Vehicle seat belt apparatus

• US 8,090,505 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2007
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Takemura, Naotoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kong, Sze-Hon
• Application Number:
  US11/950,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20080319617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,490 Days
• Field of Search: 701/45, 701/46, 280/801.1, 280/806, 280/808, 200/61.58 B, 242/180, 242/200, 242/280, 242/383, 297/468, 297/475, 297/478, 297/480, 180/268, 180/282
• US Class Current: 701/46
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01265 Seat belts
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4666 characterised by electric actuators
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4685 with means to adjust or regulate the tensioning force in relation to external parameters
• 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 21/01546 using belt buckle sensors
• 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

Vehicle seat belt apparatus includes: a motor for driving a belt reel having a belt wound thereon; a trigger section for detecting a change in a traveling state of a vehicle to output an activation signal that instructs or triggers activation of the motor; a lateral acceleration detection section for detecting lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle; a slip state detection section for detecting a slip state quantity of the vehicle; and a control section for, in response to receipt of the activation signal from the trigger section, controlling the amount of current supply for activating the motor on the basis of a signal of the lateral acceleration output by the lateral acceleration detection section and/or a signal of the slip state quantity output by the slip state detection section.

Claims

1. A vehicle seat belt apparatus, comprising:

a motor for driving a belt reel having a belt wound thereon;

a trigger configured to detect a change in a traveling state of a vehicle to output an activation signal that instructs activation of said motor;

a lateral acceleration detector configured to detect lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle;

a slip state detector configured to detect a slip state quantity of the vehicle; and

a control configured to, when the activation signal output by said trigger has been received, control an amount of current supply for activating said motor on the basis of at least one of a signal of the lateral acceleration output by said lateral acceleration detector and a signal of the slip state quantity output by said slip state detector,

wherein said control increases the amount of current supply to said motor as at least one of the lateral acceleration and the slip state quantity increases,

wherein said control obtains a first current amount determined on the basis of the lateral acceleration detected via said lateral acceleration detector and a second current amount determined on the basis of the slip state quantity detected via said slip state detector, and said control determines the amount of current supply to said motor by comparing the first and second current amounts and selecting a smaller of the first and second current amounts.

2. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 1, which further comprises a rotation detector configured to detect a rotational state of the belt reel, and wherein said control controls the amount of current supply to said motor in such a manner that a belt take-up amount of the belt reel is increased, in response to a detection signal output by said rotation detector, as at least one of the lateral acceleration and the slip state quantity increases.

3. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 2, herein said control sets an upper limit value of a range of variation in the amount of current supply to said motor, and the upper limit value of the variation range varies in accordance with the traveling state of the vehicle.

4. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control controls the belt take-up amount of the belt reel to vary in accordance with a turning direction of the vehicle.

5. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said control controls the belt take-up such that compared to that upon turning of the vehicle in an opposite direction to a positional direction of said seat, the amount of belt take-up of the belt reel upon turning of the vehicle in the same direction as the positional direction of said seat becomes larger.

6. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control sets at least one of an upper limit value and a lower limit value of the amount of current supply to said motor.

7. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control controls the amounts of current supply to a plurality of motors provided on left and right sides of the vehicle independently for each of the motors.

8. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control controls the amount of current supply to said motor to vary in accordance with a turning direction of the vehicle.

9. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said control controls the current supply to said motor such that compared to that upon turning of the vehicle in an opposite direction to a positional direction of said seat, the amount of current supply to said motor upon turning of the vehicle in the same direction as the positional direction of said seat becomes larger.

10. A vehicle seat belt apparatus, comprising:

a motor for driving a belt reel having a belt wound thereon;

a trigger configured to detect a change in a traveling state of a vehicle to output an activation signal that instructs activation of said motor;

a lateral acceleration detector configured to detect lateral acceleration acting on the vehicle;

a slip state detector configured to detect a slip state quantity of the vehicle; and

a control configured to, when the activation signal output by said trigger has been received, control an amount of current supply for activating said motor on the basis of at least one of a signal of the lateral acceleration output by said lateral acceleration detector and a signal of the slip state quantity output by said slip state detector,

wherein said control obtains a first current amount determined on the basis of the lateral acceleration detected via said lateral acceleration detector and a second current amount determined on the basis of the slip state quantity detected via said slip state detector, and said control determines the amount of current supply to said motor by comparing the first and second current amounts,

wherein said control selects one of the first and second current amounts as the amount of current supply to said motor,

wherein said control determines if the selected current amount falls within a predetermined range defined by an upper current amount limit and a lower current amount limit, if the selected current amount falls within the predetermined range, the selected current amount is the amount of current supply to said motor, and if the selected current amount falls outside the predetermined range, the selected current amount is adjusted so that it falls within the predetermined range and the adjusted current amount is the amount of current supply to said motor.

11. The vehicle seat belt apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said control selects a smaller of the first and second current amounts as the amount of current supply to said motor.