CN111717087A

CN111717087A - Seat sliding device

Info

Publication number: CN111717087A
Application number: CN201910218729.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 白木晋
Original assignee: Toyota Body Seiko Co Ltd
Current assignee: Toyota Body Seiko Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-21
Filing date: 2019-03-21
Publication date: 2020-09-29

Abstract

The present invention relates to a seat slide device in which a nut for fixing a seat is welded to an end portion of an upper rail, and provides a technique for reducing a welding range while securing strength against an upward load applied to the nut. A seat slide device (2) is provided with a lower rail (20) and an upper rail (10). One end of the upper rail (10) in the longitudinal direction has a barrel portion (16) with an axis extending along the longitudinal direction of the upper rail (10). A nut (30) for fixing a seat (40) is fitted to the tube (16). Two parts of the inner side surface of the cylinder part (16) which are opposite in the horizontal direction are provided with clamping holes (17), and the side surface of the nut (30) is provided with clamping protrusions (31) which are clamped in the clamping holes (17).

Description

Seat sliding device

Technical Field

The technology disclosed in this specification relates to a seat sliding device that slides a seat.

Background

A seat of an automobile is fixed to a floor of the vehicle via a seat slide device so as to be slidable. The seat slide device has a lower rail and an upper rail. The lower rail is fixed to the floor of the vehicle. The upper rail is slidably engaged with the lower rail. The seat is fixed to the upper rail. The main member (main body) of the lower rail or the upper rail is formed by bending a metal plate.

The seat slide device is preferably capable of firmly holding the seat on the vehicle body even in a collision. On the other hand, as described above, the seat slide device is often formed by bending a metal plate. There is a possibility that the seat sliding apparatus made of a metal plate is deformed at the time of vehicle collision. Japanese patent No. 3836769 (patent document 1) discloses an example of a technique for suppressing deformation of a seat slide device against a collision load applied to an upper rail.

In this technique, a stepped portion is provided at the rear end of an upper rail formed by bending a metal plate, and a nut for fixing a seat is seated on the stepped portion and welded to the stepped portion. The upper rail includes a pair of longitudinal wall plates extending in the front-rear direction, and the nut is fixed so that the center of the screw hole coincides with the center between the pair of longitudinal wall plates. With such an arrangement of the nut, the vertical wall plate is made to be difficult to deform in order for the vertical wall plate to receive a buckling load as a buckling load with respect to a collision load applied to the nut.

Disclosure of Invention

At the time of a vehicle collision, an upward load may be applied to the end of the upper rail due to the inertia of the crew member. At this time, in the sliding device of patent document 1, an upward load is applied to the joint portion of the nut and the step portion. Since the nuts are connected so as to be seated on the stepped portion, the nuts need to be widely welded to the upper rail in order to receive an upward load applied to the nuts. The welding range is preferably small. The technology disclosed in the present specification relates to a seat slide device in which a nut is fixed to an end of an upper rail, and provides a technology for securing strength against an upward load applied to the nut and reducing a welding range of the nut, and a technology for securing strength against an upward load applied to the nut without welding the nut.

The seat slide apparatus disclosed in the present specification has a lower rail and an upper rail. The lower rail is fixed to the vehicle body. The upper rail is fixed to the seat, and is slidably engaged with the lower rail in the longitudinal direction of the lower rail. Further, a nut fitting cylinder portion having an axis extending in the longitudinal direction of the upper rail is provided at one end portion in the longitudinal direction of the upper rail, and a nut for fixing a seat is fitted to the nut fitting cylinder portion. Engaging holes are provided at two positions facing each other in the horizontal direction on the inner side surface of the nut fitting cylinder portion, and engaging projections for engaging with the engaging holes are provided on the side surface of the nut.

In the seat slide device described above, the nut for fixing the seat is fitted into the fitting cylinder portion provided in the upper rail. Therefore, the upward load applied to the nut becomes borne by the entire upper rail, and the strength against the upward load is improved. The engaging holes provided at two locations on the inner surface of the fitting cylinder and the engaging locations of the engaging projections provided on both sides of the nut in the horizontal direction may be joined by welding or may be fixed by pressing the engaging projections into the engaging holes. In the former case, only the engagement portion between the engagement hole and the engagement projection can be welded, and thus the welding range can be reduced. In the latter case, the strength can be ensured against the upward load applied to the nut without welding.

The engaging hole and the engaging projection can also be used for positioning the nut. Further, since the engaging projection provided on the side surface of the nut is welded, the thermal influence on the screw hole of the nut during welding can be reduced. The technical details and further modifications disclosed in the present specification are described in the following "embodiments".

