JP2843099B2 - Energy absorption structure on the side of the vehicle - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an energy absorbing structure at a vehicle body side for protecting an occupant from the impact energy of a side collision of a vehicle.

(Related Art) Recently, vehicles tend to be equipped with airbags for protecting occupants in the event of a collision.

Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 1-117957 discloses an airbag unit provided on an armrest of a side door. That is, the airbag that expands at the time of a side collision is deployed toward the occupant's body, and the impact energy applied to the occupant at the time of a side collision is absorbed by the airbag. In general, the airbag against the side collision is deployed to the shoulder or the head of the occupant.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, the size of the deployment of the airbag is set to a size just suitable for energy absorption at the time of a side collision. That is, when the deployment of the airbag is too large, a load in the anti-collision direction may act on the occupant due to the deployment of the airbag. Conversely, if the deployment is too small, the impact energy applied to the occupant will not be sufficiently absorbed.

However, even if the deployment size of the airbag is just the right size, when the door glass is opened, a part of the airbag escapes from the vehicle window to the outside of the vehicle, and the impact energy absorbing effect on the occupant is reduced. There is a problem of halving.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an energy absorbing structure for a side portion of a vehicle body in which an airbag is appropriately deployed regardless of whether a side glass including a door glass is opened or closed.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve such technical means, in the present invention,
An openable and closable side glass is provided on a vehicle window formed on a side wall of a vehicle compartment, and an airbag unit containing an airbag is disposed on the side wall, and the airbag that expands at the time of a side collision is at least from the waistline. Also presupposing an energy absorbing structure of the side of the vehicle body to be deployed toward the upper region, glass opening / closing detecting means for detecting the open / closed state of the side glass, collision detecting means for detecting a side collision, and deployment of the airbag. Deployment state adjusting means for adjusting the size; and turning state control means for increasing the deployment of the airbag when the side glass is opened at the time of a side collision as compared to when the side glass is closed. The configuration is adopted. Preferred embodiments based on the above configuration are as described in claims 2 and 3 in the claims.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an automobile,
Is a so-called two-door type vehicle in which a driver seat side and a passenger seat side are provided with doors 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, the door 2 is roughly composed of a door main body 3 and a door glass 4 provided inside the door main body 3 so as to be able to move up and down. More specifically, the door body 3 includes a door glass accommodation space 7 by the outer panel 5 and the inner panel 6.
An impact bar 8 is provided in the door glass accommodation space 7, and the impact bar 8 extends in the front-rear direction so as to face the outer panel 5.

The upper end of the outer panel 5 and the inner panel 6 are separated from each other, and an entrance 9 of the door glass 4 is formed. The line defined by the upper end of the door body 2 is called a waist line l.

The door glass 4 is moved up and down by being guided by a glass guide 10, and the driving source of the up and down movement is the electric motor 11 here.

The door body 3 has a vehicle interior side formed by a door trim 12. That is, the door trim 12 is attached to the inner surface of the inner panel 6 on the vehicle interior side, and the door trim 12 is provided.
Is formed with an armrest 13.

In such a door 2, a main airbag unit EU1 is disposed on an armrest 13, and a sub airbag unit EU2 is disposed on the upper end of the inner panel 4.
U1 and EU2 are covered with a door trim 12.

The main airbag unit EU1 has an opening 14a facing upward
The case 14 has a main airbag 15
And the inflator 16 are accommodated. The sub airbag unit EU2 also has a case 17 having an opening 17a facing upward, in which the sub airbag 18 and the inflator 19 are housed.

In the door trim 12, a break line 20 is formed on the shelf of the armrest 13 corresponding to the opening 14a of the main airbag unit EU1, and is broken at the upper end of the door trim 12 corresponding to the opening 17a of the sub airbag unit EU1. When the line 21 is formed and the main airbag 15 is inflated, the shelf of the door trim 12 is forcibly pushed open and typified upward. When the auxiliary airbag 18 is inflated, the door trim is adjusted.
The upper end of the twelve is forcibly pushed open and unfolded upward.

The inflator 16 of the main unit EU1 and the subunit EU2
The inflators 19 are independently detonated based on a signal from the control unit U. On the other hand, a signal from a sensor 25 attached to the impact bar 8 and a signal from a sensor 26 attached to the door glass motor 11 are input to the control unit U. The sensor 25 detects a side collision when the outer panel 5 is deformed. The sensor 26 detects the degree of opening of the door glass 4 based on the amount of rotation of the electric motor 11, such as a rotation potentiometer.

When a side collision (indicated by an arrow A in FIG. 3 or the like) is detected by the sensor 25, the main airbag 15 is inflated, and as shown in FIG. It is deployed upward along the inner surface. At this time, when the door glass 4 is fully opened or almost fully opened in response to a signal from the sensor 26, as shown in FIG.
16 is inflated. That is, when the door glass 4 is fully opened or almost fully opened, the sub airbag 18 is deployed in addition to the deployment of the main airbag 15 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the door glass 4 is fully or almost fully closed, as shown in FIG. 3, only the main airbag 15 is deployed, and the detonation of the inflator 19 of the sub airbag unit EU2 is prohibited. It has become. In FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 30 denotes a roof, and 31 denotes a side sill.

