KR20130008703A - Seat-belt retractor device using the magneto-rheological fluid - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A seat belt retractor with magnetorheological materials is provided to change yield stress on the magnetorheological materials by adjusting the intensity of electric current flowing in a conductor. CONSTITUTION: A seat belt retractor(5) with magnetorheological materials(40) comprises a hollow spool(10), a torsion bar(30), and a conductor(20). The end of a seat belt webbing(200) is fixed to the outer periphery of the spool. The torsion bar is installed in the inner center of the spool. The conductor is wound around the spool, and constant electric current flows when power is supplied. The magnetorheological materials are filled in between the torsion bar and the spool. A rotary force of the torsion bar is controlled while magnetic substances are electrified with a magnetic field in the spool when the electric current flows through the conductor.

Description

Seat-belt retractor device using the magneto-rheological fluid}

The present invention relates to a seat belt retractor device using magnetic rheology, and more particularly, a load limiter of a seat belt retractor device of a vehicle is configured as a hydro load limiter using magnetic rheology, and a magnetic field is controlled around. The present invention relates to a seat belt retractor device using magnetoresistance to improve an occupant's safety by providing an optimal belt load suitable for various environments.

Seat belts are one of the most important safety devices in a vehicle to protect passengers from injury in a crash.

Recently, many studies have been conducted to improve the seat protection performance of seat belts. In particular, many researches have been conducted on retractors for adjusting the tension of seat belts.

The retractor prevents the seatbelt from loosening by detecting a sudden speed change or body change by a sensor or a body sensing device provided inside when the body of the occupant is moved forward by inertial force during a vehicle crash or sudden stop. Will be

Brief description of the seat belt and the retractor according to the prior art as follows.

That is, a three-point seat belt device is generally installed in the passenger seat in front of the passenger car shown in FIG. 1.

The seat belt assembly (not shown) is fixed to the lower body of one side of the seat 100, and the body 120 of the portion corresponding to the shoulder height of the occupant of the seat belt assembly is removed from the seat belt assembly. A height adjustment anchor 220 is installed to allow height adjustment while seat belt webbing 200 fitted with a tongue 210 is installed, and a buckle is provided on the lower side of the other side of the seat 100, that is, on the body floor or side frame. The bracket 310 fixing the assembly 300 is fixedly installed.

Therefore, when the seat belt is worn, the shoulder-side seat belt webbing 200 fitted with the tongue 210 coupled to the buckle assembly 300 is pulled out of the seat belt assembly and wound around the chest and abdomen, and the tongue 210 is buckle assembly 300. ) To be fixed.

In such a wearing state, the occupant seated on the seat 100 during a collision or sudden stop is pulled forward by the inertia force, at which time the seat belt webbing 200 is not drawn out of the seat belt assembly, thereby holding the occupant's body to be moved forward. Prevent the occupant from hitting the dashboard or steering wheel in front of him to prevent the first shock he may receive.

The seat belt webbing 200 has an effect of preventing the primary impact of the occupant with the inside of the vehicle during such a collision or a sudden stop, but the fixed seat belt webbing 200 which holds the body when the inertia force is high at high speeds. Due to excessive pressure on the occupants, the occupants may suffer secondary damage.

Therefore, when a certain amount of load is applied to the seat belt webbing during a collision or sudden stop, the load limiting retractor was developed to loosen the fixed seat belt webbing slightly to reduce the impact force received by the webbing. seat restraint retractor, 400, hereinafter referred to as the 'retractor'.

The structure of this conventional retractor 400 is shown in FIGS.

Conventional retractor 400 is provided with a ratchet gear portion 420 on the outer surface of the housing 410 and below the load limiter 450 in the form of a bar (bar) passing through the inner center of the housing 410, 'torsion Bar ') and the end of the webbing 200 is fixed to allow the coiling and unwinding of the seat belt webbing 200 while rotating while surrounding the outer circumference of the torsion bar 450. Spool 460 is provided with a gear or detent 430 coupled to the ratchet gear unit 420 provided on the outside.

