JPH0423704Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automobile seat height adjustment device, and more particularly to a means for variably adjusting the height of a driver seat, etc. for a driver, depending on the vehicle speed.

[Conventional technology]

It is desirable that the height position of the driver seat for the driver is set so as to provide an optimum seating condition for driving. Therefore, recently, a seat height adjustment mechanism that can adjust the height of the seat to an optimal height according to the driver's body shape, etc., has been developed and put into practical use. However, in the conventional seat height adjustment mechanism, after the driver makes the initial settings while the vehicle is stopped, the seat is held constant, and no changes are made at least while the vehicle is running.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, the conventional seat height adjustment mechanism having the above structure has the following disadvantages. In other words, when a car is driving at low speeds, the driver often looks at the area directly in front of the car and needs to have a wide field of vision in front of the car, but when the car is driving at high speeds, the driver often looks into the distance. , the area directly in front of the vehicle usually disappears from the field of vision.
In other words, the driver's field of vision generally changes depending on the vehicle speed, but in conventional systems, the seat height does not change to follow the change in the field of view, which increases the driver's feeling of fatigue and reduces comfort. There were some drawbacks that made it difficult to drive.

Therefore, the present invention aims to automatically adjust the driver's seat to the optimal height according to the vehicle speed when the actual vehicle speed, that is, the actual vehicle speed, exceeds the set speed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a sensitive automobile seat height adjustment device.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention is characterized by taking the following measures in order to solve the above problems and achieve the objectives. That is, a pattern storage means for storing a plurality of vehicle speed vs. seat height change patterns corresponding to a preset initial seat height for each body type, and a plurality of vehicle speed vs. seat height changes stored in this pattern storage means. An operation switch that selects and operates one of the patterns, a vehicle speed sensor that detects the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle, and a vehicle speed sensor that detects the actual vehicle speed when the actual vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor exceeds a preset speed. and a comparison and adjustment means for comparing the seat height of the vehicle speed and the seat height of the vehicle speed versus seat height change pattern and adjusting the actual seat height so that the difference becomes zero, and the actual vehicle speed exceeds the set speed. The present invention is characterized in that the actual seat height follows the seat height of the vehicle speed versus seat height change pattern according to the vehicle speed.

[Effect]

By taking the above measures, the seat of the driver or the like can be automatically adjusted to an optimal height that is compatible with changes in the field of view corresponding to the vehicle speed.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a driver seat (hereinafter simply referred to as the seat) for a driver, and the height position of this seat 1 is adjusted by a height adjustment mechanism 2. This height adjustment mechanism 2 increases the height of the seat 1 by supplying air to the air spring 3 with a first electromagnetic air valve 4 for air supply, and a second electromagnetic air valve 5 for exhausting air. The height of the seat 1 is lowered by exhausting the air. These first and second air valves 4 and 5 are driven and controlled by a control device 6. The control device 6 will be explained in detail later, but it is supplied with signals from an operation switch 7, a seat height sensor 8, an engine key sensor 9, a vehicle speed sensor 10, etc. It is designed to drive and control the air valves 4 and 5 of No. 2.

The operation switch 7 is a switch for the driver to initially set the height H of the seat 1 according to his/her own body shape, etc., and can set the height H1, H2, H3 in stages, for example. It is becoming.

The seat height sensor 8 is composed of, for example, a photo sensor, and is configured to detect the height H of the seat 1 and send out a digital signal corresponding to this height H.

The engine key sensor 9 is configured to send out a predetermined signal depending on whether an engine key (not shown) is turned on or off.

The vehicle speed sensor 10 consists of a gear 12 that is supplied to the propeller shaft 11 and an electromagnetic pickup 13 placed opposite to the gear 12, and extracts and sends out a vehicle speed signal corresponding to the rotation of the propeller shaft 11, that is, the vehicle speed. It is becoming.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 6 together with its peripheral parts. In Figure 2, 20
is a 1-chip microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as microcomputer), which includes a CPU21, ROM22,
It consists of RAM23, I/O/PORT24, etc. The microcomputer 20 is supplied with power from a power supply device 25, and the CPU 21 is supplied with an oscillation output from an oscillator 26. In addition, signals from the operation switch 7, height sensor 8, engine key sensor 9, and vehicle speed sensor 10 are input to the I/O port 24 via the buffer 27, and
A control output is sent from the O-PORT 24 to the first and second air valves 4 and 5 via a buffer 28.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram that blocks the functions of the microcomputer 20 shown in FIG. 2 and shows the configuration of the entire control system, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of FIG. 3, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between seat height H and V; The configuration and operation of the entire control system will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. Assume that the engine key is now turned on. Then, a signal is sent from the engine key sensor 9 to the operation switch 7 to enable the operation. The driver then operates the operating switch 7 to select the seat heights H, H1, H2, and H39 according to his/her body type. Then, one of the vehicle speed vs. seat height change patterns (hereinafter abbreviated as V-H pattern) such as A1, A2, and A3 in FIG. 5, which are stored in advance in the memory 31 (corresponding to ROM), is specified. . For example, if the seat height H1 is selected by the operating switch 7, the VH pattern A1 is designated. Then, the pattern A1 is read out from the memory 31 and transferred to the register 32 (corresponding to RAM). The vehicle speed signal from the vehicle speed sensor 10 is then supplied to the register 32, but the vehicle speed is zero in the initial state. Therefore, the seat height in the V-H pattern A1 corresponding to zero vehicle speed, that is, H1, is read from the register 32,
This becomes one input of the comparator 33. At this time, a signal indicating the current height B from the seat height sensor 8 is input as the other input of the comparator 33. The two height input signals are thus compared in the comparator 33. Since the current seat height B is at the lowest level H0 in the initial state as will be described later, A>B. Therefore, a drive output is sent to the first air valve 4 in accordance with the output from the comparator 33, and air is supplied to the air spring 3 of the seat height adjustment mechanism 2. As a result, the current seat height B rises from the lowest level H0 to H1 as shown by arrow b1 in FIG.
Then, A=B, and the air supply operation stops. In this way, the height of the seat 1 is adjusted to the optimal height before traveling.

