JP3799804B2 - Protection member structure for reinforcement of occupant protection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a protective member structure for reinforcing an occupant protection device that protects an occupant's knee and the like when an external force is applied such as when a vehicle collides.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A seat belt and an air bag are used as means for protecting the driver in the event of a collision. Of course, these protective devices effectively protect the driver in the event of a collision, but are not sufficient for protecting around the knee of the driver.
[0003]
As shown in FIG. 14, a brake master back 25 and a clutch master back 26 are disposed behind a front panel 24 that supports a windshield and the like, and a brake master back 25 and a clutch master back 26 have brakes on the rear end side. The master cylinder 27 and the clutch master cylinder 28 are connected.
[0004]
On the other hand, an instrument panel 29 shown in FIG. 13 is connected to the front panel 24 side. A meter cluster panel 31 is connected to the opening 30 of the instrument panel 29. The instrument panel 29 is reinforced by the reinforcement 32 shown in FIG.
[0005]
As shown in FIG. 13, the meter cluster panel 31 has a space 33 at the center thereof, and a decorative panel 34 and an attachment 35 are formed with the space 33 interposed therebetween. The attachment 35 is shown in FIGS. A panel 36 is attached. The space 33 is a space through which the steering cowl 37, the steering column shaft (not shown), and the like pass.
[0006]
As shown in FIG. 14, the rear end surface 38 of the brake master cylinder 27 is disposed substantially opposite to the front side of the decorative panel 34, and the rear end surface 39 of the clutch master cylinder 28 is opposite to the front side of the panel 36. Arranged. Further, as shown in FIG. 14, the knees 23 of the occupant 22 are disposed substantially opposite to each other behind the decorative panel 34 and the panel 36.
[0007]
At the time of a collision or the like, the front panel 24 moves backward, and the clutch master cylinder 28 and the like are pressed rearward as shown in FIG. On the other hand, the occupant 22 moves forward by inertial force, and the knee 23 of the occupant 22 hits the rear end surface 39 of the clutch master cylinder 28 via the panel 36.
[0008]
As a protection means for preventing the interference between the knee 23 and the clutch master cylinder 28 as described above, various contrivances have been conventionally made. However, there are few simple structures that sufficiently protect the passenger's knee and the like.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, as will be described later, the applicant of the present invention has devised the occupant protection device 1 shown in FIGS. 6 to 11 and the like so as to achieve complete protection of the occupant when the external force is applied. The present invention has been invented on the assumption that it is necessary to further improve the safety so that the occupant protection device sufficiently absorbs impact energy and does not adversely affect the occupant when an external force is applied. JP-A-5-238338 is known as a known technique related to a reinforcing member that reinforces a soft protective cover or the like disposed on the passenger side.
[0010]
The “knee panel support bracket” disclosed in this publication relates to a structure of a support bracket that reinforces and supports a soft knee panel. The support bracket is provided between a fixed portion of a vehicle body and a knee panel and has a plurality of partition walls therein. The frame has a closed cross-sectional shape, and the partition wall has a shape that is plastically deformed sequentially from the mounting portion side between the knee panel and the frame when an external force is applied to the knee panel. This deformation absorbs impact energy and reinforces and supports the knee panel with appropriate frame rigidity. This known technique is, of course, effective as an occupant protection member, but the structure of the frame is complicated, and it is difficult to change the structure of the frame itself in order to change the impact energy absorbing function in various ways.
[0011]
The present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and can be used to reinforce an occupant protection device with a simple structure that can sufficiently absorb impact energy during external force action and can easily change the impact energy absorption function. It aims at providing a protection member structure.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention attaches and detaches to a panel such as a meter cluster panel (31) arranged substantially opposite to a solid material such as a clutch master cylinder (28) or a brake master cylinder (27). A reinforcing protective member structure that is attached so as to prevent the occupant's knee (23) and the like from interfering with the solid object and to absorb impact energy when acting on an external force, The protective cover (3) is made of a soft material that comes into contact with the knee (23) and the like, and the reinforcing protective member 2 (2a) that comes into contact with the back side and is integrally assembled. 23) is formed of a curved body that contacts the lower side thereof, and the reinforcing protection member 2 (2a) includes a first reinforcing member (4) that contacts the back surface of the protective cover (3), and a first reinforcing member ( 4) Fixed to the back Both the abutting portion (10) disposed at a position opposite to the solid matter and the one end side fixed to the abutting portion (10) side along the acting direction of the external force and the other end side to the first side A second reinforcing member (5) having a flange (11) fixed to the reinforcing member (4) and a back surface of the second reinforcing member (5) are fixed, and the knee 23 is attached to the protective cover (3). In the event of a collision, it moves obliquely upward, and after the clutch master cylinder (28), the stopper surface (15) that abuts against a member with relatively little displacement such as the reinforce (32) abuts against the reinforce (32). The end face (39) and the third reinforcing member (6) are not in contact with each other, and a gap (20) is formed in the flange (11) of the second reinforcing member (5). 20) is provided at a position along the direction of the external force and is substantially orthogonal to the direction of the external force And it is characterized in that consist of a long hole shape formed in an elongated on.
