CN209852128U - Electric adjusting type seat suspension damping mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model discloses an electric regulation formula seat suspension damper, including from top to bottom just to the upper ledge and the lower frame of setting, be equipped with spring telescopic component and shock attenuation crotch between upper ledge and the lower frame, spring telescopic component disposes electric adjustment mechanism to the power value of adjustment spring telescopic component. Can realize the regulation to the flexible subassembly of spring through electric adjusting mechanism, optimize mounting structure simultaneously, make it more be adapted to the less installation of passenger cars such as pick-up, cross country and use space, have good travelling comfort and user experience and feel.

Description

Electric adjusting type seat suspension damping mechanism

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a vehicular seat technical field, concretely relates to electric regulation formula seat suspension damper.

Background

The comfort level of car seat is one of the key factor of car seat design, and damping device is all installed usually to current truck to alleviate the uncomfortable sense that the in-process of traveling brought for driver and crew because the vibration of jolting, current damping device adopts the single fulcrum screw rod to adjust usually, because accommodation process is in the bearing state, so adjust hard relatively, stability and reliability are not enough, especially if when being applied to passenger car with it, its user experience feels relatively poor, is unfavorable for using the popularization on the passenger car.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In order to solve the problem, the utility model provides an electric regulation formula seat suspension damper optimizes its adjustment mechanism, improves stability and reliability, makes it be applicable to the passenger car, improves user experience and feels and the travelling comfort.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the utility model discloses technical scheme as follows:

the utility model provides an electric regulation formula seat suspension damper, is including upper and lower just to the upper ledge and the lower frame that set up, be equipped with spring telescopic component and shock attenuation crotch between upper ledge and the lower frame, its key lies in: the spring telescopic assembly is provided with an electric adjusting mechanism to adjust the force value of the spring telescopic assembly.

Structure more than adopting to electric adjusting mechanism adjusts the flexible subassembly of spring, and the passenger car driver and passenger's personnel of being convenient for operate, more is adapted to the installation of the less activity space of passenger car and uses, has good user experience and feels.

Preferably, the method comprises the following steps: the two sides of the upper frame are provided with upper chutes which are arranged oppositely along the length direction of the upper frame, the two sides of the lower frame are provided with lower chutes which are arranged oppositely along the length direction of the lower frame, and the rear ends of the upper frame and the lower frame are provided with an upper connecting shaft and a lower connecting shaft which are arranged oppositely;

the symmetry is provided with two sets of shock attenuation crotch between upper ledge and the lower frame, the shock attenuation crotch includes the mutual articulated outside board in middle part and interior sideboard, two both ends are respectively through lower sliding shaft and last connecting axle interconnect around the outside board two both ends are through last sliding shaft and lower connecting axle interconnect respectively around the inside board, lower sliding shaft both ends and lower chute sliding fit, go up the sliding shaft both ends and go up chute sliding fit. Through the shock attenuation crotch of articulated setting to the mode of setting of the fixed other end activity of one end, realize the floating support to the upper ledge, the height position of adjustable upper ledge through sliding simultaneously, thereby realize the altitude mixture control of seat.

Preferably, the method comprises the following steps: the spring telescopic assembly comprises two tension springs symmetrically arranged along the length direction of the upper frame, the electric adjusting mechanism comprises an installation frame and a screw rod which are arranged along the length direction of the upper frame, and a motor used for driving the screw rod to rotate, wherein the installation frame is fixedly connected with the upper frame, adjusting grooves which are opposite to each other are formed in two sides of the front end of the installation frame, a tension spring plate which is in sliding fit with the adjusting grooves is arranged in the adjusting grooves, the tension spring plate is arranged along the length direction of the upper frame, a spring hanging shaft is arranged at the rear end of the installation frame, and the front end and the rear end of each tension spring are respectively fixed on the tension spring plate and;

the seat is characterized in that a nut seat matched with the screw rod is fixedly arranged on the tension spring plate, the motor is connected with the screw rod through a worm gear transmission mechanism, and a switch is arranged on a side plate on one side of the seat framework and used for controlling the motor.

Scheme more than adopting improves the flexible stability of adjusting of extension spring greatly, and the motor drives the lead screw through turbine worm drive mechanism and adjusts simultaneously, has improved the precision and the stationarity of adjusting, and arranges the switch in on the other curb plate, more makes things convenient for the driver and passenger to operate the adjustment, improves the travelling comfort of driving and taking.

Preferably, the method comprises the following steps: the output end of the turbine worm-gear transmission mechanism is provided with a quick connector, the quick connector is provided with a spring pin arranged along the radial direction of the quick connector, and one end of the screw rod close to the turbine worm-gear transmission mechanism is provided with a pin hole matched with the spring pin. By adopting the scheme, the assembly and disassembly efficiency of the screw rod and the worm transmission mechanism of the turbine is greatly improved, the screw rod and worm transmission mechanism is particularly suitable for replacing parts in the later period, is convenient to maintain and has a simple structure and lower cost.

Preferably, the method comprises the following steps: two be equipped with damping spring between the extension spring, damping spring sets up along upper ledge length direction, damping spring passes through the shock attenuation arm to be supported on the lower frame, the slope of shock attenuation arm sets up to extend towards the lower frame front end, shock attenuation arm upper end is articulated with the mounting bracket, spring peg and damping spring fixed connection correspond spring peg position on the shock attenuation arm and are equipped with the spacing groove, the shock attenuation arm lower end has the gyro wheel that sets up along its width direction, damping spring's damping rod and lead screw fixed connection.

By adopting the scheme, the stability of the damping spring is favorably improved, the damping spring and the screw rod are basically positioned on the same horizontal plane, the inclination angle of the damping spring relative to the upper frame is smaller, the left-right shaking amplitude of the damping spring is reduced, and the service life of the damping spring is favorably prolonged.

Preferably, the method comprises the following steps: the position of the lower frame corresponding to the roller at the lower end of the damping arm is provided with a limiting piece, the limiting piece and the lower frame surround to form a movable groove so as to limit the roller stroke, and the height of the movable groove is adapted to the diameter of the roller. By adopting the scheme, the movable range of the roller is limited mainly through the movable groove, the centering state of the damping spring can be further ensured, the left and right shaking is prevented, and meanwhile, the upper and lower deflection amplitudes are limited, so that the damping spring has better stability.

Preferably, the method comprises the following steps: the damping rod is connected with the screw rod through a connecting pipe, the connecting pipe is of a hollow structure, and the damping rod and the screw rod respectively extend into two ends of the connecting pipe and are respectively fixed through fixing pins. By adopting the scheme, the disassembly and assembly efficiency of the screw rod and the damping spring is improved, and later-period maintenance and repair are facilitated.

Preferably, the method comprises the following steps: four corners of the lower frame are provided with anti-collision pads extending upwards. By adopting the scheme, the upper frame is prevented from colliding with the lower frame in the lifting process, and the overall reliability of the mechanism is improved.

Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the utility model are that:

adopt the utility model provides an electric regulation formula seat suspension damper can realize the regulation to the flexible subassembly of spring through electric regulation mechanism, optimizes mounting structure simultaneously, makes it more be adapted to the less installation of passenger cars such as pick-up, cross-country and use space, has good travelling comfort and user experience and feels.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the spring retraction assembly and the electric adjustment mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a fitting structure of the mounting frame and the upper frame;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the structure of the shock arm and the mounting bracket;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the matching structure of the screw rod and the quick connector;

fig. 8 is a schematic view of the usage state of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a side view of FIG. 8;

fig. 10 is a schematic view of the switch installation position.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be further described with reference to the following examples and accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 1 to 10 show electric regulation formula seat suspension damper, mainly include upper ledge 3a and lower frame 3b just to setting up from top to bottom, and connect the shock attenuation crotch of upper ledge 3a and lower frame 3b and set up the flexible subassembly 4 of spring between upper ledge 3a and lower frame 3b, and meanwhile, flexible subassembly 4 of spring still disposes electric adjustment mechanism 5, electric adjustment mechanism 5 mainly used realizes the electric regulation to flexible subassembly 4 of spring, change the power value of flexible subassembly 4 of spring promptly, thereby adjust the whole shock attenuation effect of shock attenuation subassembly 3, make it adapt to each other with the bearing, improve user experience sense and ride comfort.

As shown in the figure, two sets of damping forks are provided between the upper frame 3a and the lower frame 3b, the damping forks mainly include an outer edge plate 3c and an inner edge plate 3d, the middle portions of which are hinged to each other, the two sets of damping forks are symmetrically provided along the length direction of the damping mechanism, the rear ends of the upper frame 3a and the lower frame 3b are provided with an upper connecting shaft 30 and a lower connecting shaft 31, which are oppositely provided, the upper connecting shaft 30 is provided along the width direction of the upper frame 3a, the two ends of the upper connecting shaft 30 are relatively fixed, and will not slide along the length direction of the upper frame 3a, similarly, the lower connecting shaft 31 is provided along the width direction of the lower frame 3b, the two ends thereof are fixedly connected to the lower frame 3b, the oppositely provided rear ends of the two outer edge plates 3c in the damping forks (in this embodiment, the end close to the seat back when being installed and used is the rear end, and the end far from the, and the rear ends of the two inner side plates 3d of the damping fork are respectively hinged with the two ends of the lower connecting shaft 31.

The front ends of the two outer side plates 3c are hinged with the two ends of the lower sliding shaft 32 at the same time, the lower sliding shaft 32 is arranged along the width direction of the lower frame 3b, the two sides of the front end of the lower frame 3b are provided with lower sliding grooves 3b0 arranged along the length direction, the two ends of the lower sliding shaft 32 are both sleeved with lower pulleys, the lower pulleys are embedded into the lower sliding grooves 3b0 which are opposite, and the two sliding grooves are in sliding fit, similarly, the two sides of the front end of the upper frame 3a are provided with upper sliding grooves 3a0 which are opposite, the front ends of the two inner side plates 3d are hinged with the upper sliding shaft 33 at the same time, in the embodiment, the upper sliding shaft 33 is in a U-shaped structure, the two ends of the upper sliding shaft extend opposite to the upper sliding groove 3a0 after being bent, the end part of the upper pulley which is also sleeved with the upper sliding pulleys which are in sliding fit with the upper sliding grooves 3a0, after the arrangement, when the lower, furthermore, since the upper sliding shaft 33 is substantially U-shaped, it provides an effective space for the spring retraction assembly 4 to be installed.

In this embodiment, in order to realize the control to the flexible stroke of shock attenuation crotch, the event is equipped with limit structure 38 in last spout 3a0, limit structure 38 is equipped with the rubber pad near the one side of last spout 3a0 front end, the distance between limit structure 38 and the last spout 3a0 constitutes the actual slidable distance of upper pulley, thereby reach the purpose of restricting the flexible scope of shock attenuation crotch, the reducible collision to the upper pulley of rubber pad simultaneously, and the abnormal sound in the use, the same reason, in order to prevent that the shock attenuation crotch from in the lift process, the collision takes place between upper frame 3a and the lower frame 3b, the event all is equipped with the crashproof pad 34 of upwards extension in the four corners of lower frame 3b, crashproof pad 34 also adopts rubber to make.

Referring to fig. 1 to 7, in the present embodiment, the spring expansion assembly 4 is located between an upper frame 3a and a lower frame 3b, and mainly includes two tension springs 40 symmetrically arranged along a length direction of the upper frame 3a, and a damping spring 41 located between the two tension springs 40, as shown in the figure, the middle of the upper frame 3a has a mounting bracket 50 arranged along the length direction thereof, the mounting bracket 50 is fixedly connected to the upper frame 3a by screws, the mounting bracket 50 has a U-shaped groove 501 arranged along the length direction thereof, an opening of the U-shaped groove 501 is downward, and front and rear ends thereof are open, a front end of the mounting bracket 50 has an adjusting groove 500 penetrating through both sides in a thickness direction thereof, a tension spring plate 52 is arranged in the adjusting groove 500, the tension spring plate 52 is arranged along a width direction of the upper frame 3a and is located on the same vertical plane with a center line of the mounting bracket 50, the tension spring plate 52 is movably supported, the two ends of the tension spring plate 52 penetrate through the adjusting groove 500 to be equal, the rear end of the support frame 50 is provided with a spring hanging shaft 53 arranged along the width direction of the support frame, the spring hanging shaft 53 and the support frame 50 are relatively fixed, the two tension springs 40 are symmetrically arranged on the left side and the right side of the mounting frame 50, the front end and the rear end of each tension spring 40 are respectively hung on the tension spring plate 52 and the spring hanging shaft 53, and when the tension spring plate 52 slides along the adjusting groove 500, the pretension force of each tension spring 40 is changed accordingly.

The electric adjusting mechanism 5 mainly comprises a motor 5a and a worm gear transmission mechanism 5b connected with the motor 5a, the output end of the worm gear transmission mechanism 5b is connected with a screw rod 51, the screw rod 51 is arranged along the length direction of the U-shaped groove 501 and extends into the U-shaped groove 501, the tension spring plate 52 in the embodiment has two downward sheets which are opposite and fixedly connected, a nut seat 54 matched with the screw rod 51 is fixedly arranged between the two sheets, and when the motor 5a works, the tension spring plate 52 can be driven by the screw rod 51 to slide along the adjusting groove 500.

In order to realize the quick assembly and disassembly of the screw 51 and the worm gear transmission mechanism 5b and facilitate the later maintenance, a quick coupling 55 is arranged at the output end of the worm gear transmission mechanism 5b, as shown in fig. 7, a spring pin 550 is arranged on the quick coupling 55 along the radial direction of the quick coupling, one side of two ends of the spring pin 550 close to the mounting rack 50 is provided with a slope, the end part of the screw 51 is provided with a pin hole 510 matched with the spring pin 550, during the installation, the quick coupling 55 is fixedly connected with the output end of the worm gear transmission mechanism 5b firstly, then the screw 51 is opposite to the screw 51, and the two are oppositely inserted to enable the spring pin 550 to be inserted into the pin hole 510.

In the present application, the damping spring 41 is located in the U-shaped groove 501, in order to achieve the purpose that the damping spring 41 is substantially level with the tension spring 40 and reduce the vertical inclination angle thereof, firstly, the rear end of the damping spring 41 is supported by the damping arm 42 in a floating manner, as shown in the figure, the damping arm 42 is arranged in an inclined manner, the front end of the damping arm extends in an inclined manner to the front end of the lower frame 3b, the rear end of the damping arm is hinged with the mounting frame 50 through the mounting shaft 421, the mounting shaft 421 can rotate as the rotation center, the lower end of the damping arm is provided with the roller 43 arranged along the width direction, the roller 43 and the damping arm 42 can rotate relatively, the lower frame 3b is provided with the limiting piece 44 at the corresponding position, referring to the figure 2, the limiting piece 44 is n-shaped, the limiting piece and forms a sliding groove 45 with the bottom wall of the lower frame 3b in a surrounding manner, the left side and the, make gyro wheel 43 have certain home range in activity groove 45, the slope of shock attenuation arm 42 sets up to form the triangle-shaped stable support to damping spring 41, simultaneously because gyro wheel 43 and activity groove 45's cooperation has realized the unsteady support to damping spring 41 again, the greatly reduced damping spring 41's the range of rocking from side to side and rock from top to bottom, reduce the damage to damping spring 41 in accommodation process or the use, prolong its life greatly.

Damping spring 41's damping rod 410 extends forward along the length direction of U-shaped groove 501 to rear end fixed connection through connecting pipe 46 and lead screw 51, as shown in the figure, connecting pipe 46 is the open hollow column structure in both ends, lead screw 51 and damping rod 410 stretch into wherein from the both ends of connecting pipe 46 respectively, and fix respectively through the fixed pin, the accessible changes the length of connecting pipe 46 like this in order to adapt to the damping spring 41 of different models, and reduce the change to damping spring 41, make whole assembly structure have good adaptability, reduce development or manufacturing cost.

In addition, the upper side of the rear end of the damping arm 42 is provided with a limiting groove 420 formed by downward sinking, the limiting groove 420 is of an arc structure, the middle part of the spring hanging shaft 53 is sleeved at the rear end of the damping spring 41, and the two ends of the spring hanging shaft 53 are supported on the limiting grooves 420 at the two sides of the damping arm 42.

