JP2011016453A - Airbag - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an airbag that can secure a required energy absorption and a required thickness in a short period of time.SOLUTION: The airbag includes a hollow outer shell part having an outer film and an inner film and capable of forming an inner space between the outer film and the inner film, and a hollow coupling part for communicating a passenger-side internal space of the hollow outer shell part with a vehicle-structure-side internal space, and a joining part that joins the passenger-side parts of the outer film and the inner film. The airbag is inflated by introducing gas into the internal space of the hollow outer shell part and the internal space of the hollow coupling part.

Description

  The present invention relates to an airbag that inflates a bag between an interior material of an automobile and an occupant to reduce the impact received by the occupant in order to protect the occupant when the automobile collides with another automobile or an obstacle. .

In most automobiles currently produced, when the front of the automobile collides with another automobile or an obstacle (frontal collision), a bag is rapidly formed between the passenger and the vehicle body structure such as the interior material of the automobile. An airbag for a driver's seat and a passenger's seat that secures passenger safety by inflating the vehicle is mounted.
In recent years, in addition to a frontal collision, a side that expands to cover a side window to protect the passenger's head when the side of the vehicle collides with another vehicle or an obstacle (side collision). Side airbags that are mounted on curtain bags, body structures such as seats and automobile interior materials, and that protect the occupant's lower back and chest are beginning to be installed.

  Conventionally, what is shown by patent document 1 is known as an example of an airbag. As shown in FIG. 10, the airbag of Patent Document 1 has two cloths joined together by sewing or weaving to form a bag shape, and gas is introduced into the bag by a gas generator (inflator). Protect the occupant by inflating each bag. At this time, it is known to connect a plurality of bags or individually inflate each bag with a plurality of inflators in order to correspond to different body shapes.

JP 2008-230406 A

  As described above, in the conventional airbag, a bag or a plurality of bags are inflated by injecting gas from an inflator into a bag that is sewn or woven and folded. Reduce the impact force.

  That is, the conventional airbag exhibits a predetermined function by inflating the entire bag and restraining the occupant with the thickness and the internal pressure of the entire bag.

  In the conventional airbag, when the energy to be absorbed by the airbag is increased, for example, when the collision speed is increased, the volume of the airbag is increased, that is, the thickness of the bag at a predetermined internal pressure is increased. It corresponds by that. However, when the volume of the airbag is increased, the time until the airbag is completely expanded from the folded state to reach a predetermined expansion volume is increased.

  Here, in order to shorten the time required for the airbag to fully inflate, it is possible to increase the amount of gas supplied from the inflator, but not only the inflator becomes larger and the overall weight increases, The stress generated in the airbag is also increased.

  The present invention provides an airbag that reliably protects passengers even when the energy to be absorbed by the airbag increases, such as when the collision speed is high, and that can exhibit predetermined performance even while the airbag is deployed. The purpose is to provide.

A further object of the present invention is to
1. In the event of a car collision, gas quickly flows into the necessary part of the airbag, and the airbag expands stably and quickly.
2. The part where the airbag contacts the occupant and protects the passenger (generally referred to as the “protection area”) is set in consideration of the design of the car and the seating position of the occupant, but the protection area should be expanded. Is possible,
It is to provide an airbag that satisfies the requirements.

  The present invention relates to a hollow outer shell portion comprising an outer membrane and an inner membrane, a hollow outer shell portion capable of forming an internal space between the outer membrane and the inner membrane, and a passenger side of the hollow outer shell portion. An air bag comprising: a hollow connecting portion provided to communicate an internal space and an internal space on the vehicle body structure side; and a joint portion that joins the outer membrane on the passenger side and the inner membrane on the passenger side. Then, the present invention provides an airbag that is inflated by flowing gas into the internal space of the hollow outer shell portion and the internal space of the hollow connecting portion. In the present invention, when describing the position or the like of each part or member, the position or the like in the inflated airbag is used unless otherwise specified. For example, the passenger side of the present invention refers to the side of the inflated airbag facing the passenger, and the vehicle body structure side refers to the side opposite to the passenger side in the inflated airbag. The side attached to the structure.

