JP7635734B2 - Occupant protection devices - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an occupant protection device for protecting an occupant seated in a seat.

Conventionally, passenger protection devices have been configured with an airbag that is placed in the area of the lap belt that restrains the passenger's waist when the seat belt is fastened (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this passenger protection device, the airbag inflates from the lap belt toward the front and upper side when deployed, and protects the upper body of the passenger when inflation is complete.

JP 2020-66425 A

In the passenger protection device described above, the inflator body that generates gas and the airbag that is placed in the lap belt area are connected by a pipe. This pipe is located close to the seat, but it can swing when the vehicle is moving and interfere with the seat, causing abnormal noise.

The present invention aims to solve these problems and provide an occupant protection device that can suppress abnormal noises caused by the pipe that guides the inflation gas into the airbag.

The present invention relates to an occupant protection device for protecting an occupant seated in a seat,
a seat belt; an airbag disposed in a region of a lap belt of the seat belt that restrains the waist of the occupant when the seat belt is worn; an inflator body that is fixed to a seat frame that supports the seat and generates inflation gas; and a pipe portion that extends from the inflator body and guides the inflation gas into the airbag,
The pipe portion is fixed by a fixing member to a first mounting surface provided on the seat frame and a second mounting surface extending in a direction intersecting the first mounting surface .

According to the passenger protection device of the present invention, the pipe portion that guides the inflation gas into the airbag is fixed to the seat frame by a fixing member, and the pipe portion is prevented from swinging closer to the seat. This makes it possible to prevent abnormal noise caused by interference between the pipe portion and the seat.

In the present invention, the inflator body may be disposed as a column extending in the left-right direction below the backrest of the seat, and the inflator body and the airbag may be connected by a bent pipe portion.
In the passenger protection device thus configured, the airbag module including the inflator body and the pipe portion can be arranged compactly around the seat.

Here, it is considered that the pipe section is particularly prone to swinging at the tip side (airbag side) where it extends from the inflator body. Therefore, from the viewpoint of suppressing swinging in the pipe section, it is preferable to fix the part of the bent pipe section that is closer to the airbag than the bent part to the seat frame with a fixing member.

Furthermore, if the pipe section is fixed to the seat frame on both sides of the bent section, the airbag side and the inflator body side, with fixing members, the pipe section is firmly fixed to the seat, and the pipe section's swaying can be more effectively suppressed.

1 is a perspective view of a seat equipped with an occupant protection device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side view of the seat of FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a front view of the seat of FIG. 1 with the seat belt fastened; FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing a state in which the inflator is attached to a seat frame, and FIG. 2B is a view showing the fixing points between the inflator and the seat frame together with the surrounding area. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a state in which an airbag used in the occupant protection device of FIG. 1 is inflated by itself; FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of the airbag of FIG. 5 . FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a base fabric constituting the airbag of FIG. 5 . 1 is a front view of a seat in a state where an airbag has completed inflation in an occupant protection device according to an embodiment; 1 is a side view of a seat in a state where an airbag has completed inflation in the occupant protection device according to an embodiment; 1 is a side view showing a state in which an occupant is restrained by an airbag that has completed inflation in the occupant protection device according to the embodiment; 5 is a diagram showing a modified example in which the fixing points on the pipe portion are different from those shown in FIG. 4 . 12 is a diagram showing a modified example in which the fixing points in the pipe portion are different from those in FIGS. 4 and 11 . FIG.

One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the occupant protection device S of the embodiment is mounted on a vehicle seat 1 and is configured to include a seat belt 7, an airbag 25, and an inflator 17. The seat 1 includes a backrest portion 2 and a seat portion 3.

