VEHICLE SEAT BELT SYSTEM

• US 20120146384A1
• Filed: 07/10/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TRW Automotive GmbH (Apollo Global Management, Inc.), TRW Automotive Electronics & Components GmbH & Co. KG
• Original Assignee: TRW Automotive GmbH (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mages, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,030 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 297/468
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01272 Belt tensioners
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/46 Reels with means to tension the belt in an emergency by forced winding upelectrical circuits for triggering safety arrangements B60R21/01 ; tensioners using reels only guiding the belt during normal use, e.g. splitted reels B60R22/195

Abstract

A vehicle seat belt system includes a reversible belt tensioner (12) adapted to apply a belt tightening force (F) on several predetermined levels to a belt strap (14) of a seat belt, a control unit (16) for controlling the belt tensioner (12) and a device (18) for detecting the course of a road (S1, S2) ahead of the vehicle and for identifying bends lying ahead of the vehicle. The control unit (16) causes the belt tightening force (F) to be kept on an increased level when in the course of the road a further bend follows a just taken bend within a predetermined distance.

Claims

1-10. -10. (canceled)

11. A vehicle seat belt system comprising a reversible belt tensioner (12) adapted to apply a belt tightening force (F) on one or more predetermined levels to a belt strap (14) of a seat belt,

a control unit (16) for controlling the belt tensioner (12) and

a device (18) for detecting the course of a road (S1, S2) ahead of the vehicle and for identifying bends lying ahead of the vehicle,

wherein the control unit (16) causes the belt tightening force (F) to be kept on an increased level, when in the course of the road a further bend follows a just taken bend within a predetermined distance.

12. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 11, wherein in response to the detected course of the road (S1, S2) the control unit (16) already causes the belt tensioner (12) to start acting in order to increase the belt tightening force (F) before the vehicle is taking a bend.

13. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 11, wherein the belt tightening force (F) applied by the belt tensioner (12) continuously varies.

14. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 11, wherein on the basis of the data of the device (18) for detecting the course of the road a maximum curvature of the bend is determined.

15. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 11, wherein the data from the device (18) for detecting the course of the road are compared to the current driving speed of the vehicle and, based thereon, an achievable transverse acceleration of the vehicle for the bend to be taken is calculated.

16. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 15, wherein the control unit causes the belt tightening force (F) to be increased when the calculated achievable transverse acceleration of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined value.

17. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 16, wherein the belt tightening force is increased by at least two successive steps of increasing intensity.

18. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 11, wherein the device (18) for detecting the course of the road comprises a receiver for GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) data and road map data of the currently taken road.

19. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 11, wherein the device (18) for detecting the course of the road comprises a video camera and means for determining the course of at least one road marking ahead of the vehicle from the video data.

20. The vehicle seat belt system according to claim 11, wherein for detecting the course of the road the device (18) comprises a LIDAR apparatus and means for determining the course of at least one road marking ahead of the vehicle from the LIDAR data.