling the position within a range of the airbag.