JPH09254733A - Air bag body form holding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hold the folded up form without considering airtightness. SOLUTION: A folded up air bag body 32 and a gas inflator 24 are arranged in a thermal shrinkage tube 36. The thermal shrinkage tube 36 is provided with slits 40 on the part position to be a development starting point at developing the air bag body, along the vertical direction, and at regular intervals, so as to form a breakdown part 41. Consequently, when the air bag body 32 is developed, the thermal shrinkage tube 36 is easily broken down at the breakdown part 41 started from the slits 40.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an airbag bag shape holding device, and more particularly to an airbag bag shape holding device for holding an airbag bag in a folded shape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for reducing the size of a folded airbag bag is known as an airbag bag shape holding device for holding the airbag bag in a folded shape. And an example thereof is JP-A-4-146840.
No. in the official gazette.

As shown in FIG. 6, in this air bag body shape holding device, after folding the air bag body 70 into a predetermined size in plan view, a storage bag partially opened. Stored in body 72. Furthermore, after that, the air in the storage bag body 72 is sucked through the opening,
By vacuuming the inside and closing the opening, the airbag bag body 70 in the folded state is vacuum-packed, and the thickness D of the airbag bag body 70 is reduced.

[0004]

However, in this air bag body shape maintaining device, since the shape is maintained by ensuring the airtightness of the storage bag body 72 by the vacuum packing, a pin is attached to the storage bag body 72. If there is a hole or the like, air may enter the storage bag body 72 from the hole and the folded shape of the airbag bag body 70 cannot be maintained, or when a vacuum-packed airbag device is attached to a vehicle. Considering this, it is difficult to attach the vehicle to the vehicle while ensuring the airtightness, which is a very troublesome work.

In view of the above facts, it is an object of the present invention to obtain an airbag bag shape holding device capable of holding a folded shape without taking airtightness into consideration.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air bag body shape holding device for holding a non-deployed air bag body shape in a predetermined folded shape, wherein the air bag body is contracted. It is characterized in that the shape is maintained by means.

Therefore, since it is not necessary to consider the airtightness as in the prior art, the folded shape of the airbag bag can be stably maintained by the contracting means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the air bag body shape holding device according to the first aspect, the shrinking means is a heat shrinking means.

Therefore, according to the heat-shrinking means, it is possible to shrink the heat-shrinking means along the folded shape of the airbag bag only by heating the heat-shrinking means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the air bag body shape retaining device according to the first aspect, the contraction means is provided with a break portion which is broken by a deployment force of the air bag body. I am trying.

Therefore, it is not necessary to consider the airtightness, and the breaking portion can be arbitrarily formed based on the expanding direction of the airbag bag body and the like, so that the contracting means (based on the expanding force of the airbag bag body) It becomes possible to easily break at the breaking portion of the heat shrinking means), and it is possible to achieve both shape retention and easy deployment.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of an air bag body shape maintaining device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, a side impact airbag device 14 extending vertically is built in a side portion 12A formed on a side portion of the seat back 12 of the seat 10 on the door side. There is.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the side portion 12A of the seat back 12, a pipe-shaped side frame 18 forming a part of the seat back frame is arranged along the vertical direction of the seat back 12. There is. A bracket 20 is welded to the outer peripheral surface 18A of the side frame 18.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rear portion 20A of the bracket 20 bulges inward in the width direction of the seat back 12, and the rear portion 20A has a through hole 22 for mounting the airbag device 14. Are bored at predetermined intervals along the vertical direction. Stud bolts 26 are inserted into these through holes 22 from the rear side in the width direction outside of the seat back 12. Stud bolt 26
Is caulked at a predetermined interval on the outer peripheral portion of the diffusion plate 28 of the airbag device 14, and is fixed to the bracket 20 by a nut 27. Although not shown, the vertical center portion of the diffusion plate 28 has a cylindrical shape, and the inner peripheral portion of the cylindrical shape has a cylindrical shape.
It is fixed to the outer peripheral portion of 4 by crimping. In addition, the section of the diffusion plate 28 excluding the central portion has a substantially semicircular cross section, and is arranged inside the seat back 12 in the width direction.

Therefore, the gas is ejected from the outer peripheral portion of the gas inflator 24 toward the outer side in the radial direction, and the gas ejected toward the inner side in the width direction of the seat back is diffused by the diffusion plate 28 toward the outer side of the seat back. That is, it is directed toward the airbag body 32. The diffuser plate 28 has a through hole 30 for crimping the stud bolt 26.

