JP2022031535A - Seat member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that there is no room for integrally foam-molding a duct (an air distribution groove) in a seat cushion when the seat cushion made of a foam soft member is made thin for reducing weight.

SOLUTION: In a seat member 10 obtained by integrally molding a foam soft member 12 provided on a seating surface side and a foam hard member 14 provided on a back surface of the foam soft member 12, the foam hard member 14 includes an air-conditioning air passage 18 in the inside and includes a first through-hole 20 which communicates with the air-conditioning air passage 18 and is opened on one side of the foam hard member 14 and a second through-hole 22 which communicates with the air-conditioning air passage 18 and is opened on the other side of the foam hard member 14, and the foam soft member 12 includes a third through-hole 24 which communicates with the air-conditioning air passage 18 through the second through-hole 22 and is opened on the seating surface side.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2022,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a seat member, and more specifically, by circulating air conditioning air between the inside of a seat and a seating surface or a backrest surface, a comfortable cooling sensation and a heating sensation are given to the seated person. Regarding possible seating members.

For example, an air conditioner (hereinafter referred to as an air conditioner) installed in a vehicle such as a passenger car provides a comfortable temperature environment (cooling and heating) to the occupants by adjusting the temperature inside the vehicle with respect to the outside air temperature. .. The outlets (louvers) for cold air and hot air in this air conditioner are generally provided on the instrument panel, and the occupants indirectly experience the cooling temperature and the heating temperature.

However, depending on the high-class vehicle type, the temperature-controlled air is blown out from the seating surface or the backrest surface of the seat member so that the seated person can directly feel the cooling (or heating) temperature. For example, FIGS. 2 and 3 of JP-A-2005-95343 disclose an air-conditioning sheet in which a molded body 6 having an air distribution passage 41 is embedded in a cushion pad main body 5. It should be noted that there is also a seat member in which the above-mentioned temperature-controlled air is not blown out from the seat, but conversely, the air is sucked into the seat to give a cool feeling to the seated person. Further, the seat member referred to in the present specification refers to either a seat cushion serving as a seating portion and a seat back serving as a backrest portion, or both a seating portion and a backrest portion.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-95343

The seat member (so-called air-conditioning seat) having the function of blowing (or sucking in) the temperature-controlled air to the seating part or the backrest part described above allows the temperature-controlled air sent from the air conditioner to be sent from the air-conditioning part to the seating surface or the back of the seating part. It is necessary to provide a groove-shaped duct for guiding to the leaning surface inside the seat member. As disclosed in paragraph [0023] of JP-A-2005-95343, this duct is formed into a bag-shaped molded body 6 by an elastically deformable resin sheet by a blow molding method or the like, and an air distribution passage is provided inside. 41 is provided. However, the duct needs to be rigid so as not to be deformed by the weight of the seated person and its fluctuation, and inevitably, the weight of the seat member into which the duct is incorporated also increases. Therefore, recently, instead of incorporating the duct molded as a separate body, a groove for ventilation that fulfills the so-called duct function is integrally foamed on the seat cushion, and the ventilation groove is covered with a separate member. Therefore, seating members that are designed to reduce weight and cost are becoming widespread.

For example, FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a seat seat 11 made of a foamed soft member made of polyurethane or the like as a raw material in a cross-sectional view from the design surface side, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. A duct groove 13 for passing temperature-controlled air is integrally foam-molded inside the sheet 11, and the back side of the duct groove 13 is covered with a back surface material (cover body) 15. Further, in FIG. 7, when the seat seat 11 is foam-molded, a large air distribution groove (duct groove) 13 is formed on the back side of the seat 11, and a discharge hole 17 that opens on the seating surface side is provided in the air distribution groove 13. It is the one that communicates with. Also in this case, the portion of the air distribution groove 13 that opens on the back side is covered with a back surface material 15 such as felt. Further, in FIG. 8, the air distribution groove 13 is integrally molded inside the seat seat 11, and the air distribution groove 13 is covered with a back surface material 15 made of a foamed soft member or a slab on the seating surface side. .. In this case, the back surface material 15 is provided with a discharge hole 17 that communicates with the air distribution groove 13, so that the temperature-controlled air is blown out from the discharge hole 17 to the seating surface side.

