Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Denso Corporation

Yusuke Muramatsu

Toshio Hosokawa

Mikihito Kojima

Keishi Setoda

Yosuke Hiruma

Jun Kitagawa

Katsuya Matsumoto

A plasma ejection unit () of an arc welding device includes a plasma torch (), a copper plate (), a container (), and a gas supplying unit (). Plasma gas inside the container () is pressurized by argon gas supplied from the gas supplying unit (), and ejected from first to eighth ejection ports. The plasma gas ejected from the first to eighth ejection ports is concentrated in a concentration area (CA) between vehicle body plates (-) to form through holes () in the vehicle body plates (-), and is separated. The air pressures, in eight areas, of the plasma gas reaching a vehicle body plate () are approximately one-eighth of the air pressure of the plasma gas in the concentration area (CA). Accordingly, while the through holes () are formed in the vehicle body plates (-), no through hole is formed in the vehicle body plate ().

Arc welding device and method

A penetration welding method includes a plasma welding step for forming a through hole in a work, which is a laminated steel plate, from a front surface to rear surface thereof without forming a hole in a component at the rear, by generating a plasma arc column from a plasma torch to the work. After the plasma arc column is generated, the plasma arc column is extinguished when an arc voltage or the length of the arc estimated from the arc voltage exceeds an end-determining threshold which is determined according to the thickness of the work. Further, plasma gas is discharged from the plasma torch at a flow rate at which the width of the plasma arc column is maintained approximately constant from the plasma torch side to the work side so that the arc voltage is increased at an approximately constant rate before and after penetration.

Penetration welding method

A vehicular occupant determination apparatus includes a load detection portion, an occupant determination portion, an acceleration detection portion, a transition prohibition portion, a drive state detection portion, and a prohibition release portion. The load detection portion detects a load of a left part or a right part. The occupant determination portion determines occupant types, and maintains or transits a determination result. The transition prohibition portion sets a transition prohibition state when the acceleration is equal to or greater than a predetermined acceleration threshold. The prohibition release portion sets a prohibition release state when (i) the acceleration is equal to or greater than the acceleration threshold, and (ii) the prohibition release portion detects that the vehicle is in stop based on a detection value detected by the drive state detection portion, the transition prohibition state being released during the prohibition release state.

Vehicular occupant determination apparatus

An occupant determination apparatus includes a weight sensor that senses a weight of an object on a seat of a vehicle, a lateral acceleration sensor that senses lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and a processing unit that performs an operation of occupant determination. The processing unit calculates a lateral acceleration difference that is an absolute value of a difference between first lateral acceleration at a time when the weight passes through a first load threshold value and second lateral acceleration at a time when the weight passes through a second load threshold value. The processing unit performs the occupant determination based on an occupant determination threshold value when the lateral acceleration difference is smaller than a lateral acceleration difference threshold value, and does not perform the occupant determination when the lateral acceleration difference is larger than the lateral acceleration difference threshold value.

Determination apparatus and method for occupant

Load sensors are disposed on four corners of a seat cushion. An occupant decision section of an occupant detection ECU decides a type of an occupant on a vehicle seat based on loads detected by the load sensors. A CRS changing section that prohibits the occupant decision section from changing a decision to a decision result that an adult is seated in the vehicle seat and changes the decision to a decision result that a child seat is attached on the vehicle seat when an engagement of a tongue plate with a buckle of a seat belt device is detected by a buckle switch and a buckle load calculated by buckle load calculation section is less than a predetermined buckling load threshold in a case where the occupant decision section decides that an adult is seated in the vehicle seat.

Occupant decision device for vehicle

An occupant determination apparatus includes a weight sensor configured to detect a weight on a seat in a vehicle, a lateral acceleration sensor configured to detect lateral acceleration being acceleration in a width direction of the vehicle and having a positive or negative sign based on the width direction, a processing unit, and a storage unit configured to store a lateral acceleration threshold and a table in which an occupant region for use in the occupant determination is set. The lateral acceleration threshold indicates whether occupant determination for an occupant on the seat is to be conducted and has a positive or negative sign. The table is based on the weight and the lateral acceleration. The processing unit is configured to conduct the occupant determination on the basis of the weight, the lateral acceleration, and the table when the lateral acceleration is higher than the lateral acceleration threshold.

A vehicular occupant determination apparatus includes a load detection portion, an occupant determination portion, an acceleration detection portion, a transition prohibition portion, and a transition permission portion. The transition permission portion detects whether an acceleration increases or decreases a load, and sets a transition permission state even during the transition prohibition state. In the transition permission state, a determination result of a first occupant type is permitted to transit to a determination result of a second occupant type with a smaller load than the load of the first occupant type when the acceleration increases the load, and the determination result of the first occupant type is permitted to transit to a determination result of a third occupant type with a greater load than the load of the first occupant type when the acceleration decreases the load.

An occupant determination apparatus includes a load sensor that detects weight of an occupant seated on a seat of a vehicle, and a determinator determining the weight of the occupant as one status among a plurality of statuses which is set corresponding to the weight based on the measurement weight measured by the load sensor. In a case where an absolute value of acceleration acting on the vehicle becomes equal to or larger than the threshold value set in advance, the determinator determines the weight of the occupant as one of the status among the plurality of statuses based on the measurement weight measured before it becomes the threshold value.

Occupant determination apparatus

An occupant determination apparatus includes a load sensor and a determination section. The load sensor detects a load of an occupant seated in a seat of a vehicle to provide the detected load as a load signal. The determination section determines presence or absence of the occupant and a physical size of the occupant by classifying the load signal into a subject class among a plurality of classes that are ordered from small to large according to the physical sizes based on predetermined threshold loads. The subject class is stored as a determined class. The determination section permits the determined class to transition from a present class to an immediately adjacent larger class when the load signal equal to or larger than a threshold load between the present class and the immediately adjacent larger class continues being received for a threshold time.

Occupant determination apparatus using load sensor

A load sensor detects a load of an occupant on a seat of a vehicle and provides a load signal. A determination section determines a physical size of the occupant by classifying the load signal into a subject class among a plurality of classes ordered from small to large based on threshold loads and performs an inter-class transition of the subject class from a transition source class into a transition destination class based on change of the received load signal. When (i) both the transition source class and the transition destination class belong to an airbag-inflating class that enables inflating of an airbag, and, simultaneously, (ii) the transition destination class is smaller than the transition source class and immediately adjacent to the transition source class, the determination section makes the determined class remain in the transition source class.

A plasma welding torch that can be reduced in size more than in conventional cases. When an inert gas G such as argon gas is supplied to an outer circumferential space around a non-consumable electrode, a portion of the inert gas G is used as plasma gas GP that forms a plasma arc PA between the non-consumable electrodeand a base materialvia a plasma orifice. A plasma welding torchmoves, maintaining this state, in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG.. Meanwhile, a portion of the inert gas G supplied to a gas flowing partis not used as the plasma gas GP but is used as shielding gas GS and is ejected onto the base materialahead in the welding direction via a shielding orifice. The welding on the base materialis performed in a state where the plasma arc PA and the base materialare shielded from the air by this shielding gas.

Plasma welding torch having a nozzle with first and second orifices, and welding method using plasma welding torch having a nozzle with first and second orifices

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Wako, Japan

Yusuke Muramatsu