The diffusion plate 28 and the rear portion 20A of the bracket 20
Between the opening edge portions 32A and 3A of the airbag 32.
2B are respectively sandwiched, and a reinforcing cloth 34 is sandwiched between the opening edge portion 32A and the opening edge portion 32B.
The reinforcing cloth 34 is sewn on the outer surface of the opening edge portion 32A. In addition, the opening edge portions 32A, 3 of the airbag bag 32,
Through holes through which the stud bolts 26 are inserted are formed in the 2B and the reinforcing cloth 34, respectively.

The folded air bag body 32 and the gas inflator 24 are arranged in a heat shrink tube 36 as a heat shrink means. The heat shrinkable tube 36 is made of polyvinyl chloride, polyolefin, etc. and has a wall thickness of 0.5.
It is shrunk by applying heat of about 80 ° C. in about mm. The temperature for contracting the heat-shrinkable tube 36 may be changed depending on the degree of contraction expected.

A through hole 37, through which the stud bolt 26 is inserted, is formed in the rear portion 36A of the heat shrinkable tube 36, which is located inside the gas inflator 24 in the seat width direction,
The rear part 36A of the heat-shrinkable tube 36 is the airbag bag 3
It is sandwiched between the two opening edge portions 32B and the rear portion 20A of the bracket 20. Further, the front portion 3 of the heat-shrinkable tube 36, which is on the inner side in the seat back width direction of the airbag 32,
6B is attached to the front portion 2 of the bracket 20 by the adhesive 38.
It is fixed at 0B.

As shown in FIG. 2, the heat shrink tube 36.
The slits 40 are formed at predetermined intervals along the up-down direction at the site that serves as the starting point when the airbag bag is deployed, and a fractured portion 41 is formed therein.

As shown in FIG. 1, a seat cover 44 covers the outside of the seat pad 42, and the seat cover 44 is covered.
The front sheet outer skin 46 and the side sheet outer skin 48 are sewn to each other with a suture thread 52 at a sewn portion 50. The sewn portion 50 is the slit 4 of the heat shrinkable tube 36.
It is formed at a position substantially opposite to 0, and is easily destroyed when the airbag bag body 32 is deployed.

Next, the manufacturing procedure of the airbag shape maintaining device of this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the folded airbag bag 32 is attached to the gas inflator 24.
The air bag module 54 attached to the above is inserted into the heat-shrinkable tube 36 which is not shrunk. At this time, the stud bolt 26 is passed through the through hole 37 of the heat-shrinkable tube 36, and the breakage portion 41 of the heat-shrinkable tube 36 is aligned with a predetermined position of the airbag bag body 32.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, the air bag module 54 inserted into the non-shrinkable heat-shrinkable tube 36 is set on the lower die 56A of the iron die 56, and the upper die 56B is centered around the rotary shaft 56C. By rotating in the direction of arrow A and stacking it on the lower die 56A to the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 5, the heat-shrinkable tube 36 is heat-shrinked along the predetermined upper and lower mold shapes shown by the double-dashed line in FIG. Let If necessary, the iron mold 56 is cooled by air cooling, water cooling, or the like, or the air bag body 32 whose shape is held by the heat shrinking means (heat shrinking tube 36) is used as the iron mold 5.
It is possible to maintain the contracted state in the iron mold by taking out from 6 and cooling with air cooling or water cooling.

Then, the air bag module 54 inserted into the contracted heat-shrinkable tube 36 is attached to the iron mold 56.
The seat back 12 is attached to the bracket 20 of the seat back 12.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, when the gas inflator 24 of the airbag device 14 is actuated at the time of a side collision, the gas is ejected toward the outer side in the radial direction of the inflator 24. Among these, the gas ejected toward the inner side of the seat back is the diffusion plate. By 28, the air bag body 32 is directed. Therefore, gas is effectively sent to the airbag bag body 32, and the airbag bag body 32 is instantly expanded and inflated.

At this time, the air bag body 32 pushes the heat shrink tube 36 outward in the width direction of the seat back 12 (direction of arrow B in FIG. 1), so that the heat shrink tube 36 starts from the slit 40. It is easily broken at the breaking portion 41. Further, the seat cover 44 is broken at the seam 50 between the front seat cover 46 and the side seat cover 48,
Since the seat pad 42 is broken, the airbag bag 32 can be easily deployed.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the folded shape of the airbag 32 can be stably held by the heat shrinkable tube 36, and it is not necessary to consider the airtightness as in the prior art. For this reason, workability is improved, particularly when the vehicle is stored in a predetermined portion or mounted. Therefore,
In this embodiment, it is possible to maintain the folded shape of the airbag bag and the easiness of deploying the airbag bag due to the breaking portion, which are contradictory matters.