The seat belt 7 is configured to include a belt body 8 for restraining an occupant MP seated on the seat 1, a tongue plate 12 attached to the belt body 8, and a buckle 13 for connecting the tongue plate 12. One end of the belt body 8 is fastened to a winding shaft of a retractor (not shown) disposed in the backrest 2, and the other end is fastened to an anchor member 14 (see Figs. 1 and 2) disposed to the left of the rear end 3b of the seat part 3 of the seat 1. In detail, the belt body 8 is disposed so as to be exposed to the outside from the upper left edge side of the backrest 2. In the embodiment, when the occupant is not seated, the lap belt 10 for positioning the airbag 25 is exposed to the front surface of the backrest 2 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The belt body 8 has a lap belt 10 and a shoulder belt 9 stored in the backrest 2. When the occupant is seated, the lap belt 10, which is arranged so as to extend substantially along the left-right direction between the anchor member 14 and the buckle 13, restrains the lower body MD (lumbar region) of the occupant MP, and the shoulder belt 9, which extends from the upper left edge of the backrest 2 and is arranged diagonally to the buckle 13, restrains the upper body MU (shoulders to chest MB and head MH) of the occupant MP (see FIG. 3). In addition, in the seat belt 7, a retractor (not shown) arranged in the backrest 2 has a pretensioner mechanism.

The inflator 17 supplies inflation gas to the airbag 25. In this embodiment, the inflator 17 includes an inflator body 18 that generates inflation gas, and a pipe portion 19 that extends from the inflator body 18 and guides the inflation gas into the airbag 25. In this embodiment, the inflator 17 is set to start operating later than the pretensioner mechanism of the seat belt 7 in order to regulate the pulling out of the belt body 8 of the seat belt 7 accompanying the inflation of the airbag 25. Specifically, the inflator 17 is set to start operating 5 ms after the pretensioner mechanism of the seat belt 7 is activated.

The inflator 17 is attached to the seat frame 4 that supports the seat 1 (more specifically, the seat portion 3) at a position lower than the seat surface 3a of the seat 1, and the inflator 17 can move together with the seat 1, even if the seat 1 is slid significantly back and forth or rotated, for example.

Figures 4A and 4B show the inflator 17 attached to the seat frame 4. As shown in these figures, the inflator body 18 is a generally cylindrical cylinder type, and is provided on the rear side below the seat 3 with its axial direction generally aligned in the left-right direction. At this time, the gas discharge port 61 provided on one end of the axial direction of the inflator body 18 faces the left direction of the seat 1.

The inflator body 18 is fixed to the seat frame 4 at two axially spaced locations using fixing members 65. The fixing members 65 are bolted clamps that include a ring-shaped clamp 66 that can be contracted and a bolt 68 that protrudes radially outward from the outer periphery of the clamp 66.

The clamp 66 is made of sheet metal and is firmly wrapped around the inflator body 18 by shrinking in diameter while attached to the outer circumferential surface of the inflator body 18. This attaches the fixing member 65 including the clamp 66 to the inflator body 18.

On the other hand, the mounting plate 70 of the seat frame 4 to which the inflator body 18 is fixed has a flat first mounting surface 71 extending in the left-right direction, and the first mounting surface 71 has through mounting holes 72 spaced apart in the left-right direction (see B in FIG. 4). In this embodiment, the inflator body 18 is fixed to the mounting plate 70 of the seat frame 4 by inserting the bolt 68 of the fixing member 65 into the mounting hole 72 and screwing a nut 75 onto the male thread of the bolt 68 from the tip side of the bolt 68 so as to sandwich the mounting plate 70.

The pipe section 19 is a metal tube bent into a roughly L-shape, with one end 19a connected to the gas discharge port 61 of the inflator body 18. The end 19a connected to the gas discharge port 61 is an enlarged diameter section, which is crimped while fitted onto the gas discharge port 61 of the inflator body 18 to form a crimp joint 76. At the crimp joint 76, a part of the pipe section 19 fits into a groove 62 formed at the base of the gas discharge port 61, so that the end 19a of the pipe section 19 is connected to the inflator body 18.

The pipe section 19 connected to the inflator body 18 extends its end 19a horizontally, then changes direction to an upper-front direction at a bent section 19b. It then extends in an upper-front direction at a position close to the seat frame 4 on the outside of the seat frame 4, with its tip 19c located to the left of the seat 1, slightly lower than the seat surface 3a. In this embodiment, this tip 19c is connected to a conduit section 40 of the airbag 25 (described later) using a clamp 20.

