Patent Description:
In general, a vehicular airbag device is a safety device that protects a passenger by injecting gas into an airbag according to a signal of an impact detection sensor upon vehicle collision, and rapidly inflating the airbag.

Such an airbag device is installed in a steering wheel, a dashboard, a seat, a sidewall, etc. provided in a vehicle, and protects an occupant by being inflated toward a front side or a side of the occupant upon vehicle collision.

That is, a vehicle may be provided with a frontal airbag which is deployed in front of a driver seat and a passenger seat, a curtain airbag and a side airbag which are deployed from where side collision occurs (hereinafter, referred to as a 'collision side') to protect a passenger, and a knee airbag for protecting passenger's knee.

The side airbag may include a near side airbag which is inflated and deployed between a passenger and a vehicular configuration member like a door, and protects an occupant from the vehicular configuration member protruding inwards from an impact by side collision, and a far-side airbag or a center side airbag which restricts movement of an occupant moving to the inside of a vehicle due to reaction to side collision.

When a collision accident of the vehicle occurs, the far-side airbag may be deployed between the occupant and an occupant sitting next to the occupant, and may perform functions of preventing a mutual collision between the occupants, reducing an impact exerted to the occupant, and preventing the occupant from being catapulted out of the vehicle by the impact.

For example, the present applicant has filed applications for patent by disclosing a far-side airbag device configuration in patent document <NUM> and patent document <NUM> presented below.

In order to perform the above-described functions, the far-side airbag should stably support the occupant when coming into contact with the occupant, and should absorb the impact.

For example, <FIG> is a view illustrating a state in which a related-art far-side airbag is deployed.

As shown in <FIG>, the related-art far-side airbag <NUM> is not supported by any structure that prevents the airbag <NUM> from being rotated or moved due to characteristics of a position where the airbag is installed.

To this end, the related-art far-side airbag <NUM> is inflated and deployed from a frame (not shown) installed in a backrest <NUM> of a seat <NUM> when being initially deployed, and accordingly, the far-side airbag <NUM> does not come into close contact with a side of an occupant <NUM> and is inflated and deployed toward the opposite occupant.

As described above, the occupant <NUM> and the airbag <NUM> are spaced apart from each other and a space (S) is formed, and accordingly, the related-art far-side airbag may have a limit to safely protecting the occupant <NUM> moving toward the side of the vehicle.

That is, the far-side airbag <NUM> should be inflated upward almost in a vertical direction to come into contact with the side of the occupant <NUM> in order to prevent a collision between the occupants <NUM>, but the related-art far-side airbag <NUM> may be deployed toward the opposite occupant when being initially deployed, and accordingly, there may be a problem that an injury to the occupant caused by lateral movement of the occupant is not prevented. A far-side airbag device with the features of the preamble of claim <NUM> is known from <CIT>. A further far-side airbag device is known from <CIT>.

An object of the disclosure is to solve the above-described problems, and is to provide a far-side airbag device of a vehicle which prevents a collision between occupants by being inflated and deployed between the occupants upon side collision of the vehicle.

Another object of the disclosure is to provide a far-side airbag device of a vehicle which prevents lateral movement of an occupant by being inflated and deployed upward in proximity of a side of the occupant.

In order to achieve the above-described objects, a far-side airbag device of a vehicle is defined by claim <NUM> and according to the disclosure includes: an airbag cushion which is embedded in a backrest of a seat and is inflated and deployed to correspond to a side of an upper body of an occupant upon side collision of the vehicle; an inflater configured to generate a gas by an impact detection signal and to supply the gas to the airbag cushion upon side collision of the vehicle; and a restriction member which is installed in the airbag cushion and configured to restrict a deployment shape of the airbag cushion, and the airbag cushion is inflated and deployed in an upward direction from a side of the occupant due to the restriction member to prevent a lateral movement of the occupant.

According to the far-side airbag device of the vehicle according to the disclosure as described above, there is an effect of safely protecting an occupant by controlling a deployment shape of the airbag cushion of the far-side airbag device to almost come into contact with the side of the occupant, and preventing a space from being formed between the occupant and the airbag cushion, and preventing lateral movement of the occupant.

That is, according to the disclosure, a first tether is installed on the center of an outside panel and an inside panel of the airbag cushion, so that there is an effect of controlling a deployment shape of the center of the airbag cushion, that is, a deployment thickness and a direction.

According to the disclosure, one end of a second tether connected with the outside panel is disposed further back than the other end of the second tether connected with the inside panel, so that there is an effect of controlling the deployment cushion of the airbag cushion to allow an upper chamber of the airbag cushion to be bent toward the front side of the occupant.

Accordingly, according to the disclosure, there is an effect of safely protecting occupant's head by controlling the deployment shape to allow the upper chamber of the airbag cushion to face the upper portion of occupant's upper body, particularly, the front of the head.

In addition, according to the disclosure, the outside panel of the airbag cushion is formed to have a larger cross-sectional area than the inside panel, and a folding portion is formed on the center of the outside panel to have parts overlapping each other, so that there is an effect of controlling the deployment shape of the upper chamber of the airbag cushion.

Accordingly, according to the disclosure, there is an effect of safely protecting the occupant by controlling the deployment shape of the airbag cushion to almost come into contact with the side of the occupant by the folding portion and the first tether, and preventing lateral movement of the occupant caused by a space between the occupant and the airbag cushion.

Hereinafter, a far-side airbag device of a vehicle according to a preferred embodiment of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, a configuration of a far-side airbag device for preventing a collision between occupants sitting on a driver seat and a passenger seat will be described, but the disclosure is not necessarily limited thereto and it should be noted that the disclosure may be changed to be applicable to a 2nd row or 3rd row according to a configuration of a vehicle.

Hereinafter, a direction toward a front side of a vehicle from a driver seat is referred to as a 'forward direction (F),' and a direction toward a rear side of the vehicle is referred to a 'backward direction (B). ' Along with these terms, terms indicating directions such as 'left side (L),' 'right side (R),' 'upward direction (U),' and 'downward direction (D)' are defined to indicate respective directions with reference to the forward direction and the backward direction described above.

Along with these terms, a direction toward an occupant from an airbag cushion with reference to the occupant is referred to as 'inside,' and the opposite direction thereof is referred to as 'outside.

Accordingly, the forward, backward (F, B) directions, the left, right (L, R) directions, and the inside (I) and outside (O) directions of the vehicle may be expressed as a horizontal direction, respectively, and the upward, downward (U, D) directions of the vehicle may be expressed as a vertical direction.

<FIG> and <FIG> are a front view and a side view illustrating a state in which an airbag cushion in a far-side airbag device of a vehicle is deployed according to a first embodiment of the disclosure, respectively.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the far-side airbag device of the vehicle according to the first embodiment of the disclosure includes an airbag cushion <NUM> which is embedded in a backrest <NUM> of a seat <NUM> and is inflated and deployed to correspond to a side of occupant's upper body upon side collision of the vehicle, an inflater <NUM> which generates a gas according to an impact detection signal upon side collision of the vehicle and supplies the gas to the airbag cushion <NUM>, and a restriction member <NUM> which is installed in the airbag cushion <NUM> to restrict a deployment shape so as to inflate and deploy the airbag cushion <NUM> in the upward direction almost in contact with a side of the occupant.

The airbag cushion <NUM> is inflated and deployed from the backrest <NUM> of the seat <NUM> in the forward, upward, and downward directions, and is inflated and deployed to correspond to the side of the pelvis and the whole upper body of the occupant, that is, the belly, chest, neck, and head of the occupant. As described above, the airbag cushion <NUM> is inflated and deployed between the occupant and another occupant (hereinafter, referred to as the 'opposite occupant') and performs a function of safely protecting the occupants from a collision between the occupants due to impact by a side collision.