In the case of the conventional vacuum pack, air may not flow in through holes such as pinholes to secure airtightness, or airtightness may not be secured when the vehicle is mounted on a predetermined portion of the vehicle. Therefore, the folded shape of the airbag bag cannot be maintained, and the workability during storage and mounting deteriorates.

Further, in the present embodiment, even if the state in which the airbag bag body is attached to a predetermined portion of the vehicle continues for a long period of time, the heat-shrinkable tube 36 can stably maintain its shape for a long period of time. The bag body does not start dancing in the storage space due to the behavior of the vehicle, and the generation of abnormal noise can be prevented. In the case of the vacuum pack, even if the vacuum pack can be attached, when air enters the vacuum pack, the airbag bag may start to dance due to the behavior of the vehicle in the storage space and generate an abnormal noise.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the heat-shrinkable tube 36 can be easily attached to the air bag module 54, and the conventional air bag case can be omitted. For this reason, the cost can be reduced, and the external restrictions on the side portion 12A of the seat back 12 can be reduced.

In the above, the present invention has been described in detail with respect to specific embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and various other embodiments within the scope of the present invention. It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that For example, in the present embodiment, the airbag module 54 in which the folded airbag bag body 32 is attached to the gas inflator 24 or the like is inserted into the heat-shrinkable tube 36, but instead of this, the folded airbag bag. Body 32
Only the heat shrink tube 36 may be inserted into the heat shrink tube 36.

Further, in the present embodiment, the contracting means has a tube shape, but the contracting means does not have to be a tube shape. For example, one sheet of contracting means is wrapped around the airbag bag and the end portion is It is also possible to bond or use inflator mounting bolts to form holes for inserting bolts at both ends of the seat, and fix the ends of the seat by the holes.

Further, in the present embodiment, the breaking portion 41 is formed by the slit 40, but it is also possible to use the perforation or the difference in wall thickness of the contracting means to make the breaking portion.

Further, in the present embodiment, the heat shrink tube 36 is used as the heat shrink means, but the heat shrink means is not limited to the heat shrink tube, and other heat shrink means may be used. Further, the shrinking means is not limited to the heat shrinking means, and may be a shrinking means that shrinks by means other than heat, such as light. Further, the airbag bag shape maintaining device of the present invention is not limited to the airbag device provided on the side of the seat, but is provided in the airbag device provided in the steering wheel and the instrument panel in front of the passenger seat. The present invention is also applicable to an airbag device mounted on other parts such as an airbag device for protecting the head, an airbag device for protecting a head provided in a roof side rail or a pillar.

[0035]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the airbag bag shape holding device for holding the airbag bag shape in a non-deployed state in a predetermined folding shape, the airbag bag body is held by the contracting means. Therefore, there is an excellent effect that the folded shape can be maintained without considering the airtightness.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the air bag body shape retaining device according to the first aspect, since the shrinking means is the heat shrinking means, the manufacturing is easy in addition to the effect of the first aspect. It has the excellent effect of being.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the airbag bag shape maintaining device according to the first aspect, the contracting means is formed with a break portion which is broken by the expanding force of the airbag bag body. In addition to the effect described in item 1, it has an excellent effect that the expansion of the airbag bag becomes easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a horizontal cross-sectional view showing a side portion of a seat back including an air bag body shape maintaining device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a side portion of a seat back provided with an airbag bag shape maintaining device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a seat provided with an airbag bag shape maintaining device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a part of the manufacturing procedure of the airbag bag shape maintaining device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a procedure following the step of FIG. 4 of a manufacturing procedure of the airbag bag shape maintaining device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an airbag bag shape maintaining device according to a conventional embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 14 Side Impact Air Bag Device 24 Gas Inflator 32 Air Bag Body 36 Heat Shrink Tube (Heat Shrink Means) 40 Slit 41 Breaking Part 54 Air Bag Module 56 Iron Type

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An airbag bag shape retaining device for retaining an airbag bag shape in a predetermined folded shape when not inflated, wherein the airbag bag body is retained by a contracting means. Body shape retention device. 2. The airbag bag shape holding device according to claim 1, wherein the shrinking means is a heat shrinking means. 3. The airbag bag shape holding device according to claim 1, wherein the contraction means is provided with a break portion which is broken by the expanding force of the airbag bag body.