KR20190070174A - Curtain airbag of vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a curtain airbag of a vehicle, which comprises: a main chamber provided in a folded state to be adjacent to a roof of a vehicle, deployed downwards between a side surface of the vehicle and a passenger when the vehicle collides, and having an external panel facing a side surface of the vehicle and an internal panel facing the passenger; and a movement prevention chamber formed to extend downwards in a front end portion of the main chamber, and supporting a front surface of a driver airbag or a passenger seat airbag when the main chamber is deployed. Therefore, a brain injury of a passenger can be effectively reduced by preventing a head of the passenger from moving between the main chamber and a driver airbag or a passenger seat airbag while moving to the front and an external side of a vehicle when the vehicle collides.

Description

[0001] CURTAIN AIRBAG OF VEHICLE [0002]

The present invention relates to a curtain airbag of an automobile, and more particularly, to a curtain airbag of an automobile which is inflated between an occupant and an inner surface of the automobile in a collision of the automobile to protect the occupant.

In general, a vehicle airbag device is a safety device for protecting an occupant by injecting gas into an airbag in response to a signal from an impact sensor in the event of an automobile collision, thereby rapidly inflating the airbag.

An inflatable safety restraint such as an airbag is mandatory in most new cars. The airbag is typically installed as part of a system with an airbag module in the instrument panel and a steering wheel on the driver's side of the vehicle. In the event of a car crash, the sensor inside the car measures the abnormal deceleration and triggers the ignition of the load in the inflator.

Gas expanding from the load travels through the conduit to burn the airbag, which immediately inflates in front of the driver and occupant thereby protecting the driver and occupant from dangerous collisions inside the vehicle. Normally, the airbag is installed in the trim of the vehicle so as not to be visible during normal vehicle operation.

Airbag systems have also been developed that provide similar protection between the interior side of the vehicle and the occupant to protect against side impacts of the vehicle. Such a situation occurs when another vehicle collides with the side of the vehicle, or when the side of the vehicle repeatedly collides with the ground. Side impact airbags are often referred to as inflatable curtain airbags. Many curtain airbags are housed along corners where the roof of the car meets the side windows and fillers. Such a curtain airbag can be accommodated behind the headliner trim at the edge of the headliner, which is a fabric covering the roof of an automobile.

Recent safety standards, published by governments around the world, call for greater protection in the face of frontal or frontal collisions. There is also a continuing need to provide an airbag system which is economical in manufacturing and installation and which allows automakers to avoid interference in deploying various features within the vehicle and to deploy quickly. It is desirable to provide an airbag system that provides protection against impact over a wide range of occupant locations as the occupants of the vehicle can be in any of a variety of locations within the vehicle at deployment of the airbag.

For example, in the case of a collision of a rollover, it is difficult to predict the posture and locus of a vehicle occupant. Therefore, a known curtain airbag designed for protection against pure lateral collision may not be in the proper position. As a result, in spite of the deployment of the airbag system, an injury due to a collision with the inner surface of the vehicle may occur or a deviation from the automobile may occur.

Also, as one recently clarified stabilization requirement, the need for enhanced protection in the case of " small overlap " and " oblique "collisions is emerging. A forward collision occurs in a relatively narrow portion in the left or right front portion of the vehicle. An oblique collision occurs when an impact at an angle occurs at the front portion, and the impact is relatively small in the left or right portion of the front of the vehicle Such collisions may cause a large deformation of the vehicle structure on the side where the impact occurs, and such collisions tend to cause the center of the vehicle to rotate and deviate from the moving line, This means that the trajectory of the passengers inside the vehicle is designed so that the airbag system provides protection, For example, in the event of an automobile collision, the occupant's head may be moved forward with a vector having front and side components, It is possible to rotate about an axis along the up and down direction of the vehicle 10. Such a tendency can increase the brain injury value of the passenger.

