Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-30
2003-08-12
Patel, Kiran (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Seats with body modifications
C297S216100, C280S806000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06604771
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant-protecting apparatus, and more particularly to a vehicle occupant-protecting apparatus for reducing deceleration applied to a vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle collision.
In recent years, various types of vehicle structures that can reduce the deceleration of portions of a vehicle body other than a passenger compartment have been proposed. For example, such reduction has been achieved by appropriately setting deformation moods in collision for the portions of the vehicle body other than the passenger compartment, and by preventing the deformation of the vehicle body in collision from extending to the passenger compartment to improve the vehicle occupant-protecting effect. Refer a Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 7-101354.
On the other hand, the deceleration of the occupant restrained in the seat by the seat belt rises when an inertia force is borne by the seat belt. Note that this inertia force is exerted on an occupant restrained in the seat by the seat belt in a forward direction in the vehicle collision. Since the spring effect of the seat belt cannot entirely be eliminated, the occupant moves by virtue of the inertia force and the deceleration of the occupant reaches its peak when the maximum extension of the seat belt is reached. The more the occupant is moved by inertia force, the higher the peak value of the occupant deceleration is increased. Accordingly, in general the value exceeds the mean deceleration of the passenger compartment of the vehicle body. Consequently, in order to reduce the impact borne by the occupant, the vehicle body deceleration needs to be adjusted such that the delay in time of the rise of the occupant deceleration relative to the vehicle body deceleration becomes as small as possible.
However, it is substantially not possible to integrally connect the occupant with the vehicle body. In particular, in the case of small cars in which the deformation stroke of the portions of the vehicle body other than the passenger compartment cannot sufficiently be provided, it is difficult to reduce further the occupant deceleration only with the conventional method for reducing the deceleration of the passenger compartment at the time of collision by setting deformation stress for the vehicle body.
The inventors of the invention disclosed herein proposed a vehicle occupant-protecting apparatus, as shown in the specification of Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2000-062556 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,293). The apparatus has a seat supported on a vehicle body to be movable along a direction in which a force is applied to the vehicle body when a vehicle collides. The apparatus also has a first acceleration mechanism for applying acceleration to the seat in the same direction as that in which impact load is applied to the vehicle body and a second acceleration mechanism for applying acceleration to the seat in an opposite direction to the direction in which the impact load is applied to the vehicle body.
In the vehicle occupant-protecting apparatus so proposed, however, occupant-protecting apparatus driving rails are provided separately from seat rails for adjusting longitudinally the position of the seat. Furthermore, the first and second acceleration mechanisms are mounted on the vehicle body as constituent mechanism components independent from the seat. Consequently, the occupant-protecting apparatus itself becomes relatively larger in size and heavier in weight. Further, due to a complicated construction thereof man-hours for assembling on the production line are increased. This causes disadvantages in mounting space, cost and weight. In particular, this causes a problem that the occupant-protecting apparatus becomes difficult to be mounted on a small car light in weight and inexpensive in price.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems above, and to provide an improved occupant-protecting apparatus that can realize at higher levels a vehicle body compact in dimensions, light in weight and low in price while attaining the reduction of the vehicle occupant deceleration.
The object can be attained by a vehicle occupant-protecting apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention.
The apparatus comprises:
a lower rail fixed to a vehicle body;
an upper rail slidably supported on the lower rail,
a seat integrated with the upper rail and provided with a seat belt for restraining an occupant seated in the seat;
a seat slide lock mechanism for allowing the seat to be selected between a position changeable state and a fixed state,
a first acceleration member comprising a cylinder integrated with the seat for applying acceleration to the seat in the same direction as that in which impact load is applied to the vehicle body, a piston connected to the seat slide lock mechanism and piston pushing member for generating force to push out the piston from the cylinder in collision, and a second acceleration member provided inside the cylinder such that acceleration is applied to the seat via the piston in an opposite direction to the direction in which impact load is applied to the vehicle body.
According to this construction, in case of a head-on collision, for example, a higher deceleration than the vehicle deceleration can be generated in the seat in an earlier stage of impact by accelerating the seat rearward by the first acceleration member the moment a collision occurs to thereby increase the restraining force of the seat belt for restraining the forward movement of the occupant. Following this, the deceleration of the seat can be adjusted by the second acceleration member so as to substantially match the deceleration of the occupant. Thus, the increase in forward inertia force applied to the occupant at the time of collision can be cancelled so that the decelerations of the vehicle body, the seat and the occupant become equal to one another in the early stage of the impact, and since the first and second acceleration member are provided inside the cylinder which is integrated with the seat, the occupant-protecting apparatus can be place by making use of a space, for example, under the seat, this obviating the necessity of securing a particular vacant space only for this apparatus, thereby making it possible to attain the vehicle body compact in dimensions while promoting the reduction in weight and price.
In addition, according to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a vehicle occupant-protecting apparatus as set forth in the first aspect of the invention, wherein a selective lock member is provided between the piston and the cylinder, the selective lock member being adapted to be in an engaged state when the seat is moved to adjust its sliding position and to be put in a released state with the pushing force generated by the piston pushing member when the piston pushing member pushes out the piston. According to this construction, the sliding adjustment of the seat becomes possible in normal use.
Additionally, according to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a vehicle occupant-protecting apparatus as set forth in the second aspect of the invention, wherein a unidirectional piston movement restriction member is provided between the piston and the cylinder, the unidirectional piston movement restriction member being adapted to be left free relative to a direction in which the piston is pushed out but to prevent the movement of the piston in an opposite direction to that in which the piston is pushed out. According to this construction, when the piston moves and the seat attempts to return forward after it has moved rearward, the vehicle body and the seat can be made integral with each other by member of the first acceleration member and the second acceleration member, thus the decelerations of the occupant and the vehicle body in the final stage of the impact being made to substantially match each other.
The above-mentioned object can also be attained by a vehicle occup
Kamei Takahiro
Kawamura Yasushi
Motozawa Yasuki
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
MacPherson Kwok & Chen & Heid LLP
Patel Kiran
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