[0013]
The reinforcing protective member formed by combining the first to third reinforcing members has an appropriate strength to support the external force and acts to deform the entire structure and absorb impact energy. According to the present invention, among the reinforcing protective members, a gap portion is formed in the flange portion of the relatively stiff second reinforcing member to moderately reduce the rigidity of the flange portion, and more impact energy is absorbed when an external force is applied. Make it easy to do. It is desirable that the voids be arranged in the direction of external force action. From the experimental results, it has been proved that it is effective to use a long hole substantially orthogonal to the direction of external force action. It is easy to change the shape of the gap, and it can be changed appropriately according to the purpose.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a protective member structure for reinforcing an occupant protection device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. First, the outline | summary of the whole structure of the passenger | crew protection apparatus which concerns on this invention before improvement of the protection member for reinforcement is demonstrated. As shown in FIG. 6, the occupant protection device is attached to the attachment portion 35 of the meter cluster panel 31, and is composed of a combination of the protective cover 3 and the reinforcing protective member 2a. Of course, the occupant protection device 1 may be attached to the decorative panel 34, but in this example, a case where the occupant protection device 1 is attached to the attachment portion 35 will be described.
[0015]
The protective cover 3 is made of a soft material, for example, a plastic material, and is formed by integrally forming a curved plate portion 40 and a flange portion 41 that is bent on both sides thereof. On the other hand, the reinforcing protective member 2a is made of a hard material, for example, an iron material, and is assembled in contact with the back surface of the protective cover 3 to reinforce the protective cover 3. As shown in FIGS. It consists of a member 4, a second reinforcing member 5 a, and a third reinforcing member 6.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 7, the first reinforcing member 4 includes a curved surface portion 7 that is in close contact with the back surface of the curved plate portion 40 of the protective cover 3 and a flange portion 8 that is bent on both sides thereof. As shown in FIG. 8, the second reinforcing member 5 a includes a base plate portion 9 and a contact portion 10, and flange portions 11, 12 that are bent from both sides. In addition, the edge of the collar parts 11 and 12 consists of a shape closely_contact | adhered to the curved surface part 7 of a 1st reinforcement member. As shown in FIG. 9, the third reinforcing member 6 includes an upper plate 14, a side plate 13, mounting seat plates 18, 18a, and the like. The mounting seat plate 18 has an abutting plate 16 ((b) Are fixed). The contact plate 16 is formed with a contact portion 17 with which a rear end surface 39 (shown in FIG. 14 and the like) of the clutch master cylinder 28 contacts, and a mounting plate portion 19 is bent.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 10 and the like, the first to third reinforcing members 4, 5a, 6 having the above-described structure are integrally assembled and have appropriate rigidity and absorb impact energy such as external force. And is assembled to the protective cover 3 and fixed to a predetermined place on the meter cluster panel 31 as shown in FIG. In this attachment position, as shown in FIG. 10, the knee 23 of the occupant 22 is disposed at a position opposite to the portion corresponding to the lower half of the curved plate portion 40 of the protective cover 3, and the reinforcing protective member 2a The contact portion 17 of the third reinforcing member 6 is disposed at a position facing the rear end surface 39 of the clutch master cylinder 28. Further, the stopper surface 15 of the upper plate 14 of the third reinforcing member is disposed at a position facing the lower surface of the reinforcement 32 with an appropriate gap.
[0018]
Next, the operation of the occupant protection device 1 when an external force is applied in a vehicle provided with the occupant protection device 1 having the above structure will be described. First, when an external force or the like is applied to the vehicle that is normally held at the relational position shown in FIG. 10, for example, the occupant 22 moves forward by inertial force, and the knee 23 moves from the solid line state to the dotted line position. It hits. On the other hand, the clutch master cylinder 28 is also rear end, and the rear end face 39 is close to the contact portion 17. As shown in FIG. 11, when the knee 23 hits the lower half of the protective cover 3, the occupant protection device 1 is lifted as a whole, and the stopper surface 15 comes into contact with the lower surface of the reinforcement 32 to restrain further movement. In this state, the rear end surface 39 of the clutch master cylinder 28 hits the contact portion 17, and the occupant protection device 1 is sandwiched between the rear end surface 39 and the knee 23 and receives a pressing force. Therefore, the protective cover 3 and the reinforcing protective member 2a are deformed to retain the impact force due to the external force and absorb the impact energy to protect the occupant 22. Although the above description has been given of the case where the occupant protection device 1 is sandwiched between the rear end surface 39 of the clutch master cylinder 28 and the knee 23, the occupant protection device 1 also applies to a vehicle that does not use the clutch function, such as an automatic vehicle. Functions as a knee bolster and becomes an absorber that absorbs impact energy in substantially the same manner as described above.
[0019]
Next, the structure of the second reinforcing member 5 in the reinforcing protective member 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The second reinforcing member 5 in FIG. 1 mainly shows the flange 12 (11) portion of the second reinforcing member 5a shown in FIG. 8, and the other structure is the second reinforcing member in FIG. It has the same structure as the member 5a. As shown in FIG. 8, gap holes 21 and 21 a are originally formed in the flange portions 12 and 11, which serve to absorb impact energy and contribute to weight reduction. In the present invention, a long hole-shaped gap portion 20 is perforated in the flange portion 12 (11).
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 1, the gap 20 is preferably formed along the direction in which the external force F acts during an impact or the like. Further, assuming that the virtual action point of the knee 23 acting on the buttocks 12 and the like is P, the distance a from the point P to the gap 20, the distance c from the point P of the upper edge of the gap 20, and the gap The width dimension b, length d, etc. of the portion 20 itself are values that affect the impact energy absorption function and absorption timing, and are desirably determined experimentally or empirically. Moreover, in this example, the space | gap part 20 consists of a thing of a simple long hole shape, and the number is one place, Of course, it is not limited to this.
[0021]
Next, the state of deformation of the reinforcing protection member 2 according to the present invention when an external force is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line AA of the second reinforcing member 5 of FIG. 1, and the portions sandwiching the gap portion 20 of the flange portion 12 are referred to as a front flange portion 12a and a rear flange portion 12b for convenience of explanation. . When the external force is relatively small, there is almost no deformation of the gap portion 20 as shown in FIG. 2, and the front flange portion 12a and the rear flange portion 12b are held on the same line. When a large external force is applied and the entire second reinforcing member 5 is deformed, the gap of the gap portion 20 is gradually reduced, eventually the gap portion 20 is eliminated, and the rear flange portion 12b is replaced with the rear flange portion 12b ′. It will be in the state which gets on on the front part 12a. That is, the second reinforcing member 5 functions as a flexible member that absorbs impact energy until this state is reached. The load-displacement curve of FIG. 4 schematically shows the above change, and it is considered that the air gap 20 starts to collapse at the Q point and becomes the state shown in FIG. 3 at the Q ′ point. As described above, the effect that the impact energy can be sufficiently absorbed by the formation of the gap portion 20 is improved. As described above, a desired shock absorbing function can be obtained by devising various shapes of the gap 20 and the dimensions of a, b, c, and d shown in FIG.
[0022]
FIG. 5 shows the second reinforcing member 5 having a gap 20a having a slightly different shape from the gap 20 shown in FIG. The gap portion 20a is composed of a tapered long hole that tapers from the top to the bottom. By adopting this shape, it is possible to change the timing until the gap 20a is crushed and its mode. Of course, as the gap portion, various shapes other than the gap portions 20 and 20a shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 can be appropriately employed. As described above, the protection of the knee 23 and the like of the occupant 22 can be improved.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
1) According to the reinforcement protective member structure for an occupant protection device according to claim 1 of the present invention, an impact energy absorption rate is obtained by forming a gap in the flange portion of the relatively high rigidity second reinforcement member. And the absorption timing can be changed, and the impact energy absorption effect can be diversified by changing the shape of the gap. In addition, the formation of the gap is simple and can be easily performed.
