JP2662153B2 - Seat slide device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lower rail member fixed on a vehicle body floor, and an upper rail member slidably mounted on the lower rail member via a spherical roller and having a seat fixed to an upper surface side. The present invention relates to a seat slide device that can move a seat as the upper rail member slides.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a seat slide device for movably supporting a seat in a vehicle, the one shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed. This comprises a lower rail member 1 fixed on the vehicle body floor, a plurality of spherical rollers 2 rollably arranged on both upper edges of the lower rail member 1, and a lower rail member 1 via the spherical rollers 2. And an upper rail member 3 which is slidably mounted on the upper rail member and the seat is fixed to the upper surface side, and the seat can be moved as the upper rail member 3 slides.

[0003] Conventionally, in this apparatus, the movement range of the seat (ie, the movement range of the upper rail member 3) is regulated by the lower rail member 1 and the upper rail member 3.
Is performed by a plurality of overhangs 1a, 1b, 3a, 3b respectively formed on the rolling surface of the spherical roller 2 in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG.
Slides to the rear limit, the overhanging portion 1b formed on the lower rail member 1 and the overhanging portion 3b formed on the upper rail member 3 are engaged via the spherical roller 2, so that the upper rail member 3 Is prevented from sliding backward.
As shown in FIG. 8, when the upper rail member 3 slides to the front limit, the projecting portion 1a formed on the lower rail member 1 and the projecting portion 3a formed on the upper rail , The upper rail member 3 is prevented from sliding forward.

Recently, the lower rail member 1 and the upper rail member 3 are manufactured by extrusion molding using a light alloy such as an aluminum alloy for weight reduction.
a, 1b, 3a, and 3b were all formed by press working after the extrusion molding. That is, for example, the overhang portion 1b
Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the upper edge portion of the lower rail member 1 is formed by an operation of deforming by pressing (so-called nailing operation), and the other overhang portions 1a, 3a, 3b are formed.
The same was true for all the cases.

[0005]

For this reason, in the above-mentioned conventional seat slide device, if the operation of moving the seat to the full limit is frequently performed, the seat slide device is usually pressed against the spherical roller 3 made of a difficult material such as steel. In addition, all overhang portions made of a soft material such as an aluminum alloy are easily worn, and unless the overhang amount is designed to be large, it is difficult to secure high reliability of the movement range regulation.

In addition, since all the overhangs 1a, 1b, 3a, 3b are formed by the above-described press work, deformation or distortion occurs in other parts of the rail member, which often results in defective products. Further, since the number of man-hours increases, there is a problem that the manufacturing cost of the rail member increases. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a seat slide device in which the reliability of movement range regulation is easily ensured and the productivity of rail members is improved.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the gist of the present invention is to provide a lower rail member (11) made of a light alloy fixed on a vehicle body floor and a spherical roller (11) attached to the lower rail member (11). 31) a light alloy upper rail member (21) that is slidably mounted through the base member and the seat is fixed to the upper surface side.
The seat can be moved along with the sliding of, and overhanging portions (13, 23) provided on the rolling surfaces (13, 23) of the spherical rollers (31) of the lower rail member (11) and the upper rail member (21), respectively. 14a, 14b, 15a, 15b, 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b) engage with each other via the spherical roller (31) to restrict the range of movement of the seat. A nut housing (41) fixed to the upper rail member (21) and a screw shaft supported by the upper rail member (21) and screwed to the nut housing (41), and the upper rail member is moved by rotation of the screw shaft. (21) is provided with a drive mechanism for driving the seat by sliding the lower rail member (1).
1) a housing member (42) made of a material having a higher hardness than the upper rail member (21) and having an end extending on the rolling surface of the lower rail member (11), integrally with the nut housing (41); The seat slide device is characterized in that the extended portion (15a, 15b) on the side of the lower rail member (11) is formed by the end of the housing member (42).

