JPH06227348A - Side air bag unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inflate an air bag with each optimum timing for protecting both the head and bulge parts by installing such a gas flow limiting member as deferring the expansion of a second inflating part later than that of a first inflating part. CONSTITUTION:At the time of a car's side crash, first of all, a breast bag 13 is inflated in accordance with a fact that a breast part B is moved earlier than a head part H at a time when a rider M shifts to the crashed side in a car room by dint of inertia force and then a head bag 14 is inflated in accord with the head part H moving late. In consequence, the breast part B collides with the breast bag 13 in a state of being fully inflated, and subsequently gas is gradually bled away from this breast bag 13 so that the impact is absorbed, and a little later, the head part H collides with the head bag 14 in a state of being fully inflated, and subsequently gas is gradually bled from another head bag 14a as well so that the impact is well absorbed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a side airbag device for protecting an occupant from a secondary collision by inflating an airbag between a side surface of a passenger compartment and an occupant during a collision and absorbing the impact by the airbag. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a side airbag device that protects an occupant by inflating it in a side collision, the impact absorbing structure on the side of the vehicle body such as a side door is thin. After that, it is necessary to expand in a short time of 1/100 second. In particular, since the torso portion of the occupant collides with the inner surface of the passenger compartment first, it is desirable to inflate at least a portion of the airbag corresponding to the torso portion first. Most airbag devices use a single structure to inflate the entire body at the same time, so it takes time to fully inflate the airbag, and the timing to inflate the head effectively protects it. If set, for example, when the waist collides, the airbag is not yet fully inflated, and if the timing is set to inflate so as to effectively protect the waist, the head will lag behind the waist. When a collision occurs, the airbag passes through the peak of inflation and enters the contraction process, and the shock absorption capacity is likely to decrease.To prevent this decrease in capacity, the gas generation time of the inflator must be adjusted. Kusuru must, inflator there was a problem such as the size of.

Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-46 shown in FIG.
In Japanese Patent No. 836, a first airbag 1 for protecting the lower back of the occupant H and a second airbag 2 for protecting the upper body are provided, and the airbags 1 and 2 are respectively provided with dedicated inflators 3 and 3. 4, the first airbag 1 is inflated downward and the second airbag is inflated upward, and the second airbag 2 for upper body protection is further provided. However, the first airbag 1 for protecting the lower back
A technique for controlling the dedicated inflators 3 and 4 so as to inflate later is described.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional side airbag device, the timings for inflating the first airbag 1 for protecting the lower back and the second airbag 2 for protecting the upper body are shifted. Therefore, dedicated inflators 3 and 4 are required respectively, and a control device for shifting the ignition timing is further required, which causes a problem that the device becomes large and the cost becomes high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to inflate the airbag at optimum timings for protecting the head and the torso, and the structure is simple and compact. An object is to provide a side airbag device.

[0006]

As a means for solving the above problems, the present invention is designed to inflate an airbag with gas generated by an inflator at the time of a collision so that the airbag is provided between a side surface of a passenger compartment and an occupant. In the side airbag device that is deployed to protect the occupant from a secondary collision,
The airbag is inflated to correspond to a part or the whole of a torso such as a shoulder, a chest, a waist of an occupant, a first inflatable portion, an inflator attached to the first inflatable portion so as to supply gas, and A gas that is generated by the inflator at a boundary portion between the first inflating portion and the second inflating portion, which is continuous with the first inflating portion and is inflated to correspond to the head of the occupant. Restricting the flow of fluid from the first inflating section to the second inflating section,
It is characterized in that a gas flow restricting member is provided to delay the expansion of the second expansion part more than that of the first expansion part.

[0007]

As described above, the first inflating portion and the second inflating portion of the airbag are
A gas flow restricting member is provided at the boundary with the expansion section to
The gas flow from the inflating section to the second inflating section is restricted so that the second inflating section corresponding to the head of the occupant inflates later than the first inflating section corresponding to the trunk. Therefore, when the inflator is ignited and gas is generated at the time of a collision, first the first
After the expansion section expands, the second expansion section expands with a slight delay. Note that the degree of delaying the expansion of the second inflatable portion relative to the first inflatable portion depends on the number and size of the communication holes that communicate the first inflatable portion with the second inflatable portion, the magnitude of the gas generating capacity of the inflator, or the first inflatable portion. It can be adjusted by changing the capacity of the parts.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the side airbag device of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

Airbag 11 of the side airbag device
Is accommodated in the vehicle interior along with the inflator 12 near the belt line of the side door 10 of the vehicle in a state of being folded small. Further, the airbag 11 is in contact with the side surface of the chest B of the occupant M to absorb the impact when the side collision of the vehicle is detected and is inflated, and the occupant M is also inflated when the airbag 11 is inflated. Is connected to the side surface of the head H and is connected to two bags for absorbing a shock, and the bag 14 for the head is formed in an L shape, and an L inside the bag is formed. Character-shaped two sides 14a, 14b
Is attached to the side door 10 of the chest bag 13 formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and the upper side 13a
The rear side and the rear side 13b adjacent to a are sewn to be firmly connected to each other.

