Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho

Nippon Soken, Inc.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Teruhiko Koide

Shinji Mori

Fuminori Komiya

Teruhiko Kawaguchi

Tsutomu Muraoka

Hideyuki Suzuki

Hiroaki Shinto

Takuhiro Saito

Toshiaki Shimogawa

Toshihito Miyagawa

Masahiro Iwatsuki

Koji Muto

Masayoshi Nojiri

Satosi Kuwakado

Yuji Nishimura

Keiichi Tamura

Kazuhiko Aihara

Mitsuo Inukai

Tetsushi Muromachi

Kouichi Itoigawa

Masakata Kanbe

Shoichi Ibe

Hitoshi Muraki

Hisao Yamada

Shigeyasu Kanada

Kozi Buma

Takayoshi Ando

Sumio Sakaguchi

Takashi Ogasawara

Masaya Tajima

Naoki Matsuura

Masafumi Tsujimoto

Takayuki Hara

In a webbing guide structure, when a take-up stopper has made abutted to a contact face of a webbing guide due to take-up force acting on a webbing arising from a spiral spring of a webbing take-up device, a rigid portion of the webbing extends out from the webbing guide towards the vehicle front-side, and a portion of the rigid portion further towards an tip end than the take-up stopper projects out from the rear seat back to the vehicle front-side. Due to utilizing biasing force of the spiral spring to project the rigid portion out from the rear seat back to the vehicle front-side, the need to provide a separate mechanism to project the rigid portion out can accordingly be eliminated. A gap between the rear seat back and the webbing can thereby be provided by employing a simple structure.

Webbing guide structure

A webbing take-up device enabling a reduction in size of an overload release mechanism and easy adjustment of an operation torque of the overload release mechanism is provided. In the overload release mechanism of this webbing take-up device, rotary force of a large diameter gear is transmitted to a small diameter gear via plural annular friction springs. The friction springs are disposed between an inner periphery face of a main body portion of the large diameter gear and a tubular portion of the small diameter gear, side by side along an axial direction of the two gears. Consequently, a radial direction enlargement of the large diameter gear and small diameter gear due to space for disposing the friction springs may be restrained. Moreover, the operation torque of the overload release mechanism may be adjusted stepwise by changing the number of the friction springs to be used, in accordance with requirements.

Webbing take-up device

In a webbing retractor, due to operation of a pretensioner mechanism, a stopper wire is moved, and second lock pawls of a second lock base mesh-together with an inner ratchet of a lock ring. In this way, a limit load by a torsion shaft can be switched to a high load. Therefore, immediately after operation of the pretensioner mechanism, the limit load by the torsion shaft can be made to be to the high load, and the limit load can be made to be the high load at an early stage.

Webbing retractor, method of controlling webbing retractor, and vehicle

A motor-driven seatbelt apparatus which enables easy re-restraining of a webbing even when an occupant releases the webbing temporarily from a restrained state. A control device senses the vehicle velocity with a vehicle-velocity sensor. When the vehicle velocity is a predetermined value or lower, the control device drives a motor to rotate a winding shaft, so that the webbing is wound into a completely wound state. When the vehicle is traveling at a vehicle velocity exceeding the predetermined value, the storing and winding operation of the winding shaft by the control device or the motor is not performed. Therefore, the occupant who temporarily released the webbing and finished an action such as to take out a small article in the cabin can re-restrain the webbing immediately thereafter.

Motor-driven seatbelt apparatus

When the worn state of the webbing is lifted, current of a current value Icorresponding to the appropriate storing speed of the webbing is supplied to the motor, whereby a take-up shaft rotates and the webbing is taken up. At a point in time when the webbing has been taken up to the extent that the webbing does not hinder the exiting of a vehicle by a passenger, the size of the supply current to the motor is reduced from the initial current value Ito a current value I. A reference current value IL of a stall current for determining whether to stop the motor when a foreign object or the like has become entangled between the webbing and an in-vehicle part can also be set to be small in correspondence to the reduced current value I

Motor retractor and drive control thereof

A buckle pretensioner system includes a substantially L-shaped rail for guiding a buckle body of a buckle from a position where the buckle body engages with a tongue plate to a position corresponding to a lumbar region of a vehicle occupant. When a vehicle disposed with the buckle pretensioner system undergoes a sudden deceleration, a piston inside a cylinder is moved in a frontward direction of the vehicle by gas generated by the actuation of a gas generator, a buckle stay is pulled by a wire coupled to the piston, and the buckle stay is moved along the shape of the rail. As a result, the buckle body supported by the buckle stay pivots from the position where the buckle body engages with the tongue plate to a vehicle occupant restraining position of a webbing belt, and then is pulled to the lumbar region-corresponding position.

