JPH06107114A - Control device of occupant restraint system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a control device capable of correctly actuating an occupant restraint system against any type of collision by simple adjustment. CONSTITUTION:This control device is furnished with a distance detection means 100 to detect distance between a structure and an occupant in a car room, a relative speed detection means 101 to detect relative speed between a vehicle and the occupant, a relative speed enumeration means 102 to enumerate relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the point of time when the occupant gets in touch with the structure in the car room after collision of the vehicle in accordance with the detected distance and relative speed and an actuation deciding means 103 to decide actuation of an occupant restraint system when the enumerated relative speed exceeds a previously set value.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an occupant restraint system control device for restraining and protecting an occupant in the event of a collision.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A control device for controlling the operation of an occupant restraint device such as an air bag or a seat belt is known (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-148348). In this type of control device, a signal component generated due to destruction of a vehicle body structural member or a shock absorbing member is extracted from a deceleration signal at the time of a collision, and the strength of the collision or the energy of the collision is estimated based on the signal component. However, if they exceed the set values, the occupant restraint system is activated.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional control device for an occupant restraint system, a vehicle body structural member or a shock absorbing member which is destroyed in a collision is different depending on various types of collisions. There is a problem that many experiments must be performed and fine adjustments must be made based on those data in order to operate properly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a control device capable of accurately operating an occupant restraint system against any collision with simple adjustment.

[0005]

The invention of claim 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 (a) which is a diagram corresponding to claims. In the invention of claim 1, the distance between the structure in the passenger compartment and the occupant is calculated. Distance detecting means 100 for detecting, relative speed detecting means 101 for detecting a relative speed between the vehicle and an occupant, and distance detecting means 10
Relative to calculate the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the time when the occupant comes into contact with the structure in the vehicle compartment after the collision of the vehicle, based on the distance detected by 0 and the relative speed detected by the relative speed detecting means 101. The speed calculating means 102 and the operation determining means 103 for determining the operation of the occupant restraint system when the relative speed calculated by the relative speed calculating means 102 exceeds a preset value are provided, thereby achieving the above object. To achieve. The invention of claim 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 (b) which is a claim correspondence diagram. In the invention of claim 2, the deceleration detecting means 200 for detecting the deceleration of the vehicle and the deceleration detection are provided. Distance calculating means 20 for calculating the distance between the structure in the vehicle interior and the occupant based on the deceleration detected by the means 200.
1, the first relative speed calculating means 202 for calculating the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant based on the deceleration detected by the deceleration detecting means 200, the distance calculated by the distance calculating means 201, and the first Second relative speed calculation means 203 for calculating the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the time when the occupant comes into contact with the structure inside the vehicle compartment after the collision of the vehicle based on the relative speed calculated by the relative speed calculation means 202. And an operation determining means 204 for determining the operation of the occupant restraint system when the relative speed calculated by the second relative speed calculating means 203 exceeds a preset value, thereby achieving the above object. To do.

[0006]

In the occupant restraint system according to the present invention, the occupant contacts the structure in the vehicle interior after the collision of the vehicle based on the distance between the structure and the occupant in the vehicle interior and the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant. The relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the time of is calculated, and if the calculated relative speed is greater than a preset value, the operation of the occupant restraint device is determined. The control device for an occupant restraint system according to claim 2 calculates the distance between the structure and the occupant in the vehicle compartment and the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant based on the deceleration of the vehicle, and further calculates the calculated distance and relative speed. Calculate the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the time when the occupant comes into contact with the structure inside the vehicle after the vehicle collision, and determine the operation of the occupant restraint system if the calculated relative speed is greater than a preset value. To do.

[0007]

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking an air bag for protecting an occupant in a driver's seat as an occupant restraint device as an example. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the driver's seat portion of the vehicle. Inside the center pad 1a of the steering wheel 1, there is stored an airbag module 3 that expands and deploys in the event of a vehicle collision to protect the driver's seat occupant 2. A distance measuring device 5 is provided on the instrument pad 4 to measure the distance to the head or chest of the driver's seat occupant 2 by ultrasonic waves. The distance between the distance measuring device 5 and the steering wheel 1 is known, and the distance between the distance measuring device 5 and the steering wheel 1 is calculated from the distance between the distance measuring device 5 and the driver's seat 2 measured by the distance measuring device 5. Is subtracted to obtain the distance between the steering wheel 1 and the driver's seat occupant 2. In other words, if the vehicle suddenly decelerates during a collision, the driver's seat occupant 2 is likely to first collide with the steering wheel 1, which is a structure in the passenger compartment, so the distance between the steering wheel 1 and the driver's seat occupant 2 is measured. . Further, adjacent to the distance measuring device 5 shown in FIG. 2, a relative speed measuring device 6 for measuring the relative speed between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 by ultrasonic Doppler is provided.

