A side air bag expands near a window at a time of collision of a vehicle to restrain an occupant from moving in a lateral direction. The air bag has an expansion duration protracted which is extended to constrain the occupant during overturning of the vehicle. Stowability for stowing the air bag in a folded state in a side structure of the vehicle, such as a pillar and a roof side rail portion, is enhanced in that two woven fabrics are connected along an outer peripheral portion, to form a bag portion, by a textile structure woven using a common yarn include in of both fabrics fabric sheets forming opposing sides of the air bag. A whole of the bag portion is coated and sealed by an air non-permeable impermeable coating material to improve air tightness. A mounting portion for mounting the air bag in the side structure, such as a pillar or a roof side rail, is integrally formed by extending the woven fabrics or the common-yarn textile structure portion outward from the outer peripheral connection portion, thereby improving stowability.
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0. 13. A side air bag mounted on a roof side rail of a vehicle, for inflation by an inflator mechanism for expanding the side air bag alongside a window of a vehicle, comprising:
a bag portion formed by two woven fabric sheets connected along outer peripheral portions thereof by a peripheral connecting portion;
a center connecting structure, in a center region of said bag portion, connecting said two woven fabric sheets;
a terminal portion of said center connecting structure being formed in a U-shape; and
an air impermeable coating material being applied on a surface of said bag portion including said peripheral connecting portion and said center connecting structure after formation of said center connecting structure to seal said center connecting structure.
0. 7. A side air bag mounted on a roof side rail of a vehicle, for inflation by an inflator mechanism for expanding the side air bag alongside a window of a vehicle, comprising:
a bag portion formed by two woven fabric sheets connected along outer peripheral portions thereof by a peripheral connecting portion;
a center connecting structure, in a center region of said bag portion, connecting said two woven fabric sheets;
a terminal portion of said center connecting structure being formed in a circular shape; and
an air impermeable coating material being applied on a surface of said bag portion including said peripheral connecting portion and said center connecting structure after formation of said center connecting structure to seal said center connecting structure.
1. A side air bag for inflation by an inflator mechanism for expanding the side air bag alongside a window of a vehicle, comprising:
a bag portion formed by two woven fabric panels sheets connected along an outer peripheral portion portions thereof by a peripheral connecting portion;
said peripheral connecting portion for connecting said two woven fabric panels sheets being formed by weaving a textile structure having a common yarn included in both of said two woven fabric panels sheets;
said bag portion sealed over a whole area thereof by an air non-permeable impermeable coating material;
a linear connecting portion for partitioning in said bag portion, said linear connecting portion extending parallel with to a flow direction of an inflator gas and being formed on at a center region of said bag portion by stitching connecting said two woven fabric panels sheets; and
an inflator-side teal terminal portion of the stitching being formed having one of a U-shape or and a circular shape.
2. The side air bag as recited in
3. The side air bag according to
4. The side air bag as recited in
5. The side air bag as recited in
6. The side air bag as recited in claim 3 1 or claim 1 3, wherein one of said two woven fabric panels sheets or said textile structure is extended outwardly from said peripheral connecting portion to form a mounting portion for mounting to a side structure of the vehicle.
0. 8. The side air bag according to
0. 9. The side air bag according to
0. 10. The side air bag according to
0. 11. The side air bag according to
said center connecting structure extends along a connecting portion length to said terminal portion; and
said circular shape defines a diameter greater than a width of said center connecting structure along said connecting portion length.
0. 12. The side air bag according to
0. 14. The side air bag according to
0. 15. The side air bag according to
0. 16. The side air bag according to
0. 17. The side air bag according to
said center connecting structure extends along a connecting portion length to said terminal portion; and
said U-shape defines a width greater than a width of said center connecting structure along said connecting portion length.
0. 18. The side air bag according to
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The present invention relates to a side air bag which expands near a window of a vehicle at a collision of the vehicle, and particularly relates to a side air bag formed by a woven fabric such as a hollow weave.
An air bag apparatus for a vehicle is an apparatus for constraining a vehicle occupant, i.e. passengers and a driver, by inflating and expanding an air bag at a time of collision of the vehicle, and generally comprises an inflator (a gas generating device) for inflating the air bag in response to a signal from a sensor for detecting X—X. however, However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiments in the drawings.
When a sensor detects a predetermined impact from a side surface of the vehicle, the side air bag A inflates and expands near a window W along a side surface of a cabin in response to a signal from the sensor, thereby constraining mainly a head of an occupant M from a left-hand side or right-hand side. The side air bag A also works at a time of lateral tumbling of the vehicle.