The pipe section 19 thus arranged between the inflator body 18 and the airbag 25 is fixed to the seat frame 4 using the fixing member 65B. The fixing member 65B is a bolted clamp having a ring-shaped clamp 66 that can be contracted and a bolt 68 that protrudes radially outward from the outer circumferential surface of the clamp 66, similar to the fixing member 65 described above. As shown in the partially enlarged view in FIG. 4B, a through-hole mounting hole 72B is drilled in the mounting plate section 70 of the seat frame 4 to which the pipe section 19 is fixed. The bolt 68 of the fixing member 65B is inserted into the mounting hole 72B, and a nut 75 is screwed into the male thread of the bolt 68 from the tip side of the bolt 68, thereby fixing the pipe section 19 to the mounting plate section 70 of the seat frame 4. However, in the present embodiment, a gap occurs between the clamp 66 wrapped around the pipe portion 19 and the mounting surface 71 on the seat frame 4 side, so a sleeve 78 with a height corresponding to this gap is inserted onto the bolt 68, and the mounting plate portion 70 is sandwiched between the nut 75 and the sleeve 78.

Considering the effect of suppressing rocking in the pipe section 19, it is desirable that the fixing point using the fixing member 65B be a position that is some distance away from the crimped joint 76. In this embodiment, the fixing point is a position near the end of the enlarged diameter section 19a of the pipe section 19 on the opposite side from the crimped joint 76. In this way, the hub section 19 is attached and fixed to the seat 1 (specifically the seat frame 4) by the inflator main body 18, which is fixed to the seat frame 4 by the fixing member 65, and the fixing member 65B.

The airbag 25 is folded into a long shape and placed in the area of the lap belt 10 so as to overlap the upper surface of the lap belt 10 when the seat belt 7 is worn (see FIG. 3). That is, in the unworn state as shown in FIG. 1, the airbag 25 is placed on the rear side (backrest 2 side) of the lap belt 10. In the case of the embodiment, the airbag 25 and the lap belt 10 are covered and integrated with each other by a cover 22 that can be broken when the airbag 25 is deployed and inflated, as shown in FIG. 3. That is, in the embodiment, the gap between the lap belt 10 and the cover 22 constitutes a storage area for storing the airbag 25.

As shown in Figures 5 and 6, the airbag 25 includes a bag body 26, a conduit 40 that is connected to the inflator 17 and allows inflation gas to flow into the bag body 26, and a belt attachment 47 through which the lap belt 10 is inserted.

The bag body 26 has an outer shape when fully inflated, which is a substantially triangular prism with the axial direction generally aligned with the left-right direction. In detail, the bag body 26 is configured so that the fully inflated shape when viewed from the left and right sides is a substantially right-angled triangle with a hypotenuse at the front, and the fully inflated shape when viewed from the front-rear direction is a substantially rectangular shape with a wide top-bottom width (see Figures 8 and 9). The bag body 26 includes a front wall portion 27 disposed at the front side away from the occupant MP when fully inflated, a rear upper wall portion 28 and a rear lower wall portion 29 disposed on the occupant MP side when fully inflated, and a left wall portion 30 and a right wall portion 31 disposed opposite each other on the left-right side when fully inflated. The bag body 26 has a communication hole 33 on the underside of the rear end 29a of the rear lower wall portion 29 that communicates with the conduit portion 40, and is connected to the conduit portion 40 at the peripheral portion of this communication hole 33. In the embodiment, the communication holes 33 are circularly opened and arranged side by side in two on the left and right sides so as to be substantially symmetrical on both sides of the left and right center of the bag body 26. In addition, vent holes 34, 34 for discharging excess inflation gas are formed near the upper and lower centers on both left and right edge sides of the front wall portion 27. In the bag body 26 of the embodiment, the rear lower wall portion 29 forms a leg contact surface 36 that can contact the upper surfaces of the legs (thighs) of the occupant MP when inflation is complete, and the rear upper wall portion 28 forms an upper body restraint surface 37 that is disposed in front of the occupant MP when inflation is complete and can restrain the occupant MP from the chest to the head. In the embodiment, the rear upper wall portion 28 and the rear lower wall portion 29 are configured such that the outer shape of the bag body 26 when inflation is complete is substantially rectangular with the longitudinal direction substantially aligned along the front-rear direction side or the vertical direction side, respectively, and the width dimensions of the longitudinal side are the same as shown in FIG. 6. The rear upper wall portion 28 is configured so that the upper end 28a is positioned in front of the head MH of the occupant when the bag body is fully inflated (see FIG. 9). The rear upper wall portion 28 and the rear lower wall portion 29 are configured to be positioned so as to be substantially perpendicular to each other in the cross-sectional shape of the bag body 26 when it is fully inflated (see FIG. 6).