In this embodiment, an air bag for protecting the occupant in the driver's seat will be described as an example of the occupant restraint system. However, a seat belt for protecting the occupant in the driver's seat, an air bag for protecting the occupant in the passenger seat or a seat belt. The present invention can also be applied to such cases. In the case of an air bag or a seat belt that protects the front passenger occupant, the distance from the instrument panel or the windshield glass at which the front passenger occupant is likely to collide at the time of collision may be measured with a distance measuring device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment. In the figure, a control circuit 7 is composed of a microcomputer and its peripheral parts, and executes a control program described later to control the operation of the airbag module 3 via a drive circuit 8. The distance measuring device 5 and the relative speed measuring device 6 described above are connected to the control circuit 7, and the steering wheel 1 is connected from these devices 5 and 6.
And distance information between the driver and the driver's seat 2 and relative speed information between the vehicle and the driver's seat 2 are input. The air bag module 3 is composed of a deployment device (hereinafter referred to as an inflator) for inflating and deploying the air bag, an electric ignition device (hereinafter referred to as a squib) that activates the inflator, and the like. The drive circuit 8 supplies power to the squib from a battery or an auxiliary power source (not shown) to activate the inflator and inflate and deploy the airbag.

Next, the relationship between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 will be described by taking a case where the vehicle collides head-on with a fixed object as an example. 4A shows the deceleration G (t) of the vehicle after the collision at time t0 and the deceleration g (t) of the driver's seat occupant 2, and FIG. 4B shows the speed of the vehicle after the collision at time t0. V
5 shows (t) and the speed v (t) of the driver's seat occupant 2. FIG. 5 shows the distance L (t) from the tip of the vehicle to the steering wheel 1 after the collision at time t0 and the driver's seat occupant 2 from the tip of the vehicle. Shows the distance l (t) to. In these figures, the direction on the vertical axis corresponds to the traveling direction of the vehicle. Time t
When a vehicle head-on collides with a fixed object at 0, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the vehicle and steering wheel 1
A rapid deceleration G (t) occurs in the vehicle, and the vehicle speed V (t) suddenly decreases from the speed V0 immediately before the collision as shown in FIG. Vehicle speed V (t) at this time
Is expressed by the following equation. V (t) = V0−∫G (t) dt (1)

On the other hand, the driver's seat occupant 2 is in an unrestrained state immediately after the collision, the deceleration g (t) does not occur, and moves forward of the vehicle at a speed V0 almost immediately before the collision. That is, the deceleration g (t) and the speed v (t) of the driver's seat occupant 2 are g (t) = 0 v (t) = V0 (2). Here, the speed V (t) of the vehicle and the steering wheel 1 and the speed v (t) of the driver's seat occupant 2 immediately after the collision.
Is the relative velocity q (t) between the two, which is expressed by the following equation. q (t) = v (t) −V (t) = V0− (V0−∫G (t) dt) = ∫G (t) dt (3)

As shown in FIG. 5, if the distance from the tip of the vehicle to the steering wheel 1 immediately before the collision is S1, the distance L (t) between the two after the collision is expressed by the following equation. L (t) = S1-∫V (t) dt = S1-∫ (V0-∫G (t) dt) dt = S1-V0 × t + ∫∫G (t) dt2 (4) On the other hand, collision Letting S2 be the distance from the front end of the vehicle immediately before to the driver's seat occupant 2, the distance l (t) between the two after the collision is expressed by the following equation. l (t) = S2-∫v (t) dt = S2-V0xt (5) Here, the distance l (t) from the tip of the vehicle after the collision to the driver's seat occupant 2 and the vehicle Steering wheel 1 from the tip
Is a distance r (t) between the steering wheel 1 and the driver's seat occupant 2 described above, and is represented by the following equation. r (t) = 1 (t) -L (t) = S2-V0 * t- {S1-V0 * t + ∫∫G (t) dt2} = S2-S1-∫∫G (t) dt2 ... (6)