Referring to fig. 1 to 10, in order to make the present invention more suitable for passenger cars and make it easier to be coupled with a seat frame 2 and a rail assembly 1 (including a lower rail 10 and an upper rail 11), so that a great change is made in the mounting structure, as shown in the figure, front mounting lugs 35 are symmetrically disposed on both sides of a front end of a lower frame 3b, rear mounting lugs 36 are symmetrically disposed on both sides of a rear end, and the front mounting lugs 35 and the rear mounting lugs 36 are both inclined and extend upward to the same height, and then have connecting portions horizontally extending in the width direction of the lower frame 3b, each connecting portion can be directly and fixedly connected with the upper rail 11 by screws, so that the lower frame 3b is parallel to the upper rail 11, and because the front mounting lugs 35 and the rear mounting lugs 36 are connected by inclination, the lower frame 3b sinks relatively, actually just being located between two slide rail set spares 1, make full use of slide rail set spares 1's high space is favorable to reducing the whole focus of seat, more is adapted to the installation in passenger car narrow and small space simultaneously.

In order to ensure the stability of the seat frame 2 during adjustment and use, in this embodiment, the top of the upper frame 3a is also provided with a front supporting lug 3e and a rear supporting lug 3f for realizing stable support of the seat frame 2, the front supporting lug 3e is symmetrically arranged on two sides of the front end of the upper frame 3a, the rear supporting lug 3f is symmetrically arranged on two sides of the rear end of the upper frame 3a, the front supporting lug 3e is provided with a supporting groove 3e0 which is arranged right opposite to the front supporting lug 3e, the rear supporting lug 3f is provided with a rear supporting groove 3f0, the front supporting groove 3e0 and the rear supporting groove 3f0 are both arc-shaped open groove structures, and the difference between the front supporting groove 3e0 and the rear supporting groove 3f0 is opened forward, so that the backrest frame 2 can be conveniently mounted and fixed, and the sway and abnormal sound can be reduced.

Meanwhile, in order to facilitate adjustment by a driver, a switch 22 is arranged on a side plate 21 on one side of the seat frame 2, the switch 22 is connected with the motor 5a, and can control various working conditions of the motor 5a, so that the working state of the screw rod 51 is controlled, and the purpose of adjusting the spring telescopic assembly 4 is achieved, meanwhile, the lower safety belt fixing structure 20 is arranged at the rear end of the left side of the lower frame 3b, as shown in the figure, a mounting piece 37 is simultaneously connected to a rear mounting support lug 36 of the lower frame 3b, the mounting piece 37 extends upwards, and further the lower safety belt fixing structure 20 is fixedly arranged at the top of the mounting piece 37, so that after the arrangement, the lower safety belt fixing structure 20 can slide along with the upper slide rail 11, the tightness of the safety belt is only influenced by the damping assembly 3, and has better user experience compared with the arrangement on the vehicle bottom plate 6 or the lower slide rail 10, is more comfortable.

During the installation, slide rail 10 is fixed to the vehicle bottom board down, then with the damper fixed mounting of this application on slide rail 11, again with seat skeleton 2 fixed stay to last frame 3a can, in the use, through switch 22 control motor 5a operating mode, thereby it slides to drive the reed board 52 back before the adjustment tank 500, it is just rotatory or the derotation to drive damping rod 410 simultaneously, realize adjusting simultaneously to the power value of extension spring 40 and damping spring 41, adjust damping component 3's whole elasticity promptly, realize the comprehensive adjustment to damping performance according to the gravity that receives, again because damping arm 42's setting, fully guarantee damping spring 41's centering degree and levelness in adjustment or use, be favorable to strengthening its compressive capacity, reduce the distortion damage, increase of service life greatly.

Finally, it should be noted that the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can make various similar representations without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

1. The utility model provides an electric regulation formula seat suspension damper, is including upper and lower just to upper ledge (3a) and lower frame (3b) of setting up, be equipped with spring telescopic component (4) and shock attenuation crotch between upper ledge (3a) and lower frame (3b), its characterized in that: the spring telescopic assembly (4) is provided with an electric adjusting mechanism (5) to adjust the force value of the spring telescopic assembly (4).