2) According to the reinforcement protective member structure for an occupant protection device according to claim 2 of the present invention, the formation position of the gap is substantially perpendicular to the direction of the external force and formed into a long hole shape. The effective impact energy absorption effect can be increased without significantly reducing the rigidity of the reinforcing member 2.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a second reinforcing member of a reinforcing protective member structure for an occupant protection device according to the present invention in which a gap is provided in a collar portion.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a deformed state of a gap when an external force is applied.
FIG. 4 is a load-displacement curve schematically showing the state of absorption of impact energy associated with the formation of a gap in the second reinforcing member of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a partial side view showing a second reinforcing member of the reinforcing protective member structure of the occupant protection device of the present invention in which a gap of another shape is provided in the collar portion.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the occupant protection device to which the reinforcing protection member of the present invention is applied and the shape of a meter cluster panel to which the occupant protection device is attached.
7 is a perspective view showing a first reinforcing member of the reinforcing protective member of the occupant protection device of FIG. 6. FIG.
8 is a perspective view showing a second reinforcing member of the reinforcing protective member of the occupant protection device of FIG. 6. FIG.
9 is a perspective view showing a third reinforcing member of the reinforcing protective member of the occupant protection device of FIG. 6. FIG.
FIG. 10 is a side view showing a state where the occupant protection device of FIG. 6 is attached and the relative positions of the occupant's knee and solid clutch master cylinder and reinforcement in that state.
FIG. 11 is a side view showing a contact state between an occupant protection device and a knee, a clutch master cylinder, or the like when an external force is applied.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the entire structure of a conventional reinforcement.
FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a conventional instrument panel and meter cluster panel.
FIG. 14 is a plan view showing the relative positions of a conventional meter cluster panel, clutch master cylinder, etc., and knees.
FIG. 15 is a side view showing the state of movement of an occupant and his / her knees and the state of interference with solid objects when a conventional external force is applied.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Crew protection device 2 Reinforcing protective member 2a Reinforcing protective member 3 Protective cover 4 First reinforcing member 5 Second reinforcing member 5a Second reinforcing member 6 Third reinforcing member 7 Curved surface portion 8 Flange portion 9 Base plate Part 10 contact part 11 collar part 12 collar part 12a front collar part 12b rear collar part 12b 'rear collar part 13 side plate 14 upper plate 15 stopper surface 16 contact plate 17 contact unit 18 attachment seat plate 18a attachment seat plate 19 attachment Plate part 20 Cavity part 20a Cavity part 21 Cavity hole 21a Cavity hole 22 Crew 23 Knee 28 Clutch master cylinder 31 Meter cluster panel 32 Reinforce 39 Rear end face 40 Curved plate part 41 Flange part

Claims (1)

It is detachably attached to a panel such as a meter cluster panel (31) disposed substantially opposite to a solid object such as a clutch master cylinder (28) or a brake master cylinder (27), and an occupant's knee (23) or the like A reinforcing protective member structure formed so as to prevent interference with the solid matter and absorb impact energy when acting on an external force, the structure being a protective cover made of a soft material with which the knee (23) or the like abuts (3) and a reinforcing protective member 2 (2a) assembled in contact with the back side, and the protective cover (3) is a curved body with the knee (23) in contact with the lower side. The reinforcing protective member 2 (2a) is fixed to the back surface of the first reinforcing member (4), the first reinforcing member (4) contacting the back surface of the protective cover (3), and the solid matter. Arranged at opposite positions The abutting portion (10) that is disposed along the acting direction of the external force and that has one end fixed to the abutting portion (10) side and the other end fixed to the first reinforcing member (4). 11) and the second reinforcing member (5), and the second reinforcing member (5) is fixed to the back surface of the second reinforcing member (5). When the knee 23 collides with the protective cover (3), it moves obliquely upward, The rear end surface (39) of the clutch master cylinder (28) and the third reinforcing member (6) in a state where the stopper surface (15) that abuts on a member with relatively little displacement such as (32) abuts on the reinforcement (32). ) And the gap portion (20) is formed in the flange portion (11) of the second reinforcing member (5), and the gap portion (20) is located at a position along the acting direction of the external force. It is provided in the shape of a long hole that is provided and is elongated in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of external force action. Reinforcing the protective member structure of the occupant protection device, characterized in that.

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