JP2009227257A - Seat device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seat device for vehicle having a mechanism capable of applying proper energizing force for both of 'folding' and 'erecting' operation. <P>SOLUTION: This seat device for vehicle includes a link mechanism structured of a front link 3 and a rear link 4 rotating at the same time relative to a vehicle floor, a seat cushion 11a supported by the link mechanism freely to be elevated, a seat back 12a, of which angle of inclination is interlocked with an angle of turn of the rear link, a reclining device 13 capable of regulating reclining, namely an angle of inclination of the seat back, in a condition wherein at least the seat back is inclined forward and an occupant can sit, an energizing means 14 locked on the link mechanism side in one end thereof and for energizing the seat cushion to turn upward, and a driving means 16 for elastically deforming the energizing means so as to change the energizing force by starting when the angle of inclination of the seat back reaches a condition wherein the seat back is inclined forward and the occupant can sit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle seat that can be widely used by folding and storing the vehicle interior when not in use.

  The reclining function for adjusting the inclination angle of the seat back in a seat mounted on a vehicle or the like is now an indispensable function. The reclining function not only realizes an appropriate riding posture according to the body shape of the occupant seated on the seat, but also plays a role in effectively utilizing the limited vehicle interior space. Specifically, when the occupant does not sit on the rear seat (second row seat or third row seat) arranged immediately in front of the cargo compartment, the seat back of the rear seat faces the seat cushion seat surface. The cargo space can be expanded by moving forward.

  As a vehicular seat that enables the cargo space to be expanded as described above, the one disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known. In the “vehicle seat device” described in Patent Document 1, the lower part of the seat cushion is connected to the body by at least a pair of front and rear links of the first link and the second link so that the seat cushion moves rearward. At least one of the first link and the second link incorporates a spring body that applies a resilient force so that the seat is positioned at a neutral point where the seat weight and the resilient force are balanced. According to such a technique, the assisting force of the spring body can be obtained when the seat is moved to any position of the use position and the storage position, so that the occupant can move the seat with relatively little force, It can be said that this is an effective technique in that the rear surface of the stored seat back and the vehicle floor surface can be arranged substantially on the same plane, and the cargo space can be used effectively.

  However, since the vehicle seat device according to Patent Document 1 urges the seat from the state of both the use position and the storage position of the seat to the neutral position (let's lift the seat from the storage state to the use state). Therefore, when folding to store, the seat must be pushed against the biasing force, which imposes a burden on the passenger. If the urging force is set so as to be easy to push in, the urging force is insufficient and cannot return to the neutral position, and the occupant is burdened. In particular, when the cushion portion as seen in recent rear seats is a wide seat, the weight of the seat itself increases, and there is a problem that it is difficult to set an optimal biasing force.

  In this regard, the “vehicle seat” described in Patent Document 2 is particularly mounted on a crane vehicle or the like, and a seat cushion supported by a pair of front and rear parallel links is urged from behind by a gas spring. The occupant only needs to operate the gas spring when raising and lowering the seat cushion, and can avoid overloading the occupant performing the crane operation.

  However, when the vehicle seat according to Patent Document 2 is mounted on a general passenger car, the cylinder related to the gas spring will erode the cargo space, so that it should be adopted for the seats in the immediately preceding row of the cargo space. However, even with the invention described in Patent Document 2, the problem included in the technique described in Patent Document 1 cannot be solved.

On the other hand, as a method of changing the form between the use position and the storage position of the seat, there is a power seat arrangement mechanism that performs a series of operations fully automatically, but a large motor must be used as a drive means. It is difficult to equip small cars such as mini cars.
JP 2004-276816 A (FIGS. 1 to 4) Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 52-44004 (FIG. 1)

  In view of the location of the above problems, the present invention has been devised to recognize the difference between an appropriate biasing force when folding the seat back against the seat cushion and an appropriate biasing force when raising the seat back to the use position. Is to provide a vehicle seat device having a mechanism capable of urging appropriate urging force for both “folding” and “raising” at a low cost.

