JP2005306112A - Vehicle seat - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle seat capable of restricting a compressed load state at a neck part just after getting an impact load and restricting an occurrence of an S-shaped deformation at the neck by lowering a seat cushion at the time of striking at the rear part of a vehicle and releasing a pushing-up force from a chest part. <P>SOLUTION: There are provided a rear surface collision detecting means 10 for detecting a collision on the rear surface, a seat cushion descending means 20 for lowering the seat cushion 2 through sensing of the rear collision, and a head-rest forward moving means 30 for pushing out a head rest 4 toward the forward part of a vehicle through sensing of the rear collision. A pushing-up force for lowering the seat cushion 2 through detection of the rear collision and generated by a linear formation of a chest part Mn where a riding person M is pushed against the seat-back 3 is released to a lower half body of the riding person M descending along with the seat cushion 3 and then a burden against the neck part Mn of the riding person M can be reduced and at the same time, the head rest 4 is moved forward to cause an occurrence of S-shaped deformation at the neck part Mn to be effectively restricted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle seat including a seat belt, and more particularly to a vehicle seat adapted to protect a seated occupant in response to a rear collision.

  The following are known as vehicle seats that reduce the occurrence frequency of cervical vertebral lesions at the time of a rear collision.

A dynamic load acts on the seat back due to inertia acting on the occupant during a rear-end collision of the vehicle, the movement of the member displaced by this load is transmitted to the headrest support arm, and the occupant head is pushed out by pushing the headrest forward of the vehicle. The physical load on the cervical spine is reduced by suppressing the movement to the rear largely (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent No. 2840025 (page 3, FIG. 6)

  However, such a conventional vehicle seat has a function of pushing the headrest forward in the event of a rear collision. However, since the vertical position of the seat cushion is fixed, the occupant presses against the seat back with an inertial force during a rear collision. When the thoracic vertebra is straightened, the pushing force from the thoracic vertebra acts on the neck located above without escaping downward.

  That is, this will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 10. During normal operation, the occupant M is in the sitting posture shown in (a), and the cervical spine Mn, the thoracic spine Mc, and the lumbar spine Mw are arched as shown in the figure. When the load F at the time of a rear collision is input as shown in (b), the entire spine Mv including the cervical spine Mn, the thoracic spine Mc, and the lumbar spine Mw is obtained by straightening the thoracic spine Mc as shown in (c). The lumbar spine Mw is held and pushed toward the head Mh.

  As a result, as shown in (d), due to the force that the head Mh keeps the current position and the push-up force from the thoracic vertebra Mc, the neck N receives a compressive load while being pushed upward, and the cervical spine Mn S-shaped deformation behavior is induced, and furthermore, an inertial force is applied to the head Mh to hold the front-rear position while the spine Mv moves in the forward direction of the human body, so that the S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebra Mn is promoted. The

  Thereafter, as shown in (e), the head Mh is attracted to the advanced thoracic vertebra Mc and moves in the forward direction of the human body via the cervical vertebra Mn. It is considered that a physical load is generated in the cervical vertebra Mn portion due to the S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebra Mn and the subsequent swinging behavior.

  In the conventional vehicle seat in which the headrest Sh described above is moved forward as shown in FIG. 11 by the load generation mechanism of the cervical vertebra Mn portion, the load F at the time of rear collision is input from the normal operation state of FIG. Then, as shown in (b), the cervical vertebrae Sn portion receives a compressive load while being pushed upward, and the S-shaped deformation behavior of the cervical vertebrae Sn is induced. At this time, as shown in (c) In addition, it suppresses excessive S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebrae Sn, and suppresses the longitudinal displacement of the cervical Sn due to the back of the head Sh which is the behavior of the spine Mv in the late stage of the rear collision as shown in FIG. This action has the effect of reducing the frequency of occurrence of physical load on the cervical vertebral Sn portion.

  However, in such a conventional vehicle seat, when only restraining the backward movement of the head Sh is applied to the occupant M, it is based on the load input to the thoracic vertebra Sc, which is the initial behavior of the entire basic spine Sv. Since there is no action to suppress the straightening and extension of the thoracic vertebra Sc and the vertical compression load state of the cervical vertebra Sn portion due to the inertia of the head Sh associated therewith, the mechanism for inducing S-shaped deformation is eliminated or reduced. There is no effect.

