JP4898583B2 - Vehicle seat belt device and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a seat belt device that restrains an occupant seated on a vehicle seat by webbing, and more particularly to a vehicle seat belt device including a webbing lock mechanism and a webbing take-up mechanism by a motor, and a control method thereof. is there.

  Many of the vehicle seat belt devices are equipped with an ELR (Emergency Locking Retractor) that locks the webbing extension in an emergency such as a collision. This ELR includes a lock mechanism that locks the webbing extension and an acceleration sensor that detects acceleration acting on the vehicle. When an acceleration higher than a preset value is input to the vehicle, the acceleration sensor detects the acceleration. The locking mechanism locks the webbing feed.

  Also, in recent years, as a seat belt device, a motor for rotationally driving a belt reel has been provided, and in the event of an emergency or when running conditions are unstable, the webbing tension is controlled by driving the motor to stabilize the occupant posture. What has been made into practical use has been put into practical use (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

This seat belt device also includes the above-described ELR, and in the event of an emergency such as a collision, when the webbing is wound around the belt reel by the motor and the acceleration of a predetermined level or more acts, When the webbing drawer is locked by the ELR locking mechanism, a so-called end-lock state is established, and the webbing cannot be pulled out.
Japanese Patent No. 36552683

  In this conventional seat belt device, when the emergency state is avoided after the ELR is locked and the motor is redriven to release the lock, the occupant seated on the seat suddenly As the webbing is retightened, there is a concern that an occupant, particularly an occupant who has experienced unlocking for the first time, may give anxiety and discomfort.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention is intended to provide a vehicle seat belt device and a control method thereof that can relieve anxiety and discomfort given to the occupant when the webbing is retightened due to the release of the lock mechanism. .

The invention according to claim 1, which solves the above problem, is a belt reel (e.g., in an embodiment described later) on which a webbing (e.g., a webbing 5 in an embodiment described later) for restraining an occupant seated on the seat is wound. A belt reel 12), a motor that rotationally drives the belt reel (for example, a motor 10 in an embodiment described later), a lock mechanism that locks out the webbing (for example, a lock mechanism 11 in an embodiment described later), Motor control means for controlling the motor (for example, motor control means 25 in the embodiment described later), and in a seat belt device for a vehicle that winds webbing by rotation of the motor in an emergency, based on the vehicle state Lock state determination means for determining the operation state of the lock mechanism (for example, an embodiment described later) Lock state determination means 26), a notification device (for example, a notification device 22 in an embodiment to be described later) for notifying an occupant of information by video or audio, and winding of the webbing by the motor, and the lock e Bei notifying driving means for driving the informing device after it is determined that the locked state in a state determining means (e.g., notifying the drive means 27 in the embodiment) and, wherein the motor control means, driving of the notification drive means Thereafter, the webbing for releasing the lock mechanism is retracted .
Thus, in an emergency, when the webbing is wound around the belt reel by the rotational drive of the motor and the webbing feed is locked by the lock mechanism, the lock of the lock mechanism is determined by the lock state determination means based on the vehicle state. Is done. When the emergency state is avoided from this state and the webbing is pulled in for unlocking, the notification driving means drives the notification device to notify the occupant beforehand by video or audio.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a belt reel around which a webbing that restrains an occupant seated on a seat is wound, a motor that rotationally drives the belt reel, a lock mechanism that locks out the webbing, and the motor In a seat belt device for a vehicle that winds up webbing by rotation of the motor in an emergency, a lock state determination unit that determines an operating state of the lock mechanism based on a vehicle state A notification device for notifying an occupant of information by video or sound, and a notification driving unit for driving the notification device after the webbing is wound by the motor and the lock state determination unit determines the lock state. When the winding position detection means for detecting the winding position of the belt reel (e.g., contact to the embodiments described below And that the rotation sensor 14 and the take-up position detection section 24), wherein the lock state determination means determining a to the winding position information of the belt reel based on the lock state from the take-up position detection means Features.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method for a seat belt device for a vehicle, comprising: a belt reel on which a webbing for restraining an occupant seated on a seat is wound; a motor for rotationally driving the belt reel; And a motor control means for controlling the motor. In a control method of a seat belt device for a vehicle that winds webbing by rotation of the motor in an emergency, the motor rotates in the emergency Determining whether or not the lock mechanism is activated after the webbing is wound by driving, driving a notifying device that informs an occupant of information by video or audio based on whether or not the lock mechanism is activated; and Driving the motor again based on whether or not the lock mechanism is activated. To.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the method for controlling a seat belt device for a vehicle according to the third aspect , the step of further determining whether or not the lock mechanism is activated after driving the motor based on whether or not the lock mechanism is activated; The method further comprises a step of driving the notification device according to whether or not the lock mechanism is activated after performing the step of further determining whether or not the lock mechanism is activated.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when an emergency state is avoided and the webbing is retracted to release the lock, the notification device is driven to notify the passenger in advance by video or audio. This can relieve the anxiety and discomfort given to the passengers.

