JP2018172000A - Vehicle occupant protection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the protection performance of an occupant. SOLUTION: An occupant protection device 10 is provided on the side of a seat 4 of a vehicle 1 and is provided on an armrest 5 on which an arm portion of an occupant seated on the seat 4 can be placed, and an armrest 5 provided from the armrest 5 to an armrest air. It has an armrest airbag device 20 that deploys the bag 22, and a control unit 19 that deploys the armrest airbag 22 when a collision of the vehicle 1 is detected or predicted. The armrest airbag 22 deployed from the armrest 5 has a first bag portion 24 and a second bag portion 25 that can control expansion separately from each other. [Selection diagram] Fig. 4

Description

  The present invention relates to an occupant protection device for a vehicle such as an automobile.

  In an automobile, an air bag such as a front air bag is deployed around an occupant and the occupant is collapsed into the airbag to absorb the impact acting on the occupant during a collision (Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-037134 A

However, for example, a front airbag that is deployed in front of the seat needs to be largely deployed from the front to the rear basically toward the occupant seated on the seat from the interior member arranged around the seat, It is necessary to absorb the occupant's load in the expanded state.
For this reason, an inflator used in a front airbag or the like needs to generate a lot of high-pressure gas instantaneously. In addition, it takes time, if instantaneously, from the start of the deployment of the front airbag to the deployment of the front airbag to a state capable of absorbing the load.
As described above, in the airbag that is deployed from the interior member arranged around the seat toward the occupant seated on the seat, the balance between the deployment capacity and the effect is basically not good.
Moreover, if the size of the airbag, such as the width of the airbag, is increased to cope with the occupant falling due to various collisions, or if the deployment speed is increased in order to increase immediacy, the balance will further deteriorate. It will be.

Therefore, for example, it is conceivable that an airbag is deployed from an armrest on the seat side and used as an auxiliary to a main airbag such as a front airbag.
For example, with the assistance of a front airbag, the upper body will not collapse before the airbag is properly deployed or the airbag is used to hold the occupant so that the seating position of the occupant does not shift forward. A plurality of airbags such as supporting airbags can be envisaged.
However, when an auxiliary airbag is deployed from the vicinity of the seat, it is difficult to provide a plurality of airbags for each purpose as described above and deploy the plurality of airbags simultaneously. is there. Since the plurality of airbags are deployed close to each other, there is a high possibility that they will interfere with each other when deployed or in a deployed state. And when it interferes with another airbag, each airbag may not exhibit the performance corresponding to the original purpose. For example, there is a concern about performance degradation such as insufficient reaction force.

  Thus, in the occupant protection device, it is required to improve the occupant protection performance.

  An occupant protection device for a vehicle according to the present invention is provided on a seat side of a vehicle, an armrest on which an arm portion of an occupant seated on the seat can be placed, an armrest provided on the armrest, and an armrest airbag from the armrest An armrest airbag device that deploys and a control unit that deploys the armrest airbag when a collision of the vehicle is detected or predicted, and the armrest airbag deployed from the armrest is inflated separately from each other. It has a plurality of controllable air chambers.

  Preferably, the armrest airbag is deployed downward from the armrest toward an occupant seated on the seat, and then deployed upward along the front surface of the upper body of the occupant.

  Preferably, in the plurality of air chambers, the armrest airbag is inflated to hold a seated occupant seated on the seat from the front side, and the armrest airbag is seated on the seat. And a second air chamber that is deployed in front of the occupant's upper body and inflated to support the upper body.

  Preferably, the armrest airbag is deployed so as to hold down at least the waist of the occupant by being deployed downward toward the occupant seated on the seat.

  Preferably, the armrest airbag is deployed so as to be pressed downward toward an occupant seated on the seat so as to press at least a lateral end of the occupant's waist.

  Suitably, the said armrest airbag is good to expand | deploy from the inner surface of the left-right direction about the said armrest.

  Preferably, a pressure valve is provided between the second air chamber and the first air chamber, and the pressure valve is opened when the first air chamber reaches a predetermined pressure.

  Preferably, the plurality of air chambers may have different capacities or deployment pressures between at least two.

