JPH07165008A - Air bag device for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To more finely control air bag operation for an automobile. CONSTITUTION:An air bag device for an automobile is provided with a seat belt installing sensor 2 to detect whether a seat belt is installed or not and a seat slide positioning sensor 3 to detect a position whether the seat is placed in front or in rear of the body, and a control device 4 takes those signals from the sensors into consideration so as to control to change operation starting timing or expansion quantity of the air bag. Therefore, the control for matching the actual situation of an occupant can be carrier out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automobile air bag system capable of operating properly even if the physique and posture of an occupant, seat belts are not worn, and the seat slide position is different. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automobile is equipped with an airbag that inflates between the occupant and the vehicle body due to deceleration when the vehicle suddenly stops so that the occupant does not directly hit a part of the vehicle body when the vehicle suddenly stops. What you have done is increasing. When installed on the driver side, this airbag is installed in the center of the steering wheel to prevent the driver from directly hitting the steering wheel during an emergency stop, and when installed on the passenger side, the instrument panel is installed. It is provided inside to prevent a passenger sitting in the passenger seat from directly hitting the instrument panel.

By the way, the way of thinking about driving a car depends on the national situation. For example, in Japan, it is mandatory to wear a seat belt regardless of whether you are a driver or an occupant in the passenger seat when you drive, whereas in the United States it is not necessary to wear a seat belt. It's up to the crew to decide. Therefore, in domestic automobiles designed in Japan, the airbag is designed to operate assuming that the occupant is wearing a seatbelt, and in the United States, the seatbelt is not installed. There is.

This is because in Japan, the body is protected by a seat belt, and only the face or head is protected by the airbag, whereas in the United States, the entire body is protected by the airbag. Is designed to be. Such a difference leads to the necessity of differentiating the size of the airbag and the deployment timing because the movement amount of the occupant is different when the vehicle suddenly stops. In each system, the conditions that minimize the impact are selected.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-81152, attention is paid to the fact that there are several directions in which the vehicle is impacted by a sudden stop of the vehicle, and a technology is disclosed in which the inflation of the airbag is controlled differently depending on the direction. ing. According to this invention, the swelling of the airbag changes depending on the situation, so that the occupant can be protected more finely.

[0006]

However, the structure of the present invention has a problem that the structure of the air bag is complicated, and therefore the number of parts and the number of assembling steps are increased in the manufacturing process.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and a simple device for changing the operation timing of the airbag in consideration of the seat belt wearing / non-wearing state and the seat slide position in the front-rear direction is provided. It is intended to be provided in a configuration.

[0008]

As a means for solving the above problems, the present invention detects the deceleration of a vehicle and operates an airbag when the magnitude of the deceleration exceeds a certain value. In the above-described automobile airbag device, a seatbelt mounting sensor that emits a signal depending on whether or not the seatbelt is mounted and a seat slide position sensor that emits a signal in response to a change in the seat longitudinal direction are provided. Also, a control device for receiving the output signal of the seat slide position sensor and changing the operation start timing of the airbag device according to the content of the output signal is provided.

Further, in an automobile airbag apparatus which detects the deceleration of a vehicle and activates the airbag when the magnitude of the deceleration exceeds a certain value, a signal is given depending on whether or not the seat belt is worn. The seatbelt mounting sensor that emits a signal and the seat slide position sensor that emits a signal in accordance with the change in the front-back direction of the seat are provided, and the inflation amount of the airbag is changed in a plurality of stages. The control device receives the output signal of the sensor and changes the inflation amount of the airbag in a plurality of stages according to the content of the output signal.

[0010]

With this structure, the control device determines whether the seat belt is worn or not when the air bag is operated, and whether the seat is pulled forward or backward. The operation start time of the device will be changed.

Further, when the airbag operates, the control device sets the bulging amount of the airbag in a plurality of stages depending on whether the seat belt is worn or not, and whether the seat is pulled forward or pulled backward. It will be possible to change to.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. A deceleration sensor 1 detects the deceleration of the vehicle and issues an output signal when the magnitude of the deceleration exceeds a preset constant value. As a concrete structure of this deceleration sensor, for example, two electrodes are arranged in an upper portion of the container which is inclined, and an appropriate amount of mercury is put in the container so that the mercury is generated when the vehicle suddenly stops. It may be possible to detect by detecting the temperature by ascending up the slope of the container to reach the tips of the two electrodes and short-circuiting between them.

Reference numeral 2 is a seat belt wearing sensor. This makes it possible to distinguish whether the occupant wears the seat belt or not, and outputs an output signal when the occupant wears the seat belt. As a specific structure of this seat belt wearing sensor, two electrodes are provided in the buckle of the seat belt, and when the tongue plate is inserted into this buckle, a part of the tongue plate short-circuits the two electrodes. It is conceivable that there is a device for detecting that the device has been installed.

Reference numeral 3 is a seat slide position sensor. When the seat moves along a seat rail provided on the floor of the vehicle body, the seat slide position sensor 3 provides an electrical signal proportional to a change in position, indicating how much the seat slides with respect to a certain position. It is what is output.

