KR102581842B1 - Driver airbag apparatus of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

It relates to a driver's seat airbag device for a car, comprising an inflator that generates gas when a car crashes, and an airbag cushion that receives gas generated from the inflator and expands to restrain and protect the driver, wherein the airbag cushion supplies the gas. It includes a diffuser that adjusts the direction and speed, wherein the diffuser sews a connection part connecting the rear member connected to the rear panel of the airbag cushion and the outer end of the front member disposed on the front panel according to a preset sewing pattern. By providing a configuration in which the diffuser is connected, damage caused by high-temperature and high-pressure gas can be prevented by increasing the sewing area of the connection portion where the front and rear members of the diffuser are connected.

Description

Driver's seat airbag device of automobile {DRIVER AIRBAG APPARATUS OF VEHICLE}

The present invention relates to a driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle, and more specifically, to a driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle that protects the driver by inflating and deploying an airbag cushion when a vehicle crashes.

In general, the airbag module of a car is a safety device that protects occupants by rapidly inflating the airbag by injecting gas into the airbag according to a signal from an impact detection sensor during a car collision.

These airbag devices are installed on the steering wheel, dashboard, seat, side wall, etc. of a car, and inflate toward the front or side of the occupants when the car crashes to protect the occupants.

In other words, the car has a driver airbag (DAB) and a passenger airbag (PAB) that protect front seat passengers in the event of a frontal collision, and a side airbag (Side Air Bag) that protects the passenger's side in the event of a side collision. -Bag, SAB), Curtain Air-Bag (CAB), knee airbag (Near Air-Bag) to protect the passengers' knees, etc. may be provided.

Among them, the driver's airbag is mounted concentrically on the steering wheel and is configured to quickly inflate the airbag in response to sudden deceleration of the car.

For example, the present applicant has disclosed the construction of a driver's seat airbag for an automobile and filed a patent application in a number of publications, including Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 below.

In the early conventional driver's seat airbag, when the airbag was inflated, it inflated roughly into a ball shape, so the lower part of the airbag did not sufficiently cover the lower part of the steering wheel, causing a problem in which the driver's chest hit the steering wheel and caused injury.

To this end, a configuration has been proposed in the related art in which a tether member is additionally installed inside the airbag to cover the central inflation thickness of the airbag, thereby sufficiently covering the lower part of the steering wheel.

Depending on the conditions of the driver in the driver's seat, such as different body sizes, weights, seating positions, or crash scenarios in the car, the distance between the inflated airbag and the driver or the driver's behavior may vary, in which case the airbag may not provide the desired protective function. It cannot be performed. Therefore, research on airbags that can respond appropriately to various driver conditions and crash modes is required.

Meanwhile, a diffuser is installed in the airbag cushion to uniformly disperse the gas by converting the velocity energy of the gas ejected from the inflator at high speed into pressure energy.

This diffuser functions to effectively control the deployment speed and deployment shape of the airbag cushion when it is inflated and deployed by controlling the supply direction and speed of gas.

Recently, diffusers applied to driver's airbags are becoming smaller.

For this purpose, in the past, the airbag cushion and diffuser were sewn using two needles, but there was a problem in that the stress generated when the airbag cushion was inflated and deployed was concentrated on the seam area where the airbag cushion and diffuser were sewn, damaging the seam line.

As a result, the driver's seat airbag according to the prior art was unable to properly control the gas supply direction and speed as the diffuser was separated from the airbag cushion, resulting in incomplete deployment speed and deployment shape of the airbag cushion.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2019-0070657 (published on June 21, 2019) Republic of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-1781380 (announced on September 25, 2017)

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems described above and to provide a driver's seat airbag device that can inflate the airbag cushion toward the front of the driver to restrain and safely protect the driver during a collision.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a diffuser that controls the deployment speed and shape of the airbag and an automobile airbag device that can prevent damage to the seam lines by dispersing the stress acting on the seam lines of the airbag cushion.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the driver's seat airbag device for a car according to the present invention includes an inflator that generates gas when a car crashes, and an airbag cushion that receives the gas generated by the inflator and expands to protect the driver by restraining it. The airbag cushion includes a diffuser that adjusts the supply direction and speed of the gas, and the diffuser connects a rear member connected to the rear panel of the airbag cushion and an outer end of the front member disposed on the front panel side. The connecting portion is formed by being connected by sewing according to a preset sewing pattern.

