JP2007308018A - Vehicular airbag - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular airbag capable of preventing the tension from being applied concentratedly to a sewn portion of an airbag body and a tether belt. <P>SOLUTION: The airbag inflated and developed to protect an occupant when a vehicle is collided or the like, comprises an airbag body 1 formed by sewing a plurality of base cloths 1a in a bag shape, a tether belt 3 with one end thereof sewn to the airbag body 1 which stabilizes the developing behavior of the airbag body 1 and regulates the airbag body 1 developed to the predetermined position, and a stress dispersion part 5 which is provided in the vicinity of a sewn part 4 of the airbag body 1 and the tether belt 3 to carry the tension F in the tether belt 3 applied to the sewn portion 4 dispersively. Concentrated application of the tension F to the sewn part 4 of the airbag body 1 and the tether belt 3 can be prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle airbag that protects an occupant by inflating and deploying in the event of a vehicle collision, in particular, inflating and deploying in the form of a curtain between a door and the occupant during a side impact or rollover of the vehicle. The present invention relates to a vehicle airbag suitable for a curtain airbag for protecting an occupant.

  Conventional airbags for protecting passengers in the event of a vehicle collision such as an automobile include a driver airbag mounted on the steering wheel and a passenger seat airbag mounted in the instrument panel in front of the passenger seat. In addition to the bag, there is a curtain airbag that protects an occupant when the vehicle collides or rolls over (for example, Patent Document 1).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional curtain airbag is formed in a bag-like airbag body a by sewing the periphery of the vehicle in the state where two base fabrics b are stacked, for example, which are long in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. A gas inlet c for introducing high-pressure gas ejected from an inflator (not shown) into the airbag body a is formed on the rear end side of the airbag body a.

  The airbag main body a is formed with a plurality of expansion chambers e spaced in the front-rear direction by sewing the overlapped base fabrics together with the sewing thread d, and is formed on the front end side of the airbag main body a. When the airbag body a is inflated and deployed, the deployment behavior of the airbag body a is stabilized, and at the same time, one end of a tether belt f that regulates the airbag body a to be deployed at a predetermined position is sewn. The other end of the tether belt f is fixed to a front pillar (not shown).

The airbag main body a configured as described above is folded between the roof side rail and the roof trim (both not shown) in a folded state, and the tether belt f is housed inside the front pillar. Although it is not exposed indoors, when high-pressure gas is ejected from the inflator into the airbag body a when the vehicle collides or rolls over, the roof trim is pushed open and the inside of the door and the occupant The airbag body a is inflated and deployed in a curtain shape, and at the same time, the tether belt f is pulled out from the front pillar to stabilize the deployment behavior of the airbag body a and the airbag body a is deployed at a predetermined position. Therefore, the passenger can be protected from an impact when the vehicle collides or rolls over.
JP 2001-58556 A

  In the conventional curtain airbag described in Patent Document 1 and FIG. 4, the tether belt f sewn on the front end side of the airbag main body a has a longitudinal end of the tether belt f with a sewing thread g as shown in FIG. Zigzag is sewn in a direction orthogonal to the direction, and when the airbag main body a is inflated and deployed, the tensile force F of the tether belt f acts intensively on the sewn portion.

  For this reason, conventionally, a base fabric b forming the airbag body a is made of a material having high strength and rigidity, and a sewing thread g is made of a material having high strength. However, since the base fabric b and the thread g having high strength and rigidity are expensive, the manufacturing cost of the vehicle airbag becomes high. There is.

  The present invention has been made to improve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle airbag in which a tensile force is not applied intensively to a sewing portion between the airbag body and the tether belt. It is.

  The curtain airbag of the present invention is a vehicle airbag that inflates and deploys to protect an occupant in the event of a vehicle collision or the like, and an airbag body formed by sewing base fabrics facing each other into a bag shape, A tether belt that is sewn at one end to the airbag body and stabilizes the deployment behavior of the airbag body, and at the same time restricts the airbag body to be deployed at a predetermined position; and the airbag body; The stress distribution portion is provided in the vicinity of the sewn portion with the tether belt and disperses and carries the tensile force of the tether belt acting on the sewn portion.

  With the above configuration, since the tensile force is carried almost evenly by the sewing portion for sewing the tether belt to the airbag body and the stress distribution portion provided in the vicinity of the sewing portion, the tensile force is applied to the sewing portion of the tether belt. As a result, the sewing thread used to sew the tether belt to the airbag body uses a low-strength thread, and the base fabric that forms the airbag body uses a low-strength or rigid material. Thus, the manufacturing cost of the vehicle airbag can be reduced.