2. The electrically adjustable seat suspension damping mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: the two sides of the upper frame (3a) are provided with upper sliding chutes (3a0) which are arranged oppositely along the length direction, the two sides of the lower frame (3b) are provided with lower sliding chutes (3b0) which are arranged oppositely along the length direction, and the rear ends of the upper frame (3a) and the lower frame (3b) are provided with an upper connecting shaft (30) and a lower connecting shaft (31) which are arranged oppositely;

the symmetry is provided with two sets of shock attenuation crotch between upper ledge (3a) and lower frame (3b), the shock attenuation crotch includes middle part mutual articulated outside board (3c) and inside board (3d), two both ends are respectively through lower sliding shaft (32) and last connecting axle (30) interconnect around outside board (3c), two both ends are respectively through last sliding shaft (33) and lower connecting axle (31) interconnect around inside board (3d), lower sliding shaft (32) both ends and lower spout (3b0) sliding fit, go up sliding shaft (33) both ends and last spout (3a0) sliding fit.

3. The electrically adjustable seat suspension damping mechanism according to claim 2, wherein: the spring telescopic assembly (4) comprises two tension springs (40) symmetrically arranged along the length direction of an upper frame (3a), the electric adjusting mechanism (5) comprises an installation frame (50) and a lead screw (51) which are arranged along the length direction of the upper frame (3a), and a motor (5a) used for driving the lead screw (51) to rotate, wherein the installation frame (50) is fixedly connected with the upper frame (3a), adjusting grooves (500) which are just opposite to each other are formed in two sides of the front end of the installation frame (50), a tension spring plate (52) in sliding fit with the adjusting grooves (500) is arranged in the adjusting grooves (500), the tension spring plate (52) is arranged along the length direction of the upper frame (3a), a spring hanging shaft (53) is arranged at the rear end of the installation frame (50), and the front end and the rear end of each tension spring (40) are respectively fixed on the tension spring plate (52) and the spring;

and a nut seat (54) matched with the screw rod (51) is fixedly arranged on the tension spring plate (52), and the motor (5a) is connected with the screw rod (51) through a turbine worm transmission mechanism (5 b).

4. The electrically adjustable seat suspension damping mechanism according to claim 3, wherein: the output end of the turbine worm-gear transmission mechanism (5b) is provided with a quick joint (55), the quick joint (55) is provided with a spring pin (550) arranged along the radial direction of the quick joint, and one end of the screw rod (51) close to the turbine worm-gear transmission mechanism (5b) is provided with a pin hole (510) matched with the spring pin (550).

5. The electrically adjustable seat suspension damping mechanism according to claim 3, wherein: two be equipped with damping spring (41) between extension spring (40), damping spring (41) set up along upper ledge (3a) length direction, damping spring (41) support on lower ledge (3b) through shock attenuation arm (42), shock attenuation arm (42) slope sets up to extend towards lower ledge (3b) front end, shock attenuation arm (42) upper end is articulated with mounting bracket (50), spring peg (53) and damping spring (41) fixed connection correspond spring peg (53) position on shock attenuation arm (42) and are equipped with spacing groove (420), shock attenuation arm (42) lower extreme has gyro wheel (43) that set up along its width direction, damping rod (410) and lead screw (51) fixed connection of damping spring (41).

6. The electrically adjustable seat suspension damping mechanism according to claim 5, wherein: the position of the lower end roller (43) of the damping arm (42) on the lower frame (3b) is provided with a limiting piece (44), the limiting piece (44) and the lower frame (3b) surround to form a movable groove (45) so as to limit the stroke of the roller (43), and the height of the movable groove (45) is adapted to the diameter of the roller (43).

7. The electrically adjustable seat suspension damping mechanism according to claim 5, wherein: damping rod (410) link to each other with lead screw (51) through connecting pipe (46), connecting pipe (46) are hollow structure, damping rod (410) and lead screw (51) stretch into the both ends of connecting pipe (46) respectively to it is fixed respectively through the fixed pin.

8. An electrically adjustable seat suspension damping mechanism according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein: four corners of the lower frame (3b) are provided with crash pads (34) extending upwards.