JP4254374B2 - Side support device for vehicle seat - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a side support device that is mounted on a seat back of a vehicle seat and makes it possible to adjust occupant support by the seat.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, such a side support device is mounted on both side portions of a seat back that serves as a backrest portion of the occupant in the seat, and functions to adjust the position of supporting the occupant's body on both sides.
[0003]
The side support device is housed in both side portions in the seat back, and is a drive device, a link mechanism that transmits the drive force of the drive device, and a support member that is connected to the link mechanism and can be rotated around a rotation shaft attached to the seat back. The occupant can adjust the positions of both sides of the seat back with the driving force from the driving device (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-100205
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the side support device according to the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-100205, the link mechanism for transmitting the driving force is constituted by connecting a plurality of link members with a pivot shaft. The drive device connected to the support member by the link mechanism is arranged near the support member on one side, and is connected to the support member on the other side by a connection link extending across the seat back. For this reason, not only the number of parts is increased by the link or the like, but also the arrangement of the driving device is restricted. In addition, a large space is required to accommodate the link mechanism and the driving device in both side portions of the seat back, resulting in an increase in the size of the seat.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to realize a side support device that does not require a large storage space and is configured so that a mounting position of a drive device can be selected as appropriate.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a first technical means taken in the present invention is a side frame extending in a vertical direction provided in a seat back that stands up in a vehicle seat and serves as a backrest portion of an occupant. When mounted to the side frames, the side support device for a vehicle seat and a support member to be rotatable with respect to the center axis extending vertically,
The support member includes an arm portion having one end supported by the side frame as the central axis and the other end extending in a radial direction with respect to the central axis, and a support portion extending in the vertical direction from the other end of the arm portion. Configured,
The arm portion and the cam surface are in contact with each other, and are supported by the side frame so as to be movable in a vertical direction parallel to the central axis, and include a cam member that rotates the support member by the linear movement. That is.
[0008]
In the side support device configured as described above, the direction of the support member is changed by the direct cam member so that the support member moves in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the cam member, and the positions of the both sides of the seat back relative to the occupant are changed. Operates as follows.
[0009]
The second technical means taken in the present invention, in addition to the first means, said respective arranged cam member on both side portions of the seat back, each said cam member via a respective coupling member That is, it is configured to be connected to one drive device.
[0010]
With this configuration, the support members on both sides of the seat back of the side support device can be operated in conjunction with each other by the driving device, which is appropriately arranged at a position where a space in the seat back can be secured.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments embodying the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
[0012]
First, as shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle seat 1 includes a seat back 12 that serves as a backrest portion of a passenger and a seat cushion 11 that serves as a seating portion. The side support device 2 (FIG. 2) according to the present invention is built in the seat back 12 and allows the side portions 12a on both sides of the seat back 12 to be adjusted in the direction indicated by the arrow a or b in FIG. It is. The occupant can operate the side support device 2 by operating a switch (not shown) and adjust the positions of both side portions 12a so that the body is optimally supported by the seat back 12.
[0013]
Note that a lumbar support device 9 (FIG. 2) that can adjust the central portion 12b of the seat back 12 in the direction of the arrow d or c shown in FIG.
[0014]
As shown in detail in FIG. 2, a seat back frame 3 serving as a strength member of the seat back 12 is built in the seat back 12. The seat back frame 3 includes an upper frame 31 that extends laterally at an upper portion in the seat back 12 and side frames 32 that are joined to both sides of the upper frame 31 and extend so as to hang down. As an inverted U-shape.
[0015]
In the seat back 12 according to the embodiment of the present invention, a flat spring body 35 is disposed inside the seat back frame 3 as in the known seat back configuration. The flat spring body 35 has a rectangular shape that occupies a large area inside the seat back frame 3, and is configured to be elastically supported by the seat back frame 3 by a plurality of suspension springs 36 around the flat spring body 35. . The seat back frame 3 and the flat spring body 35 support the cushion body 14 (FIGS. 6 and 7) of the seat back 12.
[0016]
The side support mechanism 20 is attached to the left and right side frames 32. The left and right side support mechanism portions 20 have a symmetrical configuration, and will be described below with the side support mechanism portion 20 on the left side (right side in FIG. 2) of the seat back 12.
[0017]
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the side support mechanism portion 20 includes a base portion 22 that is fixed to the side frame 32 by screw means 25. A slide groove 22a extending vertically is formed in the base portion 22, and a cam 23 is slidably engaged with the slide groove 22a. The cam 23 is formed with a cam surface 23a that is inclined with respect to the sliding direction.
[0018]
The side support mechanism 20 further includes a support member 21 that rotates about a central axis (e-axis shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) extending in the vertical direction with respect to the seatback 12 that stands upright. The support member 21 extends vertically so as to connect the upper arm 21b extending horizontally, the lower arm 21c below the upper arm 21b and extending obliquely in the lateral direction, and the upper and lower arms 21b and 21c. The shape is provided with a support portion 21a. A pivot 21d is formed at the end of the upper arm 21b, and a rotation pin 26 is fixed to the end of the lower arm 21c. The pivot portion 21 d is rotatably supported by a support portion 22 c protruding from the base portion 22, and the rotation pin 26 is rotatably supported by a support bracket 18 fixed to the side frame 32. The central axis of the pivot portion 21d and the rotation pin 26 are both arranged to coincide with the e-axis shown in FIGS.
[0019]
