JPH0742875Y2 - Air bag cover - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a cover for an air bag attached to a steering wheel or the like of an automobile.

[Prior Art] In an air bag attached to a steering wheel of an automobile, the bag is inflated so as to be interposed between the steering wheel and an occupant during sudden deceleration of the vehicle.

In this type of air bag, the bag is attached to the base plate in a folded state, is usually covered with a cover, and is stored between the cover and the base plate. Some base plates are supported so that they can be pushed into the steering wheel, and normally act as switches for the horn. That is, normally, the cover is pushed in to make the horn ring. A frame-shaped cored bar is embedded around the cover to increase the rigidity,
When pushed, the horn is made to ring with a predetermined push amount.

However, there is a cover with a structure in which the ears protrude from the periphery of the main body corresponding to the spokes of the steering wheel.In this case, the rigidity of the core does not reach the ears, and the rigidity of the ears is low. Has become. For this reason, when the ears are pushed in to sound the horn, it is necessary to push deeply in consideration of the low rigidity of the ears.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In consideration of the above facts, the present invention is an air bag cover in which the ears protrude from the periphery of the main body, and has high rigidity over a wider range than conventional. The purpose is to obtain a cover for air bags that can be made.

[Means for Solving Problems] An air bag cover according to the present invention is disposed so as to be movable relative to a steering wheel, and a steering wheel is provided from the periphery of a main body that stores the bag in a folded state with a base. A cover for an air bag in which an ear corresponding to a spoke of a wheel is projected, and a horn is operated by integrally moving the body and the ear relative to the steering wheel, and a frame around the body. It is characterized in that the main core metal in the shape of a bar is embedded, and the sub core metal fixed to the main core metal is embedded in the ears.

[Operation] In the present invention having the above structure, the main core makes the main body highly rigid, and the sub core makes the ears highly rigid, so that the main body and the ears have high rigidity over a wide range. It

[Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 4 show an air bag 10 to which an embodiment of an air bag cover according to the present invention is applied.

The air bag 10 has a base plate as shown in FIG.
12 is supported in parallel with the hub 14A of the steering wheel 14.

As shown in FIG. 2, the base plate 12 is formed with a pair of flanges 12B that are substantially perpendicular to the base plate 12A around the base plate 12A so as to face each other, and serve as a protruding portion to the occupant side (lower side in FIG. 4). At the same time, flanges 12D parallel to the base plate portion 12A are formed by connecting to the inclined portions 12C in the direction orthogonal to the straight line connecting the flanges 12B to form a protruding portion to the occupant side (upper side in FIG. 4). ing.

This base plate 12 has a bag 16 and an inflator 1
8, the plate 22 and the cover 24 according to the present invention are attached.

The bag 16 is arranged in a folded state on the occupant side of the base plate 12 (upper side in FIG. 4). The opening 16 of the bag 16 is attached to a substantially central portion of the base plate portion 12A of the base plate 12 via a ring plate 25. The ring plate 25 is fastened to the base plate portion 12A of the base plate 12 with a bolt (not shown) so that the opening side edge of the bag 16 is attached to the base plate portion 1A.
It is pressed against 2A.

The inflator 18 has a cylindrical shape and is a base plate portion of the base plate 12.
It is arranged in a state of being inserted into the bag 16 by penetrating substantially the central portion of 12A. The inflator 18 has a flange on the outer circumference.
18A is formed and is fixed to the surface of the base plate portion 12A on the side opposite to the occupant (lower side in FIG. 4) with a bolt (not shown).

The inflator 18 is actuated by an acceleration sensor (not shown) when the vehicle suddenly decelerates to send gas into the bag 16,
It is designed to inflate the bag 16.

Plate 22 is base plate 12 and steering wheel
14 is arranged between the hub 14A and the hub 14A, and is fixedly joined to the inclined portion 12C of the base plate 12 via the bolt 36 and nut 38 and is supported by the stepped bolt 44 so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the hub 14A. . A compression coil spring 46 is attached to the stepped bolt 44.
(Illustrated in FIG. 2) is wound around to bias the plate 22 in a direction away from the hub 14A.
Are supported at a position away from the hub 14A. The plate 22 comes into contact with the fixed electrode 48 (shown in FIG. 2) protruding from the hub 14A when pushed against the biasing force of the compression coil spring 46. It acts as a switch of a horn (not shown).

The cover 24 is made of a flexible deformable material such as urethane. The cover 24 is arranged on the occupant side of the base plate 12 (upper side in FIG. 4), and the bag 16 is housed between the cover 24 and the base plate 12. A thin portion 50 (also shown in FIG. 3) is formed on the cover 24 at a portion facing the base plate 12, and is broken at the thin portion 50 and expanded when the bag is inflated. Further, the cover 24 is adapted to normally act as a horn operating portion. That is, when the horn is sounded, the cover 24 is pressed and pressed, and the pressing causes the plate 22 to contact the fixed electrode 48 against the biasing force of the compression coil spring 46.

