GB2436935A

GB2436935A - Seat adjustment system with seat position indicator

Info

Publication number: GB2436935A
Application number: GB0704899A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bhavesh Champaneri; Steven Martin; Matthew Kitchen; Neal Parkhurst
Original assignee: Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK Ltd
Current assignee: Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK Ltd
Priority date: 2006-04-07
Filing date: 2007-03-15
Publication date: 2007-10-10
Anticipated expiration: 2027-03-15
Also published as: GB2436935B; GB0704899D0

Abstract

A system for adjusting the longitudinal position of a vehicle seat 1 comprises a strip 4 bearing indicial markings 5 arranged to move relative to a fixed cover 6 when the seat is moved. The position of the seat 1 is indicated by the extent to which the indicial markings on the strip are obscured by the cover [shown in Figs 1(a)-(c)]. The seat 1 can be moved between a predetermined number of positions with the number of indicial markings on the strip being equal to the predetermined number of positions of the seat. The indicial markings comprise an alternating sequence of numbers ("1" to "9") and intervening marks (lines), the intervening marks indicating positions mid-way between the positions indicated by the numbers. A rotary position indicator for use with a seat reclining mechanism is also disclosed [Figures 2-4].

Description

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2436935

SEAT ADJUSTMENT SYSTEMS

The present invention relates to systems for adjusting the position of seats, such as vehicle seats.

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Motor vehicle seats, such as car seats, are typically adjustable in a number of directions using recliner knobs or levers connected to the seat. For example, the seat may be moved forwards or backwards, and the back of the seat may be reclined. A driver or passenger entering the vehicle adjusts these settings to his or her own personal preference. If a second driver or 10 passenger then uses the seats they may readjust the seat position to their own preferences. In this case, the first driver or passenger will then need to adjust the seat position back to their preferred settings.

Such readjustment can be annoying, since the driver or passenger must make the necessary 15 adjustments of the forward position of the seat and the angle of the seat back until the desired seat position is attained, and this can take some time. Furthermore, this can be a regular nuisance if two or more drivers or passengers regularly use the same car. It is clearly desirable for the driver of a car to be comfortable in the driving seat and to be positioned so as to be able to drive the car safely.

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In order to overcome these problems, various arrangements for indicating the position of vehicle seats have been proposed in WO 2005/021318 filed by the present Applicant.

It would be desirable to provide improvements to these systems.

Thus, in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for adjusting the position of a vehicle seat, the system comprising a strip bearing indicial markings arranged to move relative to a cover when the seat is moved, wherein the position of the seat is indicated by the extent to which the indicial markings on the strip are obscured by the cover and

30 wherein the seat can be moved between a predetermined number of positions, the number of indicial markings on the strip is equal to the predetermined number of positions of the seat and, wherein the indicial markings comprise an alternating sequence of numbers and intervening marks, the intervening marks indicating positions mid-way between the positions indicated by the numbers.

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2

This arrangement provides a clearer indication of the position of the seat than arrangements in which only the indicial marking relating to the seat's position is exposed. By exposing all of the indicial markings along the portion of the strip which is not obscured by the cover, this enables a user to read the desired indicial marking more clearly. For example, if the indicial markings 5 were in the form of sequential numbers, the desired seat position might be indicated by the number "4", in which case all of the numbers "1" to "4" would be exposed whereas all the subsequent numbers from "5" to the highest indicial marking on the strip would be obscured by the cover. It will be appreciated that a user can more quickly recognise the seat's position than in arrangements where only the number "4" is indicated. Furthermore, in the case of a preferred 10 arrangement where intermediate positions are indicated merely by a straight line, it would be difficult for a user to see immediately the indication of the seat's position if only that straight line and a part of each of the two immediately adjacent numbers were exposed. A further indication of the seat's position is provided by the length of the exposed strip itself.

15 The cover preferably defines a recess in which an indicial marking is visible. This provides a further visual aid as to the indicated position of the seat, since the user's eye will be directed to this recess.

Since, with vehicle seats, it is often the case that the seat must be positioned in darkness, the 20 system preferably further comprises means for illuminating the indicial marking in the recess, such as a light source positioned within the recess and arranged to transmit light through the strip.

The indicial markings on the strip may be in the form of slits through which the light from the 25 light source is visible. This provides a convenient way of presenting the indicial markings at low cost. A means for diffusing the light from the light source, such as a diffuser material attached to the strip, is preferably also provided, so as to provide uniform illumination.

