CN116490423A - Vehicle and airbag suitable for use as part of such a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a vehicle comprising: -a first portion (10) carrying at least indirectly at least one rear wheel (12), said first portion (10) comprising at least one seat element (16) and a component located in front of the at least one seat element (16); a second portion (20) rotatably attached to the first portion (10) at a front end of the first portion (10) and carrying at least one front wheel (22), said second portion (20) comprising at least one handle (24); and an airbag device comprising an airbag (30) attached to the first portion (10), the airbag (30) having an outer skin (40) comprising an impact wall (42) that is located in front of the seat element (16) when the airbag (30) is fully deployed. The invention also relates to an airbag (30) suitable for use in said vehicle.

Description

Vehicle and airbag suitable for use as part of such a vehicle

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle according to the preamble of claim 1 and an airbag according to claim 12 adapted for use as part of such a vehicle.

Front airbag devices are widely used in today's automotive technology and such front airbag devices are part of almost every modern passenger car and similar vehicles. Such a front airbag device (hereinafter also referred to simply as "airbag device") includes an airbag having an outer surface layer and an inflator for filling the airbag. The outer skin of such airbag devices always comprises an impact wall facing the person to be protected when the airbag is fully deployed. Most often, the outer skin also includes a front wall that supports the airbag at a rigid portion of the vehicle (e.g., the steering wheel or dashboard). Thus, the outer surface of the front wall forms the supported surface of the outer skin of the airbag. In order to reduce the depth of a fully deployed airbag, it is known to provide at least one tethering element between the front wall and the rear wall, wherein the tethering element is under tension when the airbag is fully deployed. Such front airbag devices contribute to a large extent to the safety of occupants of the passenger vehicle.

It is a known fact that during an accident, a motorcycle rider is more exposed to risks than the rider of the car. Therefore, it has been proposed to adapt the concept of the front airbag device to a motorcycle. A motorcycle having such a front airbag device is described, for example, in JP 2015-067148A.

Starting from this prior art, the object of the invention is to improve a utility vehicle.

This object is achieved by a vehicle having the features of claim 1. An airbag suitable for use as part of such a vehicle is defined in claim 12.

The invention relates first to motorcycles but is also applicable to similar vehicles such as motor tricycles and motor quadricycles or other types of two-wheeled vehicles, motor quadricycles, all-terrain vehicles and other types of four-wheeled vehicles without a body. Common to these vehicles is that they comprise a first part having a seat element (typically in the form of a bench) and a second part rotatably held at the front end of the first part and comprising a handle, wherein the first element comprises a part located between the seat element and the second element. The component is typically a tank.

The basic idea is to use at least a part of the upper surface of the component as a support surface for the deployment airbag and to select the shape of the outer skin of the airbag accordingly. It has been found that the mating shape of the airbag skin is wedge-shaped such that it has a bottom wall and an inclined impact wall, a front wall and two substantially triangular side walls.

By means of the wedge shape, the upper surface of the component of the first part of the vehicle in front of the seat element can be used as a support surface (as already mentioned) and early coupling of the rider's abdominal region to the impact wall of the outer skin of the airbag can be achieved without applying too much force to the rider's head and neck. In addition, the volume enclosed by the outer skin when the airbag is fully deployed is minimized.

In order to limit the overall width of the airbag such that the outer skin has a classical wedge shape, at least one transverse tethering element connecting the side walls is preferably provided.

In order to form the wedge shape, it may be preferred that the airbag comprises at least one longitudinal tethering element connected to the impact wall and the front wall. Similar to the lateral tethering elements, the at least one longitudinal tethering element is under tension when the airbag is fully deployed. In this case, it may be advantageous for the at least one longitudinal tie-down element to also be connected to the bottom wall. This helps shape the bottom wall so that it can be properly supported by the upper surface of the component of the first portion. However, in other embodiments, the at least one longitudinal tie-down element is not connected to the bottom wall. This may improve the uniform gas distribution within the gas space enclosed by the outer skin.

The transverse and longitudinal tie-down elements may be combined into a combined transverse and longitudinal tie-down element, which is connected to the side wall and to at least the impact wall, and preferably also to the front wall. In particular in this case, it may be preferable that the edge of the combined tethering element connected to the impact wall is concave, resulting in the impact wall being at least partially concave.