Accordingly, when the seat belt webbing 200 is temporarily released from the spool 460 and stops, the spool 460 provided on the outside of the housing 410 when a predetermined load or more is caught by the seat belt webbing 200. Ratchet gear part 420 connected to the) is caught by the gear or detent connected to the torsion bar, the torsion bar 450 is torsion occurs according to the excess of the yield stress of the seat belt webbing 200 is released by a predetermined length The impact on the occupant's chest is absorbed to lower the injury level.

However, such a conventional retractor 400 is configured to operate only when a specific single load value is applied, and thus, there is a limit in that the occupant protection performance is not optimally exhibited for various collision conditions.

That is, the conventional retractor 400 exhibits its performance only under a specific single load condition due to mechanical characteristics irrespective of the type of the occupant (body condition, operating load, etc.) or the collision speed, and thus, various seat belt load values or collision conditions. There was a disadvantage of not responding actively.

The present invention has been made to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional mechanical retractor described above, the outer side of the torsion bar of the retractor to actively respond to the conditions of the occupant or operating load value acting on the seat belt and various collision conditions Seatbelt retractor using magnetoresistance to actively protect the occupants in various collision situations by adjusting the torsional stiffness of the torsion bar by changing the yield stress according to the magnetic field. The purpose is to provide a device.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the seat belt retractor device using the magnetorheological according to the present invention is a closed hollow structure spool end of the seat belt webbing is fixed to the outer periphery; A torsion bar installed through the inner center of the spool; A conductor wound by the spool and having a constant current flowing when the power is supplied; And a magnetorheological material filled between the torsion bar and the spool to control the rotational force of the torsion bar by charging a magnetic material to a magnetic field formed inside the spool during current conduction of the conductor.

In particular, the torsion bar is formed in the shape of a toothed protrusion structure, the conductor has a feature configured to control the strength of the current according to the feedback signal by sensing the behavior of the passenger.

In addition, the conductor is configured to be controlled by the sensor unit for sensing the behavior of the passenger and the control module for adjusting the sensor of the current according to the signal fed back from the sensor unit.

In addition, the seat belt retractor device using a magnetic rheological according to another embodiment of the present invention is not filled with a liquid magnetorheological fluid in the spool of the embodiment, when a current is conducted to the conductor wound inside the spool Magnetic rheology containing magnetizable particles adhered to the outer periphery of the torsion bar to control the torsional force of the torsion bar by changing the shear yield stress of the self-contained magnetization particles by the magnetic field formed inside the spool. Is done.

In particular, the magnetorheological body is formed in the form of a plate of a pad or a thin film of a magnetorheological carbon polymer impregnated or coated with magnetizable particles.

The seat belt retractor apparatus using the magnetorheological body according to the present invention adjusts the strength of the electric current flowing through the conductor wound around the outer circumference of the spool according to the type of the passenger or the collision condition, thereby changing the magnetic field strength through the change of the magnetic field strength inside the spool. By changing the yield stress of the deformable body and adjusting the rotational force of the torsion bar according to the changed characteristics of the magnetotropic body, it can actively respond to the occupant protection in various environments.

1 to 4 is a configuration diagram of a conventional seat belt installation configuration and retractor device,
5 is a partial cutaway perspective view (a perspective view using FIG. 1) of a seat belt retractor device using magnetorheological according to an embodiment of the present invention;
6 is a partially enlarged view of a cut section taken along line AA of FIG. 5;
7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation state of a magnetorheological body when a magnetic field is formed in a seat belt retractor using magnetorheological according to an embodiment of the present invention;
8 is a partially cut perspective view of a seat belt retractor using magnetorheological according to another embodiment of the present invention;
9 is a partially enlarged view of a cut section taken along a line BB of FIG. 8;
10 to 11 is a performance comparison graph of the seat belt to which one embodiment of the present invention is applied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of the present invention to be described below are described to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to more fully practice the present invention, and may be embodied in various forms.

The seat belt retractor device using magnetorheological according to the present invention actively maximizes the protection performance of passengers by actively responding to various continuous collision conditions in the actual field.