In the present invention, the armrest airbag deployed from the armrest has a plurality of air chambers whose inflation can be controlled separately from each other.
Therefore, for example, if this armrest airbag is used as an auxiliary airbag, each of the plurality of air chambers can be controlled according to the purpose.
As a result, an airbag corresponding to a plurality of purposes can be deployed simply by deploying one armrest airbag from the armrest. As in the case where the airbag is deployed from the armrest for each of a plurality of purposes, the interference between the airbags does not become a problem.
In addition, since the armrest airbag is deployed from a position close to the occupant seated on the seat, the airbag can be deployed in a state corresponding to the purpose of each chamber by inflating each chamber.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an automobile to which an occupant protection device according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of occupant protection performance by the front airbag. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an occupant protection device according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a schematic configuration of the armrest airbag device of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a front view of the armrest airbag device according to the first embodiment. 6 is a plan view of the armrest airbag device of FIG. FIG. 7 is a side view of the armrest airbag device of FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a procedure for deploying the armrest airbag.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an automobile 1 to which an occupant protection device 10 for an automobile 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.
FIG. 1 shows an automobile 1 as viewed from above. The automobile 1 is an example of a vehicle.
The automobile 1 in FIG. 1 has a vehicle body 2. In the passenger compartment 3 of the vehicle body 2, a plurality of seats 4 on which the passengers sit are arranged. A handle, an accelerator pedal, and a brake pedal (not shown) are arranged in front of the right front seat 4. When an occupant seated on the seat 4 operates a handle or the like, the automobile 1 moves forward, stops, reverses, turns right, and turns left.

By the way, the automobile 1 may collide with other automobiles 1 or the like while traveling. The input of the collision may be on the front surface of the vehicle body 2 or on the side surface. Further, on the front surface, there are a full-wrap collision input at the center, an offset collision shifted laterally, and a collision input obliquely.
In order to deal with these various types of collisions, in the automobile 1, various airbag devices are used together with the seat belt device 14.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of occupant protection performance by the front airbag 18.
In FIG. 2A, a seat belt 15 is stretched in front of an occupant seated on the seat 4. Further, a front airbag 18 is deployed in front of the seat 4.
In this case, the occupant seated on the seat 4 is restrained by the seat belt 15 and the upper body falls forward while sitting on the seat 4. The upper body that has fallen forward falls into the deployed front airbag 18.
Thereby, the impact which acts on a passenger | crew at the time of a collision can be absorbed.

However, for example, the front airbag 18 or the like deployed in front of the seat 4 needs to be largely deployed from the front to the rear basically from the interior member arranged around the seat 4 toward the passenger seated on the seat 4. In addition, it is necessary to absorb the occupant's load in the state of being largely deployed.
For this reason, an inflator used in the front airbag 18 or the like needs to generate a lot of high-pressure gas instantaneously. In addition, it takes time, if instantaneously, from the start of the deployment of the front airbag 18 to the deployment of the front airbag 18 in a state capable of absorbing the load.
Thus, in the airbag that is deployed from the interior member arranged around the seat 4 toward the occupant seated on the seat 4, the balance between the deployment capacity and the effect is basically not good.
Moreover, if the size of the airbag, such as the width of the airbag, is increased to cope with the occupant falling due to various collisions, or if the deployment speed is increased in order to increase immediacy, the balance will further deteriorate. It will be.

Therefore, for example, it is conceivable that the airbag is deployed from the armrest 5 on the side of the seat 4 and used as an auxiliary to the main airbag such as the front airbag 18.
For example, in the front airbag 18, as shown in FIG. 2 (B), when the automobile 1 collides, the lower body and waist of the occupant may be displaced forward. In this case, the upper body of the occupant falls forward from the state approaching the front airbag 18.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2C, the upper body of the occupant may lean forward when the automobile 1 collides. In this case, the occupant's upper body falls toward the front airbag 18 from the state where it has already fallen forward.
In these cases, the front airbag 18 will collapse before it is properly deployed, and it may be difficult to properly support the collapsed upper body.
For this reason, in order to assist the front airbag 18, the upper body collapses before the airbag or the airbag for pressing the occupant so that the seating position of the occupant does not shift forward or the front airbag 18 is properly deployed. It is conceivable to deploy a plurality of airbags such as airbags that are supported so as not to stir from the armrest 5 on the seat 4 side.
However, in the case where an auxiliary airbag is deployed from the vicinity of the seat 4, when a plurality of airbags are provided for each individual purpose as described above and the plurality of airbags are deployed at the same time, it is impossible in terms of space. There is. Since the plurality of airbags are deployed close to each other, there is a high possibility that they will interfere with each other when deployed or in a deployed state. And when it interferes with another airbag, each airbag may not exhibit the performance corresponding to the original purpose. For example, there is a concern about performance degradation such as insufficient reaction force.

  Thus, in the occupant protection device, it is required to improve the occupant protection performance.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the occupant protection device 10 according to the present invention.
3, the occupant protection device 10 includes an imaging sensor 11, a collision sensor 12, a timer 13, a seat belt device 14, an armrest airbag device 20, and a control unit 19 to which these are connected.

The imaging sensor 11 is disposed forward, for example, inside the windshield of the vehicle body 2 and captures an image outside the vehicle in front of the automobile 1.
The collision sensor 12 is an acceleration sensor attached to the vehicle body 2, for example, and detects the impact of the collision acting on the vehicle body 2.
The timer 13 measures time.
The seat belt device 14 includes a seat belt 15, a retractor (not shown), and the like. The seat belt 15 is stretched in front of an occupant seated on the seat 4. The retractor is provided, for example, on the B pillar of the vehicle body 2 and winds up the seat belt 15.
The armrest airbag device 20 is incorporated in each of the pair of left and right armrests 5.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a schematic configuration of the armrest airbag device 20.
The armrest airbag device 20 in FIG. 4 includes an airbag main body 21 containing an inflator and an armrest airbag 22 that is deployed from the airbag main body 21.
The inflator generates high-pressure gas when ignited.
The armrest airbag 22 includes a first bag portion 24 having a neck portion 23, a second bag portion 25, and a pressure valve 26.
The neck portion 23 is a portion connected to the airbag body 21 for the armrest airbag 22. Inflator high-pressure gas enters the armrest airbag 22 from the neck 23.
The first bag portion 24 and the second bag portion 25 are formed in separate air chambers in the armrest airbag 22. The first bag portion 24 is located on the proximal end side of the armrest airbag 22, and the second bag portion 25 is located on the distal end side of the armrest airbag 22.
The 1st bag part 24 and the 2nd bag part 25 are formed in the capacity | capacitance according to each objective, and are mutually different.
The pressure valve 26 connects the first bag portion 24 and the second bag portion 25. The pressure valve 26 is opened when the first bag portion 24 becomes a predetermined pressure or higher. Thereby, the high-pressure gas is distributed from the first bag portion 24 to the second bag portion 25.
The armrest airbag device 20 is built in the armrest 5 in a state where the armrest airbag 22 is accommodated in the airbag body 21.

5-7 is explanatory drawing of the armrest airbag apparatus 20 which concerns on 1st Embodiment.
5 is a front view as seen from the front side of the vehicle body 2, FIG. 6 is a plan view as seen from the upper side of the vehicle body 2, and FIG. 7 is a side view as seen from the left side of the vehicle body 2.
As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, a pair of left and right armrests 5 are attached to the left and right sides of the back portion of the seat 4. The armrest 5 may be provided on both the left and right sides of the seat 4, and may be formed on a door panel or a center console that is an interior member located on the left and right sides of the seat 4.
Each armrest 5 extends along the front-rear direction of the automobile 1 above the seating surface of the seat 4.
Accordingly, the occupant can sit on the seat 4 in a posture in which both left and right arm portions are placed on the pair of left and right armrests 5.
Not only the passenger in the passenger seat and the passenger in the rear seat, but also the passenger in the driver's seat can sit on the seat 4 in the posture shown in FIGS.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a procedure for deploying the armrest airbag 22.
In the armrest airbag device 20, first, in a state before deployment shown in FIG. 8A, the armrest airbag 22 starts deployment from the inner side surface in the left-right direction of the armrest 5.
In the armrest airbag 22 that has started to be deployed, first, the first bag portion 24 is deployed. By deployment of the first bag portion 24, the armrest airbag 22 is deployed toward the waist of the occupant seated on the seat 4. As shown in FIG. 8 (B), the deployed distal end portion of the armrest airbag 22 hits the left and right ends of the occupant's waist from the front side. Thereby, it can hold down so that a crew member's waist may not slip forward.
Further, when the internal pressure of the first bag portion 24 becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined pressure, the pressure valve 26 is opened in the armrest airbag 22, and the high-pressure gas in the first bag portion 24 starts to flow into the second bag portion 25.
Thereby, the 2nd bag part 25 starts expansion | deployment, and as shown to FIG. 8 (C), the armrest airbag 22 is expand | deployed upward along the front surface of a body from the position of a passenger | crew's waist | hip | lumbar part.
The armrest airbag 22 is deployed in the state shown in FIGS.
In this unfolded state, the high-pressure first bag portion 24 keeps pressing the occupant's waist from the front.
Thereby, even when a strong impact acts on the occupant, the occupant's waist can be maintained at the seating position of the seat 4 with high resistance.

  When the control unit 19 detects or predicts a collision of the automobile 1, the control unit 19 activates the seat belt device 14 and the armrest airbag device 20.

For example, the control unit 19 predicts a collision of the automobile 1 based on the captured image of the imaging sensor 11.
And the control part 19 operates the seatbelt apparatus 14 in the timing measured by the timer 13, when the collision of the motor vehicle 1 is estimated. The seat belt device 14 performs a pre-tensioning operation for winding the seat belt 15 before the collision under the control of the control unit 19. As a result, the occupant seated on the seat 4 is unlikely to deviate greatly from the seating position of the seat 4.

Thereafter, the control unit 19 determines the collision of the automobile 1 based on the collision detection of the collision sensor 12.
And the control part 19 operates a pair of armrest airbag apparatus 20 in the timing measured by the timer 13, when the collision of the motor vehicle 1 is detected.
In the armrest airbag device 20, the armrest airbag 22 is deployed from the state before deployment shown in FIG. 8 (A) to the state shown in FIG. 8 (C).
Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, the armrest airbag 22 presses the lumbar part of the occupant seated on the seat 4 from the front, and the lumbar part of the occupant is seated on the seat 4 even when a strong impact acts on the occupant. Can be kept in position.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the armrest airbag 22 that is deployed from the armrest 5 includes the first bag portion 24 and the second bag portion 25 that are capable of controlling the inflation separately.
And the 1st bag part 24 can be used in order to hold | suppress the both ends of the left-right direction of the passenger | crew's waist | hip | lumbar part seated on the sheet | seat 4 from the front side. Thus, the occupant can be pressed so that the seating position of the occupant does not shift forward on the seat 4 without pressing the abdomen of the occupant.
Further, the second bag portion 25 can be deployed in front of the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat 4 to support the upper body. Therefore, it can suppress that an upper body falls forward early. It is possible to prevent the upper body from falling before the front airbag 18 is properly deployed.
Thus, the first bag portion 24 and the second bag portion 25 for the armrest airbag 22 can be used as auxiliary airbags corresponding to different purposes for the front airbag 18.
As a result, an airbag corresponding to a plurality of purposes can be deployed simply by deploying one armrest airbag 22 from the armrest 5. As in the case where the airbag is deployed from the armrest 5 for each of a plurality of purposes, the interference between the airbags does not become a problem.
Moreover, since the armrest airbag 22 is deployed from a position close to the occupant seated on the seat 4, each bag body can be inflated with high accuracy to a state corresponding to the purpose of each bag body.

In the present embodiment, the armrest airbag 22 is first expanded downward from the armrest 5 toward the left and right end portions of the occupant seated on the seat 4 by inflating the first bag portion 24, and then By inflating the two bag portions 25, the two bag portions 25 are deployed upward along the front surface of the occupant's upper body.
Thus, both the purpose of holding the occupant's waist and the purpose of supporting the upper body to fall forward can be achieved by integrating with one armrest airbag 22.
Moreover, when the armrest 5 is once deployed downward from the armrest 5 and then deployed upward along the upper body, the armrest airbag 22 is deployed in a curved shape so as to be largely twisted.
As a result, when the upper body falls on the armrest airbag 22, the armrest airbag 22 can apply a large reaction force to the state. When the armrest airbag 22 is pushed forward by an upper body that falls down, the armrest airbag 22 can support it tenaciously so that the upper body does not fall forward greatly.

In the present embodiment, the armrest airbag 22 is deployed from the inner surface of the armrest 5 in the left-right direction.
Therefore, the armrest airbag 22 protrudes in front of the upper body at a position spaced forward from the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat 4 to form the neck portion 23, and is further twisted from the neck portion 23 toward the upper body. To bend and unfold.
As a result, even if a large twisted portion of the armrest airbag 22 falls forward due to a load in front of the upper body of the occupant, this can be supported by the neck portion 23 and can hardly fall further forward.

  The above embodiment is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications or changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

In the above embodiment, the armrest airbag 22 has two air chambers, the first bag portion 24 and the second bag portion 25.
Besides this, for example, the armrest airbag 22 may have three or more bag portions.
The plurality of bag portions may be communicated with other bag portions by the pressure valve 26 or may be directly communicated with the inflator of the armrest airbag device. These may be determined according to the purpose to be realized by the armrest airbag 22.

In the above embodiment, the armrest airbag 22 suppresses the front of the upper body and suppresses the body from falling forward.
In addition to this, for example, the front airbag 18 may be deployed together with the armrest airbag 22.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Automobile (vehicle), 2 ... Vehicle body, 3 ... Passenger room, 4 ... Seat, 5 ... Armrest, 10 ... Passenger protection device, 11 ... Imaging sensor, 12 ... Collision sensor, 13 ... Timer, 14 ... Seat belt device, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Seat belt, 16 ... Front airbag apparatus, 17 ... Airbag main body, 18 ... Front airbag, 19 ... Control part, 20 ... Armrest airbag apparatus, 21 ... Airbag main body, 22 ... Armrest airbag, 23 ... Neck part, 24 ... first bag part (air chamber), 25 ... second bag part (air chamber), 26 ... pressure valve.

Claims (8)

An armrest provided on the seat side of the vehicle and capable of placing an arm portion of an occupant seated on the seat;
An armrest airbag device that is provided on the armrest and deploys an armrest airbag from the armrest;
A control unit that deploys the armrest airbag when a collision of the vehicle is detected or predicted;
Have
The armrest airbag deployed from the armrest has a plurality of air chambers whose inflation can be controlled separately from each other,
Vehicle occupant protection device. The armrest airbag is deployed downward from the armrest toward the occupant seated on the seat, and then is deployed upward along the front surface of the occupant's upper body.
The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 1. In the plurality of air chambers,
A first air chamber that is inflated to hold the occupant seated on the seat from the front side of the armrest airbag;
A second air chamber inflated to support the upper body by deploying the armrest airbag in front of the upper body of an occupant seated on the seat;
The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 2. The armrest airbag is deployed so as to hold down at least the waist of the occupant by being deployed downward toward the occupant seated on the seat,
The vehicle occupant protection device according to claim 2 or 3. The armrest airbag is deployed to be pressed downward toward an occupant seated on the seat so as to press at least an end in the left-right direction of the occupant's waist,
The vehicle occupant protection device according to any one of claims 2 to 4. The armrest airbag is deployed from the inner surface in the left-right direction of the armrest,
The vehicle occupant protection device according to any one of claims 2 to 5. A pressure valve is provided between the second air chamber and the first air chamber;
The pressure valve opens when the first air chamber reaches a predetermined pressure,
The vehicle occupant protection device according to any one of claims 2 to 6. The plurality of air chambers differ in capacity or deployment pressure between at least two,
The vehicle occupant protection device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.