Such combined transverse and longitudinal tie-down elements may be used alone or in combination with at least one different transverse tie-down element and/or at least one different longitudinal tie-down element. Of course, more than one combined transverse and longitudinal tethering element may be used.

If there is at least one different transverse tethering element and at least one different longitudinal tethering element, they must somehow cross each other. In a preferred embodiment, the at least one transverse tethering element extends through the at least one longitudinal tethering element, or the at least one longitudinal tethering element extends through the at least one transverse tethering element. In another preferred embodiment, the transverse tethering element comprises at least two portions, wherein two adjacent portions are connected to the longitudinal tethering element, or the longitudinal tethering element comprises at least two portions, wherein two adjacent portions are connected to the transverse tethering element.

In particular, in order to shape the impact wall such that the head of the rider is prevented from sliding out sideways, it may be advantageous to provide at least two longitudinal tethering elements.

As already mentioned, the bottom wall extends along at least a portion of the upper surface of the component located in front of the at least one seat element. Preferably, the bottom wall extends along at least half of the length of the upper surface of the component, more preferably along substantially the entire length of the upper surface of the component. It is generally desirable that the bottom wall extends substantially to the rear end of the component near the seat element.

Of course, an airbag device of a vehicle includes an inflator for inflating an airbag.

The invention will now be described with the aid of preferred embodiments according to the accompanying drawings. The drawings show:

fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of the vehicle of the present invention, i.e. a motorcycle, in which the vehicle's airbag is fully deployed,

fig. 2 shows in perspective view the airbag of the vehicle shown in fig. 1, with some hidden elements shown in broken lines,

figure 2a shows a second embodiment of an airbag according to the representation of figure 2,

fig. 3 shows a third embodiment of the airbag according to the representation of fig. 2, but in which no hidden element is shown,

figure 4 shows the tethering element of the airbag of figure 3,

figure 5 shows a variation of the tethering element shown in figure 4,

figure 6 shows a cross-section taken along the plane A-A in figure 5,

figure 7 shows the motorcycle of figure 1 during deployment of the airbag,

figure 8 shows the motorcycle of figure 7 (identical to figure 1) after full deployment of the airbag,

fig. 9 shows another embodiment of the motorcycle according to the representation of fig. 7 (meaning during airbag deployment), and

fig. 10 shows the motorcycle of fig. 9 after the airbag is fully deployed.

The invention will now be described by means of an embodiment in which the vehicle of the invention is a motorcycle. This is the most important application of the invention according to current knowledge, but it should be noted that the invention can also be applied to similar vehicles, in particular to vehicles having a longitudinal bench on which the rider sits and a fork or fork-like portion having a handle. In any event, the components of the vehicle must extend between the seat element (seat bench) and the handle. Currently, the component is typically a box. Typically, the rider's legs are positioned to the left and right of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and most commonly to the left and right of the component and outside of the vehicle.

First, the structure of the motorcycle shown in fig. 1 will be briefly described: the motorcycle can be seen as comprising two parts, namely a first part 10 and a second part 20. The first portion 10 is basically a "rear portion" and generally includes a frame 11, a box 14 attached to the frame, a seat element (seat bench) 16 attached to the frame 11, and a swing arm 17 attached to the frame 11 in a swinging manner. The swing arm 17 holds the rear wheel 12. The second part is connected to the first part in a rotating manner, i.e. to the front end of the frame 11. As is common with motorcycles, the second portion 20 includes a fork 26 and a handle 24 attached to the fork 26. The front wheel 22 is held by the fork. The wheels 12, 22 are of course also part of the vehicle.

An airbag device is provided and an airbag 30 of the airbag device is shown in its fully deployed state in fig. 1. The airbag device also includes an inflator, but the inflator is not shown in the drawings. The airbag 30 is again shown in more detail in fig. 2 and its structure and position relative to the first and second portions of the motorcycle will now be described:

as with each airbag, the airbag 30 includes an outer skin 40. The outer skin 40 includes an impingement wall 42, a front wall 46, and a bottom wall 44. The bottom wall 44 extends from a front end 44a to a rear end 44b, the impingement wall 42 extends from the rear end 44b to a top end 42c of the bottom wall, and the front wall 46 extends from the top end 42c of the impingement wall 42 to the front end 44a of the bottom wall 44. The impingement wall 42 is inclined with respect to the vertical direction Z, for example at an angle between 20 ° and 40 °. These three walls form a substantially triangular shape when viewed from the side, wherein in particular the bottom wall 44 may be curved, in particular concavely curved, so as to coincide with the upper surface 15 of the tank 14. The outer skin 40 is laterally closed by substantially triangular side walls 48 and 49.