  Therefore, the present invention lowers the seat cushion at the time of a rear collision and releases the pushing force from the thoracic vertebra downward, thereby suppressing the compression load state of the cervical spine immediately after the impact load and inducing S-shaped deformation of the cervical spine portion. An object is to provide a vehicle seat that can be suppressed.

In the present invention, in a vehicle seat provided with a seat cushion, a seat back and a headrest,
Rear collision detection means for detecting rear collision,
Seat cushion lowering means for lowering the seat cushion upon detection of a rear collision;
The main feature is that it includes headrest forward moving means that pushes the headrest forward of the vehicle by detecting a rear collision.

  According to the present invention, when the rear collision is detected by the rear collision detection means, the seat cushion is lowered by the seat cushion lowering means, so that the lifting force generated by the straightening of the thoracic vertebra when the occupant is pressed against the seat back is generated. Because it is possible to escape to the lower body of the occupant descending with the seat cushion, the burden on the cervical vertebra part of the occupant is reduced, and the induction of S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebra part is effectively suppressed by the headrest forward moving means Can do.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 6 show a first embodiment of a vehicle seat according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a side view showing the internal structure of the vehicle seat, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the lower part of the seat, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view showing the operation state of the seat cushion, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the corresponding state at the time of rear collision of the seat belt, and FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the operation of the vehicle seat and the seated occupant at the time of rear collision. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the order of steps in FIG. 6D, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the behavior of the spine to be controlled and the effectiveness of each means.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle seat 1 of the first embodiment includes a seat cushion 2, a seat back 3, and a headrest 4, and the vehicle seat 1 detects a rear collision. 10, a seat cushion lowering means 20 that lowers the seat cushion by detecting a rear collision, and a headrest forward moving means 30 that pushes the headrest forward by detecting a rear collision.

  The rear collision detection means 10 uses a pressing force when a seated occupant is pressed against the seat back 3 by an inertial force that acts during a rear collision, and is a link member provided inside the cushion material 3a of the seat back 3. 11 is formed by providing a pressure receiving portion 11a at the lower end portion.

  The link member 11 has a pressure receiving portion 11a disposed in a substantially middle portion corresponding to the back portion of the occupant in the vertical direction of the seat back 3, the upper end portion 11b protrudes from the upper end portion of the seat back 3, and these substantially middle portions are As a rotation center 11c, the seat back frame 3b is rotatably supported.

  In the normal state, the link member 11 is positioned at the center side of the seat back 3 so that the link member 11 is located at the solid line in FIG. 1, and the upper end portion 11 b is positioned slightly behind the upper end portion of the seat back 3. When the rear collision occurs, the link member 11 is rotated to the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. 1 by the pressing force of the occupant, the pressure receiving portion 11a moves to the back side (the vehicle rear side) of the seat back 3, and the upper end portion 11b is Move to the front of the vehicle.

  At this time, the link member 11 is urged to rotate in a solid line direction by a spring (not shown), and a rear collision of the vehicle can be detected by the rearward movement of the pressure receiving portion 11a of the link member 11.

  The seat cushion lowering means 20 is configured such that the seat cushion 2 is separated from the seat back 3 so that the seat cushion 2 can move independently, and as shown in FIGS. A support shaft 21 as a fulcrum is provided, and the vehicle rear end side of the seat cushion 2 is lowered about the support shaft 21.

  The support shaft 21 is fixed to the front end portion 22a of the seat pan 22 in the vehicle width direction, and both end portions thereof are rotatably attached to the pair of left and right seat cushion frames 23. The seat pan 22 and the seat cushion frame 23 are supported. Independently, the rear end of the seat pan 22 is lowered with respect to the seat cushion frame 23.

  At this time, the rear end portion of the seat pan 22 is biased downward by a spring 25 (see FIG. 2), and the rear end portion 22b of the seat pan 22 is in a solid line position (upward position) in FIG. It is engaged with the releasably.

  The lock rod 24 extends in the vertical direction in the seat back 3 so that the lower end 24 a is behind the upper end 24 b connected to the lower end of the pressure receiving portion 11 a of the link member 11, and the lower end 24 a is the seat pan 22. The upper end 24b is connected to the rear end collision detection means 10, that is, the lower end of the pressure receiving portion 11a of the link member 11, while being arranged near the rear end.