By the way, in order to reduce the weight and cost of seat members, attempts have been made to reduce the wall thickness of foamed soft members such as urethane foam as thin as possible while ensuring various performances required for seats. In this case, an insert material that functions as a raising material for the seat member is used, and the seat member is manufactured by integrally molding the insert material and the foamed soft member. As the insert material (raising material), a foamed hard member such as expanded polypropylene (EPP), expanded polystyrene (EPS), or a composite resin in which polypropylene and polyolefin are blended is selectively used, and the expanded soft member and gold are used. The seat member is obtained by being integrally foamed in the mold. However, if the air distribution groove as described in FIGS. 6 to 8 is integrally foam-molded on the seat cushion, the foamed soft member forming the cushion portion cannot be thinned and the weight of the seat cushion cannot be reduced.

An object of the present invention is to, for example, in a seat member having a foamed soft member as a seat cushion such as urethane foam, a duct formed as a separate body is provided in the cushion under the request of thinning the seat cushion for weight reduction. It is not necessary to embed it, and when the air distribution groove is integrally molded in the cushion, the air distribution groove is not crushed and deformed by the weight of the user, and the desired passing air volume is not obtained. ) Is to be provided.

The first invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the intended purpose.
In a seat member formed by integrally molding a foamed soft member provided on the seating surface side and a foamed hard member provided on the back surface of the foamed soft member.
The foamed hard member is provided with an air-conditioning air passage inside, and is communicated with a first through hole that communicates with the air-conditioning air passage and opens to one of the foamed hard members and with the air-conditioning air passage. A second through hole that opens to the other side of the foamed hard member is provided.
It is a gist that the foamed soft member communicates with the air-conditioning air passage through the second through hole and also has a third through hole that opens on the seating surface side.
According to this configuration, the seat member in which the foamed hard member and the foamed soft member as the insert material are integrally molded has an air distribution groove formed inside the foamed hard member, so that the weight is reduced as a whole. Further, while cost reduction is achieved, the air distribution groove functioning as a duct is not deformed or crushed by the weight of the seated person, and therefore the temperature-controlled air can be smoothly supplied.

In the second invention, the foamed hard member is composed of a first half body on the back surface side of the seat member and a second half body on the side of the foamed soft member, and the first half body is connected to the first half body. The gist is that the holes are provided, the second through hole is provided in the second half body, and the air passage for air conditioning is provided in at least one of the first half body or the second half body. And.
According to this configuration, the foamed hard member in which the air distribution groove is formed is divided into two halves in advance, and both halves are overlapped after forming a groove in one or both of these halves. The wind distribution groove can be easily obtained.

The gist of the third invention is that the foamed hard member is made of expanded polypropylene or expanded polystyrene or polystyrene / polyolefin composite foamed material, and the expanded soft member is foamed polyurethane integrally molded with the expanded rigid member. do.

In the fourth invention, the seating surface side of the seat member is covered with a breathable skin material, and a third through hole provided in the foamed soft member communicates with the breathable portion of the skin material for air conditioning. The gist is that air flows.
According to this configuration, since the third through hole is opened on the seating surface side of the seat member, the temperature-controlled air from the air distribution groove (duct) is supplied to the seating portion via the breathable skin material. Will be done.

It is a gist of the fifth invention that the first through hole provided in the effervescent hard member is connected to an external intake / exhaust source of air conditioning air.

According to the present invention, it is not necessary to use a duct as a separate body, and a seat member can be obtained in which the air distribution groove formed inside is not easily deformed or crushed by the weight of the seated person. Weight reduction and manufacturing cost reduction are also achieved.