  The airbag according to the present invention includes a hollow outer shell portion including an outer membrane and an inner membrane, and a hollow outer shell portion capable of forming an internal space between the outer membrane and the inner membrane. Since this configuration is adopted, the present invention can achieve the same bag thickness at the time of inflation as when the whole bag is inflated in a conventional airbag with a small inflated volume. Whereas a conventional airbag achieves a necessary thickness only by gas expansion, the airbag of the present invention is intended to ensure the necessary thickness even in the structure of the airbag in addition to the expansion by gas. Since the volume to be inflated by the gas generated from the inflator is smaller than the conventional airbag that inflates the entire bag, the gas can be supplied to the airbag very quickly, and the inflation speed is also increased. In addition, since the volume to be expanded is small, the required amount of gas generated by the inflator can be reduced, and the inflator can be reduced in size and weight.

  In addition, the airbag of the present invention has a hollow connecting portion provided so as to communicate the passenger-side internal space of the hollow outer shell portion with the vehicle body structure-side internal space. By ensuring the thickness of the airbag by the structure of the airbag, a predetermined thickness can be ensured in an extremely short time. Further, since the coupled hollow connecting portion is compressed and deformed by the collision of the occupant, the occupant can be protected by buckling the hollow connecting portion in addition to the internal pressure. Therefore, it is desirable that the hollow connection portion extends in a direction in which the occupant collides with the airbag. A plurality of hollow coupling portions may be provided, and each hollow coupling portion may be provided in parallel or radially.

  In addition, the airbag of the present invention is formed in the airbag, and at least a part of the inner membrane and the hollow connection portion facing the air hole, which is a space surrounded by the inner membrane and the hollow connection portion, is air permeable. have. Because of this air permeability, excess gas can be exhausted from the air-permeable portion even when the occupant collides with an airbag in the middle of deployment, which has a high internal pressure. Thereby, the impact force which a passenger | crew receives in the middle of deployment of an airbag can be reduced. In addition, air permeability is ensured also by providing the material which has air permeability, or providing the valve | bulb etc. in the surface of the inner film | membrane and hollow connection part which face a hole.

  In addition, the airbag of the present invention has a joint for joining the outer membrane on the passenger side and the inner membrane on the passenger side. The joint portion reduces the possibility that the hollow shell portion expands unevenly when gas flows into the hollow shell portion, and flattens the surface of the hollow shell portion after the expansion, thereby It is possible to increase the contact area when the battery collides with the airbag. Furthermore, by joining the outer membrane and the inner membrane, the gas flow from the inflator can be controlled, and the airbag can be inflated quickly and reliably. In addition, the outer membrane can be prevented from excessively expanding. There may be a plurality of joints, which may be formed by joining the inner films together with an adhesive or sewing, or may be joined by interposing another member such as plastic. The shape of the joint portion is a line segment, a circle, an ellipse, a quadrangle, a rhombus, a polygon, or a shape obtained by partially deforming them.

It is a figure which shows the 1st example of the airbag which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the airbag of FIG. It is a figure which shows the manufacture example of the airbag which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the 2nd example of the airbag which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the 2nd example of the airbag which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing of the junction part which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the airbag used in Examples 1, 2, and 4. FIG. 6 is a view showing an internal structure of an airbag used in Example 3. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the airbag of the conventional structure used by the comparative example. It is a schematic diagram of the conventional side bag described in Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2008-230406.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first example of an airbag according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal structure of the airbag of FIG.

  As shown in the figure, the airbag according to the present invention has a hollow outer shell A formed by the cloths 1 and 2 and a hollow connecting part B that connects the hollow outer shells formed by the cloths 3 and 4. Furthermore, it has the structure which has the junction part C which joins the cloths 1 and 2 which form the outer membrane and inner membrane of a hollow outer shell part. A region surrounded by the cloths 3 and 4 of the hollow connecting portion and the cloth of the hollow outer shell portion 2 is a hole D. The holes may be covered with a cloth 6 (not shown).

  In particular, in the airbag according to the present invention, the gas from the inflator is caused to flow into the hollow outer shell portion A and the hollow connecting portion B to be inflated, thereby quickly inflating with a small amount of gas. When an occupant collides, a predetermined protective performance is obtained by buckling of the hollow connecting portion B while allowing gas to flow out into the hole D.