  A lock claw 23a (see FIG. 1) provided at the lower end 11a of the lock rod 24 engages with the rear end 22b of the seat pan 22 at the upper position (solid line position) in the normal state shown by the solid line in the figure. The position is locked to prevent the rear end portion 22b of the seat pan 22 from descending, while the upper end portion 11b of the lock rod 24 prevents the link member 11 from rotating at the time of a rear collision shown by a broken line in the figure. Along with the movement of the upper end portion 11b, the lock rod 24 protrudes downward along with the movement of the upper end portion 11b, whereby the lock claw 23a is released and the lock with the rear end portion 22b of the seat pan 22 is released.

  As described above, when the rear end portion 22b of the seat pan 22 is unlocked, the rear end portion of the seat cushion 2 is instantaneously lowered by the urging force of the spring 25 as shown by a broken line in FIG. Yes.

  The headrest forward moving means 30 is constituted by the link member 11 that rotates from the solid line position in FIG. 1 to the broken line position in the event of a rear collision, and the headrest 4 is coupled to the upper end portion of the link member 11 to link member 11. With the rotation, the headrest 4 is pushed forward of the vehicle.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, the link member 11 is arranged so that the rotation center 11 c is disposed in front of the vehicle from the upper end portion 11 b to which the headrest 4 is coupled in a normal state (solid line position), and the headrest 4 is pushed forward. A behavior of pushing the vehicle upward is added.

  That is, by disposing the rotation center 11c of the link member 11 in front of the vehicle with respect to the upper end portion 11b, the link member 11 rotates counterclockwise from the solid line position in FIG. The portion 11b is displaced upward until it reaches a position perpendicular to the rotation center 11c, and the upward displacement pushes the headrest 4 upward.

  Further, the vehicle seat 1 includes a three-point seat belt 40 as an occupant restraint device shown in FIG. 4, and the seat belt 40 is inclined obliquely from one shoulder portion of the occupant to the opposite waist portion. A shoulder belt 41 that is routed and a lap belt 42 that is routed on the upper side of the thigh of the occupant are provided to restrain the occupant to the vehicle seat 1.

  The upper end portion of the shoulder belt 41 is inserted into a shoulder through ring 43 provided at the upper end portion of the vehicle body (center pillar) and folded downward, and the lower end portion thereof is wound around a retractor 44 provided at the lower portion of the vehicle body.

  The shoulder belt 41 and the lap belt 42 are continuous, and a tongue 45 is inserted between them. An end 46 opposite to the tongue 45 of the lap belt 42 is directly coupled to the lower part of the vehicle seat 1 or the vehicle body. Or the tongue 45 is detachably attached to an inner buckle 47 connected to the rear end portion 22b of the seat pan 22 or the lower end portion 24a of the lock rod 24, and the seat cushion 2 The inner buckle 47 is instantaneously lowered as the rear end of the rear end is lowered to constitute a restraint state maintaining means 48 for removing slack of the seat belt 40.

  Accordingly, when the rear end portion of the seat cushion 2 is lowered, the tongue 45 is lowered together with the inner buckle 47 as shown by a broken line in FIG. 4 to tension the lap belt 42 downward, and the thigh of the occupant, that is, the lower body Is strongly restrained by the seat cushion 2.

  With the above configuration, according to the present embodiment, the rear collision detection means 10 is operated by the inertial force acting on the occupant M due to the rear collision from the normal driving state shown in FIG. When the portion 11a moves rearward of the vehicle, the seat cushion 2 is lowered by the seat cushion lowering means 20, so that the lifting force generated by the straightening of the thoracic vertebra Mc when the occupant M is pressed against the seat back 3 is reduced. 2 is able to escape to the lower body of the occupant M descending with 2, the burden on the cervical vertebra Mn portion of the occupant M can be reduced, and the headrest forward moving means 30 induces S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebra Mn portion. Can be effectively suppressed.

  At this time, as the seat cushion 2 is lowered, the inner buckle 47 of the seat belt 40 is instantaneously lowered to remove the slack of the seat belt 40. Therefore, when the seat cushion 2 is lowered, the lower body of the occupant M is Since the seat cushion 2 can be strongly restrained, the push-up force due to the straightening of the thoracic vertebra Mc can be surely released downward.

  Further, the headrest forward moving means 30 not only pushes out the headrest 4 forward of the vehicle at the time of a rear collision, but also adds a behavior of pushing the headrest 4 upward to the pushing behavior. Since the influence of inertial force acting on the head Mh can be positively removed by pushing the head Mh upward, the S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebra Mn is prevented from being induced and excessively increased thereafter. The S-shaped deformation can be more effectively suppressed.