Many governments around the world are evaluating the safety of new cars based on collision test laws, speeding them up or changing the measurement items to more severe conditions, and publicizing test results so that people can compare the stability of cars to be.

There is a sloping side impact in the United States as a method of side impact test, and there is a right side impact in Europe.

Recently, new car safety assessments include column side collisions, while the US and European methods differ slightly in terms of collision angle and speed, while in Europe, they are evaluated by 90 ° orthogonal column side collision methods. In the United States, .

In the event of various side collisions as described above, the occupant's head can be moved forward with a vector having front and side components and can rotate about the vertical axis of the vehicle.

Also, in the event of various side collisions, the brain injuries can increase as the occupant's head moves between the curtain airbag and the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag as they move forward and sideways.

The rotation of the vehicle in the vertical direction of the vehicle and the movement of the vehicle between the airbags is a powerful element of the Brain Injury (BrIC), and thus countermeasures have been developed.

For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 described below disclose a curtain airbag technique in which an additional chamber for preventing head movement is applied.

Figures 1 and 2 show a curtain airbag with additional chambers to prevent movement of the head according to the prior art.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, in order to prevent the occupant's head from moving between the curtain airbag and the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag in an oblique collision, an additional chamber (200).

The additional chamber 200 is provided below the front portion of the main chamber of the curtain airbag 100 and folds upward to overlap the inner surface of the main chamber in the process of folding the curtain airbag 100, And is deployed downward.

Alternatively, the additional chamber is provided on the front side of the front end of the main chamber, folds rearward to overlap the inner surface of the main chamber in the process of folding the curtain airbag, and is deployed toward the front of the main chamber when the vehicle collides.

U.S. Patent No. US 8,967,660 (patented Mar. 3, 2015) Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1428244 (Announcement on August 7, 2014)

That is, the additional chamber 200 applied to the curtain airbag 100 according to the related art is folded upward to overlap with the main chamber, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, And is deployed downward or forward of the chamber.

Since the additional chamber 200 applied to the curtain airbag 100 according to the prior art is folded so as to completely overlap the inner surface of the main chamber, After reaching the folded portion, is not transferred to the additional chamber 200 but moves to the other direction, for example, upward or downward.

Accordingly, the curtain airbag 100 according to the related art can not instantaneously deploy the additional chamber 200 in order to protect the occupant in the event of a collision, so that the head of the occupant can be curtain airbag, driver's seat airbag (not shown) There is a limit in not completely preventing movement between the airbag (not shown).

An object of the present invention is to provide a curtain airbag for a vehicle that prevents the head of a passenger from moving between the curtain airbag and the driver's seat airbag while moving toward the front and the outside of the automobile, .

Another object of the present invention is to provide a curtain airbag of an automobile which can reduce a brain injury of a passenger when a head of a passenger moves when a vehicle collides.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a curtain airbag of an automobile capable of adjusting the bending shape, the size and the degree of bending of the chamber preventing the movement of the head.

In order to achieve the above object, the curtain airbag of the automobile according to the present invention is provided in a state of being folded adjacent to a roof of an automobile and is deployed downward between the inner side of the vehicle and the occupant when the automobile collides, A main chamber including an outer panel facing the side of the automobile and an inner panel facing the occupant, a main chamber extending downwardly from a front end of the main chamber, and supporting the front of the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag upon deployment of the main chamber Preventing the head of the occupant from moving between the main chamber and the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag while moving forward and outward of the vehicle.

The movement preventing chamber is formed in a triangular shape having a height increasing toward a front end of the curtain airbag.

And the movement preventing chamber is formed to increase in thickness toward the front end of the curtain airbag.

And a connecting member connecting the lower end of the movement preventing chamber and the main chamber so that the cross-section of the movement preventing chamber becomes 'U' shape or 'L' shape when the movement preventing chamber is deployed.

Wherein both ends of the connecting member are connected to a lower end of the movement preventing chamber and a lower end of the main chamber, respectively, and are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined height, and the tether is made of the same material as the material of the curtain airbag. .