Therefore, the technical core of the seat belt retractor device using magnetoresistance according to an embodiment of the present invention is the seat belt webbing to actively control the restraint of the torsion bar through the magnetic field generated by conducting a predetermined current to the retractor The coil having excellent electrical conductivity is wound around the outer circumference of the fixed and wound spool, and a magneto-rheological material is formed inside the spool.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail mainly the features of the seat belt retractor device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the conventional known techniques and operations basically provided in the peripheral configuration or retractor device of the seat belt device The description thereof will be omitted.

A first embodiment of a seat belt retractor device 5 using magnetorheological in accordance with the invention is shown in FIGS. 5 to 7.

The first embodiment of the present invention has a configuration in which a magnetic rheology in a liquid state is filled in a spool of a seat belt retractor device.

As shown in FIG. 5, the seat belt retractor device 5 using the magnetorheological method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a housing 100 or a frame provided at the outermost side, and an inner side of the housing 100. Spool (10) is installed and the center is made of a hollow portion and the end of the seat belt webbing (200) of the seat belt device is fixed to the outer circumference to wind or unwind the seat belt webbing (200) in the forward and reverse rotation (10) And a torsion bar 30 installed through the inner center of the spool 10 so that both ends thereof are fixed to the outside of the housing 100 to be rotatable.

In particular, the coil is wound around the conductor 20 through which a constant current flows when power is supplied to the spool 10, and the inside of the spool 10 is configured to form an enclosed space separated from the outside, and the torsion bar ( 30 is preferably made in the shape of a toothed protrusion structure.

In addition, the inner hollow portion of the spool 10 is filled with a magnetic fluid containing a magnetic material 40, preferably a magnetic fluid mixed with a magnetic material in a liquid fluid.

The magnetorheological fluid consists of a structure in which magnetizable particles coated with an organic polymer are impregnated into a colloidal liquid having a constant viscosity.

Magnetic rheology fluid applied in the embodiment of the present invention is a fluid of the fluid capable of actively controlling the torsion bar 30 in a variety of environments within the range of 45 to 95% of the content of magnetizable particles to 100% by weight of the total fluid. What is necessary is just to select and apply the fluid which has the optimal ratio in consideration of a property, and it can select and use what meets a certain performance requirement in the commercially available magnetic rheological fluid.

The magnetizable particles impregnated in the magnetic rheological fluid as used in the present invention are paramagnetic, superparamagnetic, ferromagnetic materials, and alloys of iron, iron nitride, iron carbide, aluminum, silicon, cobalt, nickel and the like, and the above-mentioned iron. Mixtures of materials are also suitable.

Further, while conducting a constant current to the coil of the conductor 20 wound around the outer circumference of the spool 10 described above, the coil wound around the outer circumference of the spool 10 according to the feedback signal sensed by the passenger's behavior A control module (not shown) is provided to control the generation of a current flowing in the air to control the behavior of the magnetorheological fluid.

The signal received by the control module is a signal that is generated from a separate sensor unit in consideration of various conditions such as the operating load acting on the seat belt webbing (10), the speed of the vehicle to operate the passenger, the control module And the configuration of the sensor unit is provided so that an appropriate control system can be equipped at the time of the design of the seat belt device, it is not the technical core of the present invention and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining the behavior of the magnetorheological fluid applied to the above-described first embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 7A, the magnetorheological fluid filled in the hollow inside the spool 10 of the present invention. Has a behavior of freely flowing magnetized particles impregnated therein usually.

However, the behavior characteristic of the occupant on the seat belt webbing 10 during the rapid reduction of the vehicle speed due to the collision, that is, the operating load applied to the seat belt webbing 10 by the inertial force acts above the set reference value, When the speed change is changed above the set reference value, the sensor unit sends a constant electrical signal to the control module side, the control module receiving the signal flows to the conductor 20 wound on the spool 10, the current corresponding to the signal Will be sent.

When a current flows through the conductor 20 wound around the outer circumference of the spool 10, a magnetic field is formed inside the spool 10 in a vertical direction in which the current flows, and a magnetic flux is formed by forming a magnetic field inside the spool 10. The magnetizable particles impregnated in the fluid are charged between the spool 10 through which the current flows and the torsion bar 30 installed at the center of the spool 10, and the magnetizable particles are vertically arranged according to the polarity of the particles. Structure.