The conduit 40 is connected to the pipe 19 of the inflator 17, and is configured such that the tip 40b side connected to the bag body 26 is closed and the base 40a side is open so as to be connectable to the pipe 19. When the airbag 25 is fully inflated, the conduit 40 is arranged in the left-right direction so as to be substantially aligned with the lap belt 10. As shown in FIG. 5, the region on the tip 40b side of the conduit 40 is arranged on the underside of the bag body 26 when the airbag 25 is fully inflated, and the region on the tip 40b side is made wide to serve as a gas storage section 41 for temporarily storing the inflation gas that has flowed into the inside. The base 40a side of the conduit 40 is connected to the pipe 19 of the inflator 17 using the clamp 20 as described above. The width of the gas storage section 41 is set to be approximately twice the width of the base 40a side of the conduit 40. The gas storage section 41 is configured such that the width dimension on the left-right side is approximately the same as the width dimension on the left-right side of the rear lower edge side of the bag body 26 (near the location of the communication hole 33) (see Figs. 5 and 7). The gas storage section 41 has an opening 41a formed therein that corresponds to the communication hole 33 formed in the bag body 26. In this embodiment, the conduit section 40 is formed in a cylindrical shape by joining the peripheries of the upper wall section 43 and the lower wall section 44, which have the same external shape, and the opening 41a is formed in the area of the upper wall section 43. The opening 41a is joined (sewn) to the periphery of the communication hole 33 around the entire periphery.

The belt attachment portion 47 is disposed on the underside (lower wall portion 44 side) of the gas storage portion 41 area of the conduit portion 40, and is sewn to the lower wall portion 44 in a generally cylindrical shape with both ends open so that the lap belt 10 can be inserted (see Figs. 5 and 6). The length of the belt attachment portion 47 is set to be slightly smaller than the width of the gas storage portion 41 on the left and right sides. In other words, the length of the belt attachment portion 47 is set to be larger on the side along the lap belt 10 so that the bag body 26 does not rise excessively from the lap belt 10 when deployed and inflated.

The airbag 25 of this embodiment is formed by joining the periphery of a base fabric of a predetermined shape, and in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, is composed of two occupant-side panels 50 and a front panel 55 that constitute the bag body 26, two conduit panels 57 and 58 that constitute the conduit 40, and a belt attachment panel 60 that constitutes the belt attachment section 47. The occupant-side panel 50, the front panel 55, the conduit panels 57 and 58, and the belt attachment panel 60 are each formed from flexible woven fabric made of polyester yarn, polyamide yarn, or the like.

In the passenger protection device S of this embodiment, when the inflator 17 is activated while the device is mounted in the vehicle, the inflation gas discharged from the inflator 17 flows into the bag body 26 via the conduit 40, and the bag body 26 breaks the cover 22 and protrudes forward and upward from the lap belt 10, completing inflation as shown in Figures 8 and 9.

In the occupant protection device S of the embodiment, the airbag 25 (bag body 26) is shaped like a triangular prism with its axial direction aligned generally along the left-right direction when fully inflated, and is disposed in front of the upper body MU of the occupant MP with the leg contact surface 36 in contact with the upper surface of the leg MT. Therefore, even if the occupant MP significantly moves the upper body MU closer to the lower body MD when the airbag 25 is fully inflated, the leg contact surface 36 is supported by the leg MT over a wide area as shown in FIG. 10, so that the upper body MU of the occupant MP (from the chest MB to the head MH) is restrained from collapsing or being compressed, and the upper body MU of the occupant MP (from the chest MB to the head MH) can be appropriately restrained by the upper body restraint surface 37 disposed in front of the upper body MU so as to face it. In addition, in the embodiment of the occupant protection device S, the shape of the airbag 25 (bag body 26) when fully inflated is a substantially triangular prism shape, so that the upper body MU can be appropriately restrained by the upper body restraint surface 37 even when the occupant MP is seated in a seat with the backrest inclined.