And the length of the connecting member is changed according to the position of the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag.

The shape of the movement preventing chamber is changed according to the position of the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag.

The movement preventing chamber is partially sewn to the main chamber and is developed into a shape bent into the main chamber.

The connecting portion of the movement preventing chamber connected to the main chamber may be sewn at least once inside or outside the main chamber so as to adjust the bending degree and bending direction of the movement preventing chamber .

And the connecting portion is sewn in a state of being folded a plurality of times so as to overlap with each other.

And the connecting portion is sewed in a state of being inclined so as to form a step shape so that the bending shape of the moving and leaving chamber can be adjusted.

As described above, according to the curtain airbag of the automobile according to the present invention, the movement preventing chamber is extended downward at the front end portion of the main chamber, so that the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag can be supported.

Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively reduce the brain injury value of the occupant by preventing the head of the occupant from moving between the curtain airbag and the driver seat airbag or the passenger seat airbag while moving the head of the occupant in front of and behind the vehicle Is obtained.

In addition, according to the present invention, by sewing the portion where the main chamber and the movement preventing chamber are connected to each other in a state where the main chamber and the movement prevention chamber are connected to each other in at least one way inside or outside the main chamber, The effect can be obtained.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a curtain airbag with additional chambers to prevent movement of the head according to the prior art,
3 is a view showing a state where a curtain airbag of an automobile according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is housed in a structure of an automobile;
FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the curtain airbag shown in FIG. 3 is deployed;
Figure 5 is an illustration of the anti-movement chamber shown in Figure 4,
6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A 'shown in Fig. 5,
7 is a view showing a state in which a curtain airbag and a driver's seat airbag are deployed,
8 to 12 illustrate a method of bending a movement preventing chamber of a curtain airbag of an automobile according to another embodiment of the present invention,
Figures 13 to 17 illustrate a method of bending a movement preventing chamber.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a curtain airbag for an automobile according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In this specification, reference symbol F denotes the front of the automobile to which the curtain airbag of the present invention is applied, reference symbol R denotes the rear of the automobile, reference symbol U denotes the upper side of the automobile and reference symbol L denotes the lower side of the automobile. Reference I denotes the inner direction of the vehicle in the width direction of the vehicle, and reference reference symbol O denotes the outer direction of the vehicle in the width direction of the vehicle.

The front and rear (F, R) directions of the automobile can be expressed in the horizontal direction, and the up and down (U, L) directions of the automobile can be expressed in the vertical direction.

(I, O) direction, that is, the width direction axis is the X axis, and the front and rear (F, R) direction axes of the automobile are the Y axis define.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a state where a curtain airbag of a car according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is housed in a structure of an automobile, and FIG. 4 is a view showing a developed state of the curtain airbag shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, the curtain airbag 30 is provided outside the driver's seat. However, the present invention is not limited to the curtain airbag 30 and may be applied to a curtain airbag provided outside the passenger's seat .

The curtain airbag 30 of the automobile according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is mounted in the roof side rail 1 of the vehicle in a folded or retracted state, as shown in Figs.

Generally, the roof side rail 1 is covered with a loop trim and is not visible from the interior of the vehicle.

A plurality of pillars supporting the loops are connected to the roof side rail (1).

These fillers include a front filler 3, a center filler 5 and a rear filler 7 and an additional filler (so-called 'D filler') on the rear side of the rear filler 7 as required can do.

The curtain airbag 30 is formed into a bag shape by a sewing or a one-piece woven method of the outer panel 31 and the inner panel 33 to be described later.

The curtain airbag 30 is connected to an inflator 9 for generating gas.

When a side collision or overturn of the automobile occurs, a sensor (not shown) provided to the automobile first detects the impact, and an ignition signal is transmitted to the inflator 9. [ The gas in the inflator 9 is ignited to generate gas, and the gas generated from the inflator 9 is supplied into the curtain airbag 30.