In order to achieve the above object, the means taken by the present invention are as follows.
First, a vehicle seat device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a link mechanism including a front link and a rear link that rotate simultaneously with respect to a vehicle floor, a seat cushion supported by the link mechanism so as to be movable up and down, The seat back can be tilted with respect to the seat cushion, and the tilt angle of the seat back is interposed between the seat cushion and the seat back. A reclining device capable of regulating reclining at least in a forward tilted state and a state in which an occupant can be seated, and one end portion and the other end portion, and the one end portion is hooked on the link mechanism side, and the seat cushion An urging means for urging in a turning direction for raising the seat, and the other end of the urging means are hooked, and the seat back And driving means for elastically deforming the urging means so as to change the urging force of each of the urging means, which are activated when the oblique angle is forwardly inclined and the occupant is seated. It is what.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle seat device according to the first aspect, the biasing means is a spiral spring, and the inner diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is hooked on the rotating shaft of the link mechanism. On the other hand, the inner diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is arranged on the same axis as the rotating shaft and is hooked on a winding gear which is independently driven by the driving means.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle seat device according to the first aspect, the biasing means is a spiral spring, and the inner diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is engaged with a winding gear driven by the driving means. On the other hand, the outer diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is arranged coaxially with the entraining gear and rotates independently of the entraining gear and is engaged with the rotating end portion of the link mechanism or the gear meshing therewith. It is characterized by this.

  Furthermore, the invention according to claim 4 is the vehicle seat device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when the seat back is tilted forward and the seat cushion is lowered, the urging force is reduced, and the seat When the cushion is raised, the urging force is increased.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the vehicle seat device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the vehicle seat device further includes a control circuit for electrically controlling the driving means. The control circuit includes a potentiometer that indicates the inclination angle of the seat back as a resistance value, and an electronic control unit that supplies electric power to the driving means based on the resistance value indicated by the potentiometer.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the biasing means for biasing the link mechanism in the direction in which the seat rises from the folded state to the use state with respect to the vehicle floor is elastically deformed by the driving means, thereby the biasing means. The urging force can be changed. By adopting such a configuration, an appropriate urging force can be applied to both “folding” and “causing” of the seat back with respect to the seat cushion.

  Next, since the vehicular seat device according to the second and third aspects employs a “spiral spring” as the biasing means, when the spiral spring is wound by the winding gear driven by the driving means, the spiral spring is Since the elastic deformation is uniformly performed while expanding (or reducing) the diameter of the entire circumference, the repulsive force generated from the urging means can be stabilized. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to stably increase or decrease the urging force with a compact structure.

  Furthermore, since the urging force is reduced when the sheet is folded, the invention according to claim 4 prevents the inadvertent storage state due to the weight of the sheet and prevents the injury due to the pinching or the like, and is easily caused by the excessive urging force. The situation that the sheet cannot be pushed into the storage state can be eliminated. Further, since the urging force is increased when getting up, even a heavy sheet can be easily returned to the use position.

  In the vehicle seat device according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the inclination angle of the seat back is set to an electrical resistance value by a potentiometer (or a semi-fixed resistor) disposed on the rotation axis of the seat back or the periphery thereof. Will be shown as A resistance value indicated by the potentiometer is read by an electronic control unit (ECU), and necessary electric power is supplied to the driving means in accordance with the inclination angle of the seat back. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to reliably detect the inclination angle of the seat back and reliably control the start / stop of the drive means, as well as arbitrarily start / stop the drive means regardless of the phase of the entraining gear. It can be stopped, and furthermore, it is possible to accurately control the driving speed and the rotational speed of the driving means. Therefore, according to the present invention, when the vehicle seat device is “folded”, the entraining gear is rotated in a direction to reduce the urging force of the urging means after detecting the forward inclination of the seat back. The seat back can be retracted until it reaches the forward tilt lock state. On the other hand, when performing "raising", in addition to rotating the link mechanism and raising the seat cushion by the repulsive force generated by the energizing means entrained by the entraining gear driven by the driving means, the driving means is further activated. Then, the seat back can be pushed in until the link mechanism is pressed through the urging means latched on the entraining gear to reach the standing lock state. Since the drive speed can be controlled, an operation appealing to the viewer's emotion can be realized by changing the operation speed of the drive means during the operation of “folding” or “cause”.

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

  First, FIG. 1 is a side view of the seat device according to the first embodiment, and shows a use state in which an occupant can be seated. In the seat device of the present invention, a seat 10 is installed on a base 2 installed on a vehicle floor via a front link 3 and a rear link 4, and the seat 10 has a seat cushion 11 on a seat back 12 and a reclining device 13 ( It is the structure assembled | attached so that inclination was possible by the hinge apparatus. The reclining device can be locked at an appropriate inclination angle of the seat back 12 for seating, and by operating the operation lever 20, the lock (reclining regulation) can be released and the seat back can be moved. ing. The link 3, the link 4, and the reclining device 13 are installed as a pair on the left and right sides of the seat 10.