[0008]

According to the above-mentioned seat slide device, the projecting portions (14a, 14b, 15a, 15b, 24a, 24b, 25) on the lower rail member (11) side are provided.
At least a part (15a, 15b) of a, 25b) is made of a material having high hardness, and wear is small even if it is frequently pressed against the spherical roller (31). For this reason, even if the overhang portions (24a, 24b, 25a, 25b) on the upper rail member (21) side and the lower rail member (1
1) Even if the other overhanging portions (14a, 14b) formed on the side are somewhat worn due to pressure contact with the spherical roller (31), at least the overhanging portion (15) formed by the housing member (42).
a, 15b) is still protruding without wear. Therefore, even if the overhang amount of the other overhang portions (14a, 14b, 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b) formed by press working (claw punching) is not so large, the reliability of the movement range regulation is secured with high reliability. .

[0009] The overhanging portions (14a, 14b, 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b) formed by press working in this way can be reduced in the amount of protrusion, and the number of press working portions of the lower rail member (11) can be reduced. Therefore, the number of manufacturing steps is reduced, and defects such as distortion due to press working of the rail members (11, 21) are reduced, so that products having good operability can be manufactured with good yield at low cost.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the seat slide device of the present embodiment includes a lower rail member 11 fixed to a vehicle body floor in the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and a plurality of rollable rolls on both upper edges of the lower rail member 11. Spherical roller 31 arranged
A drive mechanism comprising an upper rail member 21 slidably mounted on the lower rail member 11 via the spherical roller 31 and having a seat fixed to the upper surface side, and a nut housing 41 fixed to the center of the lower rail member 11 (The components other than the nut housing 41 are not shown), and the housing members 42 and 4 formed integrally with the nut housing 41.
2 is provided.

The lower rail member 11 is a long member having a substantially U-shaped cross-section and a substantially constant cross-section that opens upward as a whole.
Reference numerals 2 and 12 are formed continuously in the longitudinal direction.
As shown in FIG. 4, rolling surfaces 13, 13 of a spherical roller 31 are respectively formed on upper edges of both sides of the lower rail member 11, and the spherical roller 31 rolls on the rolling surfaces 13, 13. Has become. Further, on the rolling surfaces 13, 13 of the lower rail member 11, projecting portions 14 a, 14 b, 15 a, 15 b that come into contact with the spherical roller 31 are provided.

The lower rail member 11 is manufactured by extruding a light alloy such as an aluminum alloy, and the overhang portions 14a and 14b are formed by press working after extrusion as in the past, and the overhang portions 15a and 15b is formed by both ends of the housing member 42. The upper rail member 21 is a long member having a substantially constant cross-sectional shape having a generally U-shaped cross-sectional shape that opens downward as a whole, and an upward bent portion 22 extending inward and upward from both lower edges is continuously formed in the longitudinal direction. It was formed. This upper rail member 2
1 is arranged so as to cover the lower rail member 11 from above,
The upwardly folded portion 22 fits into the concave portion inside the downwardly folded portions 12, 12 of the lower rail member 11,
The lower rail member 11 is attached to the lower rail member 11 so that corners 23 formed on both sides of the inner surface of the lower rail member 11 can smoothly slide in the longitudinal direction of the lower rail member 11 by rolling contact or sliding contact with the spherical roller 31. (That is, the surface of the corner portion 23 is a rolling surface of the spherical roller 31.) The corner portion 23 of the upper rail member 21 has
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, overhangs 24a, 24b, 25a, and 25b are provided, which also come into contact with the spherical roller 31. The upper rail member 21 is also manufactured by extruding a light alloy such as an aluminum alloy.
a, 24b, 25a, and 25b are formed by press working after extrusion molding as in the past.

The spherical rollers 31 are, for example, balls made of steel. In this case, the spherical rollers 31 are disposed on both sides of the nut housing 41 (a total of four on the left and right sides). Rolled in the longitudinal direction of each rail member, being sandwiched between them. The drive mechanism is supported by the upper rail member 21 and
And a motor (not shown) for driving the screw shaft. The upper rail member 21 is slid by the movement of the screw shaft so that the seat can be moved forward and backward of the vehicle. It is driven. In addition, since this drive mechanism can use a well-known structure, the description of the detailed structure is omitted.