Upon receiving gas from the inflator 9, the curtain airbag 30 inflates and deploys downward along the inner side of the vehicle to protect the occupant. Thus, the curtain airbag 30 can protect the occupants of the front seat 21 and the rear seat 23 at the same time.

The curtain airbag 30 may have a front protection area A1 and a rear protection area A2 when inflated.

The front protection area A1 can entirely cover the side surfaces of the vehicle from the front pillar 3 of the vehicle to the center pillar 5 of the vehicle and the rear protection area A2 can cover the side surfaces of the vehicle from the center pillar 5 The side surfaces of the automobile reaching the rear pillar 7 of the vehicle can be entirely covered.

In this embodiment, the front and rear protection zones A1 and A2 are referred to as a main chamber 36 in order to distinguish them from the guide chambers 40 to be described below.

The curtain airbag 30 has a bag shape that defines an inflatable space therein by the upper and lower walls 321 and 322 and the front and rear walls 323 and 324.

The front protection area A1 of the curtain airbag 30 is defined by the chamber walls 34a and 34b and the rear protection areas A2 are defined by the chamber walls 34c and 34d The plurality of rear chambers C4, C5, and C6 can be defined.

The front chamber C3 of the front protection area is substantially in contact with the head of the occupant seated on the front seat 21 and the rear chamber C5 of the rear protection area A2 is in the rear The head of the occupant seated on the seat substantially contacts.

The above-described upper, lower, front and rear walls 321 to 324 and chamber walls 341 to 344 are formed by sewing the inner and outer panels 33 and 31 of the curtain airbag 30, . ≪ / RTI >

The upper, lower, front and rear walls 321 to 324 and the chamber walls 341 to 344 may be formed by various suitable methods such as adhesive, RF welding, ultrasonic welding, and the like.

At the upper end of the rear protection area A2, a gas introducing part 35 through which the gas is introduced from the inflator 9 may be provided.

It should be noted that the configuration of the curtain airbag according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the curtain airbag described in this embodiment, and the number and shape of the chamber wall and the chamber may be variously changed.

The curtain airbag 30 and the driver's seat airbag 50 (Fig. 7) are moved while the occupant, that is, the driver's head moves forward and outward in the deployment of the curtain airbag 30, (40) to prevent movement between the first and second passageways.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view of the movement preventing chamber shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A 'shown in FIG.

The movement preventing chamber 40 may be formed to extend downward from the front end of the curtain airbag 30, as shown in Figs.

For example, the movement preventing chamber 40 may be formed in a triangular shape increasing in height toward the front end of the curtain airbag 30.

The movement preventing chamber 40 may be formed to increase in thickness toward the front side.

As described above, since the movement preventing chamber 40 is formed to extend downward from the front end of the curtain airbag 30, the gas supplied from the inflator 9 can be smoothly delivered from the main chamber 36 without interruption.

A connection member 41 connected to the main chamber 30 may be connected to the lower end of the movement preventing chamber 40.

That is, the upper end of the connecting member 41 is connected to a position spaced apart from the lower end of the main chamber 36 by a predetermined height, and the lower end of the connecting member 41 is connected to the lower end of the movement preventing chamber 40.

Here, the connecting member 41 can support the lower end of the movement preventing chamber 40 by pulling upward so that the movement preventing chamber 40 is bent in a substantially U-shaped or L-shaped cross section when viewed from the front side The length can be set to a certain length.

The connecting member 41 may be provided with a tether made of the same material as that used for manufacturing the curtain airbag 30.

The movement prevention chamber 40 is folded upward at a portion lower than the portion connected to the main chamber 40 in the folding process.

Therefore, the movement preventing chamber 40 can smoothly receive gas without interruption through the main chamber 40 during deployment and can be bent by the connecting member 41 in a substantially U-shaped or L-shaped cross- Developed.

As shown in FIG. 7, the movement prevention chamber 40 constructed as described above can be deployed at the rear end of the driver's seat airbag 50 to support the driver's seat airbag 50.