  2 and 3 are perspective views showing the frame of the seat device 1. FIG. 2 shows a use state in which an occupant can be seated. FIG. 3 shows that the seat 10 is tilted forward with the seat back 12 facing the seat cushion 11. A state of being folded on the vehicle floor is shown. The front links 3 and 3 are connected to the front side of the seat cushion frame 11a, and the rear links 4 and 4 are connected to the rear side, and are supported by the bracket 2a and the bracket 2b fixed to the base 2. The front link 3 and the rear link 4 form a parallel link mechanism, and the seat cushion 11 can be tilted backward in a horizontal state.

  The left and right links are connected by a connecting rod 5 so that the rear links 4 and 4 connect the rotation axis of the bracket 2b, and the left and right rear links 4 and 4 rotate simultaneously. One end of the connecting rod 5 penetrates the bracket 2b, and a groove (second retaining member) is provided in the protruding portion, and one end of the spiral spring 14 (biasing means) is provided in the groove. It is hanging. A sector gear 15 (winding gear) is rotatably attached independently of the connecting rod 5 so as to be interposed between the bracket 2b and the spiral spring 14, and the other end of the spiral spring 14 is connected to the sector gear. 15 is hooked on a pin 14a projecting from the pin 15 (first hooking member).

  FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing a rear link portion where the spiral spring 14 is installed. The sector gear 15 meshes with a pinion gear 16a, which is an output shaft of a geared motor 16 (driving means) attached to the bracket 2b, and the sector gear 14 is rotated by driving the geared motor 16 and the position of the pin 17 is moved. The urging force of the spring 14 can be adjusted.

  A circular gear 18 centering around the rotation shaft is formed integrally with the rear link 4 at the connecting portion of the rear link 4 on the seat cushion frame 11a side. A gear 19 that is coaxial with the rotational center of the reclining device 13 (the rotational center of the seat back 12) is fixed to the seat back frame so as to mesh with the circular gear 18. Two limit switches 21, 22, 23, 24 are attached to the circular gear 18 and the bracket 2 b, respectively, and the seat back 12 occurs in the limit switches 21, 22 depending on the rotational position of the gear 19 with respect to the circular gear 18. It is designed to detect the state or the state of advance. The limit switches 23 and 24 detect whether the urging force of the spiral spring 14 has increased or decreased depending on the rotational position of the sector gear 15 with respect to the bracket 2b.

  Next, the operation will be described. When the seat 10 is moved from the use state where the occupant can be seated to the folded state, first, the operation lever 20 of the reclining device 13 is operated to release the lock, and the seat back 12 is moved forward. When the seat back 12 is moved forward, the gear 19 fixed to the seat back frame 12a is rotated to rotate the circular gear 18 integrated with the rear link 4, and the rear link 4 is moved to the front side. Since the parallel link mechanism is formed with the link 3, the seat cushion 11 is moved rearward and downward and fixed in a folded state by a lock mechanism (not shown) (FIG. 3). Since the locking mechanism only needs to prevent the rotation of the circular gear 18 and the gear 19, the reclining device 13 can also perform its function by setting it so that it can be locked even when the seat back 12 is folded. .

  FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a control circuit of the geared motor 16. When the seat back 12 is brought forward, the limit switch 21 is turned on and the geared motor 16 is rotated in a direction to increase the urging force of the spiral spring 14 to a position where the limit switch 24 is turned off. This makes it easier to lift the seat when it is next used.

  When the seat is operated from the folded state to the used state, the lock mechanism fixed in the folded state is released. When the locking mechanism is released, the rear link 4 is rotated by the urging force of the spiral spring 14 and the seat 10 is lifted. After that, when the seat 10 is lifted up to the use position and the reclining device 13 is locked in the seated state, the limit switch 22 is turned ON, and the geared motor 16 is rotated to a position where the limit switch 23 is turned OFF in a direction to reduce the urging force of the spiral spring 14. Let As a result, when the sheet is next folded, the sheet is prevented from suddenly being stored due to its own weight, preventing injuries due to pinching and the like, and the situation where it is difficult to push the sheet into the stored state due to excessive biasing force is eliminated. A moderate urging force can be set.

Hereinafter, the vehicle seat device according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.
The vehicle seat device according to the present embodiment has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment, and will be described in detail with respect to particularly different portions, and the common portions will be denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted. .

  First, FIG. 6 is a view showing the frame of the vehicle seat device according to the present embodiment from the left front, and FIG. 7 is a view showing the same from the right front. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the spiral spring 14 as the urging means has an outer diameter side end hooked on a winding gear 15a driven by the driving means, while an inner diameter side end of the spiral spring 14 Is arranged coaxially with the winding gear 15a, and is engaged with an intermediate gear 18a that rotates independently of the winding gear 15a and meshes with the rotating end of the rear link 4. By adopting such a configuration, the entraining gear 15a driven by the geared motor 16 entrains the spiral spring 14 and increases the urging force with the intermediate gear 18a.