The air bag A is structured such that a bag portion 3 is formed by connecting two woven fabrics 1 and 2 which are each formed by a plain weaving, at an outer periphery thereof, as shown in the drawings. In this example, a front edge and an upper edge of the bag portion 3 is formed such as to substantially correspond to a curve extending from a front pillar F to a roof side rail portion R of the vehicle and to substantially form a shape of a parallelogram in an expanded form along the window W so as to be naturally folded and housed in a side structure of the vehicle such as the front pillar F, the roof side rail portion R and the like.
Further, a front end portion of the air bag A is provided with an opening 9, for mounting an inflator 10, a part of which is extended and extends in pipe-like shape. to be opened, and for example, an The inflator 10 is mounted to a bottom part of the front pillar F and is connected thereto to the opening 9.
The air bag A is formed by a hollow weaving, in which a connecting portion 4 disposed along an outer periphery of both of the both woven fabrics 1 and 2 is woven as a textile structure having a common yarn (a warp yarn or a weft yarn) constituting each of the both two woven fabrics, that is, by a 1 and 2. Thus, the textile structure is of a single layer construction. Further, by extending both of the woven fabrics 1 and 2 outward from the connecting portion 4, a mounting portion 5 for mounting to the a side structure, such as the front pillar F, the roof side rail portion R and the like, is integrally formed. A mounting hole Mounting holes 6 are for a receiving fixing bolt or a rivet is bolts or rivets and are formed on in the mounting portion 5.
Still further, all the surface of the bag portion 3, including the outer peripheral connecting portion 4, is coated for sealing and sealed by an air non-permeability impermeable coating material (not shown) such as a silicone rubber, a chloroprene rubber or the like so as to improve an air tightness to provide an expansion holding time for of about 5 seconds.
The mounting portion 5 can be formed by the two woven fabrics 1 and 2 as shown in
In the case that Referring to
A side air bag in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in
The An air bag A A′ in accordance with this the second embodiment is provided with a connecting portion 7 for partitioning the air bag A′, in addition to the structure of the side air bag A in accordance with the first embodiment. In
Accordingly, the side air bag A A′ in accordance with the second embodiment is structured as follows. The connecting portion 4 along the outer periphery of the two woven fabrics 1 and 2 is made of the common textile structure by a hollow weave so as to form the bag portion 3. Two linear connecting portions 7 for partitioning , which are substantially parallel to a flow direction of the inflator gas, are formed to connect the two woven fabrics 1 and 2, at the center region of the bag portion 3, as shown in the drawing. Further, the connecting portion portions 7 for partitioning is are woven as formed by the textile structure having a common yarn constituting both of the both woven fabrics 1 and 2, as in the same manner as that of the connecting portion 4.
The connecting portion 7 for partitioning is provided for the purpose of controlling the expanding shape of the air bag during an inflating process so that a suitable inflated shape can be is set. Further, the thickness thereof is thinner than the combined thickness of the two fabrics, as in the same manner as that in the outer peripheral connecting portion 4, so as to be . Thus, the air bag A′ is easily folded and housed in the pillar and the like.
In another embodiment, for example as shown in
In each of the above embodiments, the opening portion 9 is formed by extending a part of the bag portion 3 in a pipe-like shape so as to open the part to an opening of the connecting portion 4; however, the . However, an opening 9 9a can be formed on one of the woven fabrics 1 and 2 by a laser cutting and the like, as shown in the drawings, after a bag portion having no opening is formed in by the connecting portion 4.
The side air bag A bags in accordance with each of above-described the above embodiments is are formed by a so-called hollow weave, as which is the common textile having the structure combining the two fabrics and having common constituting yarn in of the two fabrics. The hollow weaves forms the connecting portion 4 at the outer periphery of the bag portion and the surface of the air bag is coated. Therefore, an air bag can be manufactured without the conventional sewing step and the sealing step for sealing the stitch perforation the perforations cause by stitching. Thus, the air bag which can maintain a long inflation duration, for constraining the occupant at a time of overturning of the vehicle, and can be easily and economically manufactured.
Further, the connecting portion 4 can be made thinner than the combined thickness of the two woven fabrics, while the sewing thread and the tape for sealing the stitch perforation perforations from stitching are not required. For this reason, the connecting portion 4 is made thinner than that of the conventional air bag and the air bag can be easily folded and housed in the side structure of the vehicle such as the elongated and narrow pillar and the like.
Further, since the mounting portion to for mounting to the side structure can be integrally formed by the fabric extending from the circular woven common textile structure or the circular woven structure portion , it is unnecessary to sew the fabric for the mounting portion separately and the mounting portion can be is formed thin so as to improve the housing performance, and stowability. Furthermore, a number of the parts and the manufacturing steps can be reduced so that the economical economic efficiency can be further improved.
Whereas the embodiments of the present invention have been explained as above, the side air bag of the present invention can be housed and mounted to a side structure of the vehicle other than the pillar or the roof side rail portion.
| Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
| 7976058, | Mar 28 2008 | Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. | Occupant protection system |
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| May 02 2002 | Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / |
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