The seat is preferably movable between a predetermined number of positions, in which case 30 the number of indicial markings on the strip is equal to the predetermined number of positions of the seat. This means that the user does not have to guess as to the location of a position which would result in the scale being extended from a position between two indicial markings.

The indicial markings may comprise an alternating sequence of numbers and intervening 35 marks, the intervening marks indicating positions mid-way between the positions indicated by the numbers. Such an arrangement provides the advantage of requiring fewer numbers to

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indicate a given number of positions, and additionally permits more than ten positions to be indicated using only single digits.

Such a system is suitable for indicating the longitudinal position of a seat.

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The invention extends to a position-indicating system comprising a strip bearing indicial markings arranged to move relative to a cover, wherein the position is indicated by indicial markings on the strip in the form of slits through which light from a light source is visible.

10 In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for adjusting the angular position of the back of a seat, the system comprising a rotary handle for effecting pivoting movement of the back of the seat and a rotary dial for indicating the angular position of the back of the seat, wherein the handle and the dial are arranged coaxially, the system further comprising gearing means for causing the dial to rotate in response to rotation of 15 the handle but at a different angular rate.

This system provides the advantage that the angular range through which the rotary dial is moved can be selected independently of the extent of rotation of the handle. For example, to effect the desired pivoting of the seat back, a user might be required to effect two complete 20 rotations of the rotary handle. This would be governed by a gearing ratio which is selected so as to require a suitable level of torque to be applied to the handle by the user. However, it would clearly be desirable for the extent of rotation of the rotary dial not to exceed a complete revolution, since this could give rise to an ambiguous indication of the rotary position of the handle.

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Thus, the gearing ratio of the gearing means is preferably selected such that the extent of the rotation of the handle required to pivot the back of the seat over its maximum range gives rise to a single rotation of the dial.

30 The seat is preferably arranged to be pivoted about an axis removed from the axis of the rotary handle and the rotary dial. This enables the rotary handle and rotary dial to be positioned at a location suitable for a user.

The seat is preferably caused to be pivoted about its axis by means of a pulley system 35 connecting the rotary handle to the back of the seat.

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The invention extends to such a system arranged for pivoting two seats, each of which is provided with a corresponding rotary handle and rotary dial, wherein the two rotary dials are mirror images of each other. This is particularly desirable when the two seats are the two front seats of a vehicle, since each rotary dial is ideally positioned on the side of its respective seat 5 which faces the associated front door. In this case, the two dials should be symmetric about the centre line of the vehicle.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

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Figures 1(a) to (c) illustrate the operation of a system for adjusting the longitudinal position of a car seat, in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an exploded view of a system for adjusting the angular position of the back of 15 a seat, in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 illustrates in more detail the epicyclic gearbox of the system shown in Figure 2;

Figures 4 illustrates the system of Figure 2 as it appears on the side of a vehicle seat;

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Figures 5(a) to (c) illustrate different arrangements of the indicial markings on rotary dial;

and

Figures 6(a) and (b) are views of a car seat incorporating position adjustment systems in accordance with both the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

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Referring to Figures 1(a) to (c), a system for adjusting the longitudinal position of a vehicle seat 1 along a track 2 mounted to the vehicle body, i.e. by moving the seat forwards or backwards within the vehicle, comprises a handle (not shown) for moving the seat 1 to a desired position. When the seat 1 is in the desired position, the user then releases the handle so that it moves 30 into its locking position in which further longitudinal movement of the seat 1 is prevented.

The frame 3 of the seat 1 is attached to a strip 4 bearing indicial markings 5 in the form of a sequence of numbers "1" to "9" alternating with lines. The top face of the strip 4 is illustrated at the foot of each of Figures 1(a) to (c). The strip 4 is arranged to slide within a cover 6 which is 35 fixed to the seat base and so does not move with the seat. The cover 6 is provided with a rectangular recess 7 of a size sufficient to display one of the indicia! markings of the scale in a

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central position. Figure 1(a) illustrates the system when the vehicle seat 1 is in its extreme rearward position in which only the indicial marking "1" can be seen. Figure 1(b) illustrates the system when the vehicle seat is in an intermediate position in which some, but not all of the indicial marking are visible, and Figure 1(c) illustrates the system when the vehicle seat is in its 5 extreme forward position in which all of the indicial markings of the scale are visible.