  As shown in FIG. 6, in the vehicle seat device according to this embodiment, the electronic control unit 31 detects the resistance value indicated by the potentiometer 32 for the inclination angle of the seat back 12a, and the geared motor 16 is based on the detection result. It supplies power to In the present embodiment, the potentiometer 32 is disposed at the upper bearing portion of the rear link 4 as shown in FIG. As in the first embodiment, the rear link 4 has a circular gear 18 at its upper end, and the circular gear 18 meshes with a gear 19 provided at the lower portion of the seat back. As shown, the seat back 12a tilts as the rear link 4 rotates. Therefore, the inclination angle of the seat back 12a can be detected by monitoring the phase of the cross section of the connecting rod 5 that connects the left and right rear links 4 together.

  By adopting the above configuration, it is possible to reliably detect the inclination angle of the seat back 12a and to reliably control the start / stop of the driving means, and to arbitrarily set the geared motor 16 regardless of the phase of the entraining gear. It can be started and stopped, and furthermore, it is possible to accurately control the drive speed and the rotational speed of the geared motor 16. Therefore, according to the vehicle seat according to the present embodiment, when “folding” the vehicle seat device, the forward bias of the seat back 12a is detected and then the urging force of the spiral spring 14 is reduced. The entrainment gear 15a can be rotated and retracted until the seat back 12a reaches a complete forward tilt state (a forward tilt lock state in the reclining device 13). On the other hand, when performing "raising", in addition to rotating the rear link 4 by the repulsive force generated from the spiral spring 14 wound by the winding gear 15a driven by the geared motor 16, the seat cushion 11a is raised. Further, the geared motor 16 is operated to press the rear link 4 via the spiral spring 14 hooked on the winding gear 15a, and the seat back 12a can be pushed in until the standing lock state is reached. Such an operation is more effective because a movable range is widened when a circular gear (FIG. 8) is adopted as the entraining gear 15a.

  Then, operation | movement of the vehicle seat apparatus which concerns on a present Example is demonstrated using the time chart shown in FIG. First, “A” in the time chart indicates the inclination angle of the seat back 12 a and is detected by the resistance value of the potentiometer 32. In the time chart, the vicinity of the left end of “A” is indicated by a step-like line, which schematically shows a range in which the inclination angle of the seed back 12a can be regulated stepwise by the reclining device 13. . On the other hand, the portion indicated by the diagonal lines schematically shows the range where the reclining regulation does not work.

  Next, “V” indicates a voltage supplied by the electronic control means that determines the rotation direction of the output shaft of the geared motor 16 as the drive means.

  Subsequently, “X” indicates an operation time from when the seat back 12a starts to tilt forward until the seat folding is completed. The operation during this operation time will be explained. Immediately after the inclination angle of the seat back 12a that has started to tilt forward by operating the operation lever 20 reaches a range where the reclining regulation does not work, the geared power supplied from the electronic control unit 31 is provided. The motor 16 rotates the entraining gear 15a to reduce the urging force of the spiral spring 14, and the seat back 12a is pulled in until it reaches a completely forward tilted state (forward tilt locked state in the reclining device 13). Immediately after the seat back 12a reaches a completely forward tilted state and the reclining device 13 starts regulating, the geared motor 16 reverses the entrainment gear 15a to increase the urging force of the spiral spring 14, and the next seat cushion 11a is lifted. This is provided for (rear tilting of the seat back 12a).

  On the other hand, “Y” indicates the operation time from when the seat back 12a starts to tilt backward until the return to the standing lock state is completed. The operation during this operation time will be described. The geared motor 16 supplied with power from the electronic control unit immediately after the tilt angle of the seat back 12a that has started to tilt backward by operating the operating lever 20 reaches the range where the reclining regulation does not work. Rotates the entraining gear 15a and presses the rear link 4 via the spiral spring 14 hooked on the entraining gear 15a until it reaches the standing position (standing position locked state in the reclining device 13). The back 12a is pushed in. Immediately after the seat back 12a reaches the standing position and the reclining device 13 starts to regulate, the geared motor 16 reverses the entraining gear 15a to reduce the urging force of the spiral spring 14 and lower the seat cushion 11a (seat) This is provided for the forward inclination of the back 12a.

  It should be noted that immediately after the start and immediately before the end in the range of “X” and “Y”, the operating speed of the geared motor 16 is set to a low speed, so that the person who sees the operation of “folding” or “cause” is affected. I will add that it is possible to appeal.

Hereinafter, the vehicle seat device according to the third embodiment will be described.
The vehicle seat device according to the present embodiment has the same configuration as that of the second embodiment, and will be described in detail with respect to particularly different portions, and the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted. .