  That is, the control at the time of the rear collision by the vehicle seat 1 according to the present embodiment shows the behavior of the spine Mv to be controlled in time series with reference to FIG. 5 in consideration of the behavior of the series of cervical vertebra Mn portions shown in FIG. And avoiding the compression state of the cervical vertebra Mn due to the linearization and elongation of the thoracic vertebra Mc from the seat back 3 as shown in (b), and the cervical vertebra Mn portion due to the inertial force of the head Mh as shown in (c) S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebra Mn portion accompanying the movement of the thoracic vertebra Mc to the front of the vehicle as shown in (d) can be suppressed.

  Then, the actions of the seat cushion lowering means 20, the headrest forward moving means 30 and the restraint state maintaining means 48 that achieve the behavior control of the series of spines Mv by the vehicle seat 1 are performed in the initial stage of the collision, in the middle of the duration, and in the end of the phenomenon. When evaluated in stages, it is as shown in FIG.

  Here, the evaluation marks in the figure indicate that the ◎ mark is an action that can be expected to have a sufficient effect at that time, the ◯ mark is an action that can provide an effect even if it is singly, and the △ mark cannot be expected to be effective alone. An action that can be expected to be effective depending on the combination with the means, and an X mark that indicates an effect that cannot be expected alone, and based on the effect characteristic evaluation of FIG. S-shaped deformation of the cervical vertebra Mn portion can be effectively suppressed.

  7 and 8 show a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the same components as in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and redundant description is omitted, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a side view showing the internal structure of the vehicle seat when the seat cushion is lowered.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the vehicle seat 1A of the second embodiment is provided with a rear collision detection means 10A, a seat cushion lowering means 20A, and a headrest forward movement means 30A as in the first embodiment. .

  The rear collision detection means 10A utilizes the pressing force when the seated occupant is pressed against the seat back 3 by the inertial force that acts at the time of the rear collision as in the first embodiment. It is formed by the pressure receiving part 11a of the link member 11 provided in the.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the seat cushion lowering means 20A includes a link mechanism 26 that is vertically extendable and interposed between the seat cushion frame 23 and the seat rail 6 disposed on the vehicle body panel. 7, the seat cushion 2 is lowered as a whole as shown by the solid line in FIG. 8, and the seat back 3 is also lowered integrally with the seat cushion 2. Yes.

  The lock rod 24 of this embodiment is connected to the pressure receiving portion 11a of the link member 11 as in the first embodiment, and in the normal state shown by the solid line in FIG. While the cushion frame 23 is locked to the raised position of the link mechanism 26 (see FIG. 7), the link member 11 is rotated around the rotation center 11c to the position of the broken line in FIG. At this time, the link mechanism 26 is shortened as shown in FIG.

  The rotation center 11c of the link member 11 is supported so as to be vertically slidable by a long hole or the like with respect to the seat back frame 3b, while the lower end 24a of the lock rod 24 is seated through the rotation fulcrum 27. The link member 11 is supported by the rail 6 so that the lock rod 24 is not pushed down even in a rear collision.

  Therefore, when the seat cushion 2 and the seat back 3 are lowered, the headrest 4 moves forward and upward as shown by the broken line in FIG. 7 while maintaining the height position in the normal state. As a result, the headrest 4 It moves upward relative to the seat back 3 at the time of collision.

  Therefore, according to the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the seat cushion 2 is lowered entirely by the seat cushion lowering means 20A at the time of a rear collision, and therefore when the occupant M is pressed against the seat back 3 The push-up force generated by straightening the thoracic vertebra Mc can be released to the lower body of the occupant M descending with the seat cushion 2, so that the burden on the cervical vertebra Mn portion of the occupant M can be reduced.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the seat back 3 is lowered together with the seat cushion 2 at the time of a rear collision, and the headrest 4 can be moved largely upward relative to the seat back 3. Therefore, it is possible to further increase the effect of preventing S-shaped deformation in the cervical vertebra Mn portion.

  FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, which will be described based on the configuration of the first and second embodiments. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a vehicle seat control algorithm.

  The vehicle seat 1B according to the third embodiment includes a seat cushion lowering means, a headrest forward moving means, and a seat belt as an occupant restraining device having functions similar to those of the first and second embodiments. The collision detection means uses means for detecting a rear collision by detecting the acceleration of the vehicle body.

