JP5427220B2 - Curtain airbag - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a curtain airbag that inflates and deploys along a side surface in a vehicle compartment for the purpose of protecting an occupant during a vehicle side collision or rollover (rollover).

  In recent years, high safety is required for vehicles. This tendency is common in all countries of the world, and at present, airbags are almost standard equipment as vehicle safety devices in all over the world. Further, in business operators related to vehicle development, further improvement of safety is listed as an important development theme, and new airbags are being developed every day accordingly.

  Vehicle safety assessment standards vary from country to country, and each company is developing products to meet multi-country assessment standards. For example, in the United States, which has the largest number of automobiles in the world, FMTSS (Federal Automobile Safety Standards) has been established by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Currently, NHTSA's notification of the formulation of FMVSS rules (NPRM: Notice of Proposed Rule Making: Docket Number; NHTSA-2009-0183) states that “relaxation will be mitigated in the event of a side impact or rollover. A requirement has been proposed that the system reduces the likelihood of occupant emissions through the side windows. This requirement can be achieved by providing a curtain airbag as an off-vehicle emission reduction countermeasure device that forms an emission reduction system. The rule formulation notice (NPRM: Docket No. NHTSA-2009-0183) shown in the present specification is based on the officially established FMVSS226.

  The curtain airbag is an airbag that is installed above the door and inflates and deploys along the side window of the vehicle when an impact occurs. The inflating region of the curtain airbag is divided into a plurality of small rooms (chambers). For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a curtain airbag that is inflated and deployed so as to sandwich a pillar from the vehicle front-rear direction using an inflating portion (first chamber) and a facing portion (second chamber). According to Patent Document 1, it is possible to easily stabilize the position during expansion and deployment by sandwiching the pillar.

JP 2003-63345 A

  Currently, there is a demand for a reduction in manufacturing cost for curtain airbags. The reduction in manufacturing cost can be achieved by, for example, reducing the gas capacity in the expansion region. This is because if the gas capacity is small, an inexpensive inflator (gas generator) can be used. However, the conventional curtain airbag is premised on receiving an occupant in the inflated region. For this reason, the gas volume in the expansion region cannot be easily reduced, and the reduction in the gas volume in the expansion region may cause the quality of the curtain airbag to deteriorate.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a curtain airbag capable of exhibiting high out-of-vehicle release prevention performance even with a small gas capacity.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventors of the present application have made extensive studies and focused on a cloth-like portion that does not require gas to flow, such as a non-expandable portion (non-expandable region) of Patent Document 1. Then, it has been found that if the occupant can be received in the cloth-like non-inflatable area instead of the inflatable area, the output required for the inflator can be further reduced. However, the non-inflatable region is more likely to be stretched and deflected when the occupant comes into contact than the inflated region that inflates and tensions. Therefore, the inventors have further studied to enhance the out-of-vehicle release prevention performance in the non-expanded region, and have completed the present invention.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a typical configuration of a curtain airbag according to the present invention is a curtain airbag that is stored above a side surface in a vehicle compartment and inflates and deploys along the side surface, and gas flows into the curtain airbag. As a bag-like inflating region that inflates, the duct portion extends in the vehicle front-rear direction above the side surface portion, and extends downward from the duct portion along the substantially entire length of the center pillar that protrudes inward from the side window of the side surface portion. A pillar chamber and a plurality of normal chambers extending downward from the duct portion at positions separated from the pillar chamber in the vehicle longitudinal direction on the side window, and a duct-like non-inflatable region where gas does not flow A non-inflatable region that covers the side window surrounded by the pillar chamber and each normal chamber in the vehicle longitudinal direction And features.

  According to the said structure, even if it is a cloth-like non-expansion area | region, it receives a tension | tensile_strength and the rigidity becomes high because the expansion area | region of the surrounding 3 directions expand | swells. Furthermore, the pillar chamber overlaps with the center pillar and expands and expands, so that the non-expanded region connected to the center pillar can be further separated from the side window and further expanded to the inside of the vehicle. As described above, the above configuration can exhibit high out-of-vehicle release prevention performance regardless of the expansion region, and thus the gas capacity can be reduced.

