JPH0540763Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention relates to a device for adjusting the stiffness and posture of the part of the seat that supports the lumbar region of a person, and is applicable to seats in automobiles, airplanes, etc. Can be used.

[Prior art] As this type of conventional technology, for example,
Those disclosed in JP-A-10051, JP-A-61-73615, and JP-A-61-226006 are known.

In this type of device, for example, a plate-shaped lumbar support member is rotatably supported around a rotation axis facing in the lateral direction of the seat, and the position of the lumbar support member and the force with which it pushes the lumbar region can be adjusted. configured to be possible.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] To briefly explain, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-10051 uses a corrugated (S-shaped) shape in the lumbar support part.
A spring is placed under tension, and it is configured to be movable in the front and rear directions. If the spring is moved back and forth, the posture of the lumbar support portion changes, the force with which the human body pushes the spring changes, and the pressing force of the spring, that is, the hardness of the lumbar support portion that the person feels changes.

In devices using this type of wave spring, the spring wears out quickly, so it is necessary to limit the amount of deflection of the spring to a small value, and as a result, a spring with a large spring constant must be used. However, since the amount of deflection of the spring is limited to a small amount, the stroke in which the waist support portion can be moved in the longitudinal direction is small and the adjustment range is narrow. In addition, because the spring constant is large, when the lumbar support part is moved forward,
There is a disadvantage that there is a high possibility that the seated person will experience discomfort such as pain.

Furthermore, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-73651, a plate-shaped pressing member is arranged at the waist support part, and a coil spring is stretched between the pressing member and an adjustment member that adjusts the position of the pressing member. The spring constant of the waist support portion is changed by changing the distance from the center of rotation of the pressing member to the line of action of the force of the coil spring. However, this type of device has the disadvantage that it is not possible to greatly change the posture of a seated person because the amount of movement of the pressing member is small in an unloaded state.

Further, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-226006, a plate-shaped pressing member is arranged at the waist support part, and a coil spring is stretched between the pressing member and an adjustment member that adjusts the position of the pressing member. By adjustment, the distance from the center of rotation of the pressing member to the line of action of the force of the coil spring is changed, and the pressing member is moved in the front-rear direction. However, if the pressing member receives a large force from the seated person when the pressing member is moved forward, in order to achieve a large change in posture adjustment, it is necessary to use a coil spring with a large number of turns and a large outer diameter. There is an inconvenience that it is difficult to store it in the seat bag.

An object of the present invention is to provide a lumbar support adjustment device that is small in size, has a relatively soft pressing portion, and is capable of adjusting posture over a wide range.

[Structure of the invention] [Means for solving the problems] In order to achieve the above purpose, the invention includes the following:
A pressing means including a pressing part rotatably supported by the seat back frame and whose position changes in the front-rear direction of the seat by the rotation of the pressing part; having a movable part and a regulating means for regulating the movement of the movable part; An adjustment means for adjusting the state of the pressing means by moving the movable part; a link means, a part of which engages with the movable part of the adjustment means and is rotatably supported by the seat back frame; and one end. is engaged with a portion of the link means, the other end thereof is engaged with the rotation axis of the pressing means, and the elastic member is formed in a spiral shape substantially centered on the rotation axis.

[Operation] Normally, the movable part of the adjusting means is brought to a stationary state by the regulating means, so the linking means is also brought to a resting state, and one end of the elastic member, that is, the spiral spring that engages with it, is fixed. Therefore, if no force is applied to the pressing means from the outside, the pressing means will
It is positioned at a position determined by the shape of the elastic member. By moving the adjustment means, the link means rotates via its movable portion, and one end of the elastic member that engages with the means rotates. The pressing means moves in accordance with the rotation of one end of the elastic member, and its position changes in the front-rear direction of the seat back frame.

Since the pressing portion of the pressing means is arranged at a portion facing the lumbar vertebrae of the person sitting on the seat, when the pressing means moves, the posture of the sitting person can be changed. Also, if there is a person sitting on the seat,
A reaction force that opposes the pressing force applied by the pressing means to the person is applied by the person to the pressing means. Since one end of the elastic member is fixed, the reaction force causes
The elastic member deforms, the force applied by the elastic member to the pressing means changes, and the force with which the pressing means presses the person also changes.
In other words, the pressing force of the lumbar support changes depending on the load applied by the person to the pressing means.

In the case of such a lumbar support, the relationship between the position of the pressing part, the load, and the adjustment range is mainly determined by the characteristics of the elastic member. However, even if a spiral spring is small, it can provide a large amount of torque. By inserting the spiral spring between the link means and the pressing means, a large stroke can be allowed for the movement of the pressing portion of the pressing means. Further, since the spring constant of the pressing portion can be set to be small, there is no fear of causing discomfort such as pain to the seated person.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become clear from the following description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment] FIG. 2 shows an automobile seat 20 equipped with a lumbar support adjustment device 19 implementing the present invention, with half of the pad material 21 and trim cover assembly 22 broken apart. Further, an enlarged exploded perspective view of the main parts of the lumbar support adjustment device 19 is shown in FIG. 1, and a cross section taken along the line -- in FIG. 1 is shown in FIG.