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a side view of a seat slide apparatus of a first embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the seat slide apparatus of the first embodiment.

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the upper rail.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the upper track.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along line V-V of fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a seat slide apparatus of the second embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a front view of an upper rail of the seat slide apparatus of the second embodiment (cover portion not shown).

Detailed Description

(first embodiment)

Referring to the drawings, a seat slide device 2 of the first embodiment is explained. Fig. 1 shows a side view of a seat slide 2. Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the seat slide device 2. Fig. 3 shows an exploded perspective view of the upper rail 10. The seat slide apparatus 2 is mounted to a vehicle. The F-axis of the coordinate system in the figure indicates the front-rear direction of the vehicle to which the seat slide apparatus 2 is attached. The positive direction of the F axis corresponds to the front of the vehicle. The V-axis of the coordinate system indicates the up-down direction of the vehicle. The positive direction of the V axis corresponds to the upward direction. The H-axis of the coordinate system indicates the vehicle width direction. The meaning of the axes of the coordinate system is the same in all figures.

The seat slide device 2 is a member that fixes the seat 40 to the floor 4 of the vehicle. The seat slide device 2 is fixed to the floor panel 4 (vehicle) so that the seat 40 can slide in the vehicle front-rear direction (F-axis direction in the drawing). The seat slide device 2 includes an upper rail 10 fixed to the seat 40 and a lower rail 20 fixed to the floor panel 4.

The lower rail 20 is fixed to the base plate 4 by bolts not shown. The lower rail 20 is fixed to the vehicle body (floor panel 4) so that the longitudinal direction thereof coincides with the front-rear direction of the vehicle (F-axis direction in the drawing). The lower rail 20 is formed by bending a metal plate, and includes a pair of grooves 21 on both sides in the vehicle width direction (H-axis direction in the drawing) for bending the plate into an inverted U shape. The groove 21 extends in the vehicle front-rear direction. A plurality of lock holes (not shown) are provided in a plate portion constituting the vehicle width direction inner side of the groove 21.

The upper rail 10 is fixed to a lower portion of a seat portion of the seat 40 by bolts 42. Nuts 30 are embedded in front and rear ends of the upper rail 10. A stay (stay)41 extends downward from the front and rear of the seat portion lower portion of the seat 40, and the stay 41 is fixed to the nut 30 of the upper rail 10 by a bolt 42. In fig. 2, the seat 40 (the support column 41) and the floor panel 4 are not shown. The main body of the upper rail 10 is formed by bending two metal plate materials (a main body left 12L and a main body right 12R). A pair of guide rails 13 for bending the lower portion of the metal plate (the left body 12L and the right body 12R) into a U-shape are provided at both sides in the vehicle width direction at the lower portion of the upper rail 10. Rollers 14 are attached to the outer side surfaces of the guide rails 13 on both right and left sides. Further, a lock pawl, not shown, is attached near the center of the upper rail 10 in the vehicle front-rear direction. Further, although the locking members for swinging the locking claws are provided on the inner sides of the two metal plates (the body left 12L and the body right 12R), the locking members are not shown.

The guide rail 13 and the roller 14 of the upper rail 10 are fitted in the groove 21 of the lower rail 20, and the upper rail 10 is engaged with the lower rail 20. When a lock pawl is retracted into the upper rail 10 by operating a lock member not shown, the upper rail 10 is slidable in the front-rear direction with respect to the lower rail 20. The upper rail 10 becomes slidable in the length direction of the lower rail 20. When the locking claw is pushed out of the side surface of the upper rail 10, the locking claw is engaged with any one of the locking holes (not shown) provided inside the lower rail 20 inside the U-shape of the guide rail 13. The upper rail 10 is fixed with respect to the lower rail 20 by the locking claws engaging with the locking holes. When the engagement of the locking claws is released, the upper rail 10 can slide with respect to the lower rail 20 as described above. The upper rail 10 can smoothly slide by the rotation of the rollers 14 provided in the upper rail 10.

The two metal plate members (the left main body 12L and the right main body 12R) as main members of the upper rail 10 are opposed to each other in the left-right direction as viewed in the longitudinal direction (the F-axis direction in the drawing) of the upper rail 10. The upper portion of the main body left 12L is bent in a lateral U-shape, and the upper portion of the main body right 12R is also bent in a lateral U-shape. The U-shaped bent portion at the upper portion of the left body 12L is denoted as a U-shaped bent portion 12Lu, and the U-shaped bent portion at the upper portion of the right body 12R is denoted as a U-shaped bent portion 12 Ru. The two U-shaped bent portions 12Lu, 12Ru are arranged so that the U-shaped opening portions face each other, and they are joined together to form a tube portion 16. The axis of the drum 16 is along the longitudinal direction (F-axis direction in the drawing) of the upper rail 10. Nuts 30 for fixing a seat 40 (see fig. 1) are fitted to the opening portions of the tubular portions 16 at the front and rear ends of the upper rail 10.

