JPH10194066A - Assembling method for air bag sub-module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the assembling method for an air bag sub-module, which facilitates assembling operations for the air bag sub-module formed out of a bag main body, a retainer, and a bag holder, and also is easy to affirm the regular assembly of the air bag main body. SOLUTION: This device represents the assembling method for an air bag sub-module formed out of a bag main body, a retainer, and a bag holder, the bag main body 12 is provided with directional qualities, and the retainer 16A is penetrated through the bag main body 12 and the bag holder 18, and is provided with mounting bolts 28 which are disposed symmetrically with respect to a point. Paired fluoroscopic holes 32 and 34 for affirming paired regular assemblies which coincide with each other at the time of a regular assembly, are formed in the bag folder 18 and the bag main body 12. After the retainer 16A has been assembled with the bag main body 12, and then after the bag main body 12 has been assembled with the bag holder 18, it is affirmed through the existence of agreement between the paired fluoroscopic holes 32 and 34 whether the bag main body 12 has been regularly assembled or not.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for assembling an airbag sub-module for assembling an airbag sub-module in which a retainer is disposed inside a bag body at a peripheral portion of an inflator insertion hole of the bag body.

[0002] Here, an airbag for a steering wheel will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is also applicable to an airbag for a passenger seat and the like.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional steering wheel airbag module has been assembled, for example, as follows (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

First, the airbag sub-module M1 is
The bag main body 12 is assembled by folding the bag main body 12 after assembling the bag main body 12 with the retainer 16 disposed inside at the peripheral portion of the inflator insertion hole 14 of the bag main body 12 and assembling it with the bag holder 18.

In the airbag sub-module M1, the inflator 22 is usually assembled to the bag holder 18 via the flange portion 22a, and the bag pad 2
4 was assembled via the peripheral wall 18a of the bag holder 18 to form an airbag module M2, and then screwed to the spokes of the steering wheel body via the bag holder 18 (not shown).

In the example shown in the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a bag pad 24.
Is a pad mounting plate provided with a mounting lip 20a which cooperates with the peripheral wall portion 18a of the bag holder 18 to clamp the mounted wall portion 24a. Reference numeral 25 denotes a groove for expanding the pad when the bag is activated.

Here, the bag body 12 is usually provided with a directional vent hole 2 in order to obtain required deployment characteristics.
6 is provided. For example, in many airbag devices for steering wheels, a pair of vent holes 26 are formed in a line-symmetrical manner above the bag pad 24 on the same side surface as the bag holder mounting side (see FIG. 3).

On the other hand, the retainer 16 normally has mounting bolts 28 which penetrate the bag body 12 and the bag holder 18 and are arranged point-symmetrically. For example, mounting bolts 28 are arranged in four parts on the same circumference (the bolt holes 30 of the bag body 12 on the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1).
To match). Naturally, the corresponding bolt holes
They are formed on the bag body 12 and the bag holder 18, respectively.

At this time, if the bag body 12 is erroneously assembled to the steering wheel, that is, to the bag holder 18, that is, to the upside down direction, the vent hole position is upside down, and the airbag is activated. Sometimes, the bag body may not expand and bulge as designed.

In order to prevent erroneous assembling of the bag body with respect to the bag holder, conventionally, an erroneous assembling prevention convex portion is formed on the upper side or the lower side of the retainer and formed with claws or the like. A protruding portion fitting hole is formed to cope with the problem.

[0011]

However, the above-described method of assembling the airbag submodule has a poor workability in assembling the airbag submodule.

That is, since the relationship between the mounting bolts 28 and the corresponding bolt holes 30 of the bag body 12 is point-symmetrical, even if one mounting bolt 28 is inserted into any of the bolt holes 30, the remaining bolts 30 can be inserted into the remaining bolt holes 30. Mounting bolt 28
It can be inserted into the remaining bolt holes 30.

If the retainer is not attached to the correct position, the erroneous assembly preventing projection does not project from the projection fitting hole of the bag body. For this reason, once again remove the mounting bolts from the bolt holes in the bag body, groping (in a blind state), search for the erroneous assembly prevention convex portion, and turn the retainer.
It is necessary to bring the erroneous assembly prevention protrusion to a position where the protrusion is fitted into the protrusion fitting hole of the bag body.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an airbag sub-module which has a good work of assembling an airbag sub-module comprising a bag main body, a retainer and a bag holder, and which makes it easy to confirm the correct assembly of the bag main body. It is intended to provide an assembling method.

[0015]

The method for assembling an airbag submodule according to the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by the following constitution.

A method for assembling an airbag sub-module for assembling a bag body with a bag holder at a peripheral portion of an inflator insertion hole of the bag body and assembling the bag body with a bag holder, comprising: In the case where the retainer includes mounting bolts penetrating through the bag body and the airbag holder and arranged symmetrically with respect to the point, a pair of transparent holes for confirming the correct assembling of the bag holder and the bag body that match at the time of the correct assembling. Form a pair,
After assembling the retainer to the bag body and assembling the bag body to the bag holder, it is characterized in that the correct assembling of the bag body is confirmed based on whether or not the pair of transparent holes match.

[0017]

Since the method of assembling the airbag sub-module of the present invention has the above-described structure, the following functions and effects can be obtained.

Since the retainer is not provided with the erroneous assembly preventing convex portion as in the prior art, it is not necessary to consider the directionality of the retainer when assembling the retainer to the bag body. That is, the mounting bolt at the position of the retainer may be inserted into the bolt hole of the bag body at any position where it can be inserted.