7 is a view showing a state in which the curtain airbag and the driver's seat airbag are deployed.

Therefore, the shape of the anti-movement chamber 40 can be variously changed according to the position of the driver's seat airbag 50.

For example, when the driver's seat airbag 50 is thickened so as to be deployed rearwardly and the area overlapping with the curtain airbag 30 increases, the movement-preventing chamber 40 can be formed to increase the cross-sectional area and the expansion thickness .

In this case, by increasing the length of the connecting member 41 relatively so that the front surface of the driver's seat airbag 50 can be supported by using the movement preventing chamber 40 and the connecting member 41, May be bent while being bent to have an approximately L-shaped cross section.

On the other hand, if the thickness of the driver's seat airbag 50 deployed rearward is thinner and the area overlapping with the curtain airbag 30 is reduced, the movement-preventing chamber 40 can be formed to reduce the cross-sectional area and the expansion thickness.

In this case, the length of the connecting member 41 is relatively reduced so that the front surface of the driver's seat airbag 50 can be stably supported using the movement preventing chamber 40 and the connecting member 41, 40 may be bent while being bent to have a substantially U-shaped cross-section.

As described above, the present invention can support the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag by extending the anti-movement chamber downward at the front end of the main chamber so as to bend.

Accordingly, the present invention prevents the head of the occupant from moving between the curtain airbag and the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag while moving the head of the occupant in front of and behind the automobile in the event of a collision of the vehicle, thereby effectively reducing the brain injury value of the occupant.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the movement preventing chamber 40 is expanded to the bending state by using the connecting member 41, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

That is, as described above, in the case of bending the movement preventing chamber 40 using the connecting member 41 such as a tether, an operation for installing the tether should be additionally performed. As a result, And the volume of the airbag 30 may increase.

In addition, the bent portion may interfere with the gas flow supplied to the anti-movement chamber 40 through the main chamber 36.

Accordingly, the present invention can be modified so as to be developed into a bent shape such as 'L' shape or 'U' shape by sewing the front end, the rear end, or the middle of the movement preventing chamber 40.

For example, FIGS. 8 to 12 illustrate a method of bending a movement preventing chamber of a curtain airbag of an automobile according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a state in which the front end and the rear end of the movement preventing chamber 40 are respectively sewn. FIG. 9 shows a state in which the sewed movement preventing chamber 40 is bent as shown in FIG. 8, Are shown.

The sewing line 42 may be formed by sewing a portion of the movable barrier chamber 40 connected to the main chamber 36 at the front end and the rear end thereof.

10 shows a state in which only the rear end of the movement preventing chamber 40 is sewn.

That is, according to the present invention, the front and rear ends of the movement preventing chamber can be sewn without applying a tether, or the gas can be smoothly supplied to the movement preventing chamber by sewing only the front end or the rear end.

11 shows a state in which the center portion of the anti-movement chamber is sewn, and Fig. 12 shows a sectional view of the anti-movement chamber shown in Fig.

11 and 12, another embodiment of the present invention can form a sewing line by sewing a central portion of the movement preventing chamber 40. [

Accordingly, the movement preventing chamber 40 can be formed in a substantially < RTI ID = 0.0 >

The movement preventing chamber 40 formed in this shape has a thickness of zero around the sewing line 42 and the both sides of the sewing line 42 are expanded to bend the movement preventing chamber 40 inward of the vehicle. To be deployed.

9, the sewing line 42 is formed along the horizontal direction at a portion where the movement preventing chamber 40 and the main chamber 36 are connected to each other to form the moving and leaving chamber 40, The bending prevention chamber 40 can be modified to bend in various ways.

For example, Figs. 13 to 17 are views illustrating a method of bending the anti-movement chamber.

13 shows a state in which the portion where the movement preventing chamber 40 and the main chamber 36 are connected (hereinafter referred to as a " connecting portion 43 ") is folded to the outside of the main chamber 36, A bending method is shown.

