JPH04191146A - Occupant crash protection for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To protect the occupants securely regardless of the distance between an air bag and a human body in a collision by controlling the operating timing of the occupant crash protection main body according to the position in the longitudinal direction of his seat. CONSTITUTION:An acceleration sensor 1 provided in a vehicle, a comparison circuit 7 to compare the acceleration signal obtained from the acceleration sensor 1 or a signal obtained depending on the acceleration signal with a standard value, and the occupant crash protection main body 9 to operate depending on the output of the comparison circuit 7 when the acceleration signal or the signal obtained depending on the acceleration signal exceeds the standard value, are provided. And the position of a seat in the longitudinal direction provided in the vehicle is detected by a detecting means 19, and depending on the detecting value, the standard value of the comparison circuit 7 is controlled by control means 10, 20 to 26. Consequently, the detecting value of the position of seat detected by the detecting means 19 is made in the value corresponding to the distance between a steering and the human body, and the standard value is converted thereby.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant protection device for protecting an occupant during a vehicle collision.

[Prior Art] As a conventional vehicle occupant protection device, there is one shown in FIG. 5, for example. That is, in the figure, 101 is an acceleration sensor that detects a change in acceleration due to a vehicle collision, etc., and outputs the change as an analog signal, and 102 is a signal processor that integrates the acceleration signal related to the collision detection waveform from this acceleration sensor 101. An integrator circuit 103 is a circuit that determines whether the integrated output from the integrator circuit 102 is above a predetermined level, and outputs a trigger signal when it exceeds the predetermined level. A comparator circuit 104 is a trigger signal from the comparator circuit 103. A drive circuit consisting of a one-shot multivibrator that holds a signal for a predetermined time and outputs a drive signal during that time; 105 is an ignition device that is the main body of the occupant protection device that operates in response to the drive signal from the drive circuit 4; When the ignition device 105 is activated, the airbag is inflated or the seatbelt is tightened to protect the occupants.

Therefore, this conventional vehicle occupant protection device extracts a certain number of signal waveforms from the signal from the acceleration sensor 101, and further transfers the extracted signal waveforms to the integrating circuit 101.
0, and when the integral value exceeds a predetermined level set in the comparator 103, the ignition device 105 of the airbag system, which is the main body of the occupant protection device, is activated to inflate the airbag or tighten the seatbelt. The crew was protected by making them nervous.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in such conventional vehicle occupant protection devices, the amount of movement of the occupant's body is predicted from changes in acceleration, and the predicted value is compared with a predetermined reference value Vs. Since the configuration was such that the air hang was inflated by activating an ignition device, the distance between the human body and the air bag actually changed depending on the position of the passenger's seat in the longitudinal direction. I was unable to respond.

For example, in FIG. 6 (AL (BL (C)), 12
Assuming that 13 is the seat, 13 is the human body of the occupant, and 14 is the steering wheel, the standard state in the same figure (A) is different from that in the figure (B).
In this case, the distance between the steering wheel 14 and the human body 13 is shortened because the seat 12 has been moved forward. Furthermore, in the case of FIG. 2C, the distance between the steering wheel 14 and the human body is longer because the seat 12 has been moved rearward.

In this way, the distance between the steering wheel 14 provided with an air hang and the human body 13 changes depending on the position of the seat 12, so in conventional systems, the human body is always inflated when the air bag is in its optimal inflation state in the event of a collision. The problem was that there was no guarantee that they would collide.

The present invention has been made in view of these conventional problems, and aims to solve the above problems by controlling the actuation timing of the air hang according to the position of the seat.

[Means to solve the problem]

A vehicle occupant protection device according to the present invention is provided with a detection means for detecting the position of a seat, and a control means for controlling a reference value of a comparison circuit according to the detected value.

[For production]

The detected value of the seat position detected by the above-mentioned detection means in this invention has a size corresponding to the distance between the steering wheel and the human body, and the reference value is changed accordingly. For example, when the above-mentioned distance is short, the airbag The activation timing of the airbag is advanced, and when the above distance is long, the activation timing of the airbag is delayed.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. First, to explain the configuration, in FIG. 1, 1 is an acceleration sensor provided in a vehicle, 2 is a time constant T, and a first imperfection that integrates an analog acceleration signal output from the acceleration sensor 1. Integrating circuit 3 is a second incomplete integrating circuit which has the same function as the first incomplete integrating circuit 2 and incompletely integrates the incompletely integrated output from the first incompletely integrating circuit 2. The time constant T2 of the perfect integration circuit 3 is the same as the time constant T1 of the first imperfect integration circuit 2.