The airbag in the present invention can be manufactured by sewing or weaving. In the case of sewing, the order of production is not specified, but, for example, a portion corresponding to the area of the hollow connection portion B is punched out on the cloth 2, or the area of the hollow connection portion B can be obtained with a plurality of cloths. After cutting and sewing, the cloth 1 and the cloth 2 are sewn, except for the inflator mounting portion. Thereafter, the fabrics 3 and 4 can be sewn to the opening of the hollow connecting portion B provided on the fabric 2, and the fabric 6 can be sewn to the ends of the fabrics 1 to 4.
In the case of weaving, it can be manufactured by using a loom (weaving machine equipped with a jacquard machine) that can weave a multilayer structure.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, an airbag satisfying the function can be manufactured by forming a bag with cloth 1 and cloth 2 and folding it with line FF. In the case of the production method of FIG. 3, the production of the original bag may be performed by sewing or weaving.

  The cloths 1 and 2 forming the hollow outer shell part A, the cloths 3 and 4 forming the hollow connecting part B, and the cloth 6 covering the hole D in the airbag of the present invention are coated with silicone or the like without air permeability. You may use the made cloth.

  Giving air permeability to the cloth 2 of the hollow outer shell part A and the cloths 3 and 4 of the hollow connecting part B appropriately discharges gas from the hollow outer shell part A and the hollow connecting part B when the occupant comes into contact with it. From the viewpoint of passenger protection.

  The air bag shown in FIG. 1 has a function of holding the internal pressure in the air holes D by covering the air holes with the cloth 6, thereby ensuring the cushion performance of the air bag and improving the shock absorbing performance. be able to. When the cloth forming the hollow outer shell portion A and the hollow connecting portion B is a coated non-breathable cloth, the cloth 6 is unnecessary.

  Further, in the airbag shown in FIG. 1, there is a joint portion C that joins the cloths 1 and 2 of the hollow outer shell portion A. This prevents the hollow outer shell portion A from being excessively expanded, improves the dispersibility of the gas when the gas flows through the hollow outer shell portion A, and achieves a smooth gas flow, whereby the cloth 1 and 2 has the effect of reducing the stress generated in 2.

  Although the shape of the junction part C is not ask | required, it is preferable from having a smooth outer shape from a viewpoint of reducing the stress concentration which arises in the cloth which forms the junction part C. Further, when there are a plurality of joints C, the arrangement may be a linear arrangement from the viewpoint of reducing the stress generated in the cloth and gas dispersibility, but a staggered arrangement is preferred.

  4 and 5 are views showing a second example of the airbag according to the present invention. 4 and 5, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same parts or members.

  The second example shown in FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an example of an airbag for a driver's seat of an automobile, and FIG. 5 is a view of the airbag shown in FIG. 4 as viewed from the front. FIG. 6 shows a cross section of only the joint C shown in FIG. When the joint portion of FIG. 6 is manufactured by sewing, it is desirable to seal the sewing portion with silicone or the like.

  The present invention is effective as a device for protecting a vehicle occupant when a vehicle collides. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a pedestrian protection bag and a motorcycle airbag.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cloth which forms hollow outer shell part 2 Cloth which forms hollow outer shell part 3 Cloth which forms hollow connecting part 4 Cloth which forms hollow connecting part A Hollow outer shell part B Hollow connecting part C Joint part D Hole

Claims (3)

A hollow outer shell portion comprising an outer membrane and an inner membrane, and a hollow outer shell portion capable of forming an internal space between the outer membrane and the inner membrane;
A hollow connecting portion provided so as to communicate an internal space on the passenger side and an internal space on the vehicle body structure side of the hollow outer shell portion;
A joint for joining the outer membrane on the passenger side and the inner membrane on the passenger side;
An airbag having:
An airbag that is inflated by allowing gas to flow into the internal space of the hollow outer shell portion and the internal space of the hollow connecting portion.   The airbag according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the inner membrane and the connecting portion is made of a material having air permeability.   The airbag according to claim 1, wherein the joint portion is a line segment, a circle, an ellipse, a quadrangle, a diamond, a polygon, or a shape obtained by partially deforming them.

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