According to the embodiment of the occupant protection device S configured as described above, the pipe portion 19 is fixed to the seat frame 4 by the fixing member 65B, and the rocking of the pipe portion 19 approaching the seat 1 is suppressed. This makes it possible to suppress the generation of abnormal noise due to interference between the pipe portion 19 and the seat 1.

In addition, in the passenger protection device S of this embodiment, the inflator body 18 is arranged as a column extending in the left-right direction below the backrest portion 2 of the seat 1, and the inflator body 18 and the airbag 25 are connected by a bent pipe portion 19, so that the airbag module including the inflator body 18 and the pipe portion 19 can be compactly arranged around the seat 1.

Next, a modified example in which the pipe portion is fixed at a different location will be described. In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the pipe portion 19 is fixed at a portion on the base end side (inflator body 18 side) of the bent portion 19b, but the fixing portion of the pipe portion 19 can be changed as appropriate. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, a fixing portion can also be provided at a portion on the tip side (airbag 25 side) of the bent portion 19b of the pipe portion 19. In this case, the portion on the tip side of the bent portion 19b is fixed to the second mounting surface 73 (the second mounting surface 73 extending in a direction intersecting with the first mounting surface 71) of the mounting plate portion 70 of the seat frame 4 using the fixing member 65B. As in the example of FIG. 11, if the portions on both sides of the bent portion 19b, that is, the airbag 25 side and the inflator body 18 side, are fixed to the seat frame 4 by the fixing member 65B, the pipe portion 19 is firmly fixed to the seat 1, and the rocking of the pipe portion 19 can be more effectively suppressed.

Also, as shown in FIG. 12, when the pipe section 19 has two bent sections, the fixing points can be provided at a location further to the base end (toward the inflator body 18) than the first bent section 19b1 located at the base end, and at a location further to the tip end (toward the airbag 25) than the second bent section 19b2 located at the tip end.

It is considered that the pipe section 19 is particularly prone to swinging at the tip end where it extends from the inflator body 18 (i.e., the position away from the crimped joint 76). For this reason, in some cases, it is possible to fix only the portion of the bent pipe on the tip side (airbag 25 side) of the bent section 19b to the seat frame 4 with the fixing member 65B.

The above is a detailed description of an embodiment of the present invention, but this is merely one example. For example, the configuration of the fixing member used to fix the pipe section and the seat frame can be modified as appropriate. In the above embodiment, an endless annular clamp is used, but it is also possible to use a roughly C-shaped clamp with a portion cut out in the circumferential direction so that the clamp can be attached from the radial direction of the pipe section. For example, the present invention can be embodied in various modified forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1...seat, 2...backrest, 4...seat frame, 7...seat belt, 10...lap belt, 18...inflator body, 19...pipe, 19b...bent portion, 25...airbag, 65, 65B...fixing member, MP...occupant, S...occupant protection device, MU...upper body.

Claims (3)

An occupant protection device for protecting an occupant seated in a seat,
Seat belt and
an airbag disposed in a region of a lap belt that restrains a waist of the occupant when the seat belt is fastened, the airbag inflating to protect an upper body of the occupant;
an inflator body that is fixed to a seat frame that supports the seat and generates inflation gas;
a pipe portion extending from the inflator body to guide the inflation gas into the airbag;
The configuration has
The pipe portion is fixed by a fixing member to a first mounting surface provided on the seat frame and to a second mounting surface extending in a direction intersecting the first mounting surface . 2. The passenger protection device according to claim 1, wherein the fixing member has a bolt, and the pipe portion is fixed to the mounting surface via the bolt. 2. The occupant protection device according to claim 1, wherein the inflator body is disposed as a column extending in the left-right direction below the backrest portion of the seat, the inflator body and the airbag are connected by the pipe portion which is bent, and the bent pipe portion has portions on the inflator body side and the airbag side which are sandwiched between the bent portion, which are fixed to the first mounting surface and the second mounting surface of the seat frame , respectively.

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