OCCUPANT RESTRAINT BELT WEBBING, SEAT BELT, AND SEAT BELT DEVICE

Abstract

An occupant restraint belt webbing forms an occupant restraint belt to restrain a vehicle occupant, and includes a plurality of warp yarns and a plurality of weft yarns. The plurality of warp yarns and the plurality of weft yarns are woven so as to extend orthogonally to each other. The warp yarns include an infrared light absorption yarn, and a thickness of the infrared light absorption yarn differs from a thickness of each yarn of the plurality of wrap yarns other than the infrared light absorption yarn.

Claims

1. An occupant restraint belt webbing forming an occupant restraint belt to restrain a vehicle occupant, comprising: a plurality of warp yarns and a plurality of weft yarns that are woven so as to extend orthogonally to each other, wherein the warp yarns include an infrared light absorption yarn, and a thickness of the infrared light absorption yarn differs from a thickness of each yarn of the plurality of wrap yarns other than the infrared light absorption yarn.

2. The occupant restraint belt webbing according to claim 1, wherein the each yarn of the plurality of wrap yarns other than the infrared light absorption yarn is thicker than the infrared light absorption yarn.

3. The occupant restraint belt webbing according to claim 1, wherein the each yarn of the plurality of wrap yarns other than the infrared light absorption yarn is thinner than the infrared light absorption yarn.

4. The occupant restraint belt webbing according to claim 1, wherein the infrared light absorption yarn is a filament yarn containing an infrared light absorption dye or an infrared light-absorbing pigment and made of polyester or nylon, and among the warp yarns and weft yarns, the yarns other than the infrared light absorption yarn are filament yarns made of polyester or nylon.

5. A seat belt as the occupant restraint belt formed using the occupant restraint belt webbing according to claim 1.

6. A seat belt device comprising: the seat belt according to claim 5; a retractor that is configured to wind the seat belt; a buckle that is fixed to a vehicle; a tongue that is provided on the seat belt and that engages with the buckle; an irradiation unit that is configured to irradiate the seat belt with infrared light; and a light receiving unit that is configured to receive reflected light from the seat belt.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0012] FIG. 1 is a front view of a seat belt device according to an embodiment.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a top view of the seat belt device according to the embodiment.

[0014] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a webbing according to the embodiment.

[0015] FIG. 4 is an enlarged top view of the webbing according to the embodiment.

[0016] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the webbing according to another embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0017] Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of a seat belt device according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a top view of the seat belt device. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a webbing. FIG. 4 is an enlarged top view of the webbing.

[0018] The seat belt device includes a seat belt 12, a retractor 13 on which the seat belt 12 is wound such that one side thereof is drawn out, a buckle 14 that is fixed to a vehicle 18, a tongue 15 that is slidably formed on the seat belt 12 and engages with the buckle 14, and a shoulder anchor 16 through which the seat belt 12 passes.

[0019] The seat belt device includes an irradiation unit 20 and a light receiving unit 21 which are provided in a vehicle cabin. The irradiation unit 20 emits infrared light toward the center in a width direction of a seat 17. The light receiving unit 21 receives infrared light reflected by an occupant P, the seat belt 12, and the like. As the light receiving unit 21, an infrared camera such as a CMOS camera for infrared light can be used. For example, the irradiation unit 20 and the light receiving unit 21 are provided in front of or provided diagonally in front of the occupant P seated on the seat 17.

[0020] The light receiving unit 21 generates image information according to the received reflected infrared light and transmits the image information to a control device (not shown).

[0021] The seat belt 12 includes infrared light absorption regions IA (see FIG. 3) that absorb infrared light. The infrared light absorption regions IA absorb almost 100% of infrared light and do not generate the reflected light of infrared light. Therefore, the control device can perform image processing on the image information received from the light receiving unit 21 and discriminates the infrared light absorption regions IA from the other regions. The control device can determine whether the seat belt 12 is properly worn according to the position, shape, and the like of the infrared light absorption regions IA in the image.

[0022] Next, a webbing 1 constituting the seat belt 12 will be described. The webbing 1 is fabric in which warp and weft yarns are woven so as to extend orthogonally to each other, and is woven in the form of a 2/2 twill weave, for example. At least one of a plurality of warp yarns is an infrared light absorption yarn 2, and the other warp yarns are normal yarns 3. The infrared light absorption yarn 2 is a yarn that absorbs almost 100% of infrared light and does not generate reflected light of infrared light. The infrared light absorption yarn 2 is a multifilament yarn in which plastic fibers containing an infrared light absorption pigment such as carbon black are twisted together. The infrared light absorption yarn 2 may be obtained by applying an infrared light absorption dye or an infrared light absorption pigment to a multifilament yarn in which polyester fibers and nylon fibers are twisted together and converged or by immersing the multifilament yarn into the dye. The thickness (fineness) of the infrared light absorption yarn 2 is about 300 to 3000 D, for example 1000 D.