To achieve this, the airbag cushion <NUM> includes an inside panel <NUM> which comes into contact with a right side surface of the occupant, that is, a driver, and an outside panel <NUM> which comes into contact with a left side surface of the opposite occupant, and may be formed in a bag-like shape by bonding edges of the inside panel <NUM> and the outside panel <NUM> by sewing.

The airbag cushion <NUM> may be formed to be inflated and deployed in a substantially circular, oval, or hexahedral shape, and may be inflated and deployed from the right side of the occupant in the forward, upward, and downward directions.

In the present embodiment, the airbag cushion <NUM> may be inflated and deployed in a substantially semi-circular shape to be convex in the forward direction, as shown in <FIG>.

Configurations of the airbag cushion and the restriction member will be described in detail with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> is a deployment view illustrating a state in which the restriction member is installed on an inner surface of the outside panel, <FIG> is a cross-sectional view taken on line A-A' of <FIG>, and <FIG> is a cross-sectional view taken on line B-B' of <FIG> illustrates a state in which the inside panel is disassembled from the outside panel.

As shown in <FIG>, the inside panel <NUM> and the outside panel <NUM> may be formed in a semi-circular shape, respectively, and an upper end of each panel <NUM>, <NUM> may protrude in the backward direction so as to protect the head of the occupant, and a lower end of each panel <NUM>, <NUM> may be provided with an introduction portion which is connected with the inflater <NUM> to introduce a gas.

The airbag cushion <NUM> is divided into an upper chamber <NUM> to protect the upper portion of the chest, the neck, and the head with reference to the chest of the occupant, and a lower chamber <NUM> to protect the lower portion of the chest, the belly, and the pelvis of the occupant.

The inflater <NUM> may be embedded in the backrest <NUM> of the seat <NUM>, and may ignite an inner firer according to a detection signal of an impact detection sensor (not shown) installed in the vehicle when a side collision of the vehicle occurs, and may generate a gas and supply the gas into the airbag cushion <NUM> through the introduction portion.

The restriction member <NUM> performs a function of controlling a deployment shape of the airbag cushion <NUM> to allow the airbag cushion <NUM> to come into contact with a side of the occupant during a deployment process of the airbag cushion <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, the restriction member <NUM> includes a first tether <NUM> which is installed between a front end and a rear end of a center of the airbag cushion <NUM> to restrict a deployment shape of the center of the airbag cushion <NUM>.

Along with this, the restriction member <NUM> may further include a second tether <NUM> which is installed in the upper chamber <NUM> of the airbag cushion <NUM> along the vertical direction to restrict a deployment shape of the upper chamber <NUM>.

The first and second tethers <NUM>, <NUM> may be formed in a band shape having a pre-set width, respectively.

The first tether <NUM> is installed to be slightly inclined toward an upper portion of a rear side.

For example, one end of the first tether <NUM>, a left end when viewed on <FIG>, is connected to the outside panel <NUM>, and the other end of the second tether <NUM>, a right end when viewed on <FIG>, is connected to the inside panel <NUM>.

Herein, the left end of the first tether <NUM> is disposed on a higher position than the right end.

That is, a first sewing line <NUM> connecting the left end of the first tether <NUM> and the outside panel <NUM> is disposed on a higher position than a second sewing line <NUM> connecting the right end of the first tether <NUM> and the inside panel <NUM>.

As described above, the disclosure may have the first tether installed on the center of the outside panel and the inside panel to control the deployment shape of the center of the airbag cushion, that is, a deployment thickness and a direction.

That is, the deployment thickness of the center of the airbag cushion <NUM> may be restricted to a thickness corresponding to a distance between the first sewing line <NUM> and the second sewing line <NUM> that is narrower than a width of the first tether <NUM>.

In addition, according to the disclosure, one end of the first tether connected with the outside panel is disposed higher than the other end of the first tether connected with the inside panel, such that the deployment shape of the airbag cushion is controlled to allow the center of the airbag cushion, which is inflated and deployed toward the opposite occupant when being initially deployed, to bend toward the occupant.