At time t1 when the distance r (t) between the steering wheel 1 and the driver's seat occupant 2 becomes 0, the driver's seat occupant 2 collides with the steering wheel 1, and at this time t1.
After that, as shown in FIG. 4A, the deceleration g
(T) occurs, and as shown in FIG.
The velocity v (t) of the abruptly decreases. Here, the greater the collision, the greater the relative speed q (t) between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 at time t1, and the driver's seat occupant 2 violently collides with the steering wheel 1. Therefore, if the relative speed q (t) between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 at the time t1 is estimated and whether or not the air bag module 3 is operated is determined based on the estimated relative speed Q (t), the occupant It can be surely protected.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a control program executed by the control circuit 7. The operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to this flowchart. The control circuit 7 executes this control program at a predetermined cycle. First step S
In step 1, the distance r (t) between the steering wheel 1 and the driver's seat occupant 2 measured by the distance measuring device 5 is read, and in step S2, the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 measured by the relative speed measuring device 6 are read. The relative speed q (t) of is read. In step S3, the relative speed change amount Δq
(T), that is, the relative speed q (t) read this time
And the difference Δq (t) between the relative speed q (t−1) read when the control program was executed last time is calculated by the following equation. Δq (t) = q (t) -q (t-1) (7) Further, in step S4, the distance change amount Δr (t), that is, the distance r (t) read this time and the last time Relative speed r read when the control program is executed
The difference Δr (t) from (t-1) is calculated by the following equation. Δr (t) = r (t) −r (t−1) (8)

In step S5, the relative speed change amount Δq (t) calculated in the above step and the distance change amount Δ
The ratio α with r (t) is calculated. α = Δq (t) / Δr (t) (9) In the following step S6, the distance r is calculated based on the calculated ratio α.
The time when (t) becomes 0, that is, the driver seat occupant 2 described above.
An estimated value Q (t1) of the relative speed q (t) at time t1 when the vehicle touches the steering wheel 1 is calculated by the following equation. Q (t1) = q (t) + α × r (t) (10) Whether or not the calculated relative speed Q (t) at time t1 calculated in step S7 exceeds a preset predetermined value. If it exceeds the predetermined value, step S8
Otherwise, terminate the program execution.
When the estimated relative speed Q (t) at time t1 is larger than the predetermined value, it is expected that the driver's seat occupant 2 will collide with the steering wheel 1 violently because of a large collision. A command signal is output to operate the airbag module 3.

Next, referring to FIG. 7, three collision modes A,
The operation of the embodiment for B and C will be described. In the figure,
The vertical axis represents the distance r (t) between the driver's seat occupant 2 and the steering wheel 1, and the distance r (to) before the collision is R0.
(= S2-S1). The horizontal axis represents the relative speed q (t) between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2, and the relative speed q before the collision.
(To) is set to 0. First, in the case of the collision of A, after the collision, the relative speed q (t) is generated between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 and increases, and the driver's seat occupant 2 and the steering wheel 1
And the distance r (t) from and decreases. In other words, it proceeds in the direction of the arrow in the figure and reaches the point P (t) at a certain time t. Point P (t2)
Is a point where the distance r (t) reaches a predetermined constant value. The distance r (t) and the relative speed q (t) measured at this point P (t), and the distance r (t-1) and the relative speed q measured at the immediately preceding point P (t-1).
Based on (t-1), the estimated relative speed Q (t1) at the time when the distance r becomes 0, that is, at the time t1 when the driver's seat occupant 2 contacts the steering wheel 1 is calculated.
In this collision in the case of A, the estimated relative speed Q (t1) exceeds the predetermined value, so the air bag module 3 is operated.

In the case of the collision of B, the relative speed q (t) does not increase much while the distance r (t) decreases rapidly, and the distance r (t) reaches a constant value at a certain time t. Point P
The estimated relative speed Q (t1) calculated in (t) is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and the airbag module 3 is not operated. Further, in the case of C, the distance r (t) is initially
The relative speed q (t) rapidly increases when the decrease of the relative speed q (t) is small, but thereafter, the relative speed q (t) decreases. Therefore, the estimated relative speed Q (t) calculated at the point P (t) at the time t is calculated.
1) is less than or equal to the predetermined value. Therefore, also in this case, the air bag module 3 is not operated.

Thus, based on the distance between the steering wheel 1 and the driver's seat occupant 2 detected by the distance measuring device 5 and the relative speed between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 detected by the relative speed measuring device 6. Then, the relative speed between the vehicle and the driver's seat occupant 2 at the time when the driver's seat occupant 2 comes into contact with the steering wheel 1 after the collision is calculated, and when the calculated relative speed exceeds a preset value, the airbag module 3 Since the operation is determined, the occupant restraint system can be operated accurately with respect to any collision by simple adjustment.