First, explanation will be given with reference to FIG. A pressing plate 10 is arranged at a portion facing the lumbar vertebrae of a normal person sitting on this seat. This pressing plate 10 is in the shape of a thin plate, and is arranged in an elongated manner in the lateral direction of the sheet. The pressing plate 10 has its front surface in the thickness direction in contact with the pad material 21, and is supported by the rod 7 by a connecting portion (not shown) provided on the rear surface, and is rotatable with respect to the rod 7. .

Next, the details of the configuration will be explained with reference to FIG.
The rod 7 is a metallic member with a circular cross section, and by bending at four places (7a, 7b and two places not shown), the part (center part) that supports the pressure plate 10 can be rotated. The shape is such that it is located outside the center line of motion. The shape of the rod 7 is the central part, that is, the pressing plate 10.
It is symmetrical to the part that supports it.

Both ends of the rod 7 pass through holes 11a formed on both sides of the seat back frame 11,
It is rotatably supported by those holes.
8a and 8b are E-type retaining rings (E-rings) for preventing the rod 7 from falling off.

6 is a spiral spring formed by forming a thin plate-like member into a spiral shape, and one end 6a protruding from the center of the spring engages with a groove 7c formed in one end of the rod 7, and the spring 6 is arranged to cover the outer periphery of the rod 7.

A circular hole 5a through which one end of a rod 7 passes is formed at one end of the link 5, and the link 5 is rotatably supported by the rod 7 in the hole 5a. A folded portion 6b is formed at the outer peripheral end of the spiral spring 6, and this is engaged with a portion 5b of the link 5, as shown in FIG. Therefore, when the link 5 rotates, the one end 6b of the spiral spring 6 also moves.

1 is an electric motor that drives this lumbar support adjustment device. The drive shaft of the electric motor 1 is
It is connected to a screw 15 via a gear housing 14 containing a gear group for deceleration. A nut 2 is screwed into the threaded portion of the screw 15. Therefore, when the electric motor 1 is energized, the screw 15 is activated through the gear in the gear housing 14.
rotates, and the nut 2 is rotated in the axial direction of the screw 15.
moves. At one end 15a of the screw 15,
A ring-shaped stopper 3 is attached. The stopper 3 is fixed to the screw 15 by a pin 4. That is, the movement range of the nut 2 is restricted by the gear housing 14 and the stopper 3.

One end 25b of the screw 15 passes through a hole 9a formed in the bearing bracket 9 and is supported by the hole 9a. The bearing bracket 9 and gear housing 14 are fitted with bolts 12a, 12b and 12.
c is fixed to the seat back frame 11.

Protrusions 2a and 2 are provided on both sides of the nut 2, respectively.
b is formed. These protrusions 2a, 2b
are two claws 5c, 5 formed at one end of the link 5.
It is constantly engaged with d.

In other words, when the electric motor 1 is energized, the screw 15 rotates and the nut 2 moves linearly in the axial direction.Thereby, the link 5 rotates around the hole 5a, and the outer side of the spiral spring 5 is rotated. One end 6b of is rotated. Therefore, if there is no change in the load applied to the pressing plate 10, that is, the pressing force, as the link 5 rotates, the inner end 6a of the spiral spring 5 also rotates, causing the rod 7 to rotate. Therefore, the central portion 7c of the rod 7 moves in a relatively large circular trajectory centering on one end 7d. As a result, the pressing plate 10 attached to the rod 7 moves.

Actually, nut 2 is the most gear housing 14
5, the arm portion 7e of the rod 7 faces in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the load received from the seated person MAN, that is, in a direction parallel to the direction of the seat back SB, as shown by the solid line in FIG. is stopper 3
When it moves to the side, the central part 7c of the rod 7 moves forward, and the arm part 7e moves as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
Tilt towards the direction of seat back SB.

The pressure plate 1 is positioned in this way.
This is to change the stiffness that the seated person MAN feels due to a pressing force of 0 depending on the adjustment position of the lumbar support adjusting device of the pressing plate 10. That is,
When the central portion 7c of the rod 7 is pushed back by a certain stroke in the tangential direction of its locus of movement, the reaction force generated by the spring 6 is constant at any position.
However, as shown in Fig. 5, the direction of the load is tangential to the rod 7c when it is in the weak position (retracted position), but it is tilted to the tangential direction of the rod 7c in the strong position (forward position). There is. That is, when trying to push back the press plate 10 by a certain stroke using force in the direction of the load, the press plate can be pushed with a small force at a weak position, but a large force is required at a strong position. Conversely, in the weak position, the lumbar support feels soft, and in the strong position, it gives the seated a hard feeling.

