JPH11206503A - Pad for seat and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pad for seat excelling in the recycle property by heating, compressing, and molding an aggregate of polyester fibers and fusing contacts of fibers mutually by heat. SOLUTION: A pad for seat is constituted by heating, compressing, and molding a cottonlike fiber aggregate made of polyester fibers, a web 16 of polyester fibers in this case, and fixing mutual contacts of polyester fibers by a heat fusion layer. Preferably, polyester fiber 14 having a two layer structure composed of a core part made of high melting point polyester and an outer layer part made of low melting point polyester is used. Here, the high melting point polyester means polyester having a melting point of 240 to 290 deg.C, and the low melting point polyester means polyester having a melting point of 150 to 200 deg.C. The heating and compression molding is done by holding the web 16 in a state in which it is compressed in a predetermined shape and heating it in this state to fuse mutual contacts of fibers by heat.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seat pad, which is a cushion used mainly for an automobile seat, and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a seat pad called a bag pad or a cushion pad used for a backrest or a seat of an automobile seat is formed of a molded article of polyurethane foam. ing.

[0003] However, since polyurethane foam is a thermosetting resin, it cannot be generally recycled. Although some forms are recycled using chip foams, it is difficult to recycle HR foams or hot-cure foams with high density (urethane protrusions), burrs, and the like.

On the other hand, conventionally, there is a sheet pad in which a fiber-like aggregate of synthetic fibers is formed by fixing the contact points between the fibers with a urethane-based binder. In this case as well, recycling is performed due to the presence of the urethane-based binder. It becomes difficult to do.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet pad having excellent recyclability.

[0006]

The sheet pad according to the first aspect of the present invention is obtained by heat-pressing and molding an assembly of polyester fibers to thermally fuse the contact points between the fibers.

In this sheet pad, the contact points between the fibers in the aggregate of polyester fibers are fixed by heat fusion at the time of heat compression molding, so that they are set in a predetermined shape. Since the sheet pad is formed by heating and compression molding the polyester fiber aggregate in this manner, recycling is easy. Moreover, since it consists of a fiber aggregate, it is excellent in air permeability.

A second aspect of the present invention is the seat pad according to the first aspect, wherein the polyester fiber is a fiber comprising a high-melting-point polyester core portion and a low-melting-point polyester outer layer portion.

In this case, during the heat compression molding, the aggregate is heated to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the low-melting polyester constituting the outer layer of the polyester fiber, so that the outer layer is thermally fused at the contact point between the fibers. You.

In a third aspect of the present invention, in the seat pad according to the first aspect, the aggregate is a web of polyester fibers, and only this web is heated and compression-molded. Here, the web refers to a thin cotton-like fiber sheet,
It is formed by a card machine or a garnet machine.

As described above, since the sheet pad is constituted only by the web of the polyester fiber, laminar peeling hardly occurs. That is, when a hot-pressed pre-set product is molded together with the web, peeling is likely to occur between the web and the pre-set product. Can solve the problem.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing a pad for a sheet, the aggregate of polyester fibers is kept in a compressed state in a molding die having a plurality of ventilation holes, and is placed in the molding die through the ventilation holes. By passing hot air, the contact points of the fibers in the assembly are thermally fused to form a pad.

According to such a production method, a pad for a sheet obtained by heating and forming an aggregate of polyester fibers can be obtained, and a pad having excellent recyclability can be provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a seat pad.
5. The pad according to claim 4, wherein the molding die includes a pair of upper and lower dies that hold the assembly in a thickness direction of the pad, and the ventilation hole in a region where a thick portion of the pad is molded. An opening area per unit area is set to be larger than that of the ventilation hole in a region where a thin portion is formed, and the assembly is heated by passing the hot air up and down through the forming die.

As described above, by increasing the opening area per unit area of the ventilation hole of the molding die in the region where the thick portion of the pad is molded, compared with the ventilation hole in the region where the thin portion is molded. It is possible to improve the flow of hot air in the meat part and make it easier to fuse polyester fibers,
It is possible to suppress molding defects such as delamination.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a seat pad.
5. The molding die according to claim 4, wherein the molding die includes a pair of an upper die and a lower die that hold the assembly in a thickness direction of the pad, and a part of the molding die that forms a side surface of the pad. A vent hole is shielded, and the hot air is passed through the mold in the vertical direction to heat the assembly.

By blocking the ventilation holes at the portions where the pad side surfaces of the molding die are molded, it is possible to prevent the hot air flowing in the molding die in the vertical direction from escaping sideways. Therefore, in particular, when the pad side portion is formed to be thick, it is possible to prevent poor thermal fusion at the thick portion.

[0018] The method for manufacturing a sheet pad according to claim 7 is as follows.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that only the polyester fiber web is held in the molding die and is subjected to heat compression molding.

By setting only the web of the polyester fiber in the molding die and forming by heating and compression as described above,
Pad delamination can be prevented.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a seat pad 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention at the time of manufacture, FIG. 2 is a perspective cross-sectional view of a polyester fiber constituting the seat pad 10,
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a manufacturing process of the seat pad 10, FIG. 4 is a front view of the seat pad, and FIG.

The seat pad 10 is used as a bag pad for the backrest 1 of an automobile seat shown in FIG. 5, and is arranged on the front surface of the seat frame 2 and is made of a woven or knitted fabric made of polyester. And used by being covered with a surface material 3 such as.

As shown in FIG. 1, this seat pad 1
In the case of 0, the right and left sides are overlaid on the central portion 12, and the overlaid portion is configured as a side support 14.

