Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-18
2004-05-04
Morris, Lesley D. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C280S801100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06729650
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus for automotive vehicles such as automobiles, which uses an electric retractor for retracting and protracting a seatbelt for protection of an occupant (driver or passenger), and also relates to a seatbelt retraction and protraction amount-detecting device.
2. Prior Art
Conventional automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatuses are operable upon a large deceleration of the automotive vehicle such as a collision to restrain an occupant by means of a seatbelt to prevent him from being thrown out of his seat and hence protect him from danger.
The conventional automotive restraint and 30 protection apparatuses include a type provided with a seatbelt retractor for retracting or winding a seatbelt. The seatbelt retractor is generally provided with bias force-imparting means such as a spiral spring which always biases a reel shaft (takeup shaft) on which the seatbelt is wound, in a retracting or winding direction. The seatbelt is wound up on the reel shaft due to the bias force given by the bias force-imparting means when it is not mounted on the occupant, and it is protracted or withdrawn against the bias force to fasten or restrain the occupant when it is mounted on the occupant.
The seatbelt retractor is provided with emergency locking means which is normally actuated upon a large deceleration of the vehicle as mentioned above, to impede rotation of the reel shaft in the seatbelt protracting direction, so as for the seatbelt to surely restrain and protect the occupant.
According to the conventional automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus, however, to mount the seatbelt onto the occupant, he has to protract the seatbelt against the bias force of the bias force-imparting means, which requires the occupant to exert some force to protract the seatbelt. As a result, a weak occupant who has degraded physical ability such as an advanced-age occupant takes long to mount the seatbelt onto his body.
Further, there can be a case that the occupant feels uneasy while he wears the seatbelt since he feels a sense of oppression owing to the bias force of the bias force-imparting means.
Moreover, the conventional automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus is not provided with means for warning the occupant of danger to be caused by a doze and a collision.
A further disadvantage with the conventional apparatus is that an alien substance can become attached to the seatbelt after a long term use, which causes an increased friction between the seatbelt and a through anchor associated therewith, leading to insufficient retraction of the seatbelt.
The conventional automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus has another disadvantage that when the occupant has protracted the seatbelt without the intention of wearing the same, it can happen that the seatbelt cannot be retracted until a certain time period elapses. Thus, the seatbelt cannot be quickly retracted against the occupant's desire.
Further, in the conventional automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus, in retracting the seatbelt into its extreme retracted position, if the occupant intentionally stops the seatbelt at a position apart from his body and then judges that the seatbelt has reached its extreme retracted position, the seatbelt can be set in position in an abnormally loosened state.
Further, in the conventional automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus, when the occupant looks back for parking the vehicle while moving his body to protract the seatbelt, the seatbelt is wound back or retracted into the extreme retracted position after the completion of protraction of the seatbelt, which gives a feeling of unnaturalness to the occupant.
Furthermore, when the occupant's body is not in a proper position for driving the vehicle, that is, his body is not facing forwardly of the vehicle, the seatbelt can be wound up into the extreme retracted position, based upon which position the occupant is given a predetermined amount of looseness of the seatbelt, which can result in an inappropriate amount of looseness of the seatbelt being given to the occupant to make him feel uncomfortable.
In the conventional passenger restraint and protection apparatus, in the event that the seatbelt becomes locked when a motor for driving the seatbelt is rotated in the direction of the seatbelt being protracted, no force is acted upon the seatbelt to retract the same, so that the seatbelt is kept in the locked state, which can make it impossible to protract the seatbelt unless a condition is newly set for the seatbelt to be retracted.
The condition for the seatbelt to be retracted is set in the cases where the vehicle is suddenly braked, the seatbelt is taken off or disconnected from the occupant's body, and it is judged that the occupant's vehicle is about to collide with some object, by a collision prediction system, for example.
FIG. 83
is a timing chart showing another example of the relationship between driving forces of a reel shaft for retracting and protracting a seatbelt onto and from the reel shaft, an urging force which the occupant receives from the seatbelt, and the seatbelt retracting and protracting speeds of the reel shaft in the conventional automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus.
First, when attaching of the seatbelt to the occupant's body is detected, retraction of the seatbelt onto the reel shaft is started by the reel shaft with a constant seatbelt retraction driving force, and this retraction is continued until the retraction of the seatbelt reaches its limit (time period t
20
). During this retraction, the urging force which the occupant receives from the seatbelt gradually increases while the retracting speed of the seatbelt onto the reel shaft gradually decreases.
Thereafter, when the retraction of the seatbelt has reached its limit (time point c), the retraction of the seatbelt by the reel shaft is stopped, and then protraction of the seatbelt can be effected due to a restitution force against the bias force of the spiral spring, etc., that is, a restitution force of the occupant's body and clothes urged by the seatbelt. During this protraction, the acceleration of protraction of the seatbelt from the reel shaft increases.
Since when the retraction of the seatbelt by the reel shaft reaches its limit after the attaching of the seatbelt and the retracting motion stops, however, the seatbelt is suddenly returned in the direction in which the urging force is weakened due to the restitution force of the occupant's body and clothes urged by the seatbelt, the acceleration of protraction of the seatbelt from the reel shaft suddenly increases and can exceed a threshold value required for locking the protracting motion of the seatbelt, so that the protracting motion of the seatbelt can be locked by a seatbelt locking mechanism. As a result, the urging force that the occupant receives from the seatbelt cannot be relieved after a time point when it assumes a large value (time point d) (time period t
21
).
An automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus is also already known, which is provided with an airbag device for restraining an occupant through expansion of an airbag, a belt pretentioner for restraining the occupant by suddenly retracting a seatbelt, an airbag and pretensioner controller for controlling actuation time and expansion pressure of the airbag and actuation time and seatbelt-pulling force of the pretensioner, and a sensor for detecting negative acceleration acted upon the occupant upon a collision of the automotive vehicle.
When negative acceleration acted upon the occupant is detected by the sensor upon a collision of the automotive vehicle, a signal indicative of the negative acceleration from the sensor is delivered to the airbag and pretensioner controller, which in turn controls the actuation time and expansion pressure of the airbag and actuation time and s
Kawai Osamu
Matsuki Masuo
Midorikawa Yukinori
Ogawa Kiyoshi
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Morris Lesley D.
NSK Autoliv Co. Ltd.
Winner Tony
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