The nut 30 is inserted into the cylindrical portion 16 in such a manner that the axis NL of the threaded hole 30a of the fixing bolt 42 faces the longitudinal direction (the F-axis direction in the drawing) of the upper rail 10. The cylindrical portion 16 has engagement holes 17 at two horizontally opposed locations on its inner surface. On the other hand, the side surface of the nut 30 is provided with a pair of engaging projections 31 that engage with each of the engaging holes 17.

Fig. 4 shows a side view of the upper rail 10, and fig. 5 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line V-V of fig. 4. As described above, the U-shaped bent portions 12Lu, 12Ru are formed in the upper portions of the two metal plates (the left body 12L, the right body 12R) as the main components of the upper rail 10 in the horizontal U-shape. The U-shaped bent portions 12Lu, 12Ru are arranged so that the openings of the U-shapes face each other, and the two U-shaped bent portions 12Lu, 12Ru are joined together to form a tube portion 16 extending in the longitudinal direction of the upper rail 10. In other words, the U-shaped bent portions 12Lu and 12Ru are opposed to each other with the U-shaped opening portions joined together to form the tube portion 16 having an axis along the longitudinal direction (F-axis direction in the drawing) of the upper rail 10. Nuts 30 are fitted to the front and rear ends of the cylindrical portion 16. As shown in fig. 5, the engagement projections 31 of the nut 30 are engaged with the pair of engagement holes 17 provided in the U-shaped bent portions 12Lu and 12Ru (the upper rail 10), respectively, and the engagement portions are welded. Reference numeral 51 denotes a weld joining the engaging hole 17 and the engaging projection 31. The U-shaped bent portions 12Lu and 12Ru also abut on a portion corresponding to the upper surface of the upper rail 10, and the abutting portion is welded. Reference numeral 52 denotes a weld joining the U-shaped bent portions 12Lu and 12 Ru. In fig. 1 to 4, the

welds

51 and 52 are not shown. Fig. 5 shows a cross section of the front end of the upper rail 10. The rear end of the upper rail 10 is also identical in cross-section to the configuration of fig. 5.

The advantages of the seat slide apparatus 2 will be described. In a vehicle collision, an upward load may be generated at the rear end or the front end of the seat 40 (see fig. 1) due to the inertia of the crew member. An upward load is generated at the rear end of the seat 40 in a front collision, and an upward load is generated at the front end of the seat 40 in a rear collision. The seat 40 is connected to the front and rear ends of the upper rail 10 by bolts 42 and nuts 30. Therefore, the nuts 30 are sometimes loaded upward at the front and rear ends of the upper rail 10. The nut 30 is inserted into a cylindrical portion 16 formed of two metal plates (a body left 12L and a body right 12R) as main components of the upper rail 10. Therefore, the load applied upward to the nut 30 becomes borne by the entirety of the upper rail 10. The nut 30 is welded to the engaging portion of the engaging projection 31 and the engaging hole 17. Since most of the load applied upward to the nut 30 is not received by the welded portion but by the metal plates (the main body left 12L and the main body right 12R) bent in the U-shape, the seat slide device 2 of the first embodiment can reduce the welding range of the nut 30 while securing the strength to receive the upward load applied to the nut 30.

The engagement hole 17 and the engagement projection 31 can also be used for positioning the nut 30. Since the engaging projection 31 provided on the side surface of the nut 30 is welded, the welding portion is away from the screw hole 30a of the nut 30. Therefore, the thermal influence on the threaded hole 30a during welding can be reduced.

(second embodiment)

Next, a seat slide device 2a according to a second embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 6 and 7. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the seat slide device 2a, and fig. 7 is a front view of the upper rail 110 of the seat slide device 2 a. The seat slide device 2a of the second embodiment includes a lower rail 120 fixed to a floor of a vehicle and an upper rail 110 fixed to a seat of the vehicle. The upper rail 110 is made of a metal plate, and a cylindrical portion 116 extending in the rail longitudinal direction (the F-axis direction in the drawing) is provided at the tip end, as in the upper rail 10 of the first embodiment. The cylindrical portion 116 extends from the front end to the rear end, and its inner space penetrates the upper rail 110.

Nuts 130 for fixing the seat 40 (see fig. 1) are fitted to the opening portions of the tubular portions 116 at the front and rear ends of the upper rail 110. The nut 130 is disposed inside the cylindrical portion 116 so that the axis of a screw hole 130a for fixing a bolt for fixing a seat faces the longitudinal direction of the upper rail 110. The cylindrical portion 116 is provided with engagement holes 117 at two horizontally opposed locations at the front end and the rear end of the upper rail 110. On the other hand, the side surface of the nut 130 is provided with a pair of engaging projections 131 that engage with each of the engaging holes 117. In addition, the nut 130 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape including the engaging projection 131 as a whole, and a width of the engaging projection 131 in the V-axis direction is substantially equal to a width of the nut 130 at a center in the H-axis direction, and a boundary between the engaging projection 131 and a body of the nut 130 is unclear. The portion of the nut 130 that engages with the engagement hole 117 corresponds to the engagement projection 131.

As described above, in the seat slide device 2a according to the second embodiment, the engaging projection 131 is large, and the contact area between the engaging projection 131 and the engaging hole 117 is large. Therefore, when an upward load is generated in the upper rail 110 at the time of collision, the load is dispersed by a large contact area between the engagement hole 117 and the engagement projection 131, and the concentrated load is alleviated. Therefore, in the seat slide device 2a according to the second embodiment, the nuts 130 can be press-fitted and fixed to the pair of engagement holes 117. Even if the engaging projection 131 of the nut 130 is not welded to the upper rail 110, the upper rail 110 is less likely to be separated from the lower rail 120 at the time of collision. Since the nut 130 is fixed by pressing, the assembly process can be simplified.

Further, a flange-like stopper 132 is provided at one end of the nut 130 in the H axis direction. The stopper 132 has an outer shape larger than the engaging hole 117 when viewed from the H-axis direction. Since the stopper 132 is provided, when the nut 130 is pushed into the pair of engagement holes 117, the stopper 132 catches the edge of one of the engagement holes 117, and prevents the nut 130 from falling off.

Reference numeral 140 in fig. 6 denotes a cover portion that covers the front end and the rear end of the upper rail 110, respectively, and through holes 141 through which bolts (not shown) for fixing the seat are inserted are provided.

Points related to the techniques described in the examples are described. The seat slide device 2(2a) of the embodiment has nuts 30(130) fixed thereto in the same configuration as the front and rear ends of the upper rails 10 (110). At least one of the front and rear ends of the upper rail 10(110) may have only the configuration of the embodiment. In a frontal collision of the vehicle, an upward load is generated at the rear of the seat 40 due to the inertia of the crew member. That is, the rear end of the upper rail 10(110) is applied with an upward load. Therefore, the configuration explained in the embodiment is preferably applied to at least the rear end of the upper rail 10 (110).

In the seat slide device 2a according to the second embodiment, the nut 130 is press-fitted into the engagement hole 117 of the upper rail 110 and fixed. The nut 130 may be joined to the upper rail 110 with welding. Alternatively, the nut 130 may be fixed to the upper rail 110 by a rivet stop.

The

cylindrical portions

16 and 116 of the embodiment correspond to an example of a "nut fitting cylindrical portion". In the seat slide device 2(2a) of the embodiment, the tube portion 16(116) extends from the front end to the rear end of the upper rail 10 (110). Barrel portion 16(116) may be at least as long as nut 30(130) is installed. The "tube portion" may be a member formed by joining two bent metal plates, as in the tube portion 16 of the first embodiment.

The seat slide apparatus of the embodiment fixes the lower rail in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, but with the technology disclosed in this specification, the lower rail longitudinal direction may be in any direction with respect to the vehicle.

Specific examples of the present invention have been described in detail above, but these are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims. The techniques described in the claims include various modifications and changes to the specific examples described above. The technical elements described in the present specification or drawings are technically useful by themselves or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims at the time of application. Further, the techniques illustrated in the present specification or the drawings are techniques capable of achieving a plurality of objects at the same time, and achieving one of the objects is also technically useful.

Claims

1. A seat slide device for sliding a seat, comprising:

a lower rail fixed to the vehicle body; and

an upper rail fixed to the seat and slidably engaged with the lower rail in a longitudinal direction of the lower rail,

a nut fitting cylinder portion having an axis along a longitudinal direction of the upper rail is provided at one end portion of the upper rail in the longitudinal direction, a nut for fixing the seat is fitted to the nut fitting cylinder portion,

engaging holes are provided at two positions facing each other in the horizontal direction on the inner side surface of the nut fitting cylinder portion, and engaging projections that engage with the engaging holes are provided on the side surface of the nut.

2. The seat slide of claim 1,

the engaging hole and the engaging portion of the engaging protrusion are welded.