14 shows a method of bending the connecting portion 43 in a state in which the connecting portion 43 is protruded to the inside of the main chamber 36. FIG. 15 shows the expanded state of the connecting portion 43 shown in FIG. 14 have.

14 and 15, the connecting portions 43 may overlap each other and have a substantially 'W' shape when viewed from the side.

16, there is shown a method of bending the connecting portion 43 in a state in which the connecting portion 43 is protruded twice inside the main chamber 36. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 16, the connecting portion 43 may be bent at an oblique inclination so as to form a stepped shape.

13 and 14, when the bending is performed while the connecting portion 40 is disposed outside or inside the main chamber 36, the degree of bending of the movement preventing chamber 40 can be increased and the bending direction can be changed have.

When the connecting portion 40 is bent and protruded twice inside the main chamber 36 as shown in FIG. 16, the bending shape can be easily adjusted as compared with the method shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.

As described above, according to the present invention, the portion to which the main chamber and the anti-movement chamber are connected is sewed in various arrangements such as at least once inside or outside the main chamber so as to adjust the bending degree, direction and shape of the airbag .

Although the invention made by the present inventors has been described concretely with reference to the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

That is, although the curtain airbag provided outside the driver's seat has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the curtain airbag, but may be applied to a curtain airbag provided outside the passenger's seat.

The present invention is characterized in that a movement preventing chamber is extended downward at a front end portion of a main chamber to support a driver's seat airbag or a passenger's seat airbag so that the curtain airbag and the driver's seat airbag or passenger seat The present invention is applied to a curtain airbag technology of an automobile which can prevent a passenger's brain injury by effectively moving between airbags.

1: Side rail 3: Front pillar
5: center pillar 7: rear pillar
9: Inflator 21, 23: Front and rear seats
30: curtain airbag 31, 33: outer, inner panel
321 to 324: upper, lower, front and rear walls
341 to 344: chamber wall 35: gas inlet
36: main chamber 40: anti-movement chamber
41: connecting member 42: sewing line
43: connecting portion 50: driver's seat airbag

Claims (11)

A main chamber which is provided in a state of being folded adjacent to the roof of the vehicle and which is deployed downwardly between the inner side of the vehicle and the passenger of the vehicle at the time of collision of the vehicle and which has an outer panel facing the side of the vehicle, Wow
And a movement preventing chamber extending downward from a front end of the main chamber and supporting a front surface of the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag when the main chamber is deployed,
And the head of the occupant is prevented from moving between the main chamber and the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag while moving forward and outward of the vehicle. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the movement preventing chamber is formed in a triangular shape having a height increasing toward a front end of the curtain airbag. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the movement preventing chamber is formed to increase in thickness toward the front end of the curtain airbag. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Further comprising a connecting member connecting the lower end of the movement preventing chamber and the main chamber so that a cross section of the movement preventing chamber becomes 'U' shape or 'L' shape. 5. The method of claim 4,
Both ends of the connecting member are respectively connected to the lower end of the movement preventing chamber and the lower end of the main chamber,
Characterized in that the curtain airbag is provided with a tether which is manufactured using the same material as the material for manufacturing the curtain airbag. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the shape of the movement preventing chamber is changed according to a position of the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the length of the connecting member is changed according to a position of the driver's seat airbag or the passenger's seat airbag. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Wherein the anti-movement chamber is partially sewn to the main chamber and deployed into a bend shape to the inside of the main chamber. 9. The method of claim 8,
The connecting portion of the movement preventing chamber connected to the main chamber may be sewn at least once inside or outside the main chamber so as to adjust the bending degree and bending direction of the movement preventing chamber Features curtain airbags for cars. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the connecting portion is sewn in a state of being folded a plurality of times so as to overlap with each other. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the connecting portion is sewed in an inclined state so as to form a step shape so that the bending shape of the moving and leaving chamber can be adjusted.

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