According to the invention described in claim 2 , since the lock state determination means determines the lock state based on the winding position information of the belt reel from the winding position detection means, it conforms to the actual occupant restraint state by webbing. Can be made.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since it is possible to notify the occupant by video or audio before driving the motor for unlocking, anxiety given to the occupant by retightening the webbing. And can alleviate discomfort.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the notification device is driven according to the success or failure of the release of the lock mechanism, the result of the re-tightening for unlocking can be accurately notified by the occupant.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an overall schematic configuration of a seat belt device 1 according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a seat on which an occupant 3 is seated. The seat belt device 1 of this embodiment is a so-called three-point seat belt device, and a webbing 5 is drawn upward from a retractor 4 attached to a center pillar (not shown), and the webbing 5 is supported on the upper side of the center pillar. The tip of the webbing 5 is fixed to the vehicle body floor via an outer anchor 7 near the outside of the passenger compartment of the seat 2. A tongue plate 8 is inserted between the through anchor 6 and the outer anchor 7 of the webbing 5, and the tongue plate 8 is against the seat belt buckle 9 fixed to the vehicle body floor of the seat 2 near the vehicle body. Detachable.

  The webbing 5 is wound around the retractor 4 in the initial state, and the occupant 3 extends the hand by hand to fix the tongue plate 8 to the seat belt buckle 9, so that the chest and waist of the occupant 3 are mainly attached to the seat 2. To restrain. In the case of the seat belt device 1, the webbing 5 is retracted by an electric motor 10 at the time of a collision or rollover, and the motor 10 constitutes a pretensioner mechanism.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the retractor 4 has a webbing 5 wound around a belt reel 12 rotatably supported by a casing (not shown), and a shaft 12a of the belt reel 12 projects from one end of the casing. Yes. The shaft 12a of the belt reel 12 is connected to the rotary shaft 10a of the motor 10 via a power transmission mechanism 13 including a clutch (not shown) for power connection / disconnection operation. Further, the retractor 4 accommodates a winding spring (not shown) that urges the belt reel 12 in the winding direction. When the belt reel 12 and the motor 10 are separated by an off operation of the clutch, the retractor 4 Tension acts on the webbing 5. Further, in the retractor 4, a lock mechanism 11 (for example, ELR) is provided that locks the feeding of the webbing 5 together with the rotation of the belt reel 12 when an acceleration greater than a set value acts on the vehicle.

  The shaft 12a of the belt reel 12 is provided with a rotation sensor 14 (winding position detecting means) that detects the rotation of the shaft 12a. The rotation sensor 14 includes, for example, a magnetic disk 15 in which different magnetic poles are alternately magnetized along the circumferential direction, and a pair of Hall elements 16a and 16b disposed in proximity to the outer peripheral edge of the magnetic disk 15. And a sensor circuit 17 for processing the detection signals of the Hall elements 16a and 16b, and a pulse signal processed by the sensor circuit 17 is output to the controller 18.

  A pulse signal input from the sensor circuit 17 to the controller 18 in accordance with the rotation of the belt reel 12 is basically used as a feedback signal for driving the motor 10 in the controller 18. That is, the controller 18 detects the rotation amount of the belt reel 12 (the feeding amount of the webbing 5) by counting the pulse signal, and further calculates the rotation speed (frequency) of the pulse signal to calculate the rotation of the belt reel 12. The speed (feeding speed of the webbing 5) is obtained, and the rotation direction of the belt reel 12 is detected by comparing the rising edges of the waveforms of both pulse signals.