The bottom wall 44 extends along substantially the entire length of the upper surface 15 of the housing 14 (meaning the component in front of the seat element 16). As shown, and preferably, the rear end 44b of the bottom wall 44 (which is also the rear and lower ends of the impact wall 42) is located at or near the rear end of the box 14 so that it is located near the driver of the motorcycle, in particular near his/her abdominal region. It is further preferred and shown that the bottom wall 44 extends substantially to the front end of the housing 14 so that the entire upper surface 15 of the housing 14 (more generally: a component of the first portion) or at least a substantial portion of that surface may serve as a support surface.

As already mentioned, it is important that the outer skin 40 of the airbag 30 is wedge-shaped, wherein it is preferred that the bottom wall 44 coincides with the upper surface of the housing 14. To achieve such a wedge shape, the side walls 48,49 are of course substantially triangular and it is also necessary to provide at least one tethering element. Particularly good results can be achieved if at least two tethering elements are provided (i.e., a transverse tethering element 50 and a longitudinal tethering element 60). The lateral tethering element 50 is attached to the first side wall 48 by means of a first side wall connector 51 (typically a seam) and to the second side wall 49 by means of a second side wall connector 52 (typically also a seam). It is preferred that the lateral tethering element 50 extend along a substantial portion of the height of the side walls 48, 49.

The longitudinal tie-down element 60 is attached to the impact wall 42 by means of an impact wall connector 62 (typically a seam) and to the front wall 46 by means of a front wall connector 66 (typically also a seam). In the embodiment shown in fig. 2, the longitudinal tie-down element 60 is also connected to the bottom wall 44, i.e. by a bottom wall connector 64 (also typically a seam). This may assist in shaping the bottom wall, but is not mandatory. Where the impingement wall connector 62 extends along the entire height of the impingement wall, the front wall connector 66 extends along the entire height of the front wall 46, and the bottom wall connector 64 extends along the entire length of the bottom wall 44, these connectors 62, 64, and 66 may be part of a single connector. In other embodiments, the longitudinal tethering element 60 does not extend to the bottom wall such that the two chambers separated by the longitudinal tethering element 60 are connected at the bottom. This has the advantage that only one central gas inlet is required, or that the inflator may be located in the gas space.

Because of the structure and shape of the tethering elements 50, 60, they need to cross each other. In the illustrated embodiment, the longitudinal tie-down element 60 shows an opening 68 for this purpose. Of course, such openings may alternatively be provided in the lateral tethering element 50. Where the tethering element is a conventional ribbon tether, the tethers may of course pass exactly through each other.

The longitudinal tie-down element 60 divides the gas space enclosed by the outer skin into two parts. To ensure a substantially symmetrical deployment, one inflator opening 45, 45' is provided for each section. In the case where the longitudinal tie-down element does not extend to the bottom wall, one central inflator opening is sufficient.

The tethering elements 50, 60 help to maintain the fully deployed outer skin 40 in its wedge-like shape. This wedge shape has the following advantages: the lower rear end of the outer skin 40 may be positioned close to the motorcycle rider, in particular to his/her abdominal region, so that an early coupling occurs between the driver and the airbag (i.e. its impact wall 42). Furthermore, a large supported surface may be provided; substantially the entire outer surface of the bottom wall 44 serves as a supported surface. Preferably, the width of the bottom wall 44 in the Y direction is at least the width of the housing 14 so that maximum support is provided, but the total volume of the airbag is no higher than necessary. Due to the transverse tethering element 50, the maximum width (in the Y direction) of the fully deployed outer skin layer 40 does not substantially exceed the width of the bottom wall 44 or is at least limited to a defined value. In addition to the reduced volume, this has the further advantage that the deployed airbag does not interfere with the rider's arm, so that the driver's hand still grips the handle 24, typically when the airbag is fully deployed. The longitudinal tethering element 60 and in particular its connection with the impact wall 42 has the further advantage that the impact wall 42 is flat or even slightly concave, so that the driver's head and torso are prevented from sliding out of the side.