Accordingly, the disclosure may safely protect the occupant by inflating and deploying the airbag cushion in the upward direction almost in contact with the side of the occupant.

That is, the disclosure may prevent an injury to the occupant in advance by preventing a space from being formed between the airbag cushion and the occupant.

Referring back to <FIG>, the second tether <NUM> may perform a function of restricting the deployment shape of the upper chamber <NUM> in the airbag cushion <NUM>.

The second tether <NUM> may be installed in the upper chamber <NUM> of the airbag cushion <NUM> along the vertical direction. One pair of second tethers <NUM> may be installed in parallel to be spaced apart from each other by a pre-set distance. Of course, the disclosure is not necessarily limited thereto, and may be changed to provide one or three or more second tethers <NUM> according to various conditions such as a shape, a size, etc. of the airbag cushion <NUM>.

One end of each second tether <NUM>, a right end when viewed on <FIG>, may be connected to the outside panel <NUM>, and the other end of the second tether <NUM>, a left end when viewed on <FIG>, may be connected to the inside panel <NUM>.

Herein, a third sewing line <NUM> connecting the right end of the second tether <NUM> and the outside panel <NUM> may be disposed on the left side, compared to a fourth sewing line <NUM> connecting the left end of the second tether <NUM> and the inside panel <NUM>, that is, on a rear side when viewed in the vehicle.

As described above, the disclosure may have one or more second tethers installed in the upper chamber of the airbag cushion along the vertical direction to control the deployment shape of the upper chamber, that is, a deployment thickness and a direction.

That is, the deployment thickness of the upper chamber <NUM> of the airbag cushion <NUM> may be restricted to a thickness corresponding to a distance between the third sewing line <NUM> and the fourth sewing line <NUM> that is narrower than a width of the second tether <NUM>.

In particular, according to the disclosure, one end of the second tether connected with the outside panel may be positioned further back than the other end of the second tether connected with the inside panel, such that the deployment shape of the airbag cushion is controlled to allow the upper chamber of the airbag cushion to bend toward the front of the occupant.

Accordingly, the disclosure may safely protect occupant's head by controlling the deployment shape to allow the upper chamber of the airbag cushion to face the upper portion of the upper body of the occupant, particularly, the front of the head.

Next, an operating method of the far-side airbag device of the vehicle according to the first embodiment of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> are operation state views illustrating an operation state of the far-side airbag device of the vehicle according to the first embodiment of the disclosure, respectively.

When a side collision of the vehicle occurs, the inflater <NUM> generates a gas by igniting the internal firer according to a detection signal of the impact detection sensor (not shown) installed in the vehicle, and supplies the gas generated in the inflater <NUM> to the inside of the airbag cushion <NUM>.

When the gas is supplied from the inflater <NUM>, the airbag cushion <NUM> may be ejected to the outside of the backrest <NUM> of the seat <NUM>, and may be inflated and deployed in the forward, upward, and backward directions from the side of the occupant.

In this case, the airbag cushion <NUM> may be inflated and deployed while having the deployment shape restricted by the restriction member <NUM> installed therein, as shown in <FIG>.

That is, as shown in <FIG>, the airbag cushion <NUM> is deployed in such a shape that the center of the airbag cushion <NUM> is bent upward by the first tether <NUM> to almost come into contact with the side of the occupant in an initial deployment process.

Consecutively, in the process of inflating and deploying the airbag cushion <NUM>, the airbag cushion <NUM> is deployed in such a shape that the upper chamber <NUM> is bent toward the front sides of the upper portion of the chest, the neck, the head of the occupant by the second tether <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>.

Accordingly, the airbag cushion <NUM> may be finally inflated and deployed in the upward direction to almost come into contact with the side of the occupant, as shown in <FIG>.

As described above, the disclosure may safely protect the occupant by inflating and deploying the airbag cushion in the upward direction almost in contact with the side of the occupant.