It is a partial cross-sectional view of the seat member which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a partial cross-sectional view which shows the seat member shown in FIG. 1 in a separated state by each member. (a) to (g) are partial cross-sectional views showing a modified example of the foamed hard member in the seat member according to the present invention. It is a cross-sectional view of the mold used for manufacturing the seat member which concerns on this invention, and is shown in the state which the upper mold is opened. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the mold shown in FIG. 4, showing a state in which the upper mold is closed with respect to the lower mold. FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cushion sheet according to a conventional technique in which an air distribution groove is integrally foam-molded, which is cut along an AA line. It is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional cushion sheet in which an air distribution groove is integrally formed on the back side and the air distribution groove is covered with a lid material from the back side. It is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional cushion sheet in which an air distribution groove is integrally formed on the front side and the air distribution groove is covered with a lid material from the front side. It is a perspective view which shows the design surface of the seat member which concerns on embodiment of this invention in the cross section.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the seat member according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the seat member of the embodiment, a passage as an air distribution groove is formed in the foamed hard member as the insert material described above to ensure rigidity, and the foamed soft member serving as a seat cushion is integrally formed in the insert material. It was obtained by foam molding.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the foamed hard member 14 as an insert material in the seat member 10 is formed with a passage 18 as an air distribution groove, and the weight of the user added to the seat member 10. Is mainly received by the foamed hard member 14. Further, the foamed hard member 14 is integrally foamed so as to be wrapped from above by a foamed soft member 12 such as urethane foam, whereby the seat member 10 is formed. Then, the first through hole 20 formed in the foamed hard member 14 is connected to the air supply port of the air conditioner that sends out the above-mentioned air conditioning air, and the air is supplied to the passage 18 through the first through hole 20. Will be done. Further, an appropriate number of second through holes 22 are provided on the side of the foamed hard member 14 facing the seating surface, and the foamed soft member 12 is simultaneously molded into the foamed soft member 12 when the foamed soft member 12 is foamed. An appropriate number of third through holes 24 are configured to communicate with the second through holes 22 in correspondence with each other. Therefore, the temperature-controlled air sent out from the air conditioner flows into the passage 18 defined in the foamed hard member 14 through the first through hole 20, and the second through hole 22 and the third through hole 24, respectively. It is sent out to the side of the seating surface of the seat member 10 via. As shown in FIG. 1, since the seating surface of the seat member 10 is covered with the breathable skin material 23, the temperature-controlled air blown out from the third through hole 24 of the foamed soft member 12 is , Contact the seated person through the ventilation hole of the skin material 23. As the skin material 23, for example, a breathable woven fabric, a three-dimensional woven fabric, a three-dimensional knitted fabric, a non-woven fabric, or the like is used. A breathable pad is laminated on the back surface of the skin material 23 as a backing material to form a trim cover that covers the seat cushion.

Here, the foamed hard member 14 is a bead foamed molded product. Specifically, expanded polypropylene (EPP) or expanded polystyrene (EPS), or a composite resin in which polystyrene and polyolefin are blended may be used as a material. The expanded polypropylene (EPP) has a trade name: Eperan-PP manufactured by Kaneka Corporation. Further, expanded polystyrene (EPS) is commercially available under the trade name of Kaneka Corporation: Kanepal, and expanded polyethylene is commercially available under the trade name of Kaneka Corporation: Eperan. Examples of the composite resin include foamed polyethylene copolymerized polystyrene resin (trade name: Pioceran manufactured by Sekisui Plastics Co., Ltd.).
Further, it is recommended that the foamed soft member 12 uses foamed polyurethane that is foam-molded integrally with the foamed hard member 14.

The seat member 10 shown in FIG. 1 is shown in a disassembled state in FIG. Here, the foamed hard member 14 is composed of a first half body 26 and a second half body 28 which are vertically divided. That is, the first half body 26 constituting the lower part of the foamed hard member 14 has the first through hole 20 formed at an appropriate place, and the first through hole 20 is an outlet for the temperature-controlled air of the air conditioner. Connected to (not shown). Further, in the second half body 28 constituting the upper part of the foamed hard member 14, the passage 18 as the above-mentioned air distribution groove is formed with a required length, and is combined with the first half body 26. As a result, the passage 18 is closed. The first through hole 20 formed in the first half body 26 is formed when the first half body 26 is superposed on the second half body 28 and the open portion of the passage 18 is closed. The position is set in advance so that they can communicate with each other.