The signal input section of the controller 18 detects a buckle switch 19 that detects the connection state of the seat belt buckle 9, a front object detection device 20 such as a radar that detects an object in front of the vehicle, and decelerations in the front and rear and left and right of the vehicle. The acceleration sensor 21 is connected.
The signal output unit of the controller 18 is connected to the motor 10 of the seat belt device 1 and is connected to a notification device 22 that transmits information to the occupant 3 by characters, images, or voice. As the notification device 22, for example, a display panel for a navigation system, a display unit on an instrument panel, a speaker for room acoustics, or the like can be used.

The controller 18 receives a signal from the rotation sensor 14 and calculates a rotation position of the belt reel 12 and receives signals from the winding position detection unit 24 and other devices. The operating state of the lock mechanism 11 based on the motor control means 25 that receives and controls the drive of the motor 10, the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 21, and the winding amount of the webbing 5 detected by the winding position detector 24. A lock state determination unit 26 that determines whether the lock mechanism 11 is unlocked by receiving a signal from the lock state determination unit 26. In the following situations (1) to (3), the notification driving unit 27 notifies, for example, messages to be listed by text or voice.
(1) When unlocking starts <Message 1>
“The safety lock of the seat belt has been activated. The seat belt will be wound to release the lock. Please be aware that a large force will be applied.”
(2) When unlocking operation fails <Message 2>
"Unlock failed. Try again."
(3) When prompting the next action without releasing the lock even after a predetermined number of unlock operations <Message 3>
“The lock could not be released. Please release the buckle.”
("The lock could not be released. Please move the sheet later.")

Hereinafter, the control performed by the seat belt apparatus 1 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.
First, in step S1 shown in FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not the lock mechanism 11 is in an operating state based on signals from the acceleration sensor 21 and the winding position detecting unit 24, and the lock mechanism 11 is operated, that is, webbing. Only when it is determined that 5 is locked, the process proceeds to the next step S2.
Thereafter, in step S2, the counter variable i is initialized, and in step S3, a message to start unlocking (for example, the above message 1) is output to the notification device 22, and then the unlock control S4. I do.

As shown in FIG. 4, the unlock control S4 stores the initial winding position of the webbing 5 (position before pull-in for unlocking) in step S101, and the initial control for the motor 10 in step S102. An output command for the current value I0 is issued.
Thereafter, in step S103, the detected value of the current winding position detection unit 24 is compared with the stored initial position to determine whether or not the webbing 5 has been wound. The process proceeds to step S104, and if there is no winding, the process proceeds to step S105.

In step S104, it is determined whether or not the winding amount X is not less than a specified value X1 that can be unlocked. If the winding amount X is not less than the specified value X1, the process proceeds to the next step S106. While energization of the motor 10 is stopped and the specified value X1 is not reached, the process returns to step S103 and the energization is continued.
Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S107, and it is determined whether or not the winding amount X has fallen below the specified value X1, that is, whether or not the webbing 5 has been rewound after the lock mechanism 11 is unlocked. At this time, if the value is below the specified value X1, the process proceeds to step S108 to determine the success of unlocking, and if not below the specified value, the process proceeds to step S109 to determine the determination of unlocking failure. Note that the failure in unlocking in this case is a case where the webbing 5 cannot be released even if the webbing 5 is pulled to a prescribed amount that can be unlocked.

Further, in step S103, if the procedure advances to step S105 judges no winding, a current value a value obtained by adding ΔI to I of the current of the motor 10 it is determined whether or not reach the maximum current value IMax, reach If not, the process returns to step S103 to increase the current value I proceeds to step S110, in the case of reach determines the determination of the unlocking failure proceeds to step S109. In this case, the failure of unlocking is a case where the webbing 5 does not move even when the current value of the motor 10 is increased to the maximum current value IMax.

When the lock release control S4 is completed, the flow returns to the flow shown in FIG. 3. In step S5, it is determined whether or not the lock release has been successful. In step S6 , it is determined whether the counter variable i is less than the specified number n. At this time, if the counter variable i is less than the specified number n, the process proceeds to step S7, and a message (for example, message 2) indicating that the unlocking has failed and re-executed is output to the notification device 22, When the counter variable i reaches the specified number n, the process proceeds to step S8, and a message (for example, message 3) for instructing another operation different from the notification of the unlocking failure is output to the notification device 22. In addition, when progressing to step S7, it progresses to step S9 after that, the counter variable i is added, and it returns to step S3.

  As described above, in the seat belt device 1, when the emergency state is avoided and the lock of the lock mechanism 11 is released by retracting the webbing 5, the start of the release operation and the result are indicated by text (video) or sound. Is issued to the occupant 3 as a message, so that the anxiety and discomfort given to the occupant 3 by re-tightening the webbing 5 can be alleviated, and an appropriate instruction when the automatic release by the motor 10 cannot be performed is given to the occupant 3 Can be given promptly.

  Further, since the seat belt device 1 determines the operating state of the lock mechanism 11 based on the winding position information of the belt reel 12, an appropriate process according to the actual occupant restraint state by the webbing 5 is performed. There is an advantage that can be done.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment, A various design change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary.

1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a seat belt device showing an embodiment of the present invention. The schematic block diagram centering on the controller of the seatbelt apparatus of the embodiment. The flowchart which shows control of the seatbelt apparatus of the embodiment. The flowchart which shows control of the seatbelt apparatus of the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Seat belt apparatus 5 ... Webbing 10 ... Motor 11 ... Lock mechanism 12 ... Belt reel 14 ... Rotation sensor (winding position detection means)
22 ... Notification device 24 ... Winding position detector (winding position detector)
25 ... Motor control means 26 ... Lock state determination means 27 ... Notification means

Claims (4)

A belt reel on which a webbing that restrains an occupant seated on the seat is wound;
A motor that rotationally drives the belt reel;
A lock mechanism for locking the webbing feed;
Motor control means for controlling the motor,
In an emergency, in a vehicle seat belt device that winds up webbing by the rotational drive of the motor,
Lock state determination means for determining an operation state of the lock mechanism based on a vehicle state;
An informing device for informing the occupant of information by video or audio;
Notification driving means for driving the notification device after the webbing is wound by the motor and the locked state determination means determines that the webbing is locked;
Bei to give a,
The vehicle seat belt device according to claim 1, wherein the motor control means retracts the webbing for releasing the lock mechanism after the notification driving means is driven . A belt reel on which a webbing that restrains an occupant seated on the seat is wound;
A motor that rotationally drives the belt reel;
A lock mechanism for locking the webbing feed;
Motor control means for controlling the motor,
In an emergency, in a vehicle seat belt device that winds up webbing by the rotational drive of the motor,
Lock state determination means for determining an operation state of the lock mechanism based on a vehicle state;
An informing device for informing the occupant of information by video or audio;
Notification driving means for driving the notification device after the webbing is wound by the motor and the locked state determination means determines that the webbing is locked;
Winding position detection means for detecting the winding position of the belt reel;
With
The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lock state determination unit determines the lock state based on the winding position information of the belt reel from the winding position detection unit. A belt reel on which a webbing that restrains an occupant seated on the seat is wound;
A motor that rotationally drives the belt reel;
A lock mechanism for locking the webbing feed;
Motor control means for controlling the motor,
In a control method of a seat belt device for a vehicle that winds up a webbing by rotating the motor in an emergency,
Determining whether or not the lock mechanism is activated after winding of the webbing by rotation driving of the motor in an emergency is performed;
Driving an informing device that informs an occupant of information by video or audio based on whether or not the lock mechanism is activated;
Driving the motor again based on whether the locking mechanism is activated;
A method for controlling a seat belt device for a vehicle. Further determining whether the lock mechanism is activated after driving the motor based on whether the lock mechanism is activated;
The control of the seat belt device for a vehicle according to claim 3, further comprising a step of driving the notification device in accordance with whether or not the lock mechanism is activated after performing the step of further determining whether or not the lock mechanism is activated. Method.

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