JP2010149788A - Seat device with protective function for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seat device with the protective function for a vehicle, particularly excellent in protecting a head and a neck of a sitter when a vehicle collides. <P>SOLUTION: This seat device with the protective function for the vehicle includes a seating seat arranged in a vehicle room, a seat back movably arranged in a back face position of the seating seat, a headrest movably installed in an upper end part of the seat back, a sensor arranged on the front side of the headrest and detecting acceleration of a detection object moving to the rear of a seat, and a driving mechanism for moving at least one of the headrest and the seat back to the rear of the seat by a detection signal corresponding to an acceleration variation from the sensor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a seat device with a protective function for a vehicle, and relates to an improvement of a seat device with a protective function for a vehicle suitable for protecting a seated person, particularly a head and a neck, at the time of a vehicle collision.

  For example, in the automobile field, various electronic or electrical equipment systems such as confirmation of seat belt wear and a system for operating an air bag are used to protect seated passengers from traffic accidents. In order to protect the seated person's head and neck from the impact of the head, a technology for providing a protection mechanism on the headrest has also been developed.

  An example of the conventional technology of a protection mechanism using such a headrest will be described with reference to Patent Document 1. In this conventional technology, an approach distance between the front surface of the headrest and the head of the passenger is determined by a capacitance sensor attached to the headrest. A vehicle headrest device for detecting with high accuracy is disclosed. The headrest has a mechanism in which the front surface thereof moves back and forth. However, when a vehicle collision occurs, the headrest moves from the normal position toward the front of the vehicle, and maintains a constant distance from the head of the occupant. A mechanism is used to protect the head by reducing the distance.

However, in the case of a collision, as described above, the mechanism that moves the headrest in the opposite direction to the head that accelerates backward as described above can not always avoid the impact on the headrest of the head and can sufficiently perform the protection function. May be difficult. In particular, when the airbag is operated simultaneously at the time of a collision, there is a problem that there is a high possibility that the impact on the headrest of the head is increased by the pressure at that time.
JP 2007-137219 A

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems as described in the prior art, and is a seat device with a protection function for a vehicle that is excellent in protecting a seated person, particularly the head and neck, at the time of a vehicle collision. The purpose is to provide.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a seat device with a protective function for a vehicle, a seat seat installed in a vehicle compartment, a seat back movably provided at a back position of the seat seat, and an upper end of the seat back. A headrest that is movably attached to the head, a sensor that is arranged on the front side of the headrest and that detects the acceleration of the detected object that moves to the rear of the seat, and a detection signal that corresponds to the amount of change in acceleration from the sensor. And a drive mechanism for moving at least one of the seat back to the rear of the seat.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the seat device with a protective function for a vehicle according to the first aspect, the sensor includes a front sensor and a left / right sensor of a headrest, and the driving mechanism of the headrest is detected. According to the acceleration direction of the body, the headrest has a function of moving the headrest rearward and rotating the headrest diagonally left and right.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the seat device with a protective function for a vehicle according to the first or second aspect, the sensor increases an acceleration of a moving object to be detected per unit time. It is configured to be selected from an electrostatic sensor that detects the amount and an acceleration sensor that detects an acceleration and an acceleration direction.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the vehicular protective function seat device according to any one of the first to third aspects, at least a bottom wall surface of a dashboard in a vehicle compartment located in front of the seating seat. A cushion mechanism is provided.

  According to the present invention, at least one of the headrest and the seat back moves in the same direction as the backward movement of the detected body (the seated person's head) at the time of the vehicle collision, and is received when the acceleration of the seated person's head decreases. Therefore, the seated person's head and neck are flexibly and safely protected. Moreover, even if the airbag operates simultaneously and pressure acts on the seated person's face, excessive pressure and impact on the seated person are reduced by the rearward movement of the headrest and seat back. If the headrest is equipped with a mechanism for rotating the headrest to the left and right by the detection signal of the left and right sensors, the head position of the head is opposite to the headrest due to the seating position shift of the seated person and the head is moved backward in the diagonal direction. However, the headrest operates corresponding to each of these directions, so that the seated person is reliably protected. Furthermore, when the dashboard is provided with a cushion mechanism, even if the leg of the seated person jumps up at the time of a vehicle collision, the protection is achieved.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a vehicle seat device with a protective function according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a vehicle protective function seat device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a system for operating the vehicle protective function seat device according to an embodiment. It is a block diagram.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a seat 1 that faces the dashboard DB is installed on the floor of the vehicle compartment equipped with the handle H, the dashboard DB, and the windshield FG on the front side. The seat back 2 disposed at the back position of the seating seat 1 is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 3 provided at the upper end of the back surface of the seating seat 1 so that the seat back 2 can tilt forward and backward. Is attached.

  At the upper end of the seat back 2, a pillow-like movable headrest 4 provided at a position facing the back of the back of the seated person P, which is also a detected body, moves back and forth via a rod-like support 5, for example. It is attached as freely as possible so that it can rotate. For example, a film-like or sheet-like electrostatic sensor 6 is attached to the inside of the surface cover of the headrest front surface portion 4a facing the back of the seated person P.

