JP4576308B2 - Automotive airbag equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an automobile airbag device.

An instrument panel is disposed behind the front window panel of the automobile. A bag-like airbag having a gas inlet connected to an inflator is housed in a folded state at the upper part on the passenger seat side of the instrument panel. The airbag is inflated by the gas of the inflator at the time of a collision, and is deployed from the upper part of the instrument panel toward the rear side of the passenger compartment to receive and protect the occupant falling forward. After the airbag is deployed on the vehicle interior side, the airbag spreads up and down to protect the occupant from the head to the abdomen (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-8-268213

  However, in such a conventional technique, it is necessary to deploy the airbag to the vehicle interior side at an early stage in order to reliably protect the occupant from the head to the abdomen. For this reason, a high-power and large-sized inflator is required, resulting in an increase in vehicle weight and cost.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such a conventional technique, and can be used to quickly deploy an airbag to the vehicle interior side without increasing the size and size of the inflator. Is to provide.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a bag-like airbag having a gas introduction port connected to an inflator is stored in a folded state at an upper portion of an instrument panel where a front window panel is located in front, and the airbag collides with the airbag. An automobile airbag device that is sometimes inflated by an inflator gas and deployed from the upper part of the instrument panel to the rear side of the vehicle interior, wherein the airbag includes a first fold part behind the gas inlet to the inflator and A flap, which is stored in a branched manner with the second folding part in front and has one end fixed in the vicinity of the gas inlet on the first folding part side, passes from above the first folding part, It is folded together with two folding parts.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the second folding portion is folded in an inward roll shape.

  According to the invention of claim 1, a flap is formed by branching the airbag into the first foldable portion and the second foldable portion, and one end is fixed near the gas inlet on the first foldable portion side, After passing through the upper part of the first folding part, it is folded together with the second folding part. Therefore, if the airbag starts to inflate with the gas from the inflator at the time of collision, the flap is pushed by the first folding part. As a result, a tensile force is generated in the flap. Therefore, the expansion | deployment to the direction which releases a folding is accelerated | stimulated by the tension | tensile_strength of a flap, and a 2nd folding part expand | deploys ahead. The first folding portion that is deployed later is pushed out to the vehicle interior side by the second folding portion that is deployed in advance. Can be improved. Since the airbag spreads up and down after being deployed to the interior of the vehicle interior, the speed of deployment to the interior of the interior of the vehicle interior has been improved, allowing early protection from the head of the occupant to the abdomen, improving the occupant protection performance of the airbag. To do.

  According to invention of Claim 2, since the 2nd folding part is folded in the shape of an inward roll, the tensile force of a flap acts on the direction which unwinds the 2nd folding part outward, Advance deployment of the second folding portion can be further promoted.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide an automobile airbag apparatus that can deploy an airbag to the vehicle interior at an early stage without increasing the size and output of the inflator. A bag-like airbag having a gas inlet connected to the inflator is stored in a folded state at the top of the instrument panel, and the airbag is inflated by the gas of the inflator at the time of a collision. An airbag device for an automobile to be deployed indoors, wherein the airbag is stored in a branched manner from a gas inlet to an inflator into a first fold portion at the rear and a second fold portion at the front, and The flap with one end fixed in the vicinity of the gas inlet on the side of the first folding part passes above the first folding part, and then the second folding part By being folded together, it was realized. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  1-7 is a figure which shows one Example of this invention. An instrument panel 2 is disposed behind the front window panel 1. An airbag device 3 is arranged on the upper side of the passenger seat side in the instrument panel 2.

  The airbag device 3 has a structure in which an inflator 5 and a folded airbag 6 are housed in a case 4 and covered with a cover 8 having a cleavage portion 7 from the top to the center. The inflator 5 has a normal output, and is not particularly high in output and large in size. The airbag 6 has a bag shape having a gas inlet 9, and the gas inlet 9 is fixed to the inflator 5 by a bracket 10. Further, one end of a flap 11 made of the same material as the airbag 6 is also fixed to the vehicle interior side (rear side) of the gas inlet 9.

  As a method of folding the airbag 6, first, the airbag 6 is superposed on top and bottom, and the overlapping portions 6a and 6b are branched and formed in respective front and rear directions (see FIG. 3). And the 1st folding part A is formed by winding the back superposition | polymerization part 6a in an inward roll shape from the front-end | tip (refer FIG. 4). And after passing the flap 11 above the 1st folding part A, the 2nd folding part B is formed by winding inwardly from the front-end | tip with the superposition | polymerization part 6b (refer FIG. 5). .

  Next, the deployment state of the airbag 6 at the time of a car collision will be described. When the automobile collides, gas G is ejected from the inflator 5 to the airbag 6. The gas G ejected into the airbag 6 has no place in the stage before the cover 8 is cleaved, so that the internal pressure of the first folding part A and the second folding part B is sufficient in the airbag device 3. To reach the high pressure required to cleave the cover 8.

  When that state is reached, the cover 8 is cleaved from the cleaving portion 7, and the first folding portion A and the second folding portion B start to expand simultaneously. The expanded first folding part A pushes the flap 11, and a tensile force T is generated in the flap 11. When the tensile force T is generated in the flap 11, the tensile force T promotes the expansion of the second folding part B in the direction of releasing the folding (rewinding direction), and the second folding part B is the first one. It unfolds ahead of one folding part A.

  Accordingly, the first folding portion A that is deployed later is pushed out to the vehicle interior side (rear) by the second folding portion B that is deployed in advance, and as a result, even if it is not the high-power and large-sized inflator 5, the airbag The deployment speed to the vehicle interior side of 6 improves. Since the airbag 6 spreads up and down after being deployed to the interior of the vehicle interior, the speed of deployment to the interior of the interior of the vehicle interior is improved, so that the passenger can be protected from the head to the abdomen at an early stage. Performance is improved.

  In the above embodiment, both the first folding part A and the second folding part B are folded in a roll shape, but both the first folding part A and the second folding part B or One side may be a bellows or other folding method.

1 is a vehicle interior cross-sectional view showing a state in which an airbag device according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed on an instrument panel. Sectional drawing which shows the airbag apparatus of FIG. Sectional drawing which shows the initial state of how to fold the airbag of FIG. Sectional drawing which shows the state in the middle of the folding method of the airbag of FIG. Sectional drawing which shows the final state of how to fold the airbag of FIG. Sectional drawing of the airbag apparatus which shows the expansion | deployment state of the airbag of FIG. FIG. 2 is a vehicle interior cross-sectional view showing a state in which the airbag of FIG. 1 is deployed on the vehicle interior side.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front window panel 2 Instrument panel 3 Air bag apparatus 5 Inflator 6 Air bag 9 Gas inlet 11 Flap A 1st folding part B 2nd folding part T Tensile force M Crew G Gas

Claims (2)

In the upper part of the instrument panel where the front window panel is located in front, a bag-shaped airbag having a gas inlet connected to the inflator is stored in a folded state, and the airbag is inflated by the gas of the inflator at the time of collision, An automobile airbag device that is deployed from the upper part of the instrument panel to the rear side of the vehicle interior,
The airbag is housed in a state where it is branched from the gas inlet to the inflator into the first fold part at the rear and the second fold part at the front,
A flap having one end fixed in the vicinity of the gas inlet on the first foldable part side is folded with the second foldable part from above the first foldable part. Airbag device. An automobile airbag device according to claim 1,
An automobile airbag device, wherein the second folding portion is folded in an inward roll shape.

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