As such, the fluid has a shear yield stress through the deformation of the magnetizable particles according to the magnetic field formed by the flow of current conducted through the conductor 20 wound around the spool 10.

Accordingly, the fluid having shear yield stress has anisotropic behavior to control the deformation force of the torsion bar 30, which is the force exerted by the fluid flow, to provide an appropriate seat belt restraint environment.

In particular, the torsion bar 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention described above is configured to have a sawtooth shape of the outer circumference thereof to maximize the range of shear yield stress change of the magnetorheological fluid in the spool 10 in which the magnetic field is formed. Will be.

FIG. 8 shows a retractor device 5a according to a second embodiment of the present invention configured to constrain a torsion bar using a magnetorheological carbon polymer instead of using a fluid as a magnetorheological body in the above-described first embodiment. It is about.

That is, in the above-described first embodiment, the spool 10 is sealed in order to fill the magnetorheological fluid in the spool 10, but the second embodiment of the present invention seals the inside of the spool 10. Instead, it consists of a structure in which a magnetorheological body, preferably, a plate-shaped pad or a thin film structure made of a thin film structure is adhered to the outer periphery of the circular torsion bar 30a.

Of course, the end of the seat belt webbing 10 is coupled, the hollow spool 10 inside the housing 100 to be rotatable to wind or unwind the seat belt webbing 10 in accordance with the forward and reverse rotation Is installed, the spool 100 includes a configuration in which a coil is installed as a conductor 20 through which a constant current flows during power supply.

In addition, the torsion bar 30a is fixedly installed to penetrate the inner center of the spool 10 so that both ends thereof are rotatable in the housing 100. The torsion bar 30a is sensed so as to sense the behavior of the passenger and according to the feedback signal. It also includes a control module and a sensor unit for controlling the generation of the current flowing through the conductor 30 wound around the outer periphery to control the magnetic field strength inside the spool 10.

The magnetorheological carbon polymer applied to the embodiment of the present invention is composed of a structure in which magnetizable particles are impregnated or coated on a material of a carbon polymer having strongly bonded different carbon atoms, and thus, semipermanent use is possible because of excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance.

The second embodiment of the present invention configured as described above is similar to the first embodiment described above, and the seat belt webbing (ie, inertia) is applied to the seat belt webbing 10 when the vehicle speed decreases rapidly due to a vehicle collision. 10) If the operating load value applied to the operating value or more than the set reference value, or the speed change of the vehicle changes over the set reference value, the sensor unit provided separately generates a certain electrical signal sent to the control module side, the signal In the control module received the current is sent to the conductor 20 on the outer periphery of the spool 10 in accordance with the signal.

When a current flows through the conductor 20 wound around the spool 10, a magnetic field is formed inside the spool 10 in a vertical direction in which the current flows, and the torsion bar 30 is formed by forming a magnetic field inside the spool 10. The magnetorheological body 40a made of a plate-shaped carbon polymer bonded to the outer periphery of the torsion bar is charged to change the shear yield stress of the carbon polymer through an arrangement of charges, thereby having a resistance to the shear force applied from the outside. By controlling the deformation of 30, it provides an appropriate seat belt restraint environment.

On the other hand, Figure 9 and Figure 10 is a conventional retractor device and when the seat belt retractor device using the magnetorheological body according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, to find out the characteristics of the torsion bar and the injury to the passenger Experimental graph using computer analysis.

The test conditions were 56km / h (35 mph), which is 15% faster than 48km / h, which is based on the frontal crash test of new cars.

That is, (a) and (b) of FIG. 9 show the characteristics of the torsion bar in the retractor device using the conventional torsion bar.

The single L / L type of FIG. 9 (a) shows that the yield stress of the torsion bar is set to a specific load value so that a certain displacement occurs in the torsion bar when a specific load is applied.

The progressive L / L type of FIG. 9 (b) shows that the torsion bar torsion acts momentarily under a specific load, and thereafter, a uniform displacement occurs at a stress below the initial yield stress. have.

On the other hand, Figure 9 (c) and Figure 9 (d) shows an example capable of adjusting the load level, pattern and size according to the conditions of the passenger as in the embodiment applied to the present invention.