In the above-described embodiment, the distance measuring device 5 and the relative speed measuring device 6 are provided on the instrument pad 4 to measure the distance and the relative speed, but as shown in FIG. A distance measuring device 5A and a relative speed measuring device 6A are incorporated in the vehicle, and a seat position detecting device 12 for detecting the position of the driver's seat 11 is provided in conjunction with the slide mechanism of the driver's seat 11 to detect distance and relative speed. It may be detected. in this case,
As for the distance between the driver's seat occupant 2 and the steering wheel 1, the distance between the driver's seat occupant 2 and the driver's seat 11 measured by the distance measuring device 5A, and the distance between the driver's seat 11 and the steering wheel detected by the seat position detector 12 It is calculated based on the distance from the wheel 1. According to this method, the measurement of the distance and the relative speed is not hindered by the occupant's arm or the like.

Further, instead of the distance measuring devices 5 and 5A and the relative speed measuring devices 6 and 6A, a deceleration sensor 13 is provided in a floor tunnel portion or the like in the passenger compartment as shown in FIG.
The deceleration G (t) of the vehicle may be detected and the distance r (t) may be calculated by the above equation (6), and the relative speed q (t) may be calculated by the equation (3). In this case, (S2-S1) in the equation (6), that is, the initial distance R0 between the steering wheel 1 and the driver's seat occupant 2 may be obtained based on the distance detected by the seat position detection device 12 described above. However, a constant may be used as the default value.

In the configuration of the above embodiment, the distance measuring devices 5 and 5A serve as distance detecting means and the relative velocity measuring devices 6 and 6 are used.
A constitutes a relative speed detecting means, and the control circuit 7 constitutes a relative speed calculating means, an operation determining means, a distance calculating means, a first relative speed calculating means, and a second relative speed calculating means.

[0022]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the distance between the structure in the passenger compartment and the occupant and the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant are detected, and based on the detected values. Calculate the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the time when the occupant comes into contact with the structure inside the vehicle after the vehicle collision, and determine the operation of the occupant restraint device if the calculated relative speed exceeds a preset value. Therefore, the occupant restraint device can be accurately operated against various collisions by simple adjustment. According to the invention of claim 2, the distance between the structure in the vehicle interior and the occupant and the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant are calculated based on the deceleration of the vehicle detected by the deceleration detecting means. The relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the time when the occupant comes into contact with the structure in the vehicle compartment after the vehicle collision based on the calculated value of the occupant restraint device when the calculated relative speed exceeds a preset value. Since the operation of occupant restraint device is determined, the occupant restraint device can be accurately operated against various collisions by simple adjustment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a complaint correspondence diagram.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a driver's seat portion of a vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing deceleration and speed of a vehicle and an occupant after a collision.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a distance between a vehicle and an occupant after a collision.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation control program of one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation of one embodiment for three collision modes.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the distance measuring device and the relative velocity measuring device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the distance measuring device and the relative velocity measuring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Steering wheel 1a Center pad 2 Driver occupant 3 Air bag module (occupant restraint device) 4 Instrument pad 5,5A Distance measuring device 6,6A Relative speed measuring device 7 Control circuit 8 Driving circuit 11 Driver's seat 12 Seat position detection Device 13 Deceleration sensor 100 Distance detection means 101 Relative speed detection means 102 Relative speed calculation means 103, 204 Actuation determination means 200 Deceleration detection means 201 Distance calculation means 202 First relative speed calculation means 203 Second relative speed calculation means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A distance detecting means for detecting a distance between a structure in a vehicle compartment and an occupant, a relative speed detecting means for detecting a relative speed between a vehicle and the occupant, and the distance detected by the distance detecting means. And a relative speed for calculating the relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at the time when the occupant comes into contact with a structure in the vehicle interior after the collision of the vehicle, based on the relative speed detected by the relative speed detection means. An occupant restraint system comprising: speed calculation means; and operation determination means for determining the operation of the occupant restraint system when the relative speed calculated by the relative speed calculation means exceeds a preset value. Control device. 2. A deceleration detecting means for detecting a deceleration of the vehicle, and a distance calculating means for calculating a distance between a structure in the vehicle interior and an occupant based on the deceleration detected by the deceleration detecting means. A first relative speed calculating means for calculating a relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant based on the deceleration detected by the deceleration detecting means; the distance calculated by the distance calculating means; Calculating a relative speed between the vehicle and the occupant at a time point when the occupant comes into contact with a structure in the vehicle compartment after the collision of the vehicle, based on the relative speed calculated by the first relative speed calculating means; 2 relative speed calculating means and operation determining means for determining the operation of the occupant restraint system when the relative speed calculated by the second relative speed calculating means exceeds a preset value. Occupant restraint Location of the control device.