JP2003235667A - Reclining device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure high lock strength required to a reclining device while suppressing the weight and the cost. <P>SOLUTION: This reclining device is so formed that a movable housing 20 is slidably and rotatably assembled to a fixed housing 10, and a drive gear 40 provided in an inner space of the both housings 10 and 20 is eccentrically rotated while gearing its outer circumferential teeth with inner circumferential teeth formed in the both housings 10 and 20, to rotate the movable housing 20 having the number of inner circumferential teeth more than the inner circumferential teeth of the fixed housing 10. The both housings 10 and 20 are provided with the two types of different-diameter inner circumferential teeth 16, 18, 26 and 28, respectively. The drive gear 40 is provided with the outer circumferential teeth 44, 46 and 48 independently geared with the respective inner circumferential teeth of the both housings 10 and 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reclining device of a type capable of inclining a seat back of a vehicle seat continuously.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a reclining device of this type, a technique disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-92733 is known. In this reclining device, a drive gear is incorporated in an internal space formed by a fixed housing fixed to a cushion frame of a seat and a movable housing fixed to a back frame. The drive gear has two kinds of outer peripheral teeth having different diameters, which are individually meshed with the inner peripheral teeth of both housings. Further, the number of inner peripheral teeth of the movable housing is set to be one more than the inner peripheral teeth of the fixed housing.

By eccentrically rotating the drive gear inside both housings, both outer peripheral teeth rotate while meshing with inner peripheral teeth of both housings respectively, and the movable housing having a large number of inner peripheral teeth rotates to seatback. The tilt of is adjusted. In the locked state of the reclining device, the seat back is held so as not to fall down due to the meshing of the inner peripheral teeth of both housings and the outer peripheral teeth of the drive gear. The meshing strength (lock strength) is determined by the number of teeth of the inner peripheral teeth and the outer peripheral teeth or the area of the meshing portion.

The number of teeth of the inner and outer teeth is restricted by the outer dimensions of the reclining device, the area of the meshing part is restricted by the plate thickness of both housings, and as a result, the lock strength is also limited. However, on the other hand, a large force is applied to the seat back through the belt like a belt-embedded seat that supports the load applied to the seat belt by the seat, and a high locking strength is required for the reclining device. As a countermeasure against this, conventionally, two reclining devices are used in a set.

[0005]

When two reclining devices are used in a set, the lock strength can be increased, but the number of components of the reclining device increases,
This leads to an increase in weight and cost. The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to secure high lock strength (meshing strength between inner peripheral teeth and outer peripheral teeth) required for a reclining device while suppressing weight and cost. That is.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to achieve the above object. According to the invention of claim 1, a movable housing is slidably and rotatably assembled to a fixed housing. A drive gear is provided in an internal space formed by the housing, and the drive gear is eccentrically rotated while meshing its outer peripheral teeth with the inner peripheral teeth formed on the both housings, thereby causing the teeth of the inner peripheral teeth to be rotated. A reclining device for rotating the movable housing, the number of which is set larger than the number of inner peripheral teeth of the fixed housing, wherein the both housings each include two types of inner peripheral teeth having different diameters. . Further, the drive gear is provided with outer peripheral teeth individually meshing with respective inner peripheral teeth of the both housings. In this way, the two types of inner peripheral teeth of both housings are individually meshed with the outer peripheral teeth of the drive gear, so that the meshing strength of the inner peripheral teeth and the outer peripheral teeth can be increased without increasing the number of components of the reclining device. Lock strength).
As a result, for example, in a seat of the type in which the seat back bears the load applied to the seat belt, the high meshing strength required for the reclining device can be secured while suppressing weight and cost.

