Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Masayoshi Okamoto

Kei Oshida

Yasuki Motozawa

Syuichiro Iwatsuki

Koji Sano

Kiyoshi Handa

Masami Fukagawa

Tatsuo Kasuga

Hideaki Takaishi

Hiroyuki Fujimoto

Kazuyuki Mochizuki

In an automotive vehicle body structure, including a longitudinal member having a first portion and a second portion connected in series to provide a controlled reaction force at the time of a vehicle crash, the second portion is adapted to undergo a buckling or collapsing deformation whereby the second portion demonstrating a substantially higher deformation initiating load than a plastic deformation load; and the first portion is adapted to collapse at a deformation initiating load which is substantially lower than the deformation initiating load of the second portion, but substantially higher than the plastic deformation load of the second portion. Thus, the vehicle body demonstrates a high reaction load during an early phase of a vehicle crash, and a low reaction load during a final phase of the crash so that peak acceleration of the vehicle occupant who is restrained by a seat belt involving a certain amount of resiliency can be minimized.

Automotive vehicle body structure demonstrating a controlled reaction load

The vehicle occupant protection system can significantly reduce the peak deceleration of the vehicle occupant even with a small vehicle body. The system comprises a seat fitted with a seat belt which is supported on a vehicle body so as to be slidable in a direction of an input crash load, a first actuator for applying an acceleration of a same direction as the crash load upon detection of the vehicle crash to the seat, 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. 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 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.

Vehicle occupant protection system

A hollow frame member of an aluminum alloy for a vehicle body frame includes a front pipe portion. The front pipe portion has an annular end surface as a surface receiving a collision load at a front end thereof. In the front pipe portion, a cross sectional area is gradually increased from a base end toward the receiving surface, and a thickness is gradually decreased from the base end toward the receiving surface. Thus, the front pipe portion can be crushed early and stably from the receiving surface upon collision of the vehicle to enhance the collision energy absorbing efficiency.

Hollow frame member of aluminum alloy for vehicle body frame

A pair of discharge pipes interconnect outlet ports of a plurality of batteries such that the first discharge pipe interconnects the outlet ports of some of the batteries and the second discharge pipe interconnects the outlet ports of the remaining batteries. The discharge pipes have rear ends connected respectively to atmospheric discharge units and other ends connected by joint pipes. Since the rear ends of the discharge pipes are connected to the atmospheric discharge units, even if one of the discharge pipes is closed or blocked for some reason, a gas emitted from the batteries is discharged from the other discharge pipes and hence is prevented from being trapped in the batteries. Additional pairs of discharge pipes a employed in the same manner for an additional plurality of batteries. The atmospheric discharge units include a backfire check member or valve and/or baffles for inhibiting ignition of the gas emitted from the batteries.

Gas discharging device for batteries for use on electric vehicle

A battery box has a center frame extending between two rows of batteries housed in the battery box. The center frame has an array of upwardly projecting locking pins. A central holder bar is installed on the locking pins of the center frame. The battery box also has an inner frame including a left straight frame with locking pins and a right straight frame with locking pins. A left holder bar and a right holder bar are installed respectively on the locking pins of the left straight frame and the right straight frame. The central, left, and right holder bars are fastened in position by nuts that are tightened over the locking pins, thereby holding the batteries firmly in the battery box.

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Masayoshi Okamoto