That is, in the case of FIG. 9C, the torsion bar has the same torsional displacement characteristics, but the load value corresponding to the torsion yield stress of the torsion bar can be adjusted according to the collision severity according to the passenger's condition. ) Shows an example where the load pattern and size of the passenger can be continuously adjusted.

As shown in the graphs of FIGS. 9 (c) and 9 (d), the retractor device according to the embodiment of the present invention uses magnetorheological properties to determine the load level and the load according to various load conditions or crash severity of the passenger. It can provide the advantage of controlling the size semi-active and active.

In addition, Figure 10 is a graph showing the injury value and the reference value of the main portion according to the amount of impact received by the passenger during the collision test applying the conventional retractor and the retractor according to the embodiment of the present invention.

That is, in the case of Figure 10 (a) by installing the above-mentioned retractor of each type for each speed to measure the amount of impact received by the passenger during the vehicle crash test converted into a score, an embodiment of the present invention (Semi-active, Active Type), the score is higher than that of a conventional retractor (Single, Degressive L / L) is installed, it can be seen that the safety of the passenger is increased when applying the retractor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In addition, in the case of Fig. 10 (b), the head injury value (HIC) of the passengers are shown in the diagram, even when the retractor of the embodiment of the present invention (semi-active, active type) is applied, even if the highest weight is applied. When the maximum value is active (35 mph, 120%), the value is 400 or less.In case of the head injury value of 400 or less in the crash test set by the automobile safety standard, the passenger's brain injury value is less than 1% at the time of collision. In light of the experimental results, it can be seen that the performance is very good.

In addition, in the case of Figure 10 (c) measured the safety of the passenger at the center of gravity of the vehicle, compared to the conventional retractor, the value of the retractor according to the embodiment of the present invention is relatively low value is excellent in stability You can see that.

As mentioned above, the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and has a general knowledge in the art within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Various implementations are possible by those skilled in the art, and such modifications are within the scope of the appended claims.

5, 5a: Retractor
10: spool 20: conductor
30, 30a: torsion bar 40, 40a: magnetorheological
100 housing 200 seat belt webbing

Claims (8)

An airtight hollow spool, the end of which is fixed to the outer circumference of the seat belt webbing;
A torsion bar installed through the inner center of the spool;
A conductor wound by the spool and having a constant current flowing when the power is supplied; And
The magnetic belt is charged between the torsion bar and the spool so that the magnetic material is charged to the magnetic field formed inside the spool during the current conduction of the conductor to control the rotational force of the torsion bar; . The method according to claim 1,
The torsion bar is a seat belt retractor device using a magnetic rheology, characterized in that formed in the shape of a toothed projection structure. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The conductor is a seat belt retractor device using a magnetic fluid, characterized in that configured to control the strength of the current according to the feedback signal by sensing the behavior of the passenger. The method according to claim 3,
The conductor is a seat belt retractor device, characterized in that it is configured to be controlled by a sensor unit for sensing the behavior of the passenger and a control module for adjusting the sensor of the current according to the signal fed back from the sensor unit. An airtight hollow spool, the end of which is fixed to the outer circumference of the seat belt webbing;
A torsion bar installed through the inner center of the spool;
A conductor wound by the spool and having a constant current flowing when the power is supplied; And
It consists of a plate-shaped pad or film and contains magnetizable particles adhered to the outer periphery of the torsion bar to control the rotational force of the torsion bar by charging a magnetic material with a magnetic field formed inside the spool when the current is conducted to the conductor. Seat belt retractor device using a magnetorheological comprising a magnetorheological. The method according to claim 5,
The magnetorheological member is made of a plate-like pad or a thin film form of a seat belt retractor device using a magnetic rheology, characterized in that composed of a carbon polymer impregnated or coated with magnetizable particles. The method according to claim 5 or 6,
The conductor is a seat belt retractor device using a magnetic fluid, characterized in that configured to control the strength of the current according to the feedback signal by sensing the behavior of the passenger. The method of claim 7,
The conductor is a seat belt retractor device, characterized in that it is configured to be controlled by a sensor unit for sensing the behavior of the passenger and a control module for adjusting the sensor of the current according to the signal fed back from the sensor unit.

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