The invention according to claim 2 is the reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the drive gear is provided with large-diameter outer peripheral teeth and small-diameter outer peripheral teeth located on both sides thereof. There is. The large inner diameter teeth of both housings mesh with the large outer diameter teeth, and the small inner diameter teeth of both housings individually mesh with the small diameter outer teeth. Has become. As a result, the drive gear can correspond to the three outer peripheral teeth for a total of four inner peripheral teeth in both housings.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the reclining device according to the second aspect, in which one of the outer peripheral teeth having a small diameter in the drive gear is molded separately, and the outer peripheral tooth is the drive gear. It is connected to the side of the non-rotating state. Accordingly, when the drive gear is formed by, for example, cold forging, the drive gear can be formed by division of labor by two forging lines.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. 1 is a sectional view of the reclining device, and FIG. 2 is FIG.
3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. The disk-shaped fixed housing 10 and the movable housing 20 in the reclining device are provided with central holes 12 and 22 penetrating the respective front and back surfaces. Both housings 10 and 20 are butted against each other,
The respective outer peripheral portions are assembled by crimping the ring member 30. However, both housings 10 and 2
0 can rotate relative to the axes of the central holes 12 and 22.

The fixed housing 10 is used for a cushion frame (not shown) of a vehicle seat, and the movable housing 20 is used.
Is fixed to a back frame (not shown). The housings 10 and 20 each have a plurality of protrusions 1 protruding outward on the circumference centered on the respective center holes 12 and 22.
It is equipped with 4, 24. The fixed housing 10 or the movable housing 20 is positioned (rotated) with respect to these frames by fitting the convex portions 14 and 24 into the holes of the cushion frame or the back frame, respectively.

The inner circumference of each of the housings 10 and 20 has a two-step shape in which large diameter inner circumferential teeth 16 and 26 and smaller diameter inner circumferential teeth 18 and 28 are formed. Both inner peripheral teeth 26, 2 in the movable housing 20
The number of teeth of 8 is the number of inner peripheral teeth 16, 18 of the fixed housing 10.
One more tooth than the number of teeth of
3). By the way, in this embodiment, the inner peripheral teeth 16, 18
Has 39 teeth and the inner peripheral teeth 26, 28 have "40" teeth, and the outer peripheral teeth 44, 4 of the drive gear 40 to be described next.
The number of teeth of 6, 48 is "37".

A drive gear 40 is incorporated in the internal space formed by the two housings 10 and 20. A cam hole 42 is formed at the center of the drive gear 40, and a circular cam 34 is located here as shown by the phantom line in FIG. The outer circumference of the cam 34 and the cam hole 4
A bush and a bearing are interposed between the inner periphery of the cam member 2 and the inner periphery of the cam member 2, so that the cam 34 and the drive gear 40 can rotate relative to each other. The drive shaft 32, which is coaxial with the central holes 12 and 22 at the eccentric position, penetrates the cam 34. The drive shaft 32 is coupled to the cam 34 by means of serration or the like so that rotation can be transmitted. The drive shaft 32 is located on the cushion frame side (left side in FIG. 1) through the center hole 12 of the fixed housing 10.
And extends from a motor (not shown) that is a drive source of the reclining device.

The outer periphery of the drive gear 40 has a large diameter outer peripheral tooth 44.
And small-diameter outer peripheral teeth 46, 4 located on both sides thereof
8 has a three-stage shape. The large-diameter outer peripheral teeth 44 can be meshed with the large-diameter inner peripheral teeth 16 and 26 of both housings 10 and 20. For both outer peripheral teeth 46 and 48 of small diameter, both housings 1
The small-diameter inner peripheral teeth 18, 28 at 0, 20 can be individually meshed. Of course, the drive gear 40 and the cam 34 are
It is installed in its internal space before the 20 is assembled.