  The electrostatic sensor 6 can be composed of, for example, a front sensor disposed at the center of the front surface of the headrest, and a left sensor and a right sensor individually disposed on the left and right sides thereof (these individual sensors are not shown). And even if various forms occur in the seating position and posture of the seated person P at the time of the vehicle collision and the acceleration direction of the backward movement of the seated person's head, the seated person's head position and moving direction can be reliably detected. Has been made.

  The electrostatic sensor 6 is a pair of electrostatic sensors on a thin and flexible insulating film that can be easily mounted in a narrow space for both the front sensor and the left and right sensors. It can be composed of a film-like wiring board provided with an electrode layer. For example, an FPC (flexible printed circuit) using a polyimide resin film as the flexible insulating film or a membrane wiring board (MB) using PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) as the flexible insulating film. ) Can constitute the electrostatic sensor 6.

  As described above, the front sensor and the left and right sensors are not limited to one pair each. For example, if the vehicle body is one electrostatic electrode in a circuit system, one pair is provided as the other electrostatic electrode. It can also be provided and configured. The change in capacitance from the electrostatic sensor 6 is output as a detection signal by the detection circuit 10 (see FIG. 2).

  Further, the headrest 4 includes a first motor mechanism M1 that is slid in the front-rear direction or rotated left and right on the support body 5 by a headrest first drive mechanism 7 installed therein, The first drive mechanism 7 is driven by a first drive circuit 13 (see FIG. 2).

  Incidentally, a movable second driving mechanism 8 for the seat back 2 is installed in the seating seat 1. The second drive mechanism 8 includes, for example, a second motor mechanism M2 that operates so as to extend and contract an expansion / contraction operation rod 8a that is connected to the engagement portion 2a at the lower end of the seat back 2, and the second drive circuit 14 (See FIG. 2), and controls the tilting operation of the seat back 2.

  A cushion mechanism C is provided on at least the surface of the bottom wall surface of the dashboard DB facing the upper front end of the seat 1. The cushion mechanism C can be attached by attaching a cushion material such as elastic resin, sponge, or polystyrene foam on the bottom wall surface of the dashboard DB and the surface rising upward from the corner, or by detachably engaging the cushion mechanism C. . Even if the lower limb of the seated person P jumps up at the moment when the seat back 2 or the headrest 4 moves backward, the cushion mechanism C can relieve the collision force against the dashboard DB at that time.

  Next, a system for detecting the moving state of the head of the seated person P serving as a detection target and driving the seat back 2 and the headrest 4 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the amount of change in capacitance of the electrostatic sensor 6 is transmitted to the detection circuit 10, and the detection circuit 10 outputs a detection signal generated at any time according to the change in capacitance, The signal is input to one input terminal of the circuit 11.

  The amount of change in the electrostatic capacitance represents a small value toward the direction away from the intersection of the electrostatic sensor 6 with the head on the horizontal axis and the electrostatic sensor 6 by a general method. ) And the vertical axis indicates the capacitance value, and when the distance between the head and the sensor in a normal time starts to shorten in the acceleration direction due to a vehicle collision or the like, the capacitance value is logarithmically Draw a characteristic curve that reaches a saturation state after rising rapidly and rising. The acceleration in the backward movement of the detected body (head) draws a characteristic curve in a direction that rapidly decreases in inverse proportion to the increase in the capacitance to the saturated state.

  By the way, in the relationship between the detected object (head) and the headrest 4 that move backward in the event of a vehicle collision, the timing of the backward movement start of the headrest 4 starts the backward movement of the seated person's head at the time of sitting from the normal position. Set to occur at That is, the headrest 4 is set to start moving when the electrostatic capacitance value as the detection signal reaches a first threshold value that is higher than the normal value.

  Further, it is desirable that the timing of stopping the headrest 4 is after the acceleration during the backward movement of the detected body (head) has rapidly decreased to a certain threshold value or less so that damage to the head can be avoided. In the rare case of the characteristic curve of the electrostatic sensor, the headrest 4 is stopped after the capacitance value, which is a detection signal, reaches a predetermined second threshold value or higher that is set in a region higher than the first threshold value. It is good to let them.

  The other input terminal of the comparison circuit 11 is connected to the output terminal of the memory circuit 12, and the memory circuit 12 has the first and second threshold values in the capacitance change curve of the electrostatic sensor 6. Data is stored in advance, and each threshold value data is input to another input terminal of the comparison circuit 11.

  The output terminal of the comparison circuit 11 is connected to the input terminals of the first drive circuit 13 and the second drive circuit 14. The output end of the first drive circuit 13 is connected to supply a drive signal to the first motor M1 of the first drive mechanism 7 for headrest, and the output end of the second drive circuit 14 is a second for seat back. The drive mechanism 8 is connected to supply a drive signal to the second motor M2.