When the car starts running and the vehicle speed V increases, the set seat height A corresponding to the vehicle speed is stored in the register 32.
are read out one after another and input to the comparator 33. However, in a low speed range (below VK in FIG. 5), for example, up to about 80 km/h, the set seat height A remains unchanged, so the state of A=B is maintained. When the speed reaches a high speed range, such as a set speed of 80 km or more, the seat height level of pattern A1 decreases as shown in FIG. In such a state, the set seat height A becomes lower than the current seat height B, as shown by E in FIG. When this happens, a drive output is sent from the comparator 33 to the second air valve 5, and air is discharged from the air spring 3. As a result, the sheet 1 reduces its height. When B becomes equal to A, air discharge stops. By repeating the above operation, the current seat height B will also change following the change in the set seat height A, and eventually the fifth seat height will change.
As shown by arrow b2 in the figure, the current seat height B is variably adjusted along the V-H pattern A1. In this way, when the vehicle speed of the seat 1 exceeds the set speed, the actual seat height B is automatically adjusted to the optimum height according to the actual vehicle speed, following the seat height A of the vehicle speed vs. seat height change pattern. Therefore, you can drive comfortably.

If the vehicle speed decreases and the condition A>B occurs, the seat 1 rises in accordance with the decrease in vehicle speed, contrary to the case described above, and returns to the original set seat height H1.

When the vehicle stops running and the engine key is turned off, the engine key sensor 9 sends a signal to the comparator 33 to determine A0, that is, the minimum seat height H0 in FIG.
A signal indicative of a level smaller than is provided as a set seat height signal. Therefore, no matter what level the seat height B is at present, the condition A<B is present, and air is discharged from the air spring 3. Seat 1 is therefore returned to the lowest level HO. In this way, the driver can easily get on and off the vehicle when getting out of the vehicle and getting on the vehicle again.

The above operation is performed in the same manner even when H2 or H3 is selected by the operating switch 7.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the one embodiment described above. For example, in the embodiment described above, a microcomputer is used as the main part of the control system, but other circuits may be used instead. Further, in the above embodiments, an air spring is used as the seat height adjustment mechanism, but other drive mechanisms may be used. It goes without saying that various other modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Effect of idea]

(a) According to the present invention, when the vehicle speed exceeds the set speed, the actual seat height follows the seat height of the previously set and stored vehicle speed vs. seat height change pattern according to the actual vehicle speed that exceeded the set speed. Therefore, when the actual vehicle speed exceeds the set speed, the driver's seat is automatically adjusted to the optimal height that corresponds to the actual vehicle speed (that is, adapts to changes in the field of view). . Therefore, the driver feels less fatigued and can drive comfortably.

(b) According to the present invention, a plurality of vehicle speed vs. seat height change patterns corresponding to the initial seat height for each preset body type are stored in advance in the pattern storage means, and the above-mentioned storage is performed as an operation. All you have to do is select one of the multiple vehicle speed vs. seat height change patterns using the operating switch. In other words, a desired vehicle speed versus seat height change pattern can be selected with a single operation of the operating switch. Therefore, it is easy to operate and has the advantage of being able to perform stable control operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 5 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention, in which Figure 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an automobile seat height adjustment device, and Figure 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a control device and its surroundings. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the overall configuration of the control system by dividing the functions of the microcomputer in FIG. 2 into blocks, FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 3, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between seat height and vehicle speed. 1... Driver seat for driver, 2... Seat height adjustment mechanism, 3... Air spring, 4...
Air supply electromagnetic first air valve, 5... Exhaust electromagnetic second air valve, 6... Control device, 7...
Operation switch, 8... Seat height sensor, 9...
Engine key sensor, 10...vehicle speed sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A pattern storage means for storing a plurality of vehicle speed vs. seat height change patterns corresponding to an initial seat height for each body type set in advance, and a plurality of patterns stored in the pattern storage means. an operation switch that selects and operates one of the vehicle speed versus seat height change patterns; a vehicle speed sensor that detects the actual vehicle speed of the vehicle;
When the actual vehicle speed detected by this vehicle speed sensor exceeds a preset speed, the actual seat height is compared with the seat height of the vehicle speed vs. seat height change pattern, and the difference is made to zero. a comparison adjustment means for adjusting the actual seat height, and the actual seat height follows the seat height of the vehicle speed versus seat height change pattern in response to the actual vehicle speed exceeding the set speed. An automobile seat height adjustment device characterized by: