JPH1029488A - Airbag device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide an airbag device having an airbag cover body provided with a decorative surface on the surface but not affected by the tearing characteristics due to the decorative surface. SOLUTION: Decorative surfaces 3 and 4 are provided on the surface of a cover body 2 by transfer at the same time as molding, or the decorative surfaces are provided by film-in-mold.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an airbag device provided with an airbag cover having a decorative surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since an airbag cover usually has a thin tear line formed on the side of a bag storage section, a product molded by injection molding may have uneven gloss or sink marks due to a difference in cooling time of molten resin. So I paint it to make it look better. However, since the coating is performed by an operator with a spray gun at a coating film thickness of about 20 μm, it is difficult to prevent uneven coating. JP-A-6-227355 discloses that an airbag cover has a sheet-like skin material on the surface thereof and an inner material having a fragile structure that promotes cleavage of a top surface portion when the airbag is deployed. The material is disclosed as being integrally laminated on a sheet-like skin material. However, the preferred thickness of the sheet-like skin material is 5 mm or less, more preferably 1 to 3 mm, and when the airbag cover is torn, the sheet-like skin material above the V-shaped groove is cleaved. There must be. There is no indication about the tearing of the sheet-like skin material, but it is thought that the tearing resistance is high, and there is a possibility that the smooth inflation of the airbag is hindered.

[0003] Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 1-81351 discloses a decoration in which the decoration of the airbag cover is joined with an elastic thread and the tear line is detoured around the outer periphery of the decoration. However, in such a method, man-hours for sewing the decorative body to the airbag cover are required, and the productivity is reduced. Also, usually H
Although a tear line in the shape of a letter is set, if the decorative body is placed in the center of the cover body by design, the tear line cannot be provided in this part, and the tear line must be bypassed, and its smooth expansion May be hindered.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-257309, a large number of connection holes are provided in separate ornaments, and they are integrated by insert molding. In this method, a painted or printed coloring is adhered to the back surface of the resin molded product, and the front side is coated with a transparent resin layer. If the ornaments that are integrated via the airbag are not firmly fixed, they may be scattered when the airbag is inflated.Thus, thorough control of the manufacturing process and quality control must be carefully considered for safety. No. Furthermore, in this method, the tear line must be arranged so as not to overlap with the position of the ornament.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Under such circumstances, the present invention provides a decorative surface on the surface, and the arrangement of the tear line is not limited by the decorative surface. When the bag is inflated, it can be smoothly split along the tear line and inflated as designed, without being hindered by the decorative surface, so that the airbag can be inflated as designed, with high reliability as a safety device and high productivity. It is an object to provide an airbag device.

[0006]

The inventor of the present invention has conducted intensive studies and found that an airbag apparatus in which the decorative surface is formed by transfer at the same time as molding or by in-mold molding of a film satisfies the above requirements. And reached the present invention.

That is, the present invention relates to (1) an airbag apparatus having an airbag cover that accommodates an airbag therein and that tears off at a tear line in the event of a vehicle collision or the like. An airbag device characterized by having a decorative surface formed by the simultaneous molding and transfer method on the entire surface or a part of the surface. (2) The airbag is housed inside, and the tear line is used in the event of a vehicle collision or the like. In an airbag device having an airbag cover body that is cleaved at, on the entire surface or a part of the surface of the airbag cover body,
(3) The airbag device according to (1) or (2), wherein a decorative portion is formed on the decorative surface, the airbag device having a decorative surface formed by film-in-mold, 4) The airbag device according to the above item 3, wherein a tear line is provided on the back side of the decorative portion.

In the airbag device of the present invention, it is important that a decorative surface is formed on the entire surface or a part of the surface of the airbag cover body by the simultaneous molding transfer method or by film-in-molding. The structure of the bag device and the materials used are not particularly limited. Various thermoplastic resins and thermoplastic elastomers are used for the airbag cover of the airbag device. Olefin and styrene thermoplastic elastomers are particularly preferred. Further, the tear line may be formed by a thin portion, or may be formed by a fitting type. The shape is not particularly limited, and may be a double-opening type or a single-opening type.

In the present invention, the decorative surface formed on the surface of the airbag cover is a pattern layer transferred to the surface of the cover when the simultaneous molding and transferring method is used. The decorative layer is an ink layer printed on a base film. Therefore, the film thickness is, for example, 2
It is extremely thin, about 5 μm and several microns, and does not hinder the tearing of the cover body when the airbag is inflated. Further, even in the case of the film-in-mold method, the film thickness is only about 200 μ at most. Therefore, the thickness of the cover is remarkably thinner than that of the cover in which the conventional sheet-like skin material (thickness of 1 to 3 mm) is laminated, and the tear resistance thereof is much smaller. . Therefore, in the present invention, the tear line arranged on the airbag cover body is:
Without being limited by the positional relationship of the decorative surfaces, it is possible to design the shape and the position suitable for safety.