As described above, according to the driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle according to the present invention, by forming a sewing line according to a preset sewing pattern at the connection between the rear member and the front member of the diffuser, the sewing area of the connection portion is increased and rigidity is improved. The effect of being able to disperse the stress acting on the sewing line is obtained.

Accordingly, according to the present invention, damage to the connection portion can be prevented in the process of receiving gas from an inflator to inflate and deploy an airbag and adjusting the supply speed and direction of the gas.

In addition, according to the present invention, the effect of protecting the connection portion by installing a protection member between the rear member and the front member of the diffuser to prevent the connection portion from coming into direct contact with high-temperature, high-pressure gas is obtained.

1 is a rear view of a driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA' shown in Figure 1;
3 to 6 are enlarged views of the diffuser installed on the rear panel, respectively;
Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of a driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

Figure 1 is a rear view of a driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A' shown in Figure 1.

Hereinafter, the direction in the car toward the driver centered on the airbag is referred to as 'forward (F)', and the opposite direction is referred to as 'rear (B)'.

And terms indicating directions such as 'left (L)', 'right (R)', 'upward (U)', and 'downward (D)' indicate each direction based on the front and rear above. It is defined as

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the driver's seat airbag device 10 for a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an inflator 12 that generates gas when a vehicle crashes and supplies gas generated from the inflator 12. It includes an airbag cushion (hereinafter referred to as an 'airbag') 20 that receives and inflates and deploys to restrain and protect the driver.

The airbag 20 is made by sewing or one piece woven of the front panel 21, which faces the front of the car when inflated, and the rear panel 22, which faces the front panel 21 and faces the driver. It can be formed into a bag shape.

A supply hole 23 through which gas is supplied from the inflator 12 is formed in the rear panel 22, and one or more heat sources are formed around the supply hole 23 to withstand the high temperature and high pressure gas generated from the inflator 12. A shield sheet 50 may be disposed.

Additionally, a vent hole 24 may be formed in the rear panel 22 to discharge the gas in the airbag 20 to the outside after the airbag 20 is deployed.

A diffuser 30 is installed between the front panel 21 and the rear panel 22 to uniformly disperse the gas by converting the velocity energy of the gas supplied at high temperature and pressure from the inflator 12 into pressure energy.

In addition, a tether member 40 that defines the deployment shape of the airbag 20 may be installed between the front panel 21 and the rear panel 22.

The tether member 40 connects the front part 41 connected to the front panel 22 and the outer end of the rear part 42 connected to the rear panel 22 to each other when viewed from the side when the airbag 20 is inflated and deployed. The cross section may be developed to form an approximately square or circular shape.

Next, the configuration of the diffuser will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.

Figures 3 to 6 are enlarged views of the diffuser installed on the rear panel, respectively.

Figure 3 shows the tether member and the diffuser disposed on the front of the rear panel before sewing, and Figures 4 (a) to (c) show the front and rear members of the diffuser in a sewn state, respectively. . And Figure 5 shows a modified example of the sewing pattern formed on the connection part of the diffuser, and Figure 6 shows the diffuser being sewn on the rear panel.

Here, Figure 3 shows a state in which the rear member of the diffuser is disposed. And in Figure 4 (a), the front and rear members of the diffuser are shown in a sewn state, and in Figures 4 (b) and (c), the 6 o'clock direction end and the 9 o'clock direction end of the diffuser are sewn. are shown respectively.

The diffuser 30 has a bag shape in which a plurality of openings 24 are provided by partially connecting the edges of the front member 31 disposed on the front panel 21 and the rear member 32 connected to the rear panel 22. can be formed.

In detail, supply holes 23 through which gas is supplied from the inflator 12 may be formed in the rear panel 22 and the rear member 32, respectively. The supply hole 23 may have a substantially circular cross-section or a polygonal shape.

Here, the rear panel 22 is formed in a polygonal shape, such as a roughly circular or square shape in cross section, and the front panel 21 is formed in a polygonal shape, such as a roughly circular or square shape in cross section, to correspond to the rear panel 22. can be formed.

One or more vent holes 24 may be formed in the rear panel 22 to gradually discharge the gas supplied into the airbag 20.

The rear portion 42 of the tether member 40, the rear member 32 of the diffuser 30, and the heat shield sheet 50 may be disposed on the front of the rear panel 22.

Here, one or more heat shield sheets 50 may be disposed on the rear and front sides of the rear panel 22, respectively.