In addition, the disclosure may safely protect occupant's head by controlling the deployment shape to allow the upper chamber of the airbag cushion to face the upper portion of the upper body of the occupant, particularly, the front of the head.

In the present embodiment, it is illustrated that the restriction member <NUM> provided inside the airbag cushion <NUM>, that is, the first and second tethers <NUM>, <NUM>, are installed to control the deployment shape of the airbag cushion <NUM>, but the disclosure may have a restriction member <NUM> additionally installed outside the airbag cushion <NUM> to more effectively control the deployment shape of the airbag cushion <NUM>.

That is, as shown in <FIG>, a third tether <NUM> may be installed between a front end of the airbag cushion <NUM> and the backrest <NUM> of the seat <NUM> to control the deployment shape to inflate and deploy the airbag cushion <NUM> almost in contact with the side of the occupant.

For example, one end of the third tether <NUM> may be connected to the front end of the airbag cushion <NUM> on a higher position than a front end of the first tether <NUM>, and the other end of the third tether <NUM> may be connected to an internal frame (not shown) of the backrest <NUM>.

Alternatively, one end of the third tether <NUM> may be connected to a front end of the upper chamber <NUM> of the airbag cushion <NUM>, and the other end of the third tether <NUM> may be connected to the frame.

One or more third tethers <NUM> may be provided according to various conditions such as standards and a deployment shape of the airbag cushion <NUM> to be controlled, and positions where the third tethers <NUM> are connected to the airbag cushion <NUM> and the frame may be variously changed.

As described above, the disclosure may have the additional tether installed between the airbag cushion and the backrest of the seat to more effectively control the deployment shape of the airbag cushion.

That is, the disclosure may prevent a collision with another occupant by controlling the deployment shape of the airbag cushion by using the third tether additionally installed, and simultaneously, preventing lateral movement of the occupant by supporting the occupant.

In addition, the disclosure may have the third tether connected to the upper chamber of the airbag cushion, and may more safely protect the front sides of the upper body and the head along with the side of the occupant, by bending the upper chamber toward the front side of the occupant.

<FIG> are a front view and a side view illustrating a state in which an airbag cushion in a far-side airbag device of a vehicle is deployed according to a second embodiment of the disclosure, respectively, <FIG> is a side view illustrating a state in which a restriction member is installed on an inner surface of an outside panel shown in <FIG>, <FIG> is a deployment view of an inside panel and the outside panel shown in <FIG>, and <FIG> is a cross-sectional view taken on line A-A' of <FIG>.

As shown in <FIG>, the far-side airbag device <NUM> of the vehicle according to the second embodiment of the disclosure may have the same configuration as the configuration of the far-side airbag device <NUM> described in the first embodiment, but the outside panel <NUM> of the airbag cushion <NUM> may have a larger cross-sectional area than the inside panel <NUM>.

That is, a height h2 of the outside panel <NUM> may be higher than a height h1 of the inside panel <NUM>. Of course, a width w2 of the outside panel <NUM> may be wider than a width w1 of the inside panel <NUM>.

In addition, a folding portion <NUM> may be provided on the outside panel <NUM> to have parts overlapping each other.

For example, as shown in <FIG>, the folding portion <NUM> may have parts overlapping each other with a pre-set width on a center of the outside panel <NUM>, and may be folded toward the upper chamber <NUM> or lower chamber <NUM> on the outside panel <NUM> to have parts overlapping each other.

That is, as shown in <FIG>, the folding portion <NUM> may be formed on the center of the outside panel <NUM> horizontally or to be inclined toward an upper portion of a rear side.

A first folding line <NUM> may be formed on an upper end of the folding portion <NUM> to be folded with a portion of the outside panel <NUM> corresponding to the upper chamber <NUM>, and a second folding line <NUM> may be formed on a lower end of the folding portion <NUM> to be folded with a portion of the outside panel <NUM> corresponding to the lower chamber <NUM>.

