Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Seats with body modifications
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-18
2001-02-27
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Seats with body modifications
C297S216100, C297S216160, C297S216180
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193296
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant protection system, and in particular to a vehicle occupant protection system which can reduce a deceleration acting upon a vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, various proposals have been made in regard to automotive vehicle body structures to maximize the protection of vehicle occupants at the time of a vehicle crash. For instance, proposals have been made to minimize the deceleration of the part of the vehicle body occupied by vehicle occupants by properly selecting the deformation of the remaining part of the vehicle body, and preventing the former part of the vehicle body from deforming (see Japanese patent laid open publication No. 7-101354, for instance).
When a vehicle occupant is restrained to the seat by a seat belt, the forward inertial force acting upon the vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash starts rising only after the vehicle occupant is fully restrained by the seat belt. Because the seat belt inevitably has a certain resiliency, the deceleration acting on the vehicle occupant reaches a maximum level when the vehicle occupant is thrown forward, and the maximum elongation of the seat belt has occurred. The maximum level is higher as the forward movement of the vehicle occupant under the inertial force increases, and is known to substantially exceed the average deceleration of the vehicle body. Therefore, to minimize the impact which the vehicle occupant receives at the time of a vehicle crash, it is necessary to minimize the time delay in the rise in the deceleration of the vehicle occupant with respect to the deceleration of the vehicle body.
However, it is generally impossible to integrally attach a vehicle occupant to a vehicle body, and is therefore difficult to reduce the deceleration of the vehicle occupant in the case of small passenger cars which do not provide adequate deformation strokes of the parts of the vehicle body other than the part occupied by the vehicle occupant only with conventional approaches which essentially consist of attempts to reduce the deceleration of the passenger compartment by controlling the deformation mode of the vehicle body.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of such problems of the prior art, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system which allows the peak deceleration acting upon a vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash to be minimized for a given deformation stroke of the vehicle body.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system which allows the deceleration acting upon the vehicle occupant at the time of a vehicle crash to be spread over time so as to minimize the peak deceleration acting upon the vehicle occupant.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle occupant protection system which allows the peak deceleration acting upon the vehicle occupant to be minimized even though the size of the vehicle body is limited.
According to the present invention, these and other objects can be accomplished by providing a vehicle occupant protection system, comprising: a seat which is fitted with a seat belt, and supported on a vehicle body so as to be slidable in a direction of an input crash load resulting from a vehicle crash; a sensor for detecting an occurrence of a vehicle crash; a first actuator for applying an acceleration of a same direction as the crash load upon detection of the vehicle crash to the seat relative to the vehicle body; and a second actuator for applying an acceleration of an opposite direction from the crash load with a prescribed time delay following the detection of the vehicle crash to the seat relative to the vehicle body.
Thus, in case of a vehicle crash or other high deceleration situations, the seat is accelerated rearward upon the occurrence of a vehicle crash by the first actuator so that the restraining capability of the seat belt in restraining the vehicle occupant is enhanced by applying to the seat a deceleration higher than the vehicle body deceleration during an early phase of the vehicle crash. Thereafter, an acceleration in the opposite direction is applied to the seat by the second actuator so that the forward inertial force acting on the vehicle occupant at the time of the vehicle crash is canceled, and the equalization of the decelerations of the vehicle body, the seat and the vehicle occupant is achieved in an early stage of the crash.
The first and second actuators may each comprise a piston and cylinder assembly which is actuated by combustion of a propellant. The second actuator may also consist of a more passive actuator such as a brake or stopper which prevents movement of the seat relative to the vehicle body upon completion of an activation of the first actuator. Such a brake may be incorporated in the piston and cylinder assembly to prevent movement of the seat relative to the vehicle body upon completion of an activation of the piston and cylinder assembly. So as to achieve gradual change in the deceleration level of the vehicle occupant, and minimize the peak deceleration of the vehicle occupant, the stopper may include a buffering member which brings a rearward movement of the seat to a stop relative to the vehicle body with a certain cushioning stroke.
The timings of the activation of the actuators may be determined by suitable calculations and simulations. In general, the activation of the first actuator should occur as soon as possible after the occurrence of a vehicle crash. If desired, a certain prediction arrangement may be made so that the occurrence of a vehicle crash may be predicted before the actual occurrence, and the activation of the first actuator may be initiated with a certain head start. The activation of the second actuator may be timed with a time period required for the seat belt to become effective in restraining a vehicle occupant in the seat following the occurrence of a vehicle crash.
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patent: 5685603 (1997-11-01), Lane
patent: 5746467 (1998-05-01), Jesadanont
patent: 5810417 (1998-09-01), Jesadanont
patent: 6003937 (1999-12-01), Dutton et al.
patent: 6116561 (2000-09-01), Christopher
patent: 7-101354 (1995-04-01), None
patent: W0 94/22692 (1994-10-01), None
Patent Abstracts of Japan, 07101354, Apr. 18, 1995, http://www2.ipdljpo-miti.go.jp/dbpweb/connector/guest/DBPquery/ENGDB/wdispaj.
Motozawa Yasuki
Okamoto Masayoshi
Sano Koji
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
MacPherson Alan H.
Pape Joseph D.
Patel Kiran
Skjerven Morrill & MacPherson LLP
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