  The curtain airbag may further include an additional chamber connected to the lower edge of the non-inflatable region to communicate the pillar chamber and the plurality of normal chambers. According to this configuration, when the additional chamber is expanded, further tension is applied to the non-expanded region and its rigidity is increased. Accordingly, it is possible to further improve the out-of-vehicle release prevention performance.

  The additional chamber may be provided so as to extend below the door belt line. With this configuration, the additional chamber interferes with the door belt line when the occupant comes into contact with the non-inflatable region. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the curtain airbag and the occupant from moving in the direction of the outside of the vehicle, and to efficiently prevent the vehicle from being released outside the vehicle.

  The curtain airbag further includes a cover portion that is coupled to the inside of the curtain airbag so as to straddle the pillar champ, the non-inflatable region, and the normal chamber, and the length of the cover portion is determined without the cover portion. It may be substantially the same as the length of the shortest path connecting the coupling positions of the cover portions when the bag is inflated and deployed through the outside of the curtain airbag.

  The cover portion is deployed without slack as the curtain airbag is inflated and deployed so as to cover the non-inflated region. At that time, since the cover portion straddles the pillar chamber and the normal chamber, the cover portion is deployed at a position protruding to the inside of the vehicle as much as the pillar chamber. Thereby, the cover part can catch a passenger | crew early at the position inside a vehicle further, ie, a passenger | crew, further than a non-expansion area | region. With this configuration, it is possible to further improve the out-of-vehicle release prevention performance.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, even if it is a small gas capacity, it becomes possible to provide a curtain airbag that can exhibit a high performance for preventing outside emission.

It is a figure which illustrates the curtain airbag concerning 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged view of the curtain airbag of FIG.1 (b). It is AA sectional drawing of FIG.1 (b). It is a figure which illustrates the curtain airbag concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates the curtain airbag concerning 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is BB sectional drawing of FIG.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in the embodiments are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not illustrated. To do.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a curtain airbag according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A illustrates the curtain airbag according to the first embodiment (hereinafter referred to as “airbag 100”) when not deployed, and FIG. 1B illustrates the airbag 100 deployed. Hereinafter, all the embodiments will be described as a curtain airbag for the right side surface of the vehicle 102 as shown in FIG. 1, but the curtain airbag for the left side surface has a similar symmetrical structure.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the airbag 100 includes an inflator 104 that is a gas generator. The airbag 100 is inflated by the pressure of the gas supplied from the inflator 104 to restrain the occupant. In particular, the airbag 100 is capable of exhibiting high out-of-vehicle release prevention performance while suppressing output required for the inflator 104.

  The airbag 100 is wound as shown in FIG. 1A, or is folded (not shown), and the roof side rail above the side surface in the vehicle compartment (illustrated by an imaginary line in the figure). .) And stored. Usually, the roof side rail is covered with a roof trim and is not visible from the vehicle interior. A plurality of pillars supporting the roof (roof) are connected to the roof side rail. These are called a front pillar 106, a center pillar 108, and a rear pillar 110 from the front of the vehicle 102.

  When a side collision or rollover (rollover) occurs in the vehicle 102, first, a sensor (not shown) provided in the vehicle 102 detects an impact and transmits an ignition signal to the inflator 104. Then, the explosive in the inflator 104 burns and the generated gas is supplied to the airbag 100. When the airbag 100 receives the gas from the inflator 104, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, the inflation region expands downward along the side surface portion (side window 112 or the like) of the passenger compartment, Protect passengers.

  The airbag 100 illustrated in FIG. 1B is manufactured, for example, by sewing a base fabric that constitutes a surface of the airbag 100 on the front and back sides or by using OPW (One-Piece Woven). The airbag 100 is broadly configured to include an inflated region formed in a bag shape so that gas flows in and non-inflated regions 130a and 130b formed in a cloth shape into which gas does not flow.

  The inflation region of the airbag 100 is partitioned into a plurality of small rooms (chambers). A duct portion 120 is provided above the side surface portion of the vehicle in the expansion region. The duct part 120 is a part that first receives the gas from the inflator 104. The duct portion 120 extends in the vehicle front-rear direction, and guides gas to the other chambers.

  A front chamber 124 and a rear chamber 126 are provided as a plurality of normal chambers for protecting passengers at both ends of the duct portion 120 before and after the vehicle. The front chamber 124 protects the occupant of the front seat 116 in front of the front seat space. The rear chamber 126 protects the occupant at the side of the rear seat 118. A pillar chamber 122 is installed at a position overlapping the center pillar 108 (a pillar having side windows on the front and rear sides) below the duct portion 120. The pillar chamber 122 extends downward from the duct portion 120 along substantially the entire length of the center pillar 108.

  The front chamber 124 and the rear chamber 126 are separated from the pillar chamber 122 in the vehicle front-rear direction on the side windows 112 and 114, respectively, and cloth-like non-expandable regions 130a and 130b are installed between them. In the present embodiment, the non-inflatable areas 130a and 130b are made of the same base fabric as the inflatable area. In addition, although the edge part 132 of the airbag 100 is also a cloth-like part which is not inflated, it is distinguished as a part different from the non-inflatable regions 130a and 130b.

  A strap 134 is provided at the front end (edge 132) of the front chamber 124 in the front of the vehicle. The strap 134 is a member that stabilizes the posture of the airbag 100 when it is inflated and deployed. The strap 134 connects the edge portion 132 and the front pillar 106. When the expansion region is expanded, the expansion region slightly contracts in the vehicle front-rear direction, and the strap 134 has a shape that is tensioned at that time. When the strap 134 is tensioned, tension is applied to each chamber and each non-expanded region at the time of expansion and deployment, and the posture is stabilized without collapsing. Further, since the front pillar 106 protrudes to the vehicle inner side than the side window 112 (see FIG. 3), the front chamber 124 can be inflated and deployed further away from the side window 112 to the vehicle inner side.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the curtain airbag of FIG. Symbols A1 to A4 and B1 to B4 illustrated in FIG. 2 are impact points of an impactor (a test apparatus that simulates an occupant) in an out-of-vehicle emission prevention performance evaluation test based on NPRM (NHTSA-2009-0183). The out-of-vehicle emission prevention performance evaluation test is a test defined in NPRM (NHTSA-2009-0183). The impactor is the same as that of NPRM (NHTSA-2009-0183). It is defined in “Proposed Ejection Mitigation Requirements and Test Procedures”. The impactor impact target is the same as that of NPRM (NHTSA-2009-0183). Stipulated in “Target locations” defined in “Proposed Ejection Mitigation Requirements and Test Procedures”, d. “Locations Where the Device Would Impact the Ejection Mitigation Countermeasure To Asses Efficacy”, 4. “Method for Determining Impactor Target Locations” ing. These hit points are indicated by the hit point positions of the targets described in the NPRM, for example, the points indicated in A1 to A4, B1 to B4, and the like. Each hit point is set with respect to the side windows 112 and 114, and the airbag 100 is designed to cover these hit points. In the side collision test based on the NPRM, the amount of movement of the impactor in the vehicle outward direction is measured. The measurement standard of the movement amount at that time is a vertical plane that is in contact with the outermost surface of the impactor when the impactor is in contact with the inner surface of each side window.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the front chamber 124 is provided at a position covering the A1 and A3 hit points, and the rear chamber 126 is provided at a position covering the B2 and B4 hit points. The non-inflatable region 130a is provided at a position covering A2 and A4 hit points, and the non-inflatable region 130b is provided at a position covering B1 and B3.

  Since the expansion region such as the front chamber 124 can exhibit high rigidity by using the gas pressure, it is possible to appropriately catch an occupant or the like. On the other hand, since the non-expanding regions 130a and 130b are cloth-like, the rigidity of the non-expanding regions 130a and 130b alone is low, but the rigidity can be supplemented by the surrounding expanding regions. For example, the non-inflatable region 130 b has an upper edge connected to the duct portion 120, a vehicle front side edge connected to the pillar chamber 122, and a vehicle rear side edge connected to the rear chamber 126. Tension is applied to the non-expanded region 130b by expanding these three expanded regions. Therefore, the non-inflatable region 130b can receive an occupant or the like without stretching or bending. The same applies to the non-expanded region 130a.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. The pillar chamber 122 illustrated in FIG. 3 has a function of improving the out-of-vehicle release prevention performance particularly in the non-inflated areas 130a and 130b of the airbag 100. More specifically, first, the pillar chamber 122 expands and repels the center pillar 108. Since the center pillar 108 protrudes to the vehicle inner side than the side windows 112 and 114, the pillar chamber 122 repelling the center pillar 108 is located further to the vehicle inner side. Along with this, the non-expanded regions 130 a and 130 b connected to the pillar chamber 122 are also deployed at positions closer to the vehicle interior than the side windows 112 and 114. That is, the non-inflatable regions 130a and 130b can be deployed closer to the occupants of the front portion 116 and the rear seat 118, so that the amount of movement can be reduced by contacting the occupants early. In this way, the non-inflatable areas 130a and 130b have enhanced outside-release prevention performance.