The provision of indicial markings in the form of lines enables positions mid-way between sequential numbers to be indicated, and this system therefore enables seventeen discrete longitudinal positions of the vehicle seat to be indicated. Thus the position indicated in Figure 10 1(b) is mid-way between position "5" and position "6", or position "5!4". It will be appreciated that, were the recess 7 to be in the form of a closed aperture in which only that portion of the strip 4 which is within the aperture is visible, then the indication of the position "51/z" would not be clear, since only a portion of each of the numbers "5" and "6" would be visible. By providing a recess 7 at the end of the cover 6 such that the entire portion of the strip 4 to one side of the 15 recess 7 is visible, this enables the position of the vehicle seat 1 to be determined more easily. Thus, it is clear from Figure 1 (b) that the position of the vehicle seat is "5!4", since all of the numbers "1" to "5° are visible in their entirety, and one of the lines is in the central position within the recess 7.

20 The indicial markings 5 are formed as slits in the strip 4, and a light source (not shown) is provided below the strip 4, so that the indicial markings 5 are illuminated. A diffuser material (not shown) is attached to the strip 4 so as to render the illumination uniform over the strip 4.

An adjustment assembly 8 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention is 25 illustrated in exploded view in Figure 2. In this system, the angular position of the back of a vehicle seat is adjusted by turning a rotary handle 9 which is connected to a drive wheel 10 of a pulley arrangement 11 which, in turn, transmits the rotation of the drive wheel 10 to a secondary wheel 12 which is rigidly connected to the back of the seat and mounted coaxially with the pivot axis thereof.

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A rotary dial 13 provides an indication of the angular position of the seat back. The rotary dial 13 is thus provided with an alphabetical sequence (A to Z) of indicial markings 14, and a cover 15 in the form of a cylindrical shell or cowl surrounds the rotary dial 13. The cover 15 is fixed to the seat frame. A circular aperture 16 is provided in the cover 15 for exposing one of the 35 indicial markings 14 on the rotary dial 13.

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The gearing ratio provided by the pulley arrangement 11 must be such as to enable a user to supply a sufficient torque to the rotary handle 9 to effect the desired adjustment to the angular position of the seat back. In some cases, it will be necessary to rotate the rotary handle 9 through more than one complete revolution. Thus, if the rotary dial 13 were to be rigidly 5 attached to the rotary handle 9, the rotary dial 13 would also rotate through move than one complete revolution, in which case at least some of the indicial markings 14 would be associated with at least two different angular positions of the rotary handle 9. Conversely, in some cases, it might be necessary only to rotate the rotary handle 9 through less than one complete revolution, in which case the resolution of the rotary dial 13 would be less than 10 optimum.

To overcome these problems, the rotary handle 9 is connected to the rotary dial 13 by means of an epicyclic gearbox 17 in which the gearing ratio is selected such that the extent of the rotation of the rotary handle 9 required to pivot the back of the seat through its complete range of 15 possible angular positions gives rise to a single rotation of the rotary dial 13.

A mounting bracket 18 is provided for mounting the adjustment assembly 8 to the vehicle seat.

The epicyclic gearbox 17 is shown in more detail in Figure 3 and comprises an input shaft 19 20 which is rigidly attached to both the rotary handle 9 and the drive wheel 10 of the pulley system 11 and an output shaft 20 which is rigidly connected to the rotary dial 13. The gearing ratio between the input shaft 19 and the drive wheel 10 is therefore 1:1. The input shaft 19 is mounted coaxially with, and passes through, the output shaft 20. This arrangement permits the gearbox 17 to be hidden behind the seat trim, while exposing the rotary dial 13 and the rotary 25 handle 9. The gearing is achieved in the epicyclic gearbox 17 by means of a central toothed sun gear 21 and three toothed planetary gears 22 which are constrained to rotate within an outer toothed ring gear 23.

The desired gearing ratio is achieved by the appropriate selection of the relative sizes of the sun 30 gear 21 and the planetary gears 22. In the present embodiment, the seat back is moved over its full range of angular movement by rotating the rotary handle through five complete revolutions, and so the desired gearing ratio is 5:1.

In operation of the above system, the user adjusts the rotary handle 9 which is attached to the 35 input shaft 19 which drives the epicyclic gearbox 17. The sun gear 21 is rigidly attached to the input shaft 19, and rotation of the input shaft 19 is therefore transmitted through the sun gear 21

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to the three planetary gears 22. The drive from the planetary gears 22 is transmitted through the output shaft 20 which is rigidly attached to the rotary dial 13. The dial 13 thus rotates within the cover 15 causing the indicial marker appearing in the circular aperture 16 to change.

