SIDE AIRBAG APPARATUS, MOTOR
VEHICLE SEAT, AND GAS DISTRIBUTOR OF
INFLATOR
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND
RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a side airbag apparatus for restraining an occupant in the event of a side collision or the like in a motor vehicle such as an automobile or the like, and more particularly, to a side airbag apparatus including a side airbag inside of which is partitioned into a plurality of chambers, a motor vehicle seat including the same, and a gas distributor of an inflator.
A side airbag apparatus is known for restraining an occupant's body by inflating a side airbag toward a side portion of the occupant by means of an inflator in the event a side collision, a rollover or the like of a motor vehicle such as an automobile. The side airbag apparatus is housed in, for example, a seat back portion of a seat. The side airbag is inflated and deployed into a space between the occupant and a side wall portion of the vehicle body from the seat back portion by means of the gas blown out of the inflator in the side collision or the like.
In such a side airbag, there is an airbag including a plurality of chambers therein, such as that partitioned into two chambers of, for example, an upper chamber for receiving a chest portion, and a lower chamber for receiving a waist portion in an upper half of the body of the occupant, or the like. In an airbag having a construction as described above, there is sometimes a case where a pressure ratio of each of the chambers during inflation and deployment is adjusted, namely for example, the pressure of the upper chamber for receiving the chest portion that is weak against a shock from outside is reduced to be lower than the pressure of the lower chamber for receiving the waist portion, or a case where a deploying condition of each of the chambers during inflation and deployment is varied, namely a chamber of one side is inflated earlier than the chamber of the other side. In such cases, it is required to adjust a flowing amount of the gas supplied from the inflator to each of the chambers.
For example, a side airbag apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003335210, shown in FIG. 5 is known as a side airbag apparatus having a flowing amount adjusting device for the gas as describe above. In this technology, a plurality of blowing-out holes (induction holes) for blowing out the gas toward each chamber (partitioned chamber) is provided in a cover for covering a periphery of the inflator, and opening areas of these blowing-out holes are adjusted at each chamber. Therefore, the flowing amount of the gas supplied from the inflator to each chamber can be adjusted.
In the aforementioned technology, a cover, which has a plurality of blowing-out holes adjusted at each chamber, is provided such that a periphery of an inflator is covered. Therefore, the flowing amount of the gas supplied from the inflator to each chamber is adjusted. Accordingly, a structure of the cover is complicated, and it is required that the periphery of the inflator is covered. As a result, the size of the cover becomes large, and a fixing structure of the cover or the like can be complicated as well.
An object of the present invention is to provide a side airbag apparatus capable of adjusting the flowing amount of the gas supplied from the inflator to each chamber with simple structure, a motor vehicle seat provided with the side airbag apparatus, and a gas distributor of the inflator.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
5
To achieve the above-described obj ect, in the first aspect of the invention, the side airbag apparatus includes a side airbag having a plurality of partitioned chambers therein, and it is inflated and deployed in a space between a side wall portion
10 ofabodyofa motor vehicle and an occupant seated on a seat disposed inside the body. An inflator has approximately a cylindrical shape and blows gas for inflating and deploying the side airbag from one side in a longitudinal direction of the inflator. A cylindrically shaped member has a squeezing por
15 tion for squeezing a flow path of the gas blown out from the inflator, while being disposed in a manner so as to cover the one side in the longitudinal direction of the inflator.
In an emergency such as a side collision of the motor vehicle or the like, the inflator is activated and the gas blown
20 out from the inflator is supplied to the plurality of chambers, and thereby the side airbag is inflated and deployed in a space between the occupant and the side wall portion of the body of the motor vehicle.
In the first aspect of the invention, the flow path of the gas
25 blown out from the inflator is squeezed by means of the squeezing portion of the cylindrically shaped member disposed in a manner so as to cover the one side, where the gas is blown out, in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the flowing amount of the gas supplied from the inflator to a
30 specific chamber of the plurality of chambers can be adjusted. As a result, it becomes possible to adjust a pressure ratio of each of the chambers during inflation and deployment, or to change a deploying condition of each of the chambers during inflation and deployment.
35 Thus, according to the first aspect of the invention, the flowing amount of the gas supplied from the inflator to each of the chambers can be adjusted with simple construction where a cylindrically shaped member is provided at one side in the longitudinal direction of the inflator. Further, as a result of
40 that the flowing amount can be adjusted with such a simple construction as that described above, it is possible for a construction to adjust the gas-flowing amount to each of the chambers by later attaching the cylindrically shaped member to the existing side airbag apparatus which is not equipped
45 with a flowing amount adjusting device.
As to the second aspect of the invention, in the aforementioned first aspect of the invention, the squeezing portion is a ring-shaped member provided at an end portion of the one side in the cylinder axis direction of the cylindrically shaped
50 member.
In the second aspect of the invention, the flowing amount of the gas is adjusted by squeezing the flow path of the gas blown out from the one side in the longitudinal direction of the inflator with a ring-shaped member of the cylindrically
55 shaped member. Since the flowing amount of the gas can be adjusted to a desired value by adjusting an opening area of the ring-shaped member, the gas-flowing amount can be adjusted with simpler construction, compared to a construction, for example, where the gas-flowing amount supplied from the
60 inflator to each chamber is adjusted by adjusting the opening area of a plurality of blowing-out holes, which is provided on a cover for the inflator, at each of the chambers.
The third aspect of the invention is that, in the aforementioned second aspect of the invention, an inner diameter of the
65 cylindrically shaped member is set to be greater than an outer diameter of the inflator at a predetermined value so that a flow path of the gas is formed in a space between an inner periph