Fig. 2a shows an embodiment with a combined transverse and longitudinal tethering element 55 that is both a transverse tethering element and a longitudinal tethering element. Preferably, the edges of the combined transverse and longitudinal tethering element 55 connected to the impact wall 42 are concave, such that the outer surface of the impact wall (impact surface) is also concave. This may help prevent the rider from slipping off the impact surface. Of course, at least two such combined transverse and longitudinal tethering elements 55 spaced apart from each other in the Z-direction may be used.

Fig. 3 and 4 show a third embodiment of an airbag 30, wherein fig. 3 is a perspective view according to fig. 2, but without a hidden element, and fig. 4 shows only a tethering element. The difference from the first embodiment is that two longitudinal tie-down elements 60,60' are provided. For this purpose, of course, two connections to the impingement wall, two connections to the bottom wall (if such a connection exists) and two connections to the front wall are also provided; impact wall connectors 62, 62' are shown in fig. 3. By providing two longitudinal tethering elements 60,60', a substantially flat region of the impact wall 42 may be created. This may be particularly helpful in maintaining the driver's head at the center of the impact wall 42.

In this case, even if the longitudinal tie-down element extends to the bottom wall, the gas supply may be provided, for example, only in the middle between the two longitudinal tie-down elements 60, 60'. In this case, it may be desirable to provide relief openings 69, 69 'in the longitudinal tie-down elements 60, 60'.

Fig. 5 and 6 show an alternative to the structure shown in fig. 3 and 4. Here, the transverse tethering element 50 has three portions 50a, 50b and 50c, wherein the outer portions 50a, 50c are each connected to one side wall and one longitudinal tethering element, and wherein the middle portion 50b is connected to two longitudinal tethering elements 60, 60'. The concept is of course also applicable in the case of using only one longitudinal tie-down element.

The tethering elements in the embodiment shown have a relatively flat two-dimensional structure. This may have advantages, but it is noted that the tethering element may also be a "classical" ribbon tether. In this case, it may be necessary to use several tethers for each direction (referring to the longitudinal and transverse directions).

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, an airbag device (referred to as an undeployed airbag and inflator) may be positioned, for example, at the rear end of the housing 14 or the front end of the seat member 16 such that the airbag deploys substantially forward and upward. This has the advantage that the impact wall 42 is located in front of the driver at an early stage.

Alternatively (as shown in figures 9 and 10), the airbag device may also be located substantially in front of the housing 14 so that the airbag deploys much like a conventional front airbag, i.e. towards the rider.

It is of course also possible (but not shown in the drawings) to position the airbag device substantially in the middle of the case so that it deploys forwards and backwards.

It can be seen that the wedge-like shape of the outer skin of the airbag offers a number of advantages over the motorcycle airbags known from the prior art.

List of reference numerals

10. First part of a vehicle

11. Frame

12. Rear wheel

14. Box body

15. Upper surface of the case

16. Seat element

17. Swing arm

20. Second part

22. Front wheel

24. Handle grip

26. Fork for bicycle

30. Safety air bag

40. Outer cover of air bag

42. Impact wall

42c tip

44. Bottom wall

44a front end

44b rear end

45. 45' inflator opening

46. Front wall

48. 49 side wall

50. Transverse tethering element

51. First side wall connecting piece

52. Second side wall connector

55. Combined transverse and longitudinal tie-down element

59. Overflow opening

60. 60' longitudinal tie-down element

62. 62' impingement wall connector

64. Bottom wall connector

66. Front wall connector

68. Opening of transverse tethering element

69. 69' overflow opening

Claims (12)

