JPH11321502A - Head restraint for vehicle seat - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a whiplash movement by use of a simple mechanism which moves a head restraint forward so as to reduce the space between the head restraint and an occupant's head. SOLUTION: A slide mechanism T is provided where a head restrain is divided into a front half and a rear half, and which has an integrated structure and normally moves the front half F forward at a specified distance D against the rear half R. A cavity V is provided inside the front half F of the lead restraint, and the cavity V is provided with an air vent passage W communicating with the outside. An air seal B made of a thin film which is torn by the pressure of the passage W opening portion so as to exhaust air is stuck to the passage W opening portion. When a sensor perceives a shock in time of being bumped from behind, a relay circuit is closed so as to turn on an electromagnet 10, a pin P for locking the slide mechanism T comes off, and the front half F of the restraint jumps out at a specified distance D against the rear half R. When an occupant's head pushes the front half F of the head restraint after touching the front half F thereof, the air seal B is torn, and air is exhausted from the opening portion of the cavity V, so as that the shock to the occupant's head is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a head restraint for a vehicle seat and, more particularly, to a head restraint for a rear-end collision (a rear-end collision of a vehicle) to prevent or reduce an occupant's whiplash injury. The present invention relates to a head restraint for a vehicle seat provided with a head restraint moving mechanism for automatically moving the head restraint to a position close to the occupant's head when the vehicle stops.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A head restraint provided on an automobile seat is mounted on an upper portion of a seat back in order to prevent or reduce an occupant's neck whipping injury when a rear-end collision occurs.

The head restraint 3 is attached to the upper surface of the seat back 2 of the sheet 1 as shown in FIG.

In order to prevent whipping, the smaller the space M between the head C of the occupant A and the head restraint 3 is, the less the head C is swung rearward in a rear-end collision. Whipping movement can be reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust (or set) the front / rear position of the head restraint so that the head restraint is located close to the head.

[0005] However, the fact that the head restraint is always located close to the head gives an uncomfortable feeling to the riding posture of the occupant, and hinders free movement of the head such as backward or side checking. Therefore, the headless train is rarely adjusted to the position closest to the head, and is often adjusted to a position away from the head or riding in a riding position with the head away from the head restraint, so the head restraint is attached Even if it is performed, the whipping movement of the neck at the time of the rear-end collision cannot be prevented, and there is a risk that neck injury may occur.

Therefore, a whiplash-preventing airbag apparatus disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-65644 has been proposed.

In this airbag device for preventing whiplash, as shown in FIG. 11, an airbag 4 is incorporated in a head restraint 3 and an air bag 4 incorporated in the head restraint 3 at the time of a rear-end collision, that is, at the time of a rear collision of an automobile. By inflating the bag 4, the space M formed between the head C of the occupant A and the head restraint 3 is filled, thereby preventing the head C from moving backward.

[0008]

This head restraint with a built-in airbag is difficult to set the capacity of the airbag and to regulate the amount of the airbag protruding forward, so that the air is more than the space between the head and the headless train. The bag may fly out and the occupant may be damaged. In addition, there is a concern that the airbag may adversely affect the occupant, such as a sound generated when the airbag is activated. In order to solve this, Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-3
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4535, a method of causing the head restraint to protrude by a predetermined amount is also conceivable, but damage may still occur depending on the position of the head.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a headless train mounted on a vehicle seat which has a simple structure and can reduce damage to an occupant during a collision.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object,
The present invention relates to a head restraint mounted on an automobile seat that causes at least a passenger's head abutting portion of a head restraint to protrude a predetermined distance so as to approach a passenger's head by an impact at the time of a rear-end collision. , A cavity is provided inside the head restraint, and air bleeding means is provided for rapidly removing air from the cavity by an operation of pressing the head restraint by the head of the occupant when the head restraint is hit. According to this configuration, the head restraint is allowed to protrude to suppress the whipping motion of the neck at the time of the rear-end collision, and damage to the head of the occupant when the head comes into contact with the head restraint at the time of the rear-end collision is imposed. Can be reduced.
Furthermore, functions such as cushioning properties are not impaired in a normal use state such as placing the head lightly on the head restraint.

[0011] Further, a structure is provided in which a passage communicating between the cavity and the outside is provided as air bleeding means for the cavity inside the head restraint, and means for opening the passage when a predetermined pressure or more is applied to the passage is provided. I do. According to this configuration,
When a pressure exceeding a certain level is applied to the passage at the time of the collision, the means for opening the passage is activated, and the air suddenly escapes from the cavity. Further, since the air bleeding state can be controlled only by changing the setting of the opening means, the matching is easy, and as a result, the air bleeding means can be provided at low cost.