[0023] On the other hand, the normal yarns 3 are yarns having a lower infrared light absorptance than the infrared light absorption yarn 2 and hardly absorb infrared light, for example. The normal yarns 3 are a multifilament yarns in which polyester fibers or nylon fibers are twisted together and converged, and may be dyed in black as long as having a lower infrared light absorptance than the infrared light absorption yarn 2. The normal yarns 3 may be thinner than the infrared light absorption yarn 2 and may have a thickness (fineness) of about 250 to 2000 D, for example 750 D against the infrared light absorption yarn 2 of 1000 D. Using the normal yarns 3 thinner than the infrared light absorption yarn 2 improves touch feeling of the webbing 1, increasing the marketability of the webbing 1. The normal yarns 3 may be thicker than the infrared light absorption yarn 2 and may have a thickness (fineness) of, for example, 1500 D against the infrared light absorption yarn 2 of 1000 D. The infrared light absorption yarn 2 which contains the infrared light absorption pigment such as carbon black tends to be weak against the normal yarns 3 which do not contain infrared light absorption pigment. Using the normal yarn 3 thicker than the infrared light absorption yarn 2 provides the required strength for the webbing 1 with less number of the wrap yarns, being advantageous in terms of weight and cost. As weft yarns 4, the same material as that of the normal yarns 3 can be used.

[0024] In the example shown in FIG. 4, the warp yarns (the infrared light absorption yarn 2 and the normal yarns 3) repeatedly passes over two weft yarns 4 and then passes below two weft yarns 4. For example, a normal yarn 3A passes over the weft yarns 4A and 4B and passes below the weft yarns 4C and 4D. After passing over the weft 4A, the infrared light absorption yarn 2 passes below the weft yarns 4B and 4C and over the wefts 4D and 4E, respectively.

[0025] The infrared light absorption yarn 2 passes over the weft yarns 4 at regular intervals. That is, in the webbing 1, the surface of the infrared light absorption yarn 2 is exposed at regular intervals. The exposed surface of the infrared light absorption yarn 2 is the infrared light absorption regions IA described above.

[0026] In the image information obtained by the light receiving unit 21, the infrared light absorption regions IA linearly appears along a longitudinal direction of the seat belt 12 (webbing 1). When the seat belt 12 is imaged by an infrared camera, the contrast between the infrared light absorption regions and the other regions becomes clear.

[0027] In this way, by weaving the warp yarns including the infrared light absorption yarn and producing the webbing 1, the infrared light absorption regions can be provided in the seat belt 12.

[0028] In the example shown in FIG. 3, the infrared light absorption regions IA are provided along the longitudinal direction of the webbing 1 and at both end portions in a transverse direction of the webbing 1, but the position of the infrared light absorption regions IA is not limited thereto, and may be provided, for example, in the center portion in the transverse direction of the webbing 1.

[0029] In the example shown in FIG. 4, only one infrared light absorption yarn 2 extends, but a plurality of infrared light absorption yarns 2 may be arranged side by side. One or more infrared light absorption yarns 2 and one or more normal yarns 3 may be alternately arranged. Further, all of the warp yarns may be used as the infrared light absorption yarns 2.

[0030] A webbing may also be produced by using an infrared light absorption yarn as a weft yarn.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 5, after a webbing 1a is produced using all of the warp and weft yarns as the normal yarns, an infrared light absorption yarn 2A may be sewn to the webbing 1a. However, when the infrared light absorption yarn is woven in as a warp yarn or a weft yarn, the surface flatness of the webbing is high and the tactile sensation is good.

[0032] After the webbing is produced using all of the warp and weft yarns as the normal yarns, the infrared light absorption dye (or infrared light absorption pigment) may be applied to the surface of the webbing, or the webbing may be immersed into the infrared light absorption dye (or infrared light absorption pigment).

[0033] The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and can be modified in various manners in practice without departing from the gist of the invention. Furthermore, various aspects of the invention can be formed through an appropriate combination of a plurality of components disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, some of the components shown in the embodiments may be omitted. Furthermore, components across different embodiments may be combined appropriately.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0034] 1, 1a webbing [0035] 2, 2 A infrared light absorption yarn [0036] 3 normal yarn [0037] 4 weft yarn [0038] 12 seat belt [0039] 13 retractor [0040] 14 buckle [0041] 15 tongue [0042] 16 shoulder anchor [0043] 17 seat [0044] 18 vehicle [0045] 20 irradiation unit [0046] 21 light receiving unit