JPH11335911A - Portable air bag - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air bag, looking nice, convenient and sanitary, as a portable means to reduce an impact and prevents injury of the wearer, when he falls down while walking or taking exercise. SOLUTION: This air bag is provided with a case 1, compact and attachable to a wearer to be carried by him, which holds a sensor 2 to sense an emergency situation, e.g. falling down of the wearer, a gas generator to generate gas on receiving the signal from the sensor 2 and an air bag body 5 comprising an air bag section to temporarily hold the gas generated to expand and reduce the impact on the wearer, wherein the sensor 2 and air bag body 5 are connected to each other by a detachable connector and cable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to portable means for relieving the impact of a walking or exercising person when the person falls, thereby preventing injury.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as a means for preventing a human from falling during walking, a walking stick or a walking machine has been used. However, there has been no means for relieving the impact when the user falls. In addition, as a means of softening the impact of falling when exercising, a protector was attached to a local part such as a joint or a head.

As a prior application related to the present invention,
In the event of a collision of an automobile, there are a plurality of airbags installed in the automobile body that inflate to reduce the impact on humans (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 04-24145 and 48-14403).
9, JP-A-51-5728 and JP-A-2-175353). In addition, there is one that reduces damage when a ship or a train collides (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-80202). Furthermore, there is one that prevents breakage of a self-propelled robot when it falls down (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-218122). further,
There are some that prevent damage to furniture and office automation equipment that fall over due to the earthquake (Japanese Utility Model Application No. 7-4045).

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional means has the following problems. (a) Walking sticks and walking machines are intended to prevent falls, and do not play a role in relieving the impact when falling. (b) Walking sticks and walking machines have poor appearance and are difficult to use for healthy people. (c) The protector has a local shock buffering effect, but has little effect on falling during intense exercise or falling of the elderly. (d) Since the protector is attached to the joint, it interferes with normal operation. (e) The protector does not look good when worn and tends to be unsanitary, such as absorbing sweat. (f) All other means are not intended to fix the airbag to the apparatus main body and act on it, nor are they intended for humans.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can reduce the impact of a pedestrian or a exercising person when it falls, thereby preventing injury. It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable means that has good appearance, is easy to use, and is hygienic.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A portable airbag according to the present invention is provided with a sensor for detecting an emergency such as a fall in a small storage container such as a waist pouch or a jacket which can be fixed and carried around the body. An airbag body that includes a gas generating unit that receives a signal from the sensor unit and generates a gas, and an airbag unit that temporarily inflates the generated gas and inflates the gas to relieve a shock to a human. The unit and the airbag body are connected by a removable connector and cable.

The sensor unit detects the fall of the person wearing the portable airbag quickly and sends a signal to the gas generation unit. The gas generation unit inflates the airbag unit and falls. Softens the impact of a hit on the ground or structures.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings based on embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a portable airbag according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an airbag body and a sensor section, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the airbag body shown in FIG. .

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the portable airbag according to the present invention senses an emergency such as a fall in a small storage container 1 which can be fixed and carried around the body like a waist pouch. An airbag main body 5 comprising a sensor unit 2 for generating a gas, a gas generating unit 3 for receiving a signal from the sensor unit 2 and generating a gas, and an airbag unit 4 for temporarily accumulating the generated gas and inflating to reduce the impact on humans. Are provided by opening and closing the lid 11. The sensor unit 2 and the airbag body 5 are connected by a detachable connector 6, a cable 7, or the like. The airbag body 5 is fastened to the storage container 1 with a fastener 8.

The sensor unit 2 detects the fall of a person wearing the portable airbag quickly and sends a signal to the gas generating unit 3 so that the airbag unit 4 is opened.
As a method of detecting a fall, a method of detecting an acceleration, an inclination angle, a muscle tension, a distance from the ground, and the like can be considered, but there is no particular designation. In addition, the detecting means is 1
Although only the type may be used, it is desirable to combine a plurality of detection means in order to eliminate malfunction.

The gas generating section 3 receives a signal from the sensor section 2 and generates gas for inflating the airbag section 4. As a method of generating gas, there are a method of releasing an inert gas from a gas cylinder and a method of igniting a gas generating agent to release a gas, but there is no particular designation. However, a more secure method is desirable because it is fixed to the human body.

The airbag section 4 is inflated for a predetermined time by the gas generated from the gas generating section 3 and softens the impact when a fallen person collides with the ground or a structure. It should be noted that there is no particular designation for the shape of the airbag section 4 to be inflated and the time for which the airbag section 4 is inflated.

The airbag body 5 is difficult to reuse once used. Therefore, as described above, the airbag body 5 is provided as a separate unit from the sensor section 2 and a detachable connector 6 is provided between the sensor section 2 and the airbag body 5. It is desirable to connect with a cable 7. The airbag body 5 is preferably housed in a casing 6a made of plastic or the like so that the airbag body 5 can be easily replaced.

When using the portable airbag according to the present invention, the small storage container 1 in which the sensor unit 2 and the airbag body 4 are stored is fixed to one or several places of the body. The place to be fixed is not particularly specified, such as the waist, the chest, the back, etc., but according to the type of exercise or the like, a place that is most effective in relieving the impact when falling down is selected and fixed. In addition, as a fixing method, a belt 9 having a buckle 10 as shown in FIG. 1 may be used to fix the waist to the waist, or a portable air bag may be attached to the shoulder, back, front, etc. of the jacket 12 as shown in FIG. 13 may be fixed, and there is no particular limitation. When the portable airbag 13 is fixed at a plurality of locations as shown in FIG. 5, there is no need to provide the sensor units at all locations, and other sensor units can be shared.

[0016]

By using the portable air bag according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid accidents such as bruising or fractures of the head, joints, thighs, etc. due to the fall of the elderly, resulting in injury. It is possible to prevent being afraid of going out, being unable to be bedridden due to a head injury or a broken bone. Also, sports such as skiing, snowboarding and skating that have a high risk of falling or colliding can reduce accidents such as bruises and fractures, and middle-aged and elderly people can enjoy these sports with confidence. Further, since the portable airbag according to the present invention is of a waist porch type or a jacket type, it has a good appearance, is easy to use, and is hygienic.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a waist pouch type portable airbag according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an airbag body and a sensor unit.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the airbag body of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a jacket-type portable airbag according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of use of the portable airbag according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Storage container 2 Sensor part 3 Gas generation part 4 Airbag part 5 Airbag main body 6 Connector 6a Casing 7 Cable 8 Fastener 9 Belt 10 Buckle 11 Lid 12 Jacket 13 Portable airbag

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Akio Ohno 1-6-1, Funakoshi Minami, Aki-ku, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima Japan Steel Works Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A small storage container (1) which can be fixed and carried around a body, a sensor unit (2) for detecting an emergency such as a fall, and a signal from the sensor unit (2) is received. A gas generating unit (3) for generating gas; and an airbag body (5) including an airbag unit (4) for temporarily accumulating the generated gas and inflating to reduce the impact on humans, and a sensor unit (2). The portable airbag is connected with a detachable connector (6) and a cable (7). 2. The portable airbag according to claim 1, wherein the storage container (1) is a waist pouch. 3. The portable airbag according to claim 1, wherein the storage container (1) is a jacket.