In addition, a structure is provided in which “a passage communicating between the cavity and the outside is provided as air bleeding means for the cavity inside the head restraint, and a means for opening the passage by an impact at the time of a collision” is provided. According to this configuration, the opening means operates instantaneously at the time of the collision, and when the occupant's head subsequently presses the head restraint, the air suddenly escapes from the cavity without a time delay. The added damage can be further alleviated. Further, the setting of the opening means is easy, and as a result, the air bleeding means can be provided at a lower cost.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a head restraint according to the present invention and a mounting portion thereof.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 denotes a seat mounted on an automobile, reference numeral 22 denotes a seat back of the seat 21, and reference numeral 23 denotes a headless train mounted on an upper surface of the seat back. The mounting position of 23 is such that a predetermined amount of space M is formed between the head C of the occupant A and the head restraint 23 when the occupant A is seated on the seat 21 as in the prior art. .

The head restraint 23 has a structure that can be divided into two parts, as shown in FIG. The front half F of the head restraint, which is an occupant head abutting portion, contains a urethane sponge having an outer surface covered with a skin and a cavity V provided therein. The internal pressure of the cavity V is kept substantially at atmospheric pressure. The sponge has an air vent passage W communicating with the outside.
An air seal B made of a thin film that is peeled or torn at a predetermined pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure and discharges air is stuck or sewn around the opening. The size of the opening and the thickness of the air seal are determined as desired. The size of the opening may be set in advance, or may be initially set large, and the diameter of the opening may be determined based on the tuning result by inserting the orifice O as shown in FIG.
Further, as a material of the air seal, vinyl chloride, 66 nylon or the like is used. The rear half R of the head restraint incorporates the electromagnet 10 and the spring S, and is equipped with a slide mechanism T for moving the front half F forward by a certain distance D with respect to the rear half R at the time of a collision. As shown in FIG. 4, a harness 11 includes an electromagnet 10 built in the head restraint 3, a vehicle-mounted battery 12, and a relay circuit 1.
The relay circuit 13 is turned ON to close the circuit when a sensor (not shown) detects a collision.

Next, the operation will be described. When a sensor (not shown) detects an impact at the time of a collision, a relay circuit 13 is provided.
Is turned on, the power of the electromagnet 10 is turned on, and the pin P holding the slide mechanism T is attracted and removed by the magnetic force,
The spring S causes the front half F of the head restraint to protrude forward by a predetermined distance D from the rear half R. As a result, the space M formed between the head C of the occupant A and the head restraint is eliminated, and it is possible to reliably prevent the head C from contacting the front half F of the head restraint and moving backward. Further, when the head C of the occupant A contacts the front half F of the head restraint and then presses the front half F of the head restraint, the internal pressure of the cavity V increases, and the air-sealing occurs.
The air is rapidly discharged from the opening of the cavity V, and the impact applied to the head C of the occupant A is reduced.

The air seal B is not peeled or broken by the normal contact of the head C.
Is set to be peeled off or broken only when the head restraint comes into contact with the head restraint and the pressure in the cavity V sharply increases. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the application location of the adhesive is limited, and the number and interval of small holes or slits (notches) are set. For example, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the air seal B is not applied to the entire circumference as shown in FIG. doing. When the adhesive is applied to the entire circumference or sewn so that the air seal B does not peel off, the air seal B is broken near the center of the air seal B by the predetermined pressure, for example, as shown in FIG. A plurality of small holes Y are formed on concentric circles including the center, or a plurality of elongated slits (notches) Z are formed radially from the center as shown in FIG.
Therefore, the air seal B is not peeled or broken in normal use such as when the occupant places the head lightly on the head restraint, and the function such as the cushioning property is not impaired.
Further, with respect to the film of the air seal B, the pressure at which air is released from the inside of the cavity V can be controlled by simply changing the number or interval of the adhesive application points X or small holes Y and slits Z shown in FIG.
Therefore, it is easy to reproduce the optimum operation state by performing an experiment, and as a result, the development cost of the air bleeding means can be reduced.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the air seal B is set around the opening of the air vent passage W communicating with the outside. In the second embodiment, instead of the air seal B,
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a lid L or a plug U which comes off due to an impact at the time of a rear collision is provided in each passage. As shown in FIG. 7, the lid L is fixed to the center plate I of the rear half R of the head restraint so as to cover the opening of the air vent passage W. As shown in FIG. 8, the stopper U is fixed to the center plate I of the rear half R of the head restraint so as to close the opening of the passage W.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described.

When the pin P holding the slide mechanism T is disengaged at the time of the collision and the front half F of the head restraint is moved away from the rear half R by the spring S, the lid L or the stopper U moves to the rear half of the head restraint. Since it is fixed to the center plate I of R, the air vent passage is opened apart from the opening of the air vent passage, and the cavity V can communicate with the outside.

Also in the second embodiment, the head restraint jumps out and prevents the head C of the occupant A from moving backward when a rear-end collision occurs as in the first embodiment.
The operation of pressing the head restraint by the head C of the occupant A causes the air to be suddenly discharged from the opening and reduces the impact applied to the head C. The difference from the first embodiment is that in the second embodiment, the lid L or the stopper U which comes off due to the impact at the time of the collision to be followed is provided in the passage opening.
There is no need to peel or break the air seal B in the passage opening as in the embodiment, and when the head C of the occupant A presses the head restraint, air is discharged from the opening of the cavity V without time delay. Is done. Therefore, the occupant A
The impact applied to the head C can be greatly reduced as compared with the case where the air seal B is set. Further, in normal use such as when the occupant puts the head lightly on the head restraint, the cover L or the plug U does not come off and the function such as cushioning property is not impaired. Further, a lid L or a plug U is set in the passage opening instead of the air seal B as in the first embodiment, so that the air seal B is not peeled or broken at the time of a collision and the air seal B is not broken. Since there is no need to replace parts, such as changing the position of the file B, it can be used any number of times.

As described in the first and second embodiments, according to the present invention, the cavity inside the head restraint can be easily set, and the amount of the head restraint projecting forward can be restricted, and at the same time, the cavity can be formed in the cavity. Since the air vent passage is provided, damage to the occupant can be reduced. In addition, since the airbag is not used, the concern at the time of operating the airbag at low cost can be solved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention. Needless to say, a headless train structure that allows air to escape from the headless train when it comes into contact with the part is sufficient. More specifically, the air bleeding means of the present invention is not limited to providing a passage communicating the cavity with the outside and providing a thin film in the passage. As shown in (2), a control valve G that opens when a predetermined pressure or more is applied to the passage may be provided, or a similar effect may be achieved by appropriately selecting the cross-sectional area of the passage. The control valve G shown in FIG.
Is provided, and when the pressure of the passage becomes higher than the atmospheric pressure, the valve body J is pushed up against the spring force to discharge air. Needless to say, the number of passages is not limited to one, and a plurality of passages may be provided. In addition, a structure in which the entire head restraint may move forward, or only the occupant head contact portion of the head restraint may move forward.

[0026]

According to the structure of the first aspect of the present invention, the head restraint is allowed to protrude to suppress the whipping movement of the neck at the time of the collision, and the head comes into contact with the head restraint at the time of the collision. Damage to the occupant's head in the event of a collision can be reduced. In addition, functions such as cushioning properties are not impaired in a normal use state such as placing the head lightly on the head restraint.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when a predetermined pressure or more is applied to the passage at the time of the collision, the means for opening the passage is activated, and the air suddenly escapes from the cavity. Damage sometimes added to the occupant's head can be greatly reduced. Further, since the air bleeding state can be controlled only by changing the setting of the opening means, the matching is easy, and as a result, the air bleeding means can be provided at low cost.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, when the opening means operates instantaneously at the time of a rear-end collision, and when the occupant's head presses the head restraint, the occupant suddenly leaves the cavity without a time delay. Since the air escapes, damage to the occupant's head during a rear-end collision can be further reduced. Also,
The setting of the opening means is easy, and as a result, the air bleeding means can be provided at a lower cost.

[0029]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a head restraint device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state in which the head restraint device according to the present invention is operated.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the internal structure of the head restraint device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a wiring circuit of the head restraint device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing an orifice of an air vent passage.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing a thin film of an air vent passage.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing a lid of an air vent passage.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing a plug of an air vent passage.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view showing a control valve of an air vent passage.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing a general automobile seat.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing a state of a conventional example in which an airbag device incorporated in a head restraint is operated.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List A passenger 23 head restraint 21 sheet F front half of head restraint (occupant head contact part) R rear half of head restraint B air seal (thin film) V cavity W passage

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A head restraint mounted on a vehicle seat for causing at least an occupant head abutting portion of a head restraint to protrude by a predetermined distance so as to be close to the occupant's head by an impact at the time of a collision. The head restraint is provided with a cavity inside the head restraint, the head of the occupant at the time of a collision is provided with air bleeding means for rapidly removing the air in the cavity by the operation of pressing the head restraint. Head restraint for automotive seats. 2. The air venting means according to claim 1, wherein a passage communicating between the cavity and the outside is provided, and means for opening the passage when a predetermined pressure or more is applied to the passage is provided. Head restraint for automotive seats. 3. A vehicle system according to claim 1, wherein a passage communicating the cavity with the outside is provided as said air bleeding means, and a means for opening the passage by an impact upon collision is provided. -Head restraint.