In the reclining device thus constructed, when the cam 34 is rotationally driven through the drive shaft 32, the drive gear 40 repeats eccentric rotation inside the housings 10 and 20. As a result, the outer peripheral teeth 44, 46, 48 of the drive gear 40 are moved to the inner peripheral teeth 16, 18 of the fixed housing 10 and the inner peripheral teeth 26, 18 of the movable housing 20.
The rotation of engaging with 28 and disengaging is repeated. Then, as already described, the number of teeth of both inner peripheral teeth 26, 28 in the movable housing 20 is set to be one more than the number of teeth of both inner peripheral teeth 16, 18 of the fixed housing 10. Therefore, each time the drive gear 40 makes one rotation, the movable housing 20 rotates by one tooth in the same direction as the drive gear 40 with respect to the fixed housing 10. Therefore, if the drive gear 40 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by the drive control of the motor, the forward and backward inclination of the seat back can be adjusted steplessly.

The reclining device for holding the seat back so as not to fall is in a locked state when the two housings 10,
20 inner peripheral teeth and outer peripheral teeth 44, 46, 4 of the drive gear 40.
It depends on the engagement with 8. That is, the rotation of the movable housing 20 with respect to the fixed housing 10 is locked through engagement with the drive gear 40. In this reclining device, in order to increase the meshing strength (lock strength) between the inner peripheral teeth and the outer peripheral teeth, both inner peripheral teeth 16 and 18 of the fixed housing 10 and both inner peripheral teeth 26 and 28 of the movable housing 20 are Outer peripheral teeth 44, 46, 4 of the drive gear 40
8 are individually engaged. As a result, even when a large load is applied to the seat back through the belt as in the case of a belt-embedded seat, the required high meshing strength can be ensured with only one reclining device.

Generally, the housings 10 and 20 are formed by pressing, and the drive gear 40 is formed by cold forging. Therefore, with regard to the drive gear 40, if the portion having any one of the small-diameter outer peripheral teeth 46, 48 is formed separately from the other portion, and has a structure to be integrally assembled later,
The forming of the drive gear 40 can be a division of labor by two forging lines. In FIG. 4 showing an example thereof, the drive gear 40 has a large-diameter outer peripheral tooth 44 and a small-diameter outer peripheral tooth 46.
And a piece 40B having only small-diameter outer peripheral teeth 48. The side surfaces of both pieces 40A and 40B are joined to each other and integrally joined by bolts 50. The connection by the bolts 50 is performed at a plurality of points along the circumferential direction of the drive gear 40.

The inner peripheral teeth 2 in the movable housing 20
6, 28 and inner peripheral teeth 16, 1 in the fixed housing 10.
The difference in the number of teeth from 8 is not limited to 1 tooth. Further, although the reclining device in the present embodiment has a type in which a motor is used as a drive source, it may be a manual type. In that case, a handle is connected to the end of the drive shaft 32 that transmits the rotation to the cam 34, and the handle is manually rotated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a reclining device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a part of a drive gear having a two-part structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Fixed housing 16,18 inner tooth 20 Movable housing 26,28 inner tooth 40 drive gear 44,46,48 Peripheral teeth

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A movable housing is slidably and rotatably assembled with respect to a fixed housing, and a drive gear is provided in an internal space formed by both of these housings, and the drive gear has outer peripheral teeth of the both. A reclining device of a type that rotates the movable housing in which the number of teeth of the inner peripheral teeth is set to be larger than the inner peripheral teeth of the fixed housing by eccentrically rotating while engaging with the inner peripheral teeth formed in the housing. The two housings each include two types of inner peripheral teeth having different diameters, and the drive gear includes outer peripheral teeth that individually mesh with the respective inner peripheral teeth of the both housings. 2. The reclining device according to claim 1, wherein the drive gear includes large-diameter outer peripheral teeth and small-diameter outer peripheral teeth located on both sides of the large-diameter outer peripheral teeth. A reclining device in which the respective large-diameter inner peripheral teeth of both the housings mesh with each other, and the small-diameter inner peripheral teeth of the both housings mesh individually with the small-diameter outer peripheral teeth. 3. The reclining device according to claim 2, wherein one of both small-diameter outer peripheral teeth of the drive gear is formed separately, and the outer peripheral teeth are prevented from rotating on a side surface of the drive gear. Recliner combined.