  As described above, since the airbag 100 can favorably restrain the occupant using the non-inflatable regions 130a and 130b, the inflated region is reduced as compared with the conventional case. As a result, the gas capacity required for expansion and deployment is reduced, and an inflator with lower output and lower cost can be used. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a curtain airbag according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The curtain airbag illustrated in FIG. 4 (hereinafter referred to as “airbag 200”) is different from the airbag 100 of the first embodiment in that an additional chamber 202 is provided on the lower edge side.

  The additional chamber 202 is connected to the lower edge of the non-expanded regions 130a and 130b, and communicates between the pillar chamber 122, the front chamber 124, and the rear chamber 126. When the gas flows into the additional chamber 202 and expands, further tension is applied to the non-expanded regions 130a and 130b, and the rigidity thereof is increased. Further, by providing the additional chamber 202, the non-expanding regions 130a and 130b are surrounded by the expanding region in all four directions, so that the non-expanding regions 130a and 130b are more difficult to extend and bend.

  Further, the additional chamber 202 is provided so as to extend below the door belt lines 113 and 115 (upper edges of the door trim). In the present embodiment, the entire additional chamber 202 is positioned below the door belt lines 113 and 115. Since the side windows 112 and 114 may be opened when an impact occurs, the side windows 112 and 114 are treated as having no side windows when evaluating the vehicle release prevention performance. However, the door trim (or the door itself) is of course always present. If it is the said structure, when the passenger | crew contacts the airbag 200, since the additional chamber 202 will interfere with a door trim, the moving amount | distance to the vehicle exterior direction of the airbag 200 will fall. As described above, by providing the additional chamber 202, it is possible to efficiently achieve prevention of discharge outside the vehicle.

(Third embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a curtain airbag according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The curtain airbag illustrated in FIG. 5 (hereinafter referred to as “airbag 300”) is different from the above embodiments in that it includes a cover portion 302.

  The cover part 302 is used to catch an occupant earlier. The cover portion 302 is coupled to the inner side of the airbag 300 from the front end side edge portion 132 (coupling position S1) to the rear end side edge portion 133 (coupling position S2). As described above, the cover 302 is coupled across the pillar chamber 122, the non-expanded regions 130a and 130b, and the normal chamber (the front chamber 324 and the rear chamber 326).

  6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the length of the cover portion 302 (the length from the joining position S1 to the joining position S2 in the cover portion 302) is equal to the joining position S1 when the airbag 300 is inflated and deployed without the cover portion 302. In other words, the length of the shortest path connecting the edges 132 and 133 through the outside of the airbag 300 is set substantially the same. That is, the length of the cover portion 302 is set to a length that allows the cover portion 302 to be deployed without slack as the airbag 300 is inflated and deployed.

  The “outside of the airbag 300” does not mean the “outside of the vehicle” of the airbag 300. This means the outside of the bag-like expansion region (inside) into which gas flows. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the cover portion 302 is extended along a common tangential path with respect to a substantially elliptical cross section between adjacent chambers (for example, the front chamber 324 and the pillar chamber 122). There is no loose contact around. Accordingly, the cover unit 302 realizes the shortest path described above.