Accordingly, unlike the related art, there is no possibility that the retainer is erroneously assembled, and as a result, the workability of assembling the airbag submodule is improved.

When attaching the bag holder to the bag body to which the retainer has been attached, it is only necessary to match the pair of transparent holes for confirming the correct assembling of the two. And
Confirmation of the correct assembling of the bag body can be performed based on whether or not the pair of transparent holes match, that is, whether or not the retainer or the like can be seen through the transparent hole on the bag holder side. Whether or not the see-through is possible can be easily detected by an electric / optical sensor not only visually but also in a case where the airbag module is automatically assembled.

Therefore, it is easy to confirm the correct assembling of the bag body.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a method for assembling an airbag submodule according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The same parts as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and all or part of the description thereof will be omitted.

(1) In the airbag sub-module M1 of the present embodiment, after the bag body 12 is assembled to the bag holder 18 by disposing the retainer 16A inside at the periphery of the inflator 22 insertion hole of the bag body 12, Then, the bag body 12 is folded and assembled.

At this time, the bag body 12 is provided with a directional vent hole 26, and the retainer 16A is
It is provided with mounting bolts 28 which penetrate the bag body 12 and the bag holder 18 and are arranged point-symmetrically (FIG. 3).
reference). Up to this point, the configuration is the same as the conventional example.

(2) In the above, a pair of see-through holes 32 and 34 for confirming the correct assembling are formed in the bag holder 18 and the bag body 12 at the time of the correct assembling (see FIG. 4). Specifically, a pair of see-through holes is formed at a position corresponding to the lower piece of the retainer 16A. The diameter of the pair of see-through holes is desirably slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the mounting bolt 28 so that the mounting bolt 28 is not inserted.

(3) Next, a method of assembling the airbag submodule M1 having the above configuration will be described.

First, the retainer 16A is disposed inside the periphery of the inflator insertion hole of the bag body 12 and assembled to the bag holder 18. At this time, since the retainer 16A does not have the erroneous assembly prevention convex portion as in the related art,
When assembling the retainer 16A to the bag body 12, it is not necessary to consider the directionality of the retainer 16A. That is, even if the mounting bolt 28 at the position of the retainer 16A is inserted into the bolt hole 30 of the bag main body 12 at any insertable position, the mounting bolt 28 is mounted at the correct position, and there is no risk of erroneous assembly.

Next, the bag body 12 to which the retainer 16A has been assembled is attached to the bag holder 18 so that the pair of transparent holes 32 and 34 for confirming correct assembling of the two are aligned. Naturally, the mounting bolt 28 is inserted into the bolt hole 31 of the bag holder 18.

At this time, confirmation of correct assembling of the bag body, that is, whether or not the pair of transparent holes 32 and 34 match, can be easily performed visually. Further, when the airbag module is to be automatically assembled, it can be easily detected by an electric / optical sensor. In this case, the workability of assembling the airbag submodule is further improved.

For example, as shown in FIG.
The conductive sensor 36 having a conductive pin 36a that is electrically conductive and generates an electrical signal when it comes into contact with the retainer 16A made of sheet metal via the, and further determines whether or not there is an optical reflection. It can be easily confirmed whether or not the retainer 16A can be seen through the see-through hole 34.

Thereafter, the bag body 12 is manually or mechanically folded to form an airbag sub-module M2.

The airbag sub-module M1 checks the direction (for example, up and down) through the transparent hole of the bag holder 18, and attaches the inflator 22 to the flange 2 as in the prior art.
The airbag module M2 is obtained by assembling the bag pad 24 via the peripheral wall portion 18a of the bag holder 18 and the like while attaching the bag pad 24 to the bag holder 18 via the 2a.

The airbag module M2 is attached to the spoke portion of the steering wheel body or the like via the female screw attachment portion 18a of the bag holder 18 by screwing.

In this manner, in the airbag module mounted on the steering wheel, the vent hole of the bag body is not mounted upside down. When the airbag is activated, the bag body expands and deploys as designed.

Further, since the see-through shaft 32 on the bag body side is arranged below the retainer 16A, air leakage from the bag body 12 hardly occurs.

The method of assembling the airbag sub-module according to the present invention is applicable not only to a bag body having a vent hole but also to a bag having a direction of arrangement such as a bag having a cloth or the like inside for controlling gas flow. Of course, it can be applied to

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of an airbag module to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an end view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between an deployed shape of an airbag to which the present invention is applied and an airbag module.

FIG. 4 is an exploded partial perspective view of the airbag submodule of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an example of a sub-module correct-assembly confirmation detecting means according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Bag main body 14 Inflator insertion hole 16, 16A Retainer 18 Bag holder 26 Vent hole 28 Mounting bolt 32 Transparent hole on bag main body side 34 Transparent hole on bag holder side

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of assembling an airbag sub-module for assembling an airbag holder with a retainer arranged inside a bag body at a peripheral portion of an inflator insertion hole of the bag body, wherein the bag body has a direction. In the case where the retainer has mounting bolts that penetrate the bag body and the airbag holder and are arranged point-symmetrically, a pair of the retainer and the bag body that match at the time of regular assembly are provided. Forming a pair of see-through holes for confirming correct assembly, assembling the retainer to the bag body, assembling the bag body to the bag holder, and then correctly assembling the bag body according to whether the see-through hole pairs match. A method for assembling an airbag sub-module, characterized in that: