JPH04166458A - Steering wheel provided with air bag apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To absorb striking energy of a steering wheel by forming a plastic deformation reserved portion to be capable of relatively displacing an inflator attaching position and a pad holding portion between the inflator attaching position of a side board portion and the pad holding portion. CONSTITUTION:A plastic deformation reserved portion 10 which is capable of relatively displacing the inflator attaching position 9 and the pad holding portion 11 is formed between an inflator attaching position 9 of a side board portion 8 and a pad holding portion 11. Subsequently, even if an inflator 6 can not be pushed down due to the plastic deformation of the plastic deformation reserved portion 10, the pad holding portion 11 can be pushed down and the pad 4 of an air bag apparatus M is pushed down as if a folded air bag 1 may be crushed. Thereby the shock power energy of a steering wheel W can be absorbed by the plastic deformation between a plastic deformation position X of core irons Cb, Cs of a boss portion or a spoke portion and the plastic deformation reserved portion 10 of a bag holder 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a steering wheel equipped with an airbag device that is mounted on an automobile or the like and has an airbag that inflates at a predetermined time.

<Prior art and its problems> Conventionally, a steering wheel equipped with an air bag device is known as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-110643.

The airbag device includes an airbag that is folded and stored so as to be inflated at a predetermined time, an inflator that supplies gas to the airbag, a bat that covers the top of the airbag, and an airbag inflator and pad. and a bag holder for holding the bag.

Furthermore, the inflator is normally configured by a predetermined control circuit to operate when the vehicle speed and acceleration are above a certain value. Therefore, for example, when the vehicle speed or acceleration is below a certain value, In this case, the inflator does not operate and the airbag does not inflate.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a steering wheel for an airbag device that can absorb the energy of an impact force when it is applied to the steering wheel even if the airbag is not inflated. do.

Means for Solving the Problems> A steering wheel according to the present invention includes a ring portion, a boss portion disposed at the center of the ring portion, and spokes connecting the ring portion and the boss portion. and a core metal of the boss part or the spoke part has a plastic deformation part that makes the forming surface of the ring part substantially perpendicular to the direction of action of the impact force when an impact force is applied to the ring part. The airbag device comprises: an airbag that is folded and stored so as to be inflated at a predetermined time; an inflator that supplies gas to the airbag from below; a pad that covers an upper part of the airbag; - a bag holder for holding an inflator and a pad; the bag holder includes a horizontal plate portion to which the airbag and the inflator are attached; and a holder disposed around the periphery of the horizontal plate portion to which the pad is attached. The inflator is disposed on the periphery of the horizontal plate part and is attached to the ring part side from the plastic deformation part of the core metal of the boss part or spoke part, so that the bottom part of the inflator is placed above the core metal of the boss part. A steering wheel equipped with an airbag device comprising: a mounting portion for disposing the airbag device, wherein the bag holder is made of a plastically deformable metal material, and the inflator mounting portion in the horizontal plate portion and the pad. A plastically deformable portion is formed between the pad holding portion and the inflator mounting portion and the pad holding portion to be relatively displaceable.

<Operations and Effects of the Invention> In the steering wheel according to the present invention, when an impact force is applied, the plastically deformed portion of the core metal of the boss portion or the spoke portion is first deformed, and the forming surface of the ring portion is affected by the impact force. move in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction.

Further, when an impact force is applied, the spoke part core metal is plastically deformed, the ring part forming surface is pushed down, and the pad of the airbag device is also pushed down. Then,
The bottom of the inflator of the airbag device comes into contact with the core of the boss or the steering shaft or nut used when attaching it to the vehicle.

However, in the steering wheel according to the present invention, a plastic deformation scheduled portion is formed between the inflator attachment portion of the horizontal plate portion and the pad holding portion, which allows the inflator attachment portion and the pad holding portion to be relatively displaced. has been done.

Therefore, even if the planned plastic deformation part is plastically deformed and the inflator is not pushed down, the pad holding part can be pushed down, and the ring part forming surface is pushed down, and the pad of the airbag device is folded. In the end, the energy of the impact force can be absorbed by the plastic deformation between the plastic deformation part of the core metal of the boss part or spoke part and the plastic deformation planned part of the bag holder. .

Therefore, in the steering wheel according to the present invention, even if the airbag is not inflated, when an impact force is applied to the steering wheel, the energy of the impact force can be absorbed.

Further, in the steering wheel according to the present invention, the structure for absorbing impact force is provided in the horizontal plate portion of the bag holder.
It is possible to configure the bag holder itself, which is a component of the airbag device, by providing parts scheduled for plastic deformation such as bent parts, thin-walled parts, and thinning holes, so there is no need to use additional parts separately. , it is possible to suppress increases in manufacturing man-hours and manufacturing costs.

<Example> Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, the steering wheel W of the embodiment includes a ring portion R, a boss portion B disposed at the center of the ring portion R, and four spoke portions connecting the ring portion R and the boss portion B. The airbag device M is arranged above the boss portion B.

As shown in FIG. 1, the airbag device M includes an airbag 1, an inflator 6, a bat 4, and a bag holder 7.
It is configured with the following.

The airbag 1 is normally folded and stored in the pad 4 so that it is inflated by gas supplied from the inflator 6 at a predetermined time.

The inflator 6 is provided with a plurality of discharge ports 6a in its upper portion for supplying gas to the airbag 1 at predetermined times, and is provided with a flange portion 6b for attaching to the bag holder 7 at an intermediate portion in the vertical direction.

The pad 4 is made of a soft synthetic resin that can be broken when the airbag 1 is inflated, and has a substantially rectangular cylindrical sheet metal insert 4a at the bottom for attachment to the bag holder 7.
It is equipped with

The bag holder 7 is made of a metal material such as a plastically deformable sheet metal, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the bag holder 7 has a substantially rectangular horizontal plate portion 8 and extends downward from the left and right edges of the horizontal plate portion 8. Leg 1
3 and 13, an insertion hole 8a into which the upper part of the inflator 6 is inserted is formed.

Further, the area around the insertion hole 8a is an inflator attachment site 9, and a plurality of attachment holes 8b are formed in that site 9. These mounting holes 8b are used when attaching the periphery of the lower opening 18 of the airbag l and the flange portion 6b of the inflator 6 to the bag holder 7 using fixing means such as bolts 3 or rivets. . In addition,
An annular retainer 2 is arranged around the periphery of the opening 1a of the airbag 1, and fixing means such as the bolts 3 mentioned above are arranged on the retainer 2 either integrally or separately, and these bolts 3 are attached to the inflator. The airbag 1 and the inflator 6 are attached to the bag holder 7 by being fastened with a nut (not shown) on the lower surface of the flange portion 6b of the airbag 1.

A plurality of attachment holes 11a (see FIG. 3) are formed in each leg portion 13 so that the upper part thereof becomes the pad holding portion 11, and the insert 4a of the pad 4 is attached to the rivet 5 through these attachment holes 11a. It will be done. Further, at the lower part of the leg part 13, a flange part 12a to which a nut 14 is fixed is provided as a mounting part 12 for attaching to the spoke core metal Cs.
is formed.

Each leg portion 13 is connected to a nut 14 of the flange portion 12a.
By being fastened to the bolt 15 inserted from the bottom of the core Cs, the bottom of the inflator 6 is connected to the core Cb of the boss portion B (steering shaft 50 (see Figures 1 and 4)).
(This refers to the boss and its surroundings which are connected using the nut 51).

The spoke part core metal Cs of the embodiment is plastically deformed when the impact force F is applied to the ring part R, so that the forming surface P of the ring part R is so-called substantially perpendicular to the direction of action of the impact force F. It is capable of exerting a self-lining effect,
The mounting part 12 of the bag holder 7 is fixed with a bolt 15 to a spoke part core metal Cs part on the ring part R side from the plastic deformation part X which performs the self-lining action. The length of the inflator
The length is such that a sufficient space H can be maintained between the bottom of the airbag device M and the boss core cb, and when an impact force F is applied from above to the bat 4 of the airbag device M, the leg A bent portion 13a is formed as a portion to be deformed so that the portion 13 can easily undergo deformation such as buckling. In addition,
The deformable portion provided on each leg 13 may be plastically deformed when the impact force F acts to shorten the length of the leg 13 in the vertical direction. A hole may be provided to form the portion to be deformed.

The horizontal plate portion 8 of the bag holder 7 of the embodiment is provided with a circle around the inflator attachment portion 9 as a plastically deformable portion that can relatively displace the inflator attachment portion 9 and the bat holding portion 11. A curved portion 10 having an inverted U-shaped cross section is formed in an annular shape.