As a structure for this purpose, a resistor extending in the sliding direction of the seat is provided on one of the seat side and the seat frame side, and the other resistor on the seat side and the seat frame side is in contact with this resistor. Providing a contact piece, the proportional expression that captures the change in the resistance value between this contact piece and the resistor, and one contact piece that is provided with a plurality of contact pieces suitable for one side and sequentially contacts this contact piece on the other side It can be considered as a stepped type with a piece provided.

Reference numeral 4 is a control device. This control device 4
The deceleration sensor 1, the seat belt wearing sensor 2, and the seat slide position sensor 3 are connected to the input side, and the airbag ignition switch 5 is connected to the output side. When the output signal of the deceleration sensor 1 is input, the output signal is issued to the airbag ignition switch 5 to ignite the airbag and the airbag is deployed.

The control device 4 is provided with a time delay element, and the time delay element is caused to function according to the contents of the output signals of the seat belt wearing sensor 2 and the seat slide position sensor 3 to operate the airbag apparatus. It is designed to change the start time.

As the time delay element of the control device 4, for example, a time constant circuit in which a capacitor and a resistor are combined can be considered, but the time delay element is not limited to this and may have any configuration. Good. The air bag is at most 30 to 31 milliseconds from the start of operation to full deployment, and it will be in a degassing state after 50 milliseconds, so even if you delay the operation start time, you can think that it is only a few milliseconds. it can.

In the air bag device for an automobile of the present invention thus constructed, the control device 4 always receives the signal from the deceleration sensor 1 when the vehicle is traveling. When the vehicle slows down due to a stop or suddenly stops due to an unexpected situation, and the deceleration exceeds a certain value, the control unit 4 judges it and sends a signal to the airbag ignition switch 5. Will operate this. When the airbag ignition switch 5 is actuated, the airbag is inflated as in the conventional case.

When the occupant is seated on the seat, the seat belt wearing sensor 2 judges whether or not the occupant wears the seat belt, and outputs the result to the control device 4 as an electric signal. This signal is a signal that represents only two types, that is, whether or not the seat belt is worn.

When the occupant is seated on the seat, the seat slide position sensor 3 detects the position of the seat relative to the vehicle body. The result is output to the control device 4 as an electric signal. This signal indicates the slide amount within the range in which the seat can move with respect to the floor of the vehicle body.
It is a proportional signal that corresponds to the position of the seat.

The control unit 4 includes an airbag ignition switch 5
When sending a signal to the seat belt wearing sensor 2
And the output signal from the seat slide position sensor 3 is taken into consideration. That is, when the seat belt is worn, it is delayed compared to when the seat belt is not worn, and when the seat is in front of the vehicle body, the deployment start timing is advanced and the seat is pulled backward. Sometimes it will be controlled to be slow.

FIG. 2 is a deployment timing map diagram showing the position of the seat when the seat is slid and the deployment start timing of the airbag in the relationship of seat belt wearing and seat belt unwearing. As can be seen from this figure, the deployment start time is early when the seat is in front of the vehicle body, it is delayed when the seat is pulled backward, and when the seat belt is worn, the seat belt is not worn. To be late.

In the embodiment described above, when the airbag is inflated, it depends on whether or not the seat belt is worn, and whether the seat is pulled forward or rearward with respect to the vehicle body. Although the operation start timing of the airbag is changed, the present invention can achieve the object by other means. Explaining this, the airbag is modified so that its bulge amount can be changed in multiple stages, and the control device sets the bulge amount of the airbag to the whole amount depending on the seat belt wearing state or the seat slide position. The size of the bulge is changed by forming a part or the like, and further, the bulge is controlled so as to sequentially bulge with time.

As described above, as means for changing the amount of inflation of the airbag in a plurality of stages, for example, the airbag is made small and independent ones are assembled, and the control device ignites each ignition device. You can think of something that will change the timing. Since the plurality of ignition devices are independent of each other, they can be operated simultaneously if necessary, or can be controlled so as to inflate in response to the direction of impact.

[0026]

Since the present invention is an automobile air bag device constructed as described above, it is necessary to start the deployment of the air bag depending on whether or not the seat belt is worn and the seat slide position. Alternatively, the amount of bulge can be changed. In addition to the conventional deceleration sensor, only the seat belt wearing sensor and the seat slide position sensor are provided, so that the configuration can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing expansion timing according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 deceleration sensor 2 seat belt wearing sensor 3 seat slide position sensor 4 control device 5 airbag ignition device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automotive airbag device for detecting deceleration of a vehicle and activating an airbag when the magnitude of the deceleration exceeds a certain value. A seat belt mounting sensor that emits a signal and a seat slide position sensor that emits a signal in accordance with a change in the front-rear direction position of the seat are provided, and the output signals of the seat belt mounting sensor and the seat slide position sensor are received, and depending on the content of the output signal, An air bag device for an automobile, comprising a control device for changing the operation start timing of the air bag device. 2. An automobile airbag device for detecting a deceleration of a vehicle and activating an airbag when the magnitude of the deceleration exceeds a certain value. The seatbelt mounting sensor that emits a signal and the seat slide position sensor that emits a signal in accordance with the change in the front-back direction of the seat are provided, and the inflation amount of the airbag is changed in a plurality of stages. An airbag device for an automobile, comprising: a control device that receives an output signal of a sensor and changes the inflation amount of the airbag in a plurality of stages according to the content of the output signal.