Note that since the press plate 10 is supported by the pad material 21 and the trim cover assembly 22, its surface always faces in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the load.

4a, 4b and 4c are graphs showing characteristics of the lumbar support adjustment device,
Characteristics of this example, Special Publication No. 56-10051
Typical examples of the characteristics of the device as shown in the above publication and the characteristics of the device as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 73615/1986 are shown below. In each figure, line L
1 and L2 indicate the relationship between the position of the pressing portion (change due to deflection) and the load when the characteristics of the lumbar support adjustment device are adjusted to the strong position and the weak position, respectively. Further, the one-dot chain line indicates the magnitude of the reaction force from the seated person at each position when the pressing part is moved, and the two-dot chain line indicates the yield point of the spring in each device, that is, the usable limit range.

The stroke l indicating the adjustment range of each device is defined by the intersection point B of the characteristic line L1 and the dashed line of the reaction force, and the characteristic line L
2 and the intersection point A of the reaction force with the dashed-dotted line. Therefore, when comparing FIGS. 4a, 4b, and 4c, it is clear that the device of this embodiment has a wide adjustment range and can withstand a large load, and is therefore very superior. Furthermore, in FIG. 4a, the fact that the slopes of the characteristic lines L1 and L2 are different indicates that the hardness of the pressing portion changes at the same time as the posture is adjusted. Furthermore, the fact that the slopes of the characteristic lines L1 and L2 are small indicates that the pressing portion is relatively soft.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, the posture of the lumbar support can be adjusted over a wide range without making the pressing part unnecessarily hard. Furthermore, since a spiral spring is used, the spring portion can fit into a small space, making it possible to downsize the device. Furthermore, by using a support structure in which the pressing part rotates as in the embodiment, it is possible to prevent torsional force from acting on the seatback frame, thereby reducing the strength required for the seatback frame. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the weight of the seat back frame.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the main parts of a lumbar support adjustment device according to an embodiment. Figure 2 shows the first
1 is a partially exploded perspective view showing an automobile seat incorporating the illustrated device; FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line -- in FIG. 1. FIG. 4a is a graph showing the characteristics of the device of the embodiment, and FIGS. 4b and 4c are graphs showing typical characteristics of the device according to the prior art. FIG. 5 is a side view showing the seat 20 and the seated person MAN. 1... Electric motor (adjustment means), 2... Nut (movable part), 3... Stopper, 4... Pin, 5...
Link (link means), 6... Spiral spring (elastic member), 7... Rod, 8a, 8b...
...E-type retaining ring, 9...Bearing bracket, 10...
Pressing plate (pressing means), 11... Seat back frame, 12a, 12b, 12c... Bolt, 13... Seat spring, 14... Gear housing, 15... Screw (regulating means), 1
9... Lumbar support adjustment device, 20... Seat, 21... Pad material, 22... Trim cover assembly, MAN... Seating person, SB... Seat back.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) Pressing means including a pressing portion that is rotatably supported by the seat back frame and whose position changes in the front-rear direction of the seat as the pressing portion rotates; a movable portion and the movable portion; an adjusting means for adjusting the state of the pressing means by moving the movable part; a part of the adjusting means engages with the movable part of the adjusting means so that the seat back can be freely rotated; a linking means supported by a frame; and one end engaging a portion of the linking means and the other end engaging a pivot axis of the pushing means, the linking means being arranged in a spiral shape substantially about the pivot axis. A lumbar support adjustment device comprising: an elastic member formed therein. (2) The pressing means has a protruding part whose both ends are pivotally supported by both sides of the seat back frame, and at least the central part thereof protrudes outward with respect to the center of rotation;
The lumbar support adjustment device according to claim (1) of the above-mentioned utility model registration, comprising: and a pressing plate swingably supported by the protrusion. (3) The adjusting means includes an electric drive source that generates a driving force in the rotational direction, and a conversion mechanism that converts the driving force in the rotational direction generated by the electric drive source into linear motion. Scope of patent registration request No.
Lumbar support adjustment device described in (1). (4) The link means has a hole formed at one end through which one end of the rotating shaft of the pressing means passes, and an opening in which the movable part of the adjustment means engages at the other end, and the link means The lumbar support adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein a folded portion formed at one outer end of the elastic member is engaged between the one end and the other end of the elastic member. (5) One end of the inner side of the elastic member is engaged with a groove formed on the outer circumferential surface of one end of the rotation shaft of the pressing member.
The lumbar support adjustment device described in paragraph (3) or paragraph (4).