As described above, the tether member 40 is divided into a front part 41 and a rear part 42, and the central portions of the front part 41 and the rear part 42 are the front panel 21 and the rear panel 22, respectively. ) are connected to each other by sewing, and the outer ends of the front part 41 and the rear part 42 are connected by sewing with the outer ends of the front part 41 and the rear part 42 arranged to overlap each other.

Here, the tether member 40 is shown as a straight line along the vertical direction on the front of the airbag 20, but its cross-section is '一' shaped, '十' shaped, or 'X' depending on the deployment shape of the airbag 20. It can be changed into various shapes, such as shape.

The rear member 32 of the diffuser 30 is disposed in front of the rear portion 42 of the tether member 40 disposed in the front of the rear panel 20, and the rear portion 42 of the tether member 40 and the diffuser 30 ), one or more, for example, three heat shield sheets 50 may be disposed between the rear members 32 as shown in FIG. 2 .

Each heat conducting sheet 50 may be connected to the rear panel 22 by sewing around the supply hole 23 of the rear panel 22.

The front member 31 is disposed in front of the rear member 32, and the top, bottom, and both ends of the front member 31 are respectively folded to the rear of the rear member 32 and arranged to overlap, and then sewn. It may be connected to the rear member 32 and the rear portion 42 of the tether member 40.

This front member 31 may be formed with an area equal to or slightly larger than that of the rear member 32.

The rear member 32 is formed in an approximately square shape when viewed from the front, and the front member 31 can be formed in an approximately '十' shape by cutting each vertex of the approximately square shape concavely toward the center of the front member. there is.

Therefore, an opening 24 may be formed at each vertex of the front member 31 to supply gas supplied from the inflator 12 into the airbag 20.

As shown in (a) of FIGS. 3 and 4, this front member 31 includes a tether member 40, three heat shield sheets 50, and a rear member 22 on the front of the rear panel 22. are disposed on the front of the rear member 32 in a sequentially arranged state. Subsequently, the top, bottom, and both ends of the front member 31 may be connected to the rear member 32 by sewing in a folded state so as to overlap the rear of the rear member 32, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the past, in order to increase the rigidity of the area where the rear member and the front member of the diffuser are connected, they were connected using a sewing method using two needles.

However, even when sewing using two needles, there was a problem in that the sewing line was damaged by the pressure and heat of the gas supplied at high temperature and high pressure from the inflator.

In order to solve this problem, in the present embodiment, as shown in Figures 4 (a) to (c), the area where the rear member 32 and the front member 31 of the diffuser 30 are connected (hereinafter referred to as ' The connection portion 33 (referred to as 'connection portion 33') is folded more than once so that it overlaps the rearmost heat shield sheet 50 and connected by sewing according to a preset sewing pattern.

At this time, the connection portions 33 provided at the top and bottom of the diffuser 30 may be sewn together with the rear portion 42 of the tether member 40.

For example, the connection portion 33 may be folded once to overlap the heat shield sheet 50 and then folded once again toward the outside of the heat shield sheet 50 and then sewn along the sewing pattern.

The sewing pattern may be formed in a zigzag shape, as shown in Figures 4 (b) and (c).

Of course, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and may be changed to form a sewing pattern not only in a zigzag shape but also in various shapes such as a wave shape as shown in (a) of FIG. 5.

In addition, as shown in (b) of FIG. 5, the present invention may be modified to form portions of the sewing line continuously overlapping while moving from one side of the connecting portion 33 toward the other side, like a coil shape.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6, the rear member 32 may be connected to the rear panel 22 at each vertex by sewing.

Therefore, when gas is supplied from the inflator 12, the rear member 32 remains in close contact with the rear panel 22 of the airbag 20. On the other hand, the front member 31 expands forward, and the supply direction and speed of gas supplied into the airbag 20 can be adjusted through the openings 24 formed at each vertex.

At this time, each connection portion 33 of the rear member 32 and the front member 31 is sewn to increase the sewing area using a preset sewing pattern as described above, so damage caused by high temperature and high pressure gas can be prevented. .

In this way, the present invention forms a sewing line according to a preset sewing pattern at the connection portion of the rear member and the front member of the diffuser, thereby increasing the sewing area of the connection portion to improve rigidity and distribute the stress acting on the sewing line. .

Accordingly, the present invention can prevent damage to the connection part in the process of receiving gas from an inflator to inflate and deploy an airbag and adjusting the gas supply speed and direction.

Meanwhile, in the above embodiment, it was explained that each connection part of the front member and the rear member of the diffuser was sewn according to a preset sewing pattern.