When viewed from the passenger side (upper side in FIG. 4), this cover 24 is the third
As shown in the figure, the ears 24B are projected from the periphery of the main body 24A corresponding to the spokes 14B of the steering wheel 14,
The main body portion 24A or the ear portion 24B is pushed in at the time of operating the horn.

Inside the cover 24, as shown in FIG. 1, a main core metal 52 is embedded in the main body portion 24A and an auxiliary core metal 56 is embedded in the ear portion 24B by insert molding or the like.

The main core metal 52 has two U-shaped plates as shown in FIG.
52A and 52B are connected to each other by a ribet 58 to form a frame, which is provided all around the main body 24A of the cover 24. As a result, the cover 24 has a high rigidity around the main body portion 24A, and the horn can be sounded with a predetermined amount of pushing even when any portion of the main body portion 24A is pushed. The main core metal 52 is joined and fixed to the flanges 12B and 12D of the base plate 12 by a rivet 60 (shown in FIG. 4) to support the cover 24 on the base plate 12. A cloth 53 (illustrated in FIG. 2) is fixed to the outer periphery of the main core metal 52 by the rivet 58 and is embedded around the main body 24A of the cover 24 together with the main core metal 52. The cloth 53 extends from the periphery of the main body portion 24A of the cover 24 to the vicinity of the thin portion 50, and covers the cover 24 when the cover 24 is in the expanded state (the bag is inflated).
It is designed to reinforce 24.

The sub metal core 56 is embedded in the ear portion 24B in a state where the sub metal core 56 is bonded and fixed to the outer periphery of the main metal core 52 by the rivets 62. The sub core 56 is joined to the main core 52 as shown in FIG.
And a pushing load receiving portion 56B that is bent substantially at a right angle from the joining portion 56A and is arranged on the surface side of the ear portion 24B, and a reinforcing portion 56C that forms a closed cross section with the joining portion 56A and the receiving portion 56B. And the rigidity of the ear portion 24B is effectively increased, and even if the ear portion 24B is pushed, the horn can be sounded with the same pushing amount as when pushing the main body portion 24A.

Next, the operation of the air bag 10 will be described.

The air bag 10 is normally stored in a state in which the bag 16 is folded inside the cover 24 and acts as a switch of a horn (not shown). That is, when the horn is sounded, the cover 24 is pressed and pressed, and the pressing causes the plate 22 to contact the fixed electrode 48 against the biasing force of the compression coil spring 46.

However, at the time of sudden deceleration of the vehicle, the inflator 18 is actuated by an acceleration sensor (not shown), gas is sent into the bag 16, and the bag 16 is expanded. Due to this expansion, the bag 16 breaks the thin portion 50 of the cover 24 and projects from the cover 24 so as to be interposed between the occupant and the steering wheel 14.

In the cover 24 of the air bag 10 which operates in this way, the main core portion 52 makes the main body portion 24A highly rigid, and the auxiliary core metal 56 makes the ear portion 24B also highly rigid. The ear portion 24B has a high rigidity over a wider range than before, and the horn can be sounded with the same amount of pushing regardless of whether the body portion 24A or the ear portion 24B is pushed. This ensures reliable operation of the horn.

The sub core metal 56 may be formed integrally with the main core metal 52 as shown in FIG. In addition, in the sub-core 56 shown in FIG. 5, the reinforcing portion 56C is formed by bending on both sides of the receiving portion 56B (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 5), and the receiving portion 56B exerts a bending force by pushing the ears 24B. The reinforcing portion 56C corresponds to the main cored bar 52 when received, and effectively works to improve the rigidity of the ear portion 24B as in the above embodiment.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, the air bag cover according to the present invention is disposed so as to be movable relative to the steering wheel, and the steering wheel is provided from the periphery of the main body portion in which the bag is folded and stored between the steering wheel and the base. A cover for an air bag in which an ear corresponding to a spoke of a wheel is projected, and a horn is operated by integrally moving the body and the ear relative to the steering wheel, and a frame around the body. -Shaped main core metal is embedded and the sub-core metal ear part fixed to the main core metal is embedded, so it has a higher rigidity over a wider range than before and can be stored without hindering the deployment of the bag. It has an excellent effect of satisfying both the function and the function of operating the horn reliably.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing an embodiment of an air bag cover according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an essential part showing a structure around an auxiliary metal core shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an overall front view of the cover as seen from the occupant side, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure for mounting an air bag to which the cover of FIG. 1 is applied to a steering wheel, and FIG. 5 is another embodiment of FIG. It is sectional drawing shown corresponding to. 10 …… air bag, 12 …… base plate, 16 …… bag, 24 …… cover, 24A …… body part, 24B …… ear part, 52…
… Main core metal, 56 …… Sub core metal.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A steering wheel is disposed so as to be movable relative to the steering wheel, and an ear portion corresponding to a spoke of the steering wheel is projected from the periphery of a main body portion that stores the bag in a folded state between the steering wheel and the base. A cover for an air bag that operates a horn by integrally moving the main body and the ear relative to a wheel, wherein a frame-shaped main metal core is embedded around the main body, and the main metal core is provided. A cover for an air bag, in which a sub-core bar fixed to is embedded in an ear.