The nut housing 41 constituting this drive mechanism is disposed so as to be fitted into the lower rail member 11, and is fixed to the lower rail member 11 by, for example, a bolt that is screwed through the bottom wall of the lower rail member 11. ing. Then, the housing members 42 are connected to the lower rail member 11 from both upper sides of the nut housing 41.
Is extended so as to straddle both upper edges thereof, and has a tip extending to a position where it comes into contact with the spherical roller 31 on the rolling surface 13.
5a and 15b are formed. The housing members 42, 42 are made of a material (for example, steel) having a higher hardness than the material (in this case, an aluminum alloy) of the lower rail member 11 and the upper rail member 21.

Next, the operation will be described. In the seat slide device described above, the seat automatically and smoothly moves back and forth with the movement of the upper rail member 21 that is driven and slid by the drive mechanism. However, the movement range of the seat is restricted with high reliability, and is limited. The seat is reliably prevented from moving beyond.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, when the upper rail member 21 slides to the rear limit, the overhang portions 14b and 15b formed on the lower rail member 11 and the overhang portion 24b formed on the upper rail member 21 are formed. , 25b are engaged with each other via the spherical roller 31, so that the rearward sliding of the upper rail member 21 is prevented. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, when the upper rail member 21 slides to the front limit, the overhang portions 14a and 15a formed on the lower rail member 11 and the overhang portions 24a and 25a formed on the upper rail member 21 are moved. Are engaged via the spherical rollers 31 to prevent the upper rail member 21 from sliding forward.

The projecting portion 1 on the lower rail member 11 side
Parts 15a, 15b of 4a, 14b, 15a, 15b are made of a material having high hardness, and wear is small even when frequently pressed against spherical roller 31. Therefore, even if the overhang portions 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b on the upper rail member 21 side and the other overhang portions 14a, 14b formed on the lower rail side are slightly worn by the pressure contact with the spherical roller 31, at least the housing Overhang portion 15 constituted by members 42, 42
a and 15b are left overhanging without being worn out. Therefore, other overhangs 14a, 1 formed by press working
Even if the overhang amounts of 4b, 24a, 24b, 25a, and 25b are not so large, the reliability of the movement range regulation is ensured to be high.

The overhangs 14a, 14b, 24a, 24b, 25a,
Since the overhang of the 25b can be small, the number of press working portions of the lower rail member 11 can be reduced, so that the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced, and problems such as distortion due to the press working of the rail members 11 and 21 can be reduced. Can be manufactured with good yield at low cost.

[0019]

According to the seat slide apparatus of the present invention, even if the operation of moving the seat to the full limit is performed frequently, at least the overhanging portion formed by the housing member is not over-polished and remains overhanging. Therefore, the reliability of the movement range regulation can be easily ensured without increasing the amount of overhang of the other overhangs formed by press working.

In addition, since the amount of overhang of the overhanging portion formed by the press working is small, the number of press working portions of the lower rail member is reduced, so that the number of manufacturing steps is reduced, and distortion and the like due to press working of the rail member are reduced. And the products having good operability can be manufactured with good yield at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a seat slide device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view taken along a line I in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the operation of the seat slide device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the operation of the seat slide device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a main part of the seat slide device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional seat slide device, and is a V cross-sectional view in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a lower rail member of a conventional seat slide device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the operation of a conventional seat slide device.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the operation of a conventional seat slide device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Lower rail member 13, 23 ... Rolling surface 14a, 14b, 15a, 15b, 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b ... Projection part 21 ... Upper rail member 31 ... Spherical roller 41 ... Nut housing 42 ... Housing member

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A light alloy lower rail member fixed on a vehicle body floor, and a light alloy upper rail member which is slidably mounted on the lower rail member via a spherical roller and has a seat fixed to an upper surface side. And the seat can be moved with the sliding of the upper rail member, and the projecting portions provided on the rolling surface of the spherical roller of the lower rail member and the upper rail member are mutually connected via the spherical roller. In a seat slide device that regulates a movement range of a seat by engaging, a nut housing fixed to the lower rail member,
A drive mechanism for driving a seat by sliding the upper rail member by movement accompanying rotation of the screw shaft, the lower rail including a screw shaft supported by the upper rail member and screwed to the nut housing; A housing member formed of a material having a higher hardness than the member and the upper rail member and having an end extending on a rolling surface of the lower rail member, integrally formed with the nut housing, and an end of the housing member forming the lower rail member; A seat slide device characterized by comprising a side projecting portion.