In addition, a third folding line <NUM> may be formed on the center of the folding portion <NUM> to divide the portion folded by the first folding line <NUM> and the second folding line <NUM> into two parts and to overlap the two parts each other.

Herein, one end of the first tether <NUM>, an upper end when viewed on <FIG>, is connected with the outside panel <NUM> by the first sewing line <NUM> formed on a higher position than the first folding line <NUM>.

Accordingly, when a gas is supplied to inflate and deploy the airbag cushion <NUM>, the folding portion <NUM> may be inflated and deployed to protrude toward the opposite occupant from the center of the outside panel <NUM>.

In this case, since the inside panel <NUM> and the outside panel <NUM> of the airbag cushion <NUM> are sewed along edges, the airbag cushion <NUM> is inflated and deployed while being bent toward the occupant due to the inflation and deployment of the folding portion <NUM>.

That is, the upper chamber <NUM> of the airbag cushion <NUM> is inflated and deployed to be bent toward the occupant's head with reference to the center of the airbag cushion <NUM> by the folding portion <NUM> and the first tether <NUM> as shown in <FIG>.

A described above, the disclosure has the outside panel of the airbag cushion formed to have a larger cross-sectional area than the inside panel, and has the folding portion formed on the center of the outside panel to have parts overlapping each other, so that a deployment shape of the upper chamber of the airbag cushion may be controlled.

Accordingly, the disclosure controls the deployment shape of the airbag cushion to almost come into contact with the side of the occupant, so that a space may be prevented from being formed between the occupant and the airbag cushion, and lateral movement of the occupant may be prevented and the occupant may be safely protected.

Although the invention made by the inventors of the present application has been specifically described according to the above embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments, and may be modified variously within a scope of the technical essence of the disclosure.

Claim 1:
A far-side airbag cushion of a vehicle comprising:
an airbag cushion (<NUM>) which is embedded in a backrest (<NUM>) of a seat (<NUM>) and is inflated and deployed to correspond to a side of an upper body of an occupant upon side collision of the vehicle;
an inflater (<NUM>) configured to generate a gas by an impact detection signal and to supply the gas to the airbag cushion (<NUM>) upon side collision of the vehicle; and
a restriction member (<NUM>) which is installed in the airbag cushion (<NUM>) and configured to restrict a deployment shape of the airbag cushion (<NUM>),
wherein the airbag cushion (<NUM>) is inflated and deployed in an upward direction from a side of the occupant due to the restriction member (<NUM>) to prevent a lateral movement of the occupant,
wherein the airbag cushion (<NUM>) comprises an upper chamber (<NUM>) configured to protect an upper portion of chest, a neck, and a head with reference to the chest of the occupant, and
a lower chamber (<NUM>) configured to protect a lower portion of the chest, a belly, and a pelvis of the occupant,
wherein the restriction member (<NUM>) comprises a first tether (<NUM>) installed on a center of the airbag cushion (<NUM>) to restrict the deployment shape to allow the upper chamber (<NUM>) to face the occupant or to face in the upward direction with reference to the center of the airbag cushion (<NUM>),
wherein the airbag cushion (<NUM>) is formed in a bag-like shape by sewing edges of an inside panel (<NUM>) to come into contact with the occupant and an outside panel (<NUM>) to come into contact with the opposite occupant, and
wherein the first tether (<NUM>) is installed between a front end and a rear end of the center of the airbag cushion (<NUM>) to be inclined toward an upper portion of a rear side,
wherein one end of the first tether (<NUM>) is connected to the outside panel (<NUM>),
wherein the other end of the first tether (<NUM>) is connected to the inside panel (<NUM>),
characterized in that the one end of the first tether (<NUM>) is disposed on a higher position to the outside panel (<NUM>) than the other end of the first tether (<NUM>) to the inside panel (<NUM>), such that the upper chamber (<NUM>) is bent toward the occupant or in the upward direction.