  The vehicle airbag according to the present invention has a stress distribution portion formed by sewing a base fabric so as to extend in a direction almost parallel to the tension direction of the tether belt and opposite to the tension direction by a sewing thread. .

  According to the above-described configuration, the tensile force applied from the tether belt can be strongly countered, and the stress distribution portion can be sewn without previously marking the portion where the stress distribution portion is formed, so that productivity is improved.

  The vehicle airbag according to the present invention is obtained by continuously sewing a stress dispersion portion with a sewing thread in which a tether belt is sewn to an airbag body.

  With the above configuration, the working time can be shortened compared to the case where the tether belt is sewn and the stress distribution portion is sewn in separate steps, and thus the productivity is further improved.

  According to the vehicle airbag of the present invention, since the tensile force is carried almost evenly by the sewing portion for sewing the tether belt to the airbag body and the stress distribution portion provided in the vicinity of the sewing portion, the airbag is provided. It is possible to prevent a tensile force from being concentrated on the sewn portion between the main body and the tether belt.

  An example in which the embodiment of the present invention is applied to a curtain airbag will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a development view of the airbag main body, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the circle A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the airbag main body is inflated and deployed when the vehicle collides or rolls over. is there.

  The airbag body 1 shown in FIG. 1 is made of a woven fabric such as nylon, and is formed of, for example, two base fabrics 1a.

  Each base fabric 1a is cut into a substantially rectangular shape that is long in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and a bag-like airbag body 1 is formed by sewing the peripheral portion with a sewing thread (not shown) while facing each other in an overlapping manner. A gas inlet 1b is projected from the rear end of the airbag body 1 along the upper side.

  Circular and oval sewing portions 1c and 1d are provided on the upper portion of the airbag body 1 along the upper side, and two base fabrics 1a are sewn together by these sewing portions 1c and 1d. The sewing parts 1e and 1f extend substantially perpendicular to the lower side direction from the sewing parts 1c and 1d, and a plurality of expansion chambers 1g are provided in the front-rear direction of the airbag body 1 by the sewing parts 1e and 1f. Are formed at intervals.

  The sewing part 1e provided substantially in the middle of the airbag body 1 in the front-rear direction is connected to each other by the sewing part 1h at a position where the lower end side does not reach the lower side, whereby the sewing part 1h and the lower side are connected to each other. A passage 1i is formed between them.

  Further, one end of the tether belt 3 is sewn to the lower portion on the front end side of the airbag body 1 with a sewing thread 4a.

  The tether belt 3 is formed in a belt shape by cutting a woven fabric similar to the base fabric 1a of the airbag body 1 into a long length and sewing the peripheral portion in a state of being folded in the width direction. The sewing thread 4a for sewing one end to the base fabric 1a of the airbag body 1 is the same as the sewing thread for sewing the peripheral portion of the airbag body 1. The sewing thread is the same after sewing the airbag body 1a. As a result, the tether belt 3 is sewn to the base fabric 1a to form the sewn portion 4.

  When the tether belt 3 is sewn, the tether belt 3 is zigzag zigzag multiple times in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tether belt 3 as shown in FIG. 3 is sewn to the base fabric 1a.

  Instead of zigzag sewing with the sewing thread 4a in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tether belt 3, a straight line, a curve, or these may be folded back along the longitudinal direction of the tether belt 3 and sewn. .

  When the sewing thread 4a reaches the vicinity of the front edge of the airbag body 1, the sewing is continued by folding back so that the sewing direction is substantially parallel to the pulling direction of the tether belt 3 and extends in the direction opposite to the pulling direction. Thereby, the stress dispersion | distribution part 5 is formed in the vicinity of the sewing part 4 with the sewing thread 5a. The vicinity of the sewn portion 4 means that the tether belt 3 is within the dimension in the short direction on either the upper or lower side of the tether belt 3.

  It is not necessary to continuously form the stress distribution portion 5 in the vicinity of the sewing portion 4 by the sewing thread 4a for sewing the tether belt 3 to the base cloth 1a. After the tether belt 3 is sewn to the base cloth 1a by the sewing thread 4a, another Of course, the stress dispersion portion 5 may be sewn with the sewing thread 5a.

  Next, the operation of the thus configured curtain airbag will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the airbag body 1 is mounted on the vehicle body 6, the airbag body 1 is folded in the form of a string that is elongated in the front-rear direction by a roll, bellows, or a combination thereof. 3 is attached to the vehicle interior side of the roof side rail 6a shown in FIG. 3, and a gas inlet 1b protruding from the rear end of the airbag body 1 is attached to the inside of the rear pillar 6c. Connected to the gas outlet of the inflator 7.