  In this case, the rear collision detection means uses a sensor that electrically detects the vehicle body acceleration, and the seat cushion lowering means 20, 20A, the headrest forward movement means 30, 30A, and the occupant restraint device 40 are driven by electrical command signals. In FIG. 9, the control of each means is executed in order to realize the action evaluated in FIG.

  That is, in the algorithm shown in FIG. 9, the processing block B1 first detects a rear collision using a collision sensor signal such as an existing airbag sensor, and when the rear collision is detected, the processing block B2 instructs the seat cushion 2 to descend. A signal is output, a restraint strengthening command for the seat belt is output in the next processing block B3, and a headrest advance command is output in the processing block B4.

  In response to the command signal from the processing block B2, the release actuator provided for the lowering spring that releases the lock pawl 23a or 23b of the seat cushion 2 is actuated in the processing block B5, whereby the seat cushion 2 is lowered in the processing block B6. At the same time, the processing block B7 is selectively executed to lower the inner buckle 47 of the seat belt 40.

  Further, in response to the command signal of the processing block B3, pretension is applied to the retractor 44 simultaneously with the processing of the processing block B7 in the processing block B8, and the lumbar spine Mw is restrained to the seat cushion 2 in the processing block B9.

  Further, in response to the command signal of the processing block B4, an actuator newly provided in the link member 11 that advances the headrest 4 in the processing block B10 is operated, and thereby the headrest 4 is advanced in the processing block B11.

  Therefore, according to the third embodiment, the rear collision detection is electrically performed by detecting the acceleration of the vehicle body, and the behavior control of the spine Mv of the series of passengers M by the vehicle seat 1B is electrically performed. it can.

  Therefore, as shown in the first and second embodiments, no physical movement of the back of the occupant is involved in sensing the phenomenon at the time of a rear collision, so that a large load is transmitted to the thoracic vertebra Mn regardless of the physique or form of the occupant M. Control of each action can be performed before being done to ensure the protective effect of the cervical spine Mn portion.

  By the way, although the vehicle seat of the present invention has been described by taking the first to third embodiments as examples, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various other embodiments are adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention. be able to.

It is a side view which shows the internal structure of the vehicle seat in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the internal structure of the sheet | seat lower part in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the operation state of the seat cushion in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the corresponding state at the time of the rear surface collision of the seatbelt in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the action | operation of the vehicle seat at the time of the rear collision in 1st Embodiment of this invention, and a seated passenger | crew in order from (a)-(d). It is explanatory drawing which shows the behavior of the spine which should be controlled in 1st Embodiment of this invention, and the effectiveness of each means. It is a side view which shows the internal structure of the vehicle seat in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the internal structure of the vehicle seat at the time of the seat cushion descent in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the control algorithm of the vehicle seat in 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the behavior of the seated passenger | crew's spine at the time of the rear collision in the conventional general vehicle seat sequentially to (a)-(e). It is explanatory drawing which shows the behavior of the seated passenger | crew's spine at the time of the rear collision in the vehicle seat using the headrest provided with the conventional front movement function later on in order (a)-(e).

Explanation of symbols

1, 1A, 1B Vehicle seat 2 Seat cushion 3 Seat back 4 Headrest 10, 10A Rear collision detection means 20, 20A Seat cushion lowering means 30, 30A Headrest forward movement means 40 Seat belt (occupant restraint device)
48 Restraint state maintaining means

Claims (5)

In a vehicle seat having a seat cushion, a seat back and a headrest,
Rear collision detection means for detecting rear collision,
Seat cushion lowering means for lowering the seat cushion upon detection of a rear collision;
A vehicle seat comprising: headrest forward movement means for pushing the headrest forward of the vehicle upon detection of a rear collision. In a vehicle seat that includes a seat cushion, a seat back, and a headrest, and includes an occupant restraint device that restrains a seated occupant,
Rear collision detection means for detecting rear collision,
Seat cushion lowering means for lowering the seat cushion upon detection of a rear collision;
Restraint state maintaining means for removing slack of the occupant restraint device accompanying the lowering of the seat cushion;
A vehicle seat comprising: headrest forward movement means for pushing the headrest forward of the vehicle upon detection of a rear collision.   The vehicle seat according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the seat cushion lowering means lowers the vehicle rear end side with the vehicle front end portion of the seat cushion as a fulcrum.   The vehicle seat according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the headrest forward moving means adds a behavior of pushing the headrest forward and pushing the headrest upward. The vehicle seat according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the rear collision detection means is means for detecting a rear collision by detecting acceleration of the vehicle body.

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