Thereby, when the door glass 4 is opened,
The main airbag 15 is supported by the sub airbag 18,
Falling outside the vehicle will be regulated. That is,
The auxiliary airbag 18 compensates for the capacity shortage caused by the main airbag 15 falling out of the vehicle.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In the description of this embodiment, the same elements as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Is omitted, and only the features of the present embodiment will be described below.

In the present embodiment, an airbag unit EU is provided on the armrest 13, and the airbag unit EU includes two inflators 35 and 36. Also airbag
37 is large enough to expand when the two inflators 35, 36 are detonated. When the door glass 4 is closed, one of the inflators 35 is detonated, the detonation of the other inflator 36 is prohibited, and the airbag 37 is deployed small (see FIG. 5). On the other hand, when the door glass 4 is opened, the two inflators 35 and 36 are both detonated, and the airbag 37 is largely deployed (see FIG. 4). The detonation of the inflators 35 and 36 is controlled by the control unit U as in the first embodiment.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the number of inflators provided is three or more, and the opening degree of the door glass is changed in multiple stages according to the degree of opening and closing of the side glass including the door glass 4. The deployment size of the airbag may be adjusted in multiple stages according to the conditions.

(Effects of the Invention) As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, regardless of whether the side glass is opened or closed, the deployment size of the airbag can be made to be an appropriate size, and the occupant protection function can be provided by opening and closing the side glass. Regardless, it can be secured.

With the configuration as described in claim 2, the size of the deployment of the airbag can be reliably changed as a whole by a simple method of changing the number of airbags to be deployed.

The configuration described in claim 3 allows the airbag deployed from the upper position and the airbag deployed from the lower position to overlap with each other in the vehicle width direction in a large deployed state. To have a sufficient capacity as a whole in the vehicle width direction. Further, since a plurality of airbags are dispersedly arranged at the upper position and the lower position, it is preferable in securing a space for accommodating the airbags.

With the configuration as described in claim 4, a more specific structure for obtaining the effect corresponding to claim 3 is provided. In particular, the airbag disposed at the lower position can be disposed by effectively utilizing the space in the armrest.

With the configuration as described in claim 5, 1
The size of the deployment can be changed while using one airbag.

With the configuration as described in claim 6, the size of deployment of the airbag can be reliably changed by a simple method of changing the number of activated inflators.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an internal structure of a door, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II of FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a side view of an automobile to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 1, showing the deployment of the airbag of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 1, showing the deployment of the airbag when the door glass is opened, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the door showing the deployment of the airbag when the door glass is closed in the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the airbag when the door glass is opened in the second embodiment. Sectional drawing of the door which shows expansion | deployment. 2 door 3 door body 4 door glass 15 main airbag 18 auxiliary airbag 16, 19, 35, 36 inflator 25 collision sensor 26 door open / close sensor U … Control unit EU …… Airbag unit

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] An openable side glass is provided on a vehicle window formed on a side wall of a vehicle compartment, and an airbag unit accommodating an airbag is disposed on the side wall, and the airbag inflates when a side collision occurs. In an energy absorbing structure at a vehicle body side portion which is deployed at least above the waist line, a glass opening / closing detecting means for detecting an open / closed state of the side glass, a collision detecting means for detecting a side collision, and the airbag Deployment state adjusting means for adjusting the size of deployment of the airbag; deployment state control means for increasing the deployment of the airbag when the side glass is open at the time of a side collision, compared to when the side glass is closed, An energy absorbing structure on the side of the vehicle body, comprising: 2. The deployed state adjusting means according to claim 1, wherein said deployed state adjusting means comprises a plurality of airbags, and said deployed state control means determines the number of airbags to be deployed among said plurality of airbags. An energy absorbing structure on the side of a vehicle body, wherein the energy absorbing structure is changed according to an open / closed state of a side glass. 3. The vehicle body according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of airbags are dispersedly disposed at an upper position near the side glass and a lower position below the upper position. Energy absorption structure on the side. 4. The armrest according to claim 3, wherein the airbag at the upper position is disposed in an upper end portion of the inner panel on the side wall, and the airbag at the lower position is formed on an inner panel on the side wall. An energy absorbing structure on the side of the vehicle body, which is disposed in the vehicle. 5. The unfolded state adjusting means according to claim 1, wherein said unfolded state adjusting means adjusts an inflation pressure supplied to the airbag, and said unfolded state control means controls an inflation pressure supplied to the airbag by a side glass. The energy absorbing structure at the side of the vehicle body is changed according to the open / close state of the vehicle. 6. The inflator according to claim 5, wherein said deployment state adjusting means is provided by providing a plurality of inflators for one airbag, and said deployment state control means is operated among said plurality of inflators. The energy absorbing structure on the side of the vehicle body, wherein the number is changed according to the open / closed state of the side glass.