  The other end of the tether belt 3, one end of which is sewn to the front end of the airbag body 1, is fixed to the inside of the front pillar 6 b by the mounting bracket 8. In this state, the inside of the roof 6 d is roof trimmed, and the front The interior of the pillar 6b is covered with a pillar garnish (both not shown), and the interior is applied so that the airbag body 1 and the tether belt 3 are not exposed to the vehicle interior.

  On the other hand, when high-pressure gas is ejected from the inflator 7 into the airbag body 1 when the vehicle collides, the folded airbag body 1 starts to inflate and pushes the roof trim covering the roof side rail 6a. Open and start inflating between the door and the occupant.

  Accordingly, the tether belt 3 sewn to the front end portion of the airbag body 1 is pulled out from the pillar garnish, and the deployment behavior of the airbag body 1 is stabilized by the tether belt 3.

  When the airbag main body 1 is deployed in a curtain shape along the inside of the door by the high-pressure gas ejected from the inflator 7, a large tensile force F acts on the tether belt 3, and this tensile force F is applied to the airbag main body 1 and the tether belt. 3 to the sewn part 4.

  However, in addition to the sewing thread 4 for sewing the tether belt 3 to the base fabric 1a of the airbag body 3, the stress distribution part 5 is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tether belt 3 at the sewing part 4 of the tether belt 3; And since it is formed in the direction opposite to the pulling direction of the tether belt 3, the tensile force F of the tether belt 3 is distributed and applied to the sewing thread 4a for sewing the tether belt 3 and the sewing thread 5a of the stress distribution portion 5. .

  As a result, the tensile force F is carried almost evenly by the stress distribution portion 5 formed by sewing the two base cloths 1a with the sewing thread 5a and the sewing thread 4a for sewing the tether belt 3 to the base cloth 1a. As the sewing thread 4a for sewing the cloth body, a low-strength thread can be used, and the base cloth 1a forming the airbag body 1 can be used with a lower strength and rigidity than the conventional one. The manufacturing cost of the bag can be reduced.

  In addition, it is preferable to form the stress dispersion | distribution part 5 formed in the vicinity of the sewing part 4 with the sewing thread 5a within the short width dimension of the tether belt 3 outside the tether belt 3.

  Even if the stress distribution part 5 is provided at a position exceeding the short width dimension of the tether belt 3 from the sewing part 4, a sufficient stress distribution effect (the tensile force F applied to the tether belt 3 and the sewing thread 4a for sewing the tether belt 3) The effect of being dispersed and absorbed in the sewing thread 5a of the stress dispersion portion 5 cannot be obtained.

  The length of the stress dispersion part 5 should just be at least 1/3 or more of the sewn part 4.

  If the length of the stress dispersion portion 5 is shorter than 1/3 of the length of the sewn portion 4, a sufficient stress dispersion effect by the stress dispersion portion 5 cannot be obtained.

  The vehicular airbag according to the present invention carries a tensile force almost uniformly by a sewn portion that sews a tether belt to the airbag body and a stress distribution portion provided in the vicinity of the sewn portion. As a result, the sewing thread used to sew the tether belt to the airbag body uses a low-strength thread, and the base fabric that forms the airbag body has strength and rigidity. A vehicle airbag that protects an occupant by inflating and deploying at the time of a vehicle collision, etc., in particular, because the manufacturing cost of the vehicle airbag can be reduced. A vehicle airbag suitable for a curtain airbag that inflates and deploys in the form of a curtain between the door and the occupant to protect the occupant when the vehicle side impacts or rolls over It is optimal.

It is an expanded view of the airbag main body which forms the curtain airbag which becomes embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view in the A circle of FIG. It is action explanatory drawing of the state by which the curtain airbag which becomes embodiment of this invention was inflate-deployed in the vehicle interior. It is an expanded view of the conventional curtain airbag. It is an expanded sectional view in the B circle of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Airbag body 1a Base fabric 3 Tether belt 4 Sewing part 5 Stress part dispersion | distribution part F Tensile force

Claims (3)

  A vehicle airbag that inflates and deploys to protect an occupant in the event of a vehicle collision, etc., and is formed by sewing base fabrics facing each other into a bag shape, and one end of the airbag body. A tether belt that is sewn and stabilizes the deployment behavior of the airbag body, and at the same time regulates the airbag body to be deployed at a predetermined position, and in the vicinity of a sewing portion between the airbag body and the tether belt And a stress distribution portion that disperses and supports the tensile force of the tether belt acting on the sewing portion.   2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the stress distribution portion is formed by sewing the base fabric while being sewn in a direction substantially parallel to a tension direction of the tether belt by a sewing thread and extending in a direction opposite to the tension direction. Airbag. The vehicle airbag according to claim 2, wherein the stress dispersion portion is continuously sewn by a sewing thread in which the tether belt is sewn to the airbag body.

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