In the steering wheel W having the above configuration, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 after being mounted on an actual vehicle, when an impact force F is applied from the horizontal direction to the ring portion R, the core metal of the spoke portion The plastically deformed portion X of Cs is plastically deformed to deform the forming surface P of the ring portion R in a substantially vertical direction. At this time, since the attachment part 12 of the bag holder 7 is located closer to the ring part R than the plastic deformation part X, the upper surface 4A of the pad 4 of the airbag device M remains substantially parallel to the ring part forming surface P. You will have to move.

Furthermore, when the impact force F acts, the spoke part core metal Cs is plastically deformed and the ring part forming surface P is pushed down, and the leg part 13 is plastically deformed so as to buckle via the bent part 13a, and the inflator 6 is The pad 4 is pushed down so as to narrow the space H between the bottom and the boss core cb.
The bottom of the inflator 6 hits the boss core bar CB, the steering shaft 50, and the nut 51 (see FIG. 6).

As shown in FIG. 7, the curved part 10 of the horizontal plate part 8 is plastically deformed, and even if the inflator 6 is not pushed down, the pad holding part 11 can be pushed down, thereby forming a ring part. Airbag 1 with surface P pressed down and pad 4 of airbag device M folded
As a result, the energy of the impact force F can be absorbed by the plastic deformation part X of the spoke part core metal Cs and the curved part 10 of the bag holder 7.

Therefore, even if the airbag 1 is not inflated, the steering wheel W of the embodiment can absorb the energy of the impact force F when it acts on the steering wheel W. The structure for absorbing F can be constructed from the bag holder 7, which is a component of the airbag device M, and there is no need to use extra parts separately, and increases in manufacturing man-hours and manufacturing costs can be suppressed. .

In the embodiment, since the leg portions 13 of the bag holder 7 are also plastically deformed, the energy of the impact force F can be absorbed.

In addition, in the embodiment, the plastic deformation planned portion formed in the horizontal plate portion 8 is composed of a curved portion 1O having a substantially U-shaped cross section, but as shown in FIG. The portion scheduled for plastic deformation may be formed by providing a slit 2o or by making the portion thinner.

Further, in the embodiment, a plastic deformation portion X that exhibits a self-lining effect when an impact force F is applied to the ring portion R is provided in the spoke portion core metal Cs. but,
The boss part core metal cb is connected to a boss connected to the steering shaft 50, and the spoke part core metal C is connected to the boss.
In a steering wheel composed of a boss plate that is also connected to s, a plastic deformation portion X may be provided in the boss plate of the boss portion core bar cb.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a steering wheel showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a bag holder of the embodiment, and Fig. 4 and 5
- Figures 6 and 7 are diagrams sequentially illustrating the states of the same embodiment when an impact force is applied, and Figure 8 is a perspective view of the bag holder of another embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Airbag, 4...Pad, 6...Inflator 1 7...Bag holder, 8...Horizontal plate part, 9...Inflator attachment part, l○...( 11... Pad holding part, 12... Mounting part, 5o... Steering shaft, 51... Nut, F... Impact force, M... Air bag device , W...Steering wheel cb...Boss part core metal, Cs...Spoke part core metal, X...Plastic deformation part. Fig. 2 [' Fig. 3v7A Fig. 8

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A steering wheel includes a ring part, a boss part disposed at the center of the ring part, and spoke parts connecting the ring part and the boss part, and the boss part or the spokes The core metal of the part includes a plastic deformation part that makes the forming surface of the ring part substantially orthogonal to the direction of action of the impact force when an impact force is applied to the ring part, and the airbag device is inflated at a predetermined time. an airbag that is folded up and stored, an inflator that supplies gas to the airbag from below, a pad that covers the top of the airbag, and a bag holder that holds the airbag, inflator, and pad; The bag holder includes: a horizontal plate portion to which the airbag and the inflator are attached; a holding portion disposed on the periphery of the horizontal plate portion to which the pad is attached; and a holding portion arranged on the periphery of the horizontal plate portion; an airbag device comprising: a mounting part that is attached to the ring part side of the core metal of the boss part or the spoke part from the plastic deformation part, so that the bottom part of the inflator is disposed above the core metal of the boss part; In the steering wheel, the bag holder is formed of a plastically deformable metal material, and the bag holder is arranged between the inflator mounting part and the pad holding part in the horizontal plate part. 1. A steering wheel equipped with an airbag device, characterized in that a plastically deformable portion is formed that can be relatively displaceable.