1. A vehicle, the vehicle comprising:

a first portion (10) carrying at least indirectly at least one rear wheel (12), the first portion (10) comprising at least one seat element (16) and a component located in front of the at least one seat element (16),

a second portion (20) rotatably attached to the first portion (10) at a front end of the first portion (10) and carrying at least one front wheel (22), the second portion (20) comprising at least one handle (24), and

an airbag arrangement comprising an airbag (30) attached to the first portion (10), the airbag (30) having an outer skin (40) comprising an impact wall (42) that is located in front of the seat element (16) when the airbag (30) is fully deployed,

it is characterized in that the method comprises the steps of,

the outer skin (40) of the fully deployed airbag (30) is wedge-shaped and comprises:

a bottom wall (44) extending from a front end (44 a) to a rear end (44 b), the impingement wall (42) extending from the rear end (44 b) to a top end (42 c) of the bottom wall (44),

a front wall (46) extending from the top end (42 c) of the impact wall (44) to the front end (44 a) of the bottom wall (44), and

a first substantially triangular side wall (48) and a second substantially triangular side wall (49), said side walls (48, 49) connecting said bottom wall (44),

Side edges of the impingement wall (42) and the front wall (46).

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the airbag (30) further comprises at least one lateral tethering element (50) connected to the first side wall (48) by means of a first side connector (51) and to the second side wall (49) by means of a second side connector (52), the lateral tethering element (50) being under tension when the airbag (30) is fully deployed such that the lateral tethering element limits the width of the outer skin of the airbag.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the airbag (30) further comprises at least one longitudinal tethering element (60, 60 ') connected to the impact wall (42) by means of an impact wall connector (62) and to the front wall (46) by means of a front wall connector (66), the at least one longitudinal tethering element (60, 60') being under tension when the airbag (30) is fully deployed.

4. A vehicle according to claim 3, characterized in that the at least one longitudinal tie-down element (60, 60') is further connected to the bottom wall (44).

5. The vehicle of claim 2 and claim 3 or claim 4, characterized in that the at least one transverse tethering element (50) extends through the at least one longitudinal tethering element (60, 60 '), or the at least one longitudinal tethering element (60, 60') extends through the at least one transverse tethering element (50).

6. The vehicle according to claim 2 and claim 3 or claim 4, characterized in that the transverse tethering element (50) comprises at least two portions, wherein two adjacent portions are connected to the same longitudinal tethering element (60, 60 '), or the at least one longitudinal tethering element (60, 60') comprises at least two portions, wherein two adjacent portions are connected to the same transverse tethering element (50).

7. The vehicle according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the airbag (30) comprises at least two longitudinal tethering elements (60, 60').

8. The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the airbag further comprises at least one combined transverse and longitudinal tethering element (55) connected to the first side wall (48) by means of a first side connector (51), to the second side wall (49) by means of a second side connector (52), to the impact wall (42) by means of an impact wall connector (62), and preferably to the front wall (46) by means of a front wall connector (66), the combined transverse and longitudinal tethering element (55) being under tension when the airbag (30) is fully deployed, such that the combined transverse and longitudinal tethering element limits the width of the outer skin layer of the airbag.

9. The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the bottom wall (44) extends along at least a portion of an upper surface (15) of the component located in front of the at least one seat element (16), wherein preferably the bottom wall (44) extends along at least half the length of the upper surface (15) of the component, more preferably along substantially the entire length of the upper surface (15) of the component.

10. The vehicle according to any of claims 1-9, characterized in that the component in front of the at least one seat element is a box (14).

11. The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the vehicle has no body.

12. Airbag (30) suitable for use in a vehicle according to one of claims 1 to 11, comprising an outer skin (40) which is wedge-shaped when the airbag (30) is fully deployed and comprises:

an impingement wall (42) having a tip (42 c),

a bottom wall (44) extending from a front end (44 a) to a rear end (44 b),

a front wall (46) extending from the top end (42 c) of the impact wall (44) to the front end (44 a) of the bottom wall (44),

a first substantially triangular side wall (48) and a second substantially triangular side wall (49), said side walls (48, 49) connecting the side edges of said bottom wall (44), said impingement wall (42) and said front wall (46),

wherein the airbag (30) further comprises:

at least one lateral tethering element (50) connected to the first side wall (48) by means of a first side connector (51) and to the second side wall (49) by means of a second side connector (52), the lateral tethering element (50) being under tension when the airbag (30) is fully deployed such that the lateral tethering element limits the width of the outer skin of the airbag, and/or

At least one longitudinal tethering element (60, 60 ') connected to the impact wall (42) and the front wall (46), the at least one longitudinal tethering element (60, 60') being under tension when the airbag (30) is fully deployed.