An appropriate number of the second through holes 22 are formed on the upper surface of the second half body 28 (the surface on the side not blocked by the first half body 26), and each of the second through holes 22 is the passage. It communicates with 18. Therefore, in the foamed hard member 14 after the first half body 26 and the second half body 28 are united, the passage 18 is defined inside the foamed hard member 14, and the foamed hard member 14 has a lower surface. The first through hole 20 is open, and the second through hole 22 is open on the upper surface. Then, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the foamed soft member 12 integrally foam-molded with the foamed hard member 14 communicates correspondingly with the second through hole 22 formed in the foamed hard member 14. The third through hole 24 is formed. Therefore, a large number of the third through holes 24 are present on the seating surface of the seat member 10 manufactured by integrally foaming the foamed hard member 14 and the foamed soft member 12. Since the seat member 10 is covered with the breathable skin material 23, the seated person is supplied with the temperature-controlled air from the air conditioner.

The foamed hard member 14 in which the first half body 26 and the second half body 28 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are combined is an example in which the passage 18 is formed on the bottom surface of the second half body 28. rice field. However, the passage 18 may be attached to the first half body 26 as well. For example, as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3G, a half body portion of the passage 18 is formed corresponding to each of the first half body 26 and the second half body 28, and both half bodies 26 and 28 are formed. The completed passage 18 may be finally formed by overlapping. Further, the overlapping surface of the first half body 26 and the second half body 28 does not necessarily have to be flat, and as shown in FIG. 3C, if they are overlapped closely, the divided surface is flat. It may be a stepped part instead. In FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (g), the first through hole 20 is omitted.

In FIG. 1, the foamed soft member 12 is integrally foam-molded in the foamed hard member 14 already formed in a predetermined shape in a mold, and the third through hole 24 is formed in the mold. It is molded at the same time as foaming. The process of forming the third through hole 24 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The mold 35 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 includes a lower mold 34 and an upper mold 30 pivotally supported by a hinge portion 29 so as to be openable and closable with respect to the lower mold 34. The foamed hard member 14 is set in the cavity 32 provided inside the upper mold 30, and the second through hole 22 is directed toward the lower mold 34 diagonally downward. Further, the cavity 36 of the lower mold 34 is formed in a shape that resembles the foamed soft member 12 in the seat member 10 shown in FIG. Then, in the cavity 36 of the lower mold 34, a closing member 38 having an outer dimension substantially matching the inner dimension of the second through hole 22 is provided at a position corresponding to the second through hole 22 of the foamed hard member 14 so as to project. Has been done. The raw material U of the foamed soft member 12 may be injected with the upper and lower molds 30 and 34 open, or the injection holes separately provided in the upper mold 30 with the upper and lower molds 30 and 34 closed. It may be injected using (not shown).

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, when the upper mold 30 is closed with respect to the lower mold 34, the closing member 38 is inserted into each corresponding second through hole 22 in the foamed hard member 14. When the raw material U of the foamed soft member 12 is foamed in this state, the foamed soft member 12 is integrally molded with the foamed hard member 14 inside the mold 35. At this time, since the closing member 38 is inserted into the second through hole 22 of the foamed hard member 14, when the cavity 32 is opened and the molded seat member 10 is taken out, the foamed softness of the seat member 10 is taken out. The third through hole 24 is formed in the member 12 as a missing mark of the closing member 38.

10 seat members, 12 foam soft members, 14 foam hard members, 18 aisles,
20 1st hole, 22 2nd hole, 23 skin material, 24 3rd hole, 26 1st half body,
28 Second half

Claims (4)

In a seat member formed by integrally molding a foamed soft member provided on the seating surface side and a foamed hard member provided on the back surface of the foamed soft member.
The foamed hard member is provided with an air-conditioning air passage inside, and is communicated with a first through hole that communicates with the air-conditioning air passage and opens to one of the foamed hard members and with the air-conditioning air passage. A second through hole that opens to the other side of the foamed hard member is provided.
The foamed soft member is a seat member characterized in that it communicates with the air-conditioning air passage through the second through hole and also has a third through hole that opens on the seating surface side. The seat member according to claim 1, wherein the foamed rigid member is made of expanded polypropylene or expanded polystyrene or polystyrene / polyolefin composite foamed material, and the expanded flexible member is polyurethane foam integrally molded with the expanded rigid member. A claim that the seating surface side of the seat member is covered with a breathable skin material, and a third through hole provided in the foamed soft member communicates with a breathable portion of the skin material to allow air for air conditioning to flow. The seat member according to 1 or 2. The seat member according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first through hole provided in the foamed hard member is connected to an external intake / exhaust source of air conditioning air.

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