The simultaneous molding and transferring method used in the present invention is a known method. For example, the thermoject method of Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., the simul transer system of Nippon Photo Printing Co., Ltd., etc. can be used.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which an airbag device according to the present invention in which a pattern formed by the simultaneous molding and transferring method is provided on the surface of a cover body is incorporated in a steering wheel. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A in FIG. 1, where A is a case where only the ornament pattern as a decorative portion is transferred to a part of the cover body surface, and B is a portion where the entire cover body surface has no pattern. This shows the case where the image was transferred including the characters. In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a steering wheel, 2 is an airbag cover, 3 and 4 are ornaments, 5 is a design line, and 6 is a tear line (planned break line). Ornament designs as decorative portions 3 and 4 are formed of the transferred ink layer and have a thickness of several microns (2 to 5 μm).

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a forming method of the cover body of the airbag apparatus of the present invention by a simultaneous forming and transferring method. FIG. 3A shows a step of positioning the transfer film in which the design layer 11 is provided on the base film 12 by printing. The transfer film is continuously supplied between the cavity mold 8 and the intermediate plate 9 from above by an upper film feeder (not shown) and a lower film winding device (not shown), and the pattern is detected by a positioning detector (not shown). Determine the position. In FIG. 3A, 10 is a core mold, 13 is an injection molding machine nozzle, and 14 is a molten thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer. The base film 12 is made of PET, PV
It is a stretched film made of C or the like and has a thickness of 20 to 80 μm. FIG. 3B shows an injection molding step of injecting the resin 14 after clamping. Further, FIG. 3C shows a step of removing the molded product. The pattern layer 11 is transferred to the upper surface of the molded product 2 (airbag cover), and the base film 12 is wound down. At this time, the design layer 11 is firmly adhered to the molded product by the adhesive applied on the design layer 11. The adhesive is activated by the heat (180 to 230 ° C.) of the molding resin.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show another embodiment of the present invention, in which the entire surface of an airbag cover is decorated. FIG. 4 includes a transfer layer having a glossy surface and a surface with a design. In FIG. 4, 15 is a glossy surface, 16 is a design line,
Reference numeral 17 denotes a pattern, reference numeral 18 denotes a stitch pattern, reference numeral 19 denotes a mark such as a horn, and reference numeral 20 denotes an aperture surface (matte). FIG. 5 shows an example in which the entire surface of the airbag cover is provided with a hairline-metal streak pattern, which is also arranged on the tear line. When the entire surface is transferred in this way, it has the effect of covering the appearance of resin weld lines, silver streaks, jetting, and the like, and if the transfer layer (printing layer) is made transparent, the underlying resin can be exposed as it is. Is also possible. Further, the transfer layer simultaneously has a function as a surface protective layer of the airbag cover body, and can impart durability to various external factors such as scratch resistance, abrasion resistance, and chemical resistance.

FIG. 6 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates an embodiment in which decoration of a cover body is performed by a film molding method without using a transfer method.

FIG. 6A shows a film positioning step, B shows an injection molding step, and C shows a molded article (airbag cover) removing step. In this case, a cover body on which a pattern-containing film (thickness of 100 to 200 μ) is laminated is obtained.

FIGS. 7 to 9 show still another embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows an example of application to an assist airbag cover. FIG. An image of a normal door can be given by transferring the same pattern), and FIG. 9 shows an example of application to a seat airbag cover.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, a pattern having a thickness of only a few microns can be transferred to the surface of the airbag cover by the simultaneous molding method, which has no effect on the tearing characteristics. In addition, the appearance can be improved with high production efficiency. In the case of the film-in-mold method, the decorative surface can be made extremely thin as compared with the conventional sheet-like skin material, so that even in this case, the appearance is improved with high productivity without substantially impairing the tearing characteristics. can do.

Further, since the smooth tearing of the cover body is not hindered as described above, the tear line can be arranged at a position overlapping with the decorative surface unlike the related art, that is, a desired position for safety regardless of the position of the decorative surface. Since a tear line can be set in the safety device, the reliability as a safety device can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an airbag apparatus of the present invention in which a design is provided on a surface layer of a cover body by a molding simultaneous transfer method.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a molding simultaneous transfer method, in which A shows a step of positioning a transfer film, B shows an injection molding step, and C shows a step of taking out a molded product (airbag cover).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a film in-mold method, wherein A shows a film positioning step, B shows an injection molding step, and C shows a removal step of a molded article (airbag cover body).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing still another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing still another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing still another embodiment.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An airbag device having an airbag cover body that accommodates an airbag therein and that cleaves at a tear line in the event of a collision of a vehicle or the like. An airbag device having a decorative surface formed by a molding simultaneous transfer method. 2. An airbag device having an airbag cover that houses an airbag therein and that tears off at a tear line in the event of a vehicle collision or the like. An airbag device having a decorative surface formed by film-in-mold. 3. The airbag device according to claim 1, wherein a decorative portion is formed on the decorative surface. 4. The airbag device according to claim 3, wherein a tear line is provided on a back side of the decorative portion.