4 is a first coefficient circuit consisting of a first attenuator that adds a first coefficient to the detection output of acceleration sensor 1; 5 is a second coefficient circuit consisting of a second attenuator having an attenuation rate of K; The circuit 5 adds a second coefficient to the integrated output of the first incomplete integration circuit 2. Note that the attenuation rate of the first coefficient circuit 4 is 1/2 of the square of the attenuation rate of the second coefficient circuit 5. Further, the above-mentioned attenuation rate is equal to the time td required from when the ignition current is supplied to the ignition device 9, which will be described later, until the inflation of the airbag is completed. Reference numeral 6 denotes an adder circuit, which adds the outputs from the second incomplete integration circuit 3, the first coefficient circuit 4, and the second coefficient circuit 5, and outputs the addition result.

7 is a comparison circuit that switches the output level to, for example, a high level when the added output from the adder circuit 6 exceeds a predetermined reference value s; 8 is a drive circuit; 9 is an ignition device that is the main body of the occupant protection device; W9 is based on the output of the drive circuit 8,
For example, it activates an air hang installed on the steering wheel.

A sensor 19 serves as a detection means for detecting the position of the seat 12 in the longitudinal direction, and generates a pulse signal in response to the rotation of a motor (not shown) for moving the seat 12 in the longitudinal direction. 20 is a control circuit that calculates the position of the seat 12 based on the pulse signal from the sensor 19, and A according to the position.

B and C control signals are selectively generated. 2122゜23
are transistors that are turned on and off by control signals A, B, and C, respectively, and resistors 24, 25, and 26 are connected between the collectors of transistors 23, 22, and 21, and one end of resistor 10, respectively.

Here, the resistance values of the respective resistors 10, 24, 25.26 are assumed to be R+, Rz, 2RZ-, and 4R2.

Note that the control circuit 20, transistors 21, 22, 23, resistors 10, 24, 25, 26, etc. constitute a control means. Further, a human body movement amount prediction circuit is constituted by the first incomplete integration circuit 2, the second incomplete integration circuit 3, the first coefficient circuit 4, the second coefficient circuit 5, the addition circuit 6, and the like.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 15 indicates a seat belt, and reference numeral 6 indicates an air bag provided in the steering wheel 14, which are shown in an inflated state. 17 is a seat heald winder that winds up the seat heald 15; 18 is a buckle of the seat heald 15.

Next, the operation will be explained.

Various accelerations act on the vehicle as the vehicle travels.

Now, when the vehicle is traveling at a constant speed v6, an acceleration a (t) acting in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 3(A) is detected by the acceleration sensor l due to a collision, for example. Then, while the human body of the occupant, for example, the head, is thrown out at a constant speed v0, the acceleration a(t) at that time also acts on the occupant. As a result, the occupant's head has a certain relative velocity V(t) (=J a(t) d t) with respect to the vehicle.
Start moving.

The output a (t) of the acceleration sensor l at that time is integrated by the first incomplete integration circuit 2 to obtain the above-mentioned V(t). In addition, if the occupant's head begins to move and the position immediately before the collision is set as the initial position, it will change from that position to x over time.
(t) (=f V(t) d t). This displacement x(t) is obtained by integrating the output of the first incomplete integrating circuit 2 by the second incomplete integrating circuit 3, and the amount of displacement of the occupant's head in real time is calculated. Next, the output V(t) of the first incomplete integration circuit 2 is weighted by t by the second coefficient circuit 5, and V(t)xtd, that is, the amount of displacement during 6 hours at time t, is obtained. It will be done. Furthermore, the output a(t) of the acceleration sensor 1 is weighted by 1/2ta by the first coefficient circuit 4, and the output a(t) of the acceleration sensor 1 is weighted by 1/2ta (
t) X ta , that is, the amount of displacement during time t4 at time t is determined. These outputs are added by the adder circuit 6, so that x(t)XV[t)
X td+1/2 a (t)X ta is calculated.

The result of this addition is from the current time t to t.

Predicted value x (t+11
) is shown. This predicted value is supplied to the comparison circuit 7,
In FIG. 3(B), the position of the occupant's head is shifted to the left by X from the initial position WO, that is, at time t, X(L+
ia) exceeds the reference value Vs of the comparator circuit 7, an ignition current is supplied to the ignition device 9 to activate the airbag and protect the occupant.