The sewn connecting portion 15 is formed with a plurality of communication holes 16 for air-tightly communicating the insides of the bags 13 and 14, and the portion of the connecting portion 15 where the communication hole 16 is not formed is gas. It is a distribution restriction department. Further, on the surface (left side surface in FIG. 3) of the chest 11 of the airbag 11 which is on the outer side of the vehicle body when mounted on the vehicle body, the gas generated when the inflator 12 is ignited at the time of collision is the chest bag. It is mounted so as to be filled in 13. Then, the gas filled in the chest bag 13 expands the chest bag 13, and a part of the gas is supplied to the head bag 14 through the communication hole 16 to be used for the head. The bag 14 is configured to be inflated after a delay of a certain time from the chest bag 13. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 17 is a tether that firmly connects the opposing inner surfaces of the airbag 11 to each other to keep the thickness of the bag constant when inflated.

Next, the operation of this embodiment constructed as described above will be explained. The airbag 11 of the side airbag device is normally accommodated in the side door 10 and is not shown in the figure. When the sensor detects a side collision and applies a current to the inflator 12, the gas generating agent in the inflator 12 is ignited and a large amount of gas is generated. Then, the generated gas is filled in the chest bag 13 to inflate the same, and a part of the gas filled in the chest bag 13 passes through the plurality of communication holes 16 from inside the chest bag 13. It is supplied to the head bag 14 to inflate it. Therefore, the chest bag 13 to which the inflator 12 is attached is first inflated to a size sufficient for shock absorption (the state shown in FIG. 2A), and then, with a slight delay, the head bag 14 is sufficiently large. Expands (Fig. 2
(B) state).

Therefore, in the event of a side collision of the vehicle, the occupant M
Is moved by the inertial force to the side of the collision in the vehicle interior, the head B moves ahead of H and the chest B moves,
First, the chest bag 13 is inflated, and then the head bag 14 is inflated in accordance with the delayed head H. As a result, the chest B collides with the chest bag 13 in a sufficiently inflated state, and thereafter, the gas is gradually released from the chest bag 13 to absorb the impact, and the head H is slightly delayed.
However, the head H collides with the head bag 14 in a sufficiently inflated state, and thereafter, the shock is absorbed by the gas gradually escaping from the head bag 14a. The occupants can be effectively protected.

The head bag 14 is replaced by the chest bag 13
The degree to which the expansion is further delayed is the number and size of communication holes that communicate the head bag 14 and the chest bag 13, the gas generation capacity of the inflator, or the chest bag 1.
It can be adjusted by changing the capacity of No. 3 or the like.

In this embodiment, as the airbag 11, the case in which the two bags, the chest bag 13 and the head bag 14 are integrally connected, has been described. The same effect can be obtained by forming the bag portion for the upper body and the bag portion for the upper body, or the bag portion for the body portion and the bag portion for the head separately. In this case, for example, at the boundary between the chest bag and the head bag,
A fine mesh partition is provided as a gas flow restricting member, or a gas flow restricting member is provided by providing a large number of tethers at this boundary part, or a diaphragm is provided at the boundary part, and this diaphragm is
A gas flow restriction member may be installed by attaching a pressure sensitive valve that is opened when the gas pressure in the chest bag exceeds a certain level, and the diaphragm is broken when the gas pressure in the chest bag exceeds a certain level and the head bag. It can be configured to allow gas flow to the.

[0015]

As described above, in the side airbag device of the present invention, the inflator is attached, and one inflating portion corresponding to the torso of the occupant is inflated. And a second inflating portion corresponding to the head of the occupant, and a gas for restricting gas flow from the first inflating portion to the second inflating portion at a boundary portion between the first inflatable portion and the second inflatable portion. Since the flow restricting member is provided so as to delay the expansion of the second inflating portion, a single inflator is used without a plurality of inflators and a control device or the like for adjusting the ignition timing of these inflators. The second inflating portion for head protection can be inflated later than the first inflating portion for trunk protection in accordance with the head that moves later than the lower portion and undergoes a secondary collision, and the device can be made compact. And cost reduction, etc. It has an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship between an airbag, an occupant, and a door of an embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a process of inflating an airbag.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of the airbag of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an example of a conventional side airbag device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Airbag 12 Inflator 13 Waist Bag 14 Head Bag 15 Connecting Portion (Gas Flow Restriction Portion) 16 Communication Hole B Chest H Head M Crew

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A side airbag device for protecting an occupant from a secondary collision by inflating an airbag with gas generated by an inflator at the time of a collision and deploying the airbag between a side surface of a passenger compartment and an occupant. A first inflatable portion that inflates and corresponds to a part or the whole of a torso, chest, waist, etc. of the occupant, and an inflator attached to the first inflatable portion so that gas can be supplied, The second inflator, which is continuous with the first inflatable part and inflates to correspond to the occupant's head, is generated by the inflator at the boundary between the first inflatable part and the second inflatable part. Restricting gas flow from the first expansion section to the second expansion section,
A side airbag device comprising a gas flow restricting member that delays the expansion of the second inflating part more than the first inflating part.