As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 6, and 7, the support member 21 is in the side portion 12 a of the seat back 12 and is configured to support the cushion body 14 from the back surface. Then, the support member 21 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. 6 so that the positions of the left and right side portions 12a can be adjusted so as to move in the center direction of the seat back 12 as shown in FIG. is there. The support member 21 is in contact with the cam surface 23 a of the cam 23 on the side opposite to the side in contact with the cushion body 14. When the cam 23 moves from the position shown in FIG. 3 to the position shown in FIG. 4, the upper arm 21b is pushed by the cam surface 23a and rotates in the clockwise direction.
[0020]
A hole b is provided in the upper end portion of the cam, and a spring 38 is attached between the hook 19 fixed to the side frame 32 and the hole b. The spring 38 urges the cam to move upward as shown in FIGS. On the other hand, the cable wire 72 of the cable 7 (connection member) is connected to the lower end portion of the cam. The cable 7 includes an outer sleeve 71 and is fixed to the flange portion 22 b of the base portion 22 by a holding portion 73 attached to an end portion of the outer sleeve 71. The cable wire 72 is guided by the outer jacket 71 and is moved by a driving device 5 described later. Accordingly, when the cam is pulled by the cable wire 72 so as to move the cam downward against the urging force of the spring 38, the support member 21 can be rotated from the position shown in FIG. 6 to the position shown in FIG. It is.
[0021]
Next, based on FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, a structure is demonstrated to the drive device 5 connected with the other edge part of the cable wire 72, and enabling the cable wire 72 to move.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 1, the driving device 5 is attached to a bracket 15 fixed to the upper frame 31. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the driving device 5 includes a base plate 51 fixed to the bracket 15 by screw means. The motor 6 is attached to the base plate 51, and a pinion gear 56 that rotates by the operation of the motor 6 is supported on the base plate 51 by a shaft 56a. On the base plate 51, a rack plate 54 on which a linear gear rack gear 54 a meshing with the pinion gear 56 is formed is held by two pins 53. The two pins 53 are arranged side by side so as to be parallel to the direction of the rack gear 54a. Two long holes 52 are formed in the rack plate 54, and pins 53 are fitted into the respective long holes 52 to guide the rack plate 54 along the long holes 52.
[0023]
One end portion (lower end portion in FIG. 5) of the rack plate 5 is provided with a flange 54b that is bent at a right angle and rises, and two slots 54c are formed in the flange 54b. The base plate 51 is also provided with a flange 51a at a position facing the flange 54b, and two grooves 51b are formed in the flange 51a. Then, the two cables 7 connected to the left and right side support mechanism portions 20 are guided, the holding portion 73 of the cable 7 is engaged with the groove 51b, and the end portion of the cable wire 72 is engaged with the slot 54c. The configuration is such that the cable wire 72 can be pulled by operating the motor 6 and rotating the pinion gear 56 to move the rack plate 54 upward in FIG. 5.
[0024]
As described above, since the left and right side support mechanisms 20 are individually connected to the driving device 5 by the cable 7, the arrangement of the driving device 5 is designed so that the seat back 12 is thinned, for example. The weight of the side support device 2 hardly increases even if it is arranged at an arbitrary place in the back 12 where a space can be secured.
[0025]
As shown in FIG. 2, the support member 21 of the side support mechanism 20 described above is disposed across the seat back 12 because a space is provided between the upper arm 21 b and the lower arm 21 c. There is an advantage that the lumbar support 9 provided with the support bar 91 as a component can be conveniently arranged.
[0026]
Next, the operation of the side support device 2 configured as described above will be described.
[0027]
As shown in FIG. 3, when the cable 23 is pulled by the operation of the motor 6 and the cam 23 is moved downward against the biasing force of the spring 38 from the state in which the cam 23 is positioned upward, The member 21 rotates clockwise from the state shown in FIG. 6 and changes to the state shown in FIG. In this process, if the operation of the motor 6 is stopped, the support portions 21a on both sides of the seat back 12 can be held at an arbitrary position between those shown in FIGS. If the motor 6 is rotated in the direction opposite to the above, the cam 23 is moved upward with the assistance of the biasing force of the spring 38, and the support member 21 returns from the state of FIG. 7 to the direction of FIG. In order to make the return operation more reliable, as shown in FIG. 3, the spring is engaged with the groove 26 a provided in the rotating pin 26 and the other end is engaged with the notch 18 a provided in the support bracket 18. 26b may be attached and the support member 21 may be urged counterclockwise in FIG.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, the mechanism portion of the side support device according to the present invention employs a cam as a mechanism for rotating the support member, and thus is configured with a significantly smaller number of parts than the mechanism by the link. The Since the two side support mechanism portions and the driving device are individually connected, the restriction on the arrangement of the driving mechanism is reduced, and the seat back can be reduced in size.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a seat provided with a side support device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of a side support device and a seat frame according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state of one side of a mechanism portion of a side support device according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state of the other side of the mechanism portion of the side support device according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a drive device for a side support device according to the present invention.
6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 seat 2 side support device 5 drive device 7 connecting member (cable)
12 Seat back 21 Support member 23 Cam member (cam)

Claims (2)

A side frame extending in the vertical direction provided in a seat back that stands up in the vehicle seat and serves as a backrest part of the occupant , and is rotatable to a central axis that is attached to the side frame and extends in the vertical direction in the side support device for a vehicle seat and a support member made,
The support member has an arm portion having one end supported by the side frame as the central axis and the other end extending in a radial direction with respect to the central axis, and a support portion extending in the vertical direction from the other end of the arm portion. Configured,
A side support device comprising: a cam member that abuts the arm portion and a cam surface and is supported by the side frame so as to be movable in a vertical direction parallel to the central axis, and rotates the support member by the linear movement. It said respective arranged cam member on both side portions of the seat back, side support device according to claim 1, each said cam member is configured to be coupled to a single drive via a respective connecting member.

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