5 A major advantage of this system is that the rotary dial can be incorporated into the rotary handle, thus permitting the adjustment assembly 8 either to be provided as an option or to be retrofitted to existing seat adjustment mechanisms. This benefit arises because the adjustment assembly 8 retains the standard components of a seat adjustment mechanism, such as the belt an pulley system 11, the changes occurring only between the drive wheel 10 of the pulley 10 system 11 and the rotary handle 9.

Figure 4 illustrates the adjustment assembly 8 mounted on the side of a vehicle seat, from which it can be seen that the seat back is in an orientation indicated by the letter "A".

15 Figures 5(a) to (c) illustrate the benefit of providing two rotary dials which are mirror images of each other, for use with left and right vehicle seats. Figure 5(a) demonstrates what would happen if the letters were oriented parallel to the seat on an asymmetric dial. Such a system would work acceptably for a left-hand seat but, when transferred to a right-hand seat, the letters would be inverted and would increase sequentially (i.e. move from a position indicated by the 20 letter "C" to the position indicated by the letter "E") as the seat back is moved into its upright position. Figure 5(b) demonstrates what would happen if the letters were oriented perpendicular to the search on an asymmetric dial. The indicial markings would be readable on both left- and right-hand seats, although the markings would again increase sequentially on a right-hand seat when the seat back is moved into its upright position. Figure 5(c), however, 25 illustrates a preferred arrangement in which the letters are oriented parallel to the seat on a symmetric dial. Such a system works effectively on both left- and right-hand seats simply by flipping over the dial before it is assembled.

Figures 6(a) and (b) are views of a vehicle seat incorporating both of the above-described 30 embodiments.

It will be apparent that many alternative arrangements to the above embodiments are contemplated without departing from the scope of the present invention, which is defined solely by the claims.

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For example, in each of the above embodiments the indicial markings could be in the form of either letters or numbers or even different colours. In systems which permit the seat to be moved to any desired position within a range, the use of colours provides the advantage that the position can be indicated to any desired degree of precision simply by using the appropriate 5 number of different colours.

Furthermore, in the second embodiment, the adjustment of the orientation of the back of the seat is achieved using a direct drive mechanism connecting the drive wheel 10 to the back of the seat, as opposed to the belt and pulley system described above.

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Claims

1. A system for adjusting the position of a vehicle seat, the system comprising;

5 a strip bearing indicial markings arranged to move relative to a cover when the seat is moved, wherein the position of the seat is indicated by the extent to which the indicial markings on the strip are obscured by the cover;

wherein the seat can be moved between a predetermined number of positions, 10 the number of indicial markings on the strip is equal to the predetermined number of positions of the seat and,

wherein the indicial markings comprise an alternating sequence of numbers and intervening marks, the intervening marks indicating positions mid-way between the 15 positions indicated by the numbers.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover defines a recess in which an indicial marking is visible.

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3. A system as claimed in claim 2, further comprising means for illuminating the indicial marking in the recess.

4. A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the illuminating means comprises a light source positioned within the recess and arranged to transmit light through the strip.

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5. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the indicial markings on the strip are in the form of slits through which the light from the light source is visible.

6. A system as claimed in claim 5, further comprising means for diffusing the light from the 30 light source.

7. A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the diffusing means comprises a diffuser material attached to the strip.

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8. A system as claimed in any preceding claim and arranged to indicate the longitudinal position of a seat.

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9. A system for adjusting the position of a seat substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

10. A position-indicating system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to 5 the accompanying drawings.

11. A system for adjusting the angular position of the back of a seat substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows

II

A system for adjusting the position of a vehicle seat, the system comprising;

a strip bearing indicial markings arranged to move relative to a cover when the seat is moved, wherein the position of the seat is indicated by the extent to which the strip and the indicial markings on the strip are obscured by the cover,

wherein the seat can be moved between a predetermined number of positions, the number of indicial markings on the strip is equal to the predetermined number of positions of the seat and,

wherein the indicial markings comprise an alternating sequence of numbers and intervening marks, the intervening marks indicating positions mid-way between the positions indicated by the numbers.

A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover defines a recess in which the indicial markings are visible.

A system as claimed in claim 2, further comprising means for illuminating the indicial markings in the recess.

A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the illuminating means comprises a light source positioned within the recess and arranged to transmit light through the strip.

A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the indicial markings on the strip are in the form of slits through which the light from the light source is visible.

A system as claimed in claim 5, further comprising means for diffusing the light from the light source.

A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the diffusing means comprises a diffuser material attached to the strip.

A system as claimed in any preceding claim and arranged to indicate the longitudinal position of a seat.