Buckle pretensioner system

A webbing retractor for an elongated, strip-shaped webbing belt used for application to a body of a vehicle occupant riding in a vehicle. The webbing retractor has: a frame in which a pair of leg plates, which are disposed so as to face one another, are connected by a back plate so as to be integral; a spool which is disposed between the pair of leg plates, one end of the webbing belt being anchored to the spool; a driving mechanism which is disposed between the pair of leg plates and has an output shaft and which is for rotating the spool in at least a take-up direction; and a clutch disposed between the pair of leg plates, transmitting rotation of the output shaft to the spool. Because a motor and gears can be disposed between the leg plates of the frame, the webbing retractor can be made compact.

Webbing retractor

A webbing retractor has two torque transmitting routes for taking-up, such that rapid and reliable taking-up, and gentle taking-up are possible. When an engaging claw of a pawl restricts rotation of a ratchet plate, due to planetary gears rotating around a sun gear, rotation is transmitted from a drive gear to a carrier plate. On the other hand, when restriction of rotation of the ratchet plate is released, a clutch spring tightens around a tube portion of the carrier plate while rotation of the drive gear pulls one peripheral direction end of the clutch spring in a direction of rotation thereof. Frictional resistance between the tube portion and the clutch spring is increased, and rotation is transmitted from the drive gear to the carrier plate.

In a webbing take-up device, when the release of a webbing belt is detected from the signal of a buckle switch, a motor starts driving, the webbing belt is taken up, and a computing circuit increases a voltage Eb in accordance with an integrated time after the signal is switched. In this state, a lock current flows due to an output shaft of the motor being stopped, and when the power to the motor is cut off by increasing the lock current, the values of voltages El and Ed respectively corresponding to the integrated time in which the lock current is powered and the integrated time in which the power to the motor is cut off are subtracted from the value of the voltage Eb, and the motor is driven until the computing result reaches a predetermined value.

A webbing retractor which, by causing relative rotation between a prime mover rotating body and a rotating disc, connects the prime mover rotating body and a driven shaft which is connected to a take-up shaft of a webbing belt. A planet gear is pivotally supported at a plate having a braking piece and meshes with a sun gear. The plate is supported so as to be swingable around the sun gear. When the sun gear is driven to rotate at greater than a predetermined speed, the planet gear begins to circle around the sun gear against urging force of a spring attached to the plate, and makes the plate rotate such that the braking piece slidingly contacts the friction ring. Due to this braking, the rotating disc connected to the friction ring rotates relative to the prime mover rotating body.

A webbing winding device in which a breadth dimension of a torque limiter is less than an axial direction dimension of an external gear. A rotation disc, the torque limiter or the like is wholly disposed, along a radial direction of the external gear, between the external gear and a peripheral wall of a baseplate. Further, members such as pawls, a rotation disc and the like are disposed, along a radial direction of the peripheral wall, between the peripheral wall and an adaptor, and these members are accommodated at an inner side of the external gear. Consequently, a thickness dimension (axial direction dimension) of a clutch is practically the same as an axial direction dimension of the external gear, and this is extremely thin.

Webbing winding device and clutch mechanism

A mechanism of a webbing retractor which can instantaneously apply driving force of a motor to a spool. At a base plate of a prime mover which is driven to rotate, two pawls are disposed at opposing positions at an outer side of an adapter connected to a take-up shaft of a webbing. The adapter includes a plurality of external teeth being formed along a periphery thereof at uniform intervals, a total number of which is an odd number. Accordingly, in a state in which both of the pawls contact the adapter, even if one of the pawls abuts an addendum of a tooth formed at an outer peripheral surface of the adapter, the other pawl does not abut an addendum of a tooth. One of the pawls quickly meshes with the adapter and rotates the adapter.

In a webbing winding device, when an external gear of a clutch receives driving force of a motor and rotates in a winding direction, a pressing portion of an inertial plate pushes a pawl and meshes the pawl with outward teeth of an adaptor. Consequently, the winding shaft rotates in the winding direction. When the external gear receives rotating force of the motor and rotates in a drawing out direction, another pushing portion of the inertial plate pushes another pawl and meshes the pawl with the outward teeth of the adapter. Consequently, the winding shaft rotates in the drawing out direction. Thus, by providing these pawls, in this webbing winding device it is possible to transmit both forward-rotation and reverse-rotation of the motor for rotating the winding shaft.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi-ken, Japan

Teruhiko Koide