  As shown in FIG. 6, since the cover part 302 straddles the pillar chamber 122 and the front chamber 324 / rear chamber 326, the cover part 302 is deployed at a position protruding to the inside of the vehicle as much as the pillar chamber 122 and the like. . Thereby, the cover part 302 can receive a passenger | crew early at the position inside a vehicle further, ie, a passenger | crew, further than the non-expansion area | region 130a * 130b. With this configuration, it is possible to further improve the out-of-vehicle release prevention performance. Further, in the present embodiment, since the occupant can be efficiently received by the cover portion 302, the gas volumes of the front chamber 324 and the rear chamber 326 are set to the front chamber 124 and the rear chamber 126 of FIG. It is possible to reduce even more.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments described above are preferred examples of the present invention, and other embodiments can be implemented or performed in various ways. Can be carried out. The invention is not limited to the detailed shape, size, configuration, and the like of the components shown in the accompanying drawings unless otherwise specified in the present specification. In addition, expressions and terms used in the present specification are for the purpose of explanation, and are not limited thereto unless otherwise specified.

  Therefore, it is obvious for those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be conceived within the scope of the claims, and these naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. It is understood.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the example which applied the curtain airbag concerning this invention to the motor vehicle was demonstrated, it is also possible to apply to an aircraft, a ship, etc. besides a motor vehicle, and can obtain the same effect. it can.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a curtain airbag that inflates and deploys along a side surface in a vehicle compartment for the purpose of protecting an occupant during a vehicle side collision or rollover (rollover).

S1, S2: Coupling position, 100, 200, 300 ... Airbag, 102 ... Vehicle, 104 ... Inflator, 106 ... Front pillar, 108 ... Center pillar, 110 ... Rear pillar, 112 ... Side window, 113, 115 ... Door belt line 116 ... front seat, 118 ... rear seat, 120 ... duct part, 122 ... pillar chamber, 124, 324 ... front chamber, 126, 326 ... rear chamber, 130a, 130b ... non-inflatable region, 132, 133 ... edge 134 ... Strap 202 ... Additional chamber 302 ... Cover part

Claims (4)

A curtain airbag that is housed above a side surface in a vehicle compartment and inflates and deploys along the side surface,
As a bag-like expansion area where gas flows in and expands,
A duct portion extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction above the side surface portion;
A pillar chamber extending downward from the duct portion along substantially the entire length of the center pillar protruding to the vehicle inner side than the side window of the side surface portion;
A plurality of normal chambers extending downward from the duct portion at positions separated from the pillar chamber in the vehicle longitudinal direction on the side window;
With
As a cloth-like non-inflatable region where gas does not flow in, the duct portion is provided above, and the vehicle front-rear direction is provided with a non-inflatable region that is surrounded by the pillar chamber and each normal chamber and covers the side window ,
The plurality of normal chambers include a front chamber provided in front of the vehicle relative to the center pillar, and a rear chamber provided in the rear of the vehicle relative to the center pillar,
The front chamber is a position that covers a hitting point in front of the vehicle among a plurality of hitting points set in an opening region covered by a side window in front of the vehicle as a target of an impactor that is a test apparatus in an outside emission prevention performance evaluation test based on NRPM. Provided in
The non-expanding region adjacent to the front chamber of the non-expanding region is provided at a position that covers the hitting point behind the vehicle among the plurality of hitting points set in the opening region covered by the side window in front of the vehicle,
The rear chamber is provided at a position covering a hitting point behind the vehicle among a plurality of hitting points set in an opening region covered by a side window behind the vehicle as a collision target of the impactor,
The non-expanding region adjacent to the rear chamber in the non-expanding region is provided at a position that covers the hitting point in front of the vehicle among the plurality of hitting points set in the opening region covered by the side window behind the vehicle,
The curtain airbag according to claim 1, wherein the non-inflatable region is capable of restraining an occupant by tension when the plurality of normal chambers and the pillar chamber are inflated .   The curtain airbag according to claim 1, further comprising an additional chamber connected to a lower edge of the non-inflatable region to communicate the pillar chamber and a plurality of normal chambers.   The curtain airbag according to claim 2, wherein the additional chamber is provided so as to extend below the door belt line. The curtain airbag further includes a cover portion that is coupled to straddle the pillar chamber, the non-inflatable region, and the normal chamber on the inner side of the curtain airbag,
The length of the cover part is substantially the same as the length of the shortest path connecting the coupling positions of the cover part through the outside of the curtain airbag when the curtain airbag is inflated and deployed without the cover part. The curtain airbag according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the curtain airbag is provided.

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