  In this way, the detection signal from the detection circuit 10 in response to the change in capacitance from the electrostatic sensor 6 is compared with the first and second threshold data signals from the memory 12 in the comparison circuit 11, and the comparison circuit. 11 outputs a control signal for controlling the operation of the first and second drive circuits 13 and 14.

  Therefore, when a vehicle collision occurs, the comparison circuit 11 causes the operation control signal so that the first drive circuit 13 starts to operate when the change detection signal from the detection circuit 10 reaches the first threshold data in the memory 12. Is output, the first motor M1 of the first drive mechanism 7 is driven, and the rearward movement of the headrest 4 is started. Thereafter, the movement acceleration of the detected body (head) tends to decrease, and when the detection signal from the detection circuit 10 reaches the second threshold data of the memory 12, the first drive circuit 13 is stopped so that the operation is stopped. A control signal is output and the headrest 4 is stopped.

  The operation of the second drive mechanism 8 for the seat back 2 will be described. By supplying an operation control signal and a stop control signal from the comparison circuit 11 to the second drive circuit 14, the seat at the time of a vehicle collision is obtained. The backward movement / stop of the back 2 can be controlled in the same manner as in the case of the headrest 4. In the above-described embodiment, the seat back 2 has been described as being movable in the front-rear direction by the second drive mechanism 8; however, the seat back body itself is accelerated diagonally rearward left and right depending on the seating posture and the collision direction. Since it may move, as a countermeasure for this case, a left-right rotation drive mechanism can be incorporated so that the seating seat 1 or the seat back 2 can be rotated left-right.

  As shown in the one embodiment, when the headrest 4 and the seat back 2 can be controlled to move together and the cushion mechanism C is provided, the protection of the seated person in the vehicle collision is maximized, which is most preferable. A seat device with a protective function for a vehicle can be provided. However, according to various vehicle forms such as a lightweight vehicle model or a heavy vehicle model, only one of the headrest 4 and the seat back 2 can be moved, and the cushion mechanism C can be omitted. You can also.

  In addition, it is also possible to incorporate a switch mechanism or an adjustment mechanism that can be set automatically or manually so that only one or both of the headrest 4 and the seat back 2 can be operated. Furthermore, the drive mechanism of the seat back 2 can be equipped with an electronic reclining system mounted on the seat back 2.

  Circuit blocks such as the comparison circuit 11, the memory 12, the first and second drive circuits 13, 14 use various functional blocks of an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) equipped for electronic control of a vehicle such as an automobile. By doing so, it can be configured easily. For example, the comparison circuit 11 and the memory 12 can be configured using a data calculation processing function of a calculation unit of a CPU (central control unit) generally built in the ECU and various data storage functions of an addressable storage unit.

  In the embodiment, the movement of the detected object in the acceleration direction is detected by the electrostatic sensor. However, instead of or in combination with the electrostatic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a strain gauge, various sensors, an electronic circuit, etc. It is also possible to detect the acceleration of an object to be detected using a MEMS (microelectromechanical system) known as a device in which is integrated on a silicon substrate.

  The electrostatic sensor 6 has two contact electrodes and switch wiring layers arranged corresponding to the through holes on both sides of a flexible insulating spacer having a plurality of through holes for switches. In a pressure-sensitive switch (sensor) formed by adhering a flexible insulating film, an electrostatic electrode may be provided on a part of the inner surface of the flexible insulating film to form a combination type sensor. Is possible. In this case, after the detection signal at the time of moving the headrest reaches a preset threshold value, the headrest 4 can be surely stopped by the switch function of the pressure sensitive switch when the head of the seated person contacts the sensor. it can.

1 is a schematic side view showing a vehicle protective function seat device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a circuit block diagram for operating a seat device with a protection function for vehicles concerning one embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Seating seat 2 Seat back 3 Rotating shaft 4 Headrest 4a Headrest front surface 6 Electrostatic sensor 7 1st drive mechanism 8 2nd drive mechanism C Cushion mechanism 10 Detection circuit 11 Comparison circuit 12 Memory 13 1st drive circuit 14 2nd drive circuit

Claims (4)

  A seat seat installed in a vehicle compartment, a seat back movably provided at a back position of the seat seat, a headrest movably attached to an upper end portion of the seat back, and disposed on the front side of the headrest A sensor that detects the acceleration of the detected object that moves to the rear of the seat, and a drive mechanism that moves at least one of the headrest and the seat back to the rear of the seat by a detection signal corresponding to an acceleration change amount from the sensor. A vehicle seat device with a protective function.   The sensor includes a headrest front sensor and a left / right sensor, and the headrest drive mechanism has a function of moving the headrest in a rearward and left / right diagonally rearward direction according to the acceleration direction of the detected object. The vehicle seat device with a protective function according to claim 1.   The sensor is configured to be selected from an electrostatic sensor that detects an acceleration of a moving object to be detected based on an increase in capacitance per unit time and an acceleration sensor that detects an acceleration and an acceleration direction. The seat device with a protective function for a vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above-mentioned.   The seat device with a protective function for a vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a cushion mechanism is provided on at least a bottom wall surface of a dashboard in a vehicle compartment located in front of the seating seat. .

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