In other words, in Fig. 3(B), if the position where the airbag is activated is set to a distance X corresponding to the initial position Vs, the actual position of the head will be X as shown by x(t). Time t earlier than the time t2 reached by T,a
, it can be seen that it works.

On the other hand, the sensor 9 generates a pulse signal depending on the position of the sheet 12 in FIGS. 2 and 6, and the control circuit 20
is the control signal A as shown in FIG. 4 according to the number of pulses.
, B, and C are generated. In this example of FIG. 4, sheet 12
The position of ° is expressed in 8 stages from "0" to "7", and at each stage, control signals A, B, and C are respectively "1" or "0". Therefore, control signal A is "1". When , the transistor 21 is turned on and the resistor 26 is connected, when the control signal B is "1", the transistor 22 is turned on and the resistor 25 is connected, and when the control signal C is "1", the transistor 23 is turned on and resistor 24 is connected. As a result, the combined resistance R connected to the comparator circuit 7 becomes as shown in FIG. It changes stepwise between LR80, and the i quasi-value VS changes accordingly.

For example, if the position of the seat 12 is at the size shown in FIG. 6(B) and the stage is set to "°7" in FIG. 4, then all control signals A, B, and C become "1". All transistors 21, 22, 23 are turned on and all resistors 24 are turned on.
．． 25 and 26 are connected, and their combined resistance R becomes TRz. The reference value Vs in this case is as follows: Vs = V ・, Rz/ , Rz+R+ --(
1). Further, if the position of the sheet 12 in the case of FIG. 6(C) is set to the "0" stage in FIG. 4, then all the control signals A, B, and C become "0", and all the transistors 21. 22, 23 are turned off and all resistors 24,
25 and 26 are separated, and the combined resistance R becomes ω. The reference value Vs in this case is Vs=V...
......(2), and if the position of the seat 12 in the case of Fig. 6 (A) is set to the stage "4" in Fig. 4, then the control signals A and B are "0", output signal C is "
1'', only the transistor 23 turns on, and the resistor 24
only connected. Therefore, the combined resistance R is R2.

Base 1 in this case! The value Vs is: Vs −V ・Rz/R++Rz “”” (3)
becomes. Therefore, if the above-mentioned stage 4'' is used as a reference, in the case of FIG. 6(B), Vs becomes smaller and the ignition timing to the ignition device 9 is advanced, and in the case of FIG. 6(C), Vs becomes smaller.
As s increases, the ignition timing becomes delayed.

According to the above, the steering wheel 1 depends on the position of the seat 12.
Since the airbag 16 starts inflating at an appropriate timing depending on the distance between the airbag 4 and the human body 13, in the event of a vehicle collision,
The human body always hits this air hang 16 when the airbag IB is in its optimal inflated state, providing the best cushioning.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the activation timing of the occupant protection device body is controlled according to the position of the seat in the longitudinal direction, so that the distance between the air hang and the human body is adjusted in the event of a collision. Regardless, the human body can collide with the airbag that is always in an optimally inflated state, resulting in the effect that the occupant can be protected more reliably than in the past.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a vehicle occupant protection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the device, Fig. 3 is an output waveform diagram of an acceleration sensor in the device, and Fig. 4 is a seat Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional vehicle occupant protection device, and Fig. 6 shows changes in the distance between the steering wheel and the human body depending on the seat position. FIG. 1... Acceleration sensor, 2... First integration circuit, 3...
・Second integration circuit, 4...first coefficient circuit, 5...second
Coefficient circuit, 6... Addition circuit, 7... Comparison circuit, 9.
...Occupant protection device body, 12... Seat, 19...
Sensor, 20... Control circuit, 21, 22.23...
Transistor, 10.24, 25.26...Resistance. Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 6 Procedural amendment (voluntary)

Claims (1)

[Claims] An acceleration sensor (1) provided in the vehicle, and a human body movement amount prediction circuit (2), (3) that predicts the amount of movement of the occupant's body based on the acceleration signal obtained from the acceleration sensor.
(4), (5), and (6), and a comparison circuit (7) that compares the predicted value obtained from the human body movement amount prediction circuit and the reference value.
and an occupant protection device main body (9) that operates based on the output of the comparison circuit when the predicted value exceeds the reference value.
, a detection means (19) for detecting the longitudinal position of a seat provided in the vehicle, and control means (10), (20) for controlling the reference value according to a detected value of the detection means.
A vehicle occupant protection device comprising (26).