Here, the sewing pattern may be formed as a single sewing line using one needle, or may be formed as a plurality of sewing lines using two or more needles.

However, even when the above sewing pattern is applied, damage to the connection may occur as the sewing hole formed by the fiber thread used during sewing expands due to high temperature and high pressure gas.

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of a driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In order to solve the above-described problem in the driver's seat airbag device 10 of a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention, the airbag 20 includes the front member 31 and the rear member of the diffuser 30, as shown in FIG. 7. It further includes a protection member 35 between (31) that protects each connection portion 33 where the front member 31 and the rear member 32 are connected.

That is, the protection member 35 is installed between the front member 31 and the rear member 32 and is made of the same material as the heat shield sheet 50 or a heat shield to protect the connection portion 33 from high temperature and high pressure gas. It can be manufactured using a material similar to that of the sheet 50 to have a roughly circular or polygonal cross-section when viewed from the top.

This protection member 50 is formed around the supply hole 23 through which gas is supplied from the inflator 12, along with the rear member 32 of the diffuser 30, the rear portion 42 of the tether member 40, and the rear panel ( 22) can be sewn using the sewing method.

In addition, the protection member 35 may be formed to have an outer diameter equal to or longer than the outer diameter of the rear member 32 so as to cover each connection portion 33 of the diffuser 30.

Therefore, the protection member 35 is deployed in front of the rear member 32 of the diffuser 30 when the airbag 20 is inflated and deployed to cover each connection portion 33. Accordingly, the protection member 35 blocks high-temperature, high-pressure gas from directly contacting each connection portion 33 and prevents the expansion of the sewing hole formed in each connection portion 33, thereby protecting each connection portion 33. .

As such, the present invention can protect the connection portion by installing a protection member between the rear member and the front member of the diffuser to prevent the connection portion from coming into direct contact with high-temperature, high-pressure gas.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been described in detail according to the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and, of course, can be changed in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

The present invention is applied to a driver's seat airbag device technology for automobiles that prevents damage due to high-temperature and high-pressure gas by increasing the sewing area of the connection portion where the front and rear members of the diffuser are connected.

10: Driver's seat airbag device in a car
12: inflator 13: housing
20: Driver's airbag
21: Front panel 22: Rear panel
23: supply hole 24: vent hole
30: Diffuser
31: front member 32: rear member
33: connection 34: opening
35: absence of protection
40: Absence of tether
41: front part 42: rear part
50: Heat shield sheet

Claims (9)

Inflator that generates gas when a car crashes
Includes an airbag cushion that receives gas generated from the inflator and expands to restrain and protect the driver,
The airbag cushion includes a diffuser that controls the supply direction and speed of the gas,
The diffuser is formed by sewing a connection part connecting the rear member connected to the rear panel of the airbag cushion and the outer end of the front member disposed on the front panel side, by sewing according to a preset sewing pattern,
A protection member is further provided between the rear member and the front member to protect the connection portion by blocking contact with high-temperature, high-pressure gas,
The driver's seat airbag device of a vehicle, wherein the protection member is manufactured with an outer diameter equal to or longer than that of the rear member so as to cover the connection portion. According to paragraph 1,
The driver's seat airbag device for an automobile, wherein the sewing pattern is formed in a zigzag shape from one direction to the other direction to increase the sewing area. According to paragraph 1,
The driver's seat airbag device for an automobile, wherein the sewing pattern is formed in a wavy shape from one direction to the other direction to increase the sewing area. According to paragraph 1,
The driver's seat airbag device for an automobile, wherein the sewing pattern is formed with portions continuously overlapping while moving along the coil shape from one direction to the other direction to increase the sewing area. delete According to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The rear member is formed in a square shape,
The front member is formed in a square shape, and an opening cut into a concave arc shape is provided at each vertex,
The connection portion is formed by sewing the upper, lower, and both ends of the front member to overlap the rear of the rear member using the sewing pattern. According to clause 6,
A driver's seat airbag device for an automobile, wherein the front member is formed to have an area larger than that of the rear member. According to clause 6,
The airbag cushion includes a tether member that defines the deployment shape of the airbag cushion and
Further comprising one or more heat shield sheets to prevent damage by the gas,
The driver's seat airbag device for a vehicle, wherein the connection part is connected to the tether member and the heat shield by sewing while the tether member and the heat shield sheet are disposed on the front of the rear panel. According to clause 6,
The connection portion is sewn by folding each side end of the front member once so that it overlaps the back of the rear member, and then folding it once again toward the outside of the rear member.

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