  The reclining device 13 in the vehicle seat device according to the present embodiment performs the reclining restriction only when the inclination angle of the seat back 12a is in the standing state, and the reclining restriction when the seat back 12a is in the forward leaning state. It is something that does not do.

  Then, operation | movement of the vehicle seat apparatus which consists of the said structure is demonstrated. First, when the vehicle seat device is folded, power is supplied from the electronic control unit 31 immediately after the inclination angle of the seat back 12a that has started to tilt forward by operating the operation lever 20 reaches a range where the reclining regulation does not work. The geared motor 16 thus rotated rotates the entraining gear 15a to reduce the urging force of the spiral spring 14, and the seat back 12a is in a completely forward tilted state (in this embodiment, the reclining device 13 does not perform reclining regulation). It will be drawn in until.

  Next, when starting up the vehicle seat device, the occupant grips the seat back 12a (or headrest) and causes the seat back 12a to tilt backward, and the inclination angle of the seat back 12a is an arbitrary numerical value (potentiometer). Immediately after exceeding (detected at 32), the geared motor 16 supplied with power from the electronic control unit rotates the entraining gear 15a and presses the rear link 4 via the spiral spring 14 hooked on the entraining gear 15a. Thus, the seat back 12a is pushed in until the standing position (standing position lock state in the reclining device 13) is reached.

  By adopting the above configuration, the occupant who uses the vehicle seat device according to the present embodiment can obtain the assistance of the driving means (geared motor 16) only by performing a natural operation of “causing a seat back”. Therefore, it becomes possible to operate intuitively.

1 is a side view illustrating an entire sheet apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the frame structure in which a seat apparatus is in use condition. It is a perspective view which shows the frame structure in which a sheet | seat apparatus is in a folded state. It is the side view which expanded and showed the rear side link part. It is the circuit diagram which showed the control circuit of the geared motor. It is a perspective view which shows the frame structure of the seat apparatus which concerns on Example 2 from the left front. It is a perspective view which shows the frame structure shown in FIG. 6 from the front right. (A) It is the partial perspective view which showed the left side component in the frame structure shown in FIG. 7 from the inner side. (B) It is a partial perspective view which shows the folded state of the frame structure shown in FIG. It is a time chart which shows the relationship between the inclination angle of a seat back, and the action | operation of a drive means.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Seat apparatus 2 Base 3 Front side link 4 Rear side link 5 Connecting rod 10 Seat 11 Seat cushion 12 Seat back 13 Reclining device 14 Spiral spring 15 Sector gear 16 Geared motor 18 Circular gear 31 Electronic control unit 32 Potentiometer

Claims (5)

A link mechanism comprising a front link and a rear link that rotate simultaneously with respect to the vehicle floor;
A seat cushion supported by the link mechanism so as to be movable up and down;
A seat back that can be tilted with respect to the seat cushion, the tilt angle of which is linked to the rotation angle of the rear link;
A reclining device that is interposed between the seat cushion and the seat back, and is capable of regulating the reclining at least in a state in which the inclination angle of the seat back is tilted forward and a passenger can be seated;
An urging means having one end portion and the other end portion, and urging the one end portion on the link mechanism side to urge the seat cushion in a turning direction;
When the other end of the urging means is hooked and the seat back is tilted forward and the occupant can be seated, the urging means is activated to activate the urging means. A driving means for elastically deforming the power to change the force;
A vehicle seat device comprising: The vehicle seat device according to claim 1,
The biasing means is a spiral spring,
The inner diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is hooked on the rotation shaft of the link mechanism, while the inner diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is arranged coaxially with the rotation shaft and independently driven by the driving means. A vehicle seat device characterized in that the vehicle seat device is hooked on a winding gear. The vehicle seat device according to claim 1,
The biasing means is a spiral spring,
The inner diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is engaged with a winding gear driven by the driving means, while the outer diameter side end portion of the spiral spring is arranged coaxially with the winding gear and independently rotates with the winding gear. A vehicle seat device characterized by being hooked to a rotating end portion of the link mechanism or a gear meshing therewith. The vehicle seat device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A vehicular seat device characterized in that when the seat back is tilted forward and the seat cushion is lowered, the urging force is decreased, and when the seat cushion is raised, the urging force is increased. The vehicle seat device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 further includes a control circuit that electrically controls the driving means,
The control circuit is
A potentiometer showing the inclination angle of the seat back as a resistance value;
An electronic control unit for supplying power to the driving means based on the resistance value indicated by the potentiometer;
A vehicle seat device comprising:

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