The sheet pad 10 is formed by heating and compressing a cotton-like fiber aggregate made of polyester fibers, in this case, a web 16 of polyester fibers, and the points of contact between the polyester fibers are fixed by heat fusion. I have.

As the polyester fiber, as shown in FIG. 2, the core portion 18a has a high melting point polyester and the outer layer portion 18b
It is preferable to use a polyester fiber 14 having a two-layer structure made of low-melting polyester.

Here, the high melting point polyester means a polyester having a melting point of 240 to 290 ° C., and the low melting point polyester means a polyester having a melting point of 150 to 200 ° C.

As an example, a 13 denier polyester staple composed of a core portion 18a made of a high melting point polyester having a melting point of 265 ° C. and an outer layer portion 18b made of a low melting point polyester having a melting point of 175 ° C. is used.

The above-mentioned heat compression molding is performed by holding the web 16 in a compressed state and heating the web 16 in this state to thermally fuse the contact points of the fibers in the web 16.

Here, an example of a method for manufacturing the sheet pad 10 will be described.

For the manufacture, a mold 20 shown in FIG. 1 is used. The molding die 20 includes a lower die 22 as a fixed die held substantially horizontally by a frame 21, and an upper die 24 for holding the web 16 in a compressed state together with the lower die 22.

The lower mold 22 is concavely formed in a shape corresponding to the front portion of the pad 10 as a whole so as to form the front side of the pad 10 including the side support 14 and the side surface of the pad 10. Upper die 2 for molding the back side of pad 10
4 fits into the upper part of the lower mold 22 having a concave shape and
Is configured to be able to move up and down so as to be compressed.

The upper mold 24 and the lower mold 22 are formed of a punched steel plate. Therefore, both the molds 22 and 24 have a plurality of ventilation holes 26 through which hot air H passes. The opening diameter of the ventilation hole 26 in the upper mold 22 and the lower mold 24 is set larger in the region α where the side supports 14 are formed on both sides of the pad 10 than in the region where the center portion 12 is formed (FIG. 4). reference). For example, when the interval between the ventilation holes 26 is 15 mm, the opening diameter of the region where the central portion 12 is formed is 1.5 mm, and the opening diameter of the region α where the side supports 14 are formed on both sides is 3.0 mm. Set.

The opening diameter of the ventilation hole 26, particularly the opening diameter of the region α where both sides of the pad 10 thickened by the side support 14 are formed, is made to have a good flow of hot air and heat-fused polyester fibers. In order to make it easier, it is preferable that it is 3 mm or more.

As shown in FIG. 1, on the side wall 22a of the lower mold 22 for molding the side surface of the pad 10, a shielding plate 28 for shielding the ventilation hole 26a provided on the side wall 22a is attached to the outer surface. Have been. An iron plate having no ventilation holes is used for the shielding plate 28. Thus, on both sides of the pad 10, before the hot air Ha that has entered the forming die 20 from above reaches the surface of the side support 14, the hot air Ha passes through the ventilation holes 26 a of the side wall 22 a of the lower die 22.
Prevents running away from zero.

At the time of heat compression molding, first, FIG.
(A) As shown in FIG.
With the 0 opened, the web 16 of polyester fiber is set on the lower mold 22. Then, lower the upper mold 24,
The web 16 is kept in a compressed state in the mold 20.

It should be noted that the degree of compression of the web 16 is such that the sheet pad 10 has an appropriate gap between the fibers, has sufficient air permeability for passing hot air H, and has an appropriate degree as a sheet pad. What is necessary is just to set it to such an extent that it can exhibit high elasticity. For example, if the density of the sheet pad 10 is 0.02
What is necessary is just to compress so that it may be set to 5-0.040 g / cm < ³ >.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 3B, the mold 20 is put into the heater 30, and the hot air H is blown into the mold 20.
To heat the web 16. The hot air H is applied to the mold 20.
Pass from top to bottom. This hot air H causes the web 16
The pad 10 is formed by heat-sealing the contact points of the fibers with each other. The hot air H is passed so that the surface temperature of the fiber is equal to or higher than its melting point. For example, in the case of the polyester staple having the two-layer structure, if the melting point of the outer layer portion 18b is 175 ° C., the outer layer portion 18b can be heat-sealed at the contact point between the fibers by passing hot air at 200 ° C. .

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the molding die 20 is put into a cooler 32 and sucked from below, so that cold air C is passed through the molding die 20 to form the pad 1 which has been molded.
Cool 0. Then, after cooling, the upper die 24 is raised to release the pad 10.

Since the sheet pad 10 of the present embodiment is composed of only the web 16 of polyester fiber, it is excellent in recyclability and air permeability.

The shielding plate 28 is provided on the side wall 22a of the lower mold 22.
And by closing the ventilation hole 26a in that part,
Hot air flowing in the mold 20 in the vertical direction can be prevented from escaping sideways. Therefore, as described above, even when the both sides of the pad 10 are formed to be thick by the side supports 14, the polyester fibers on both sides can be satisfactorily heat-sealed.

Further, since only the web 16 of polyester fiber is set in the mold 20 and formed by heating and compression, delamination of the pad 10 can be prevented. That is, for example, when a pre-formed preset product is placed on a web corresponding to the central portion 12 of the pad 10 and subjected to heat compression molding, delamination occurs between the web and the preset product. Although it is easy, such a laminar peeling can be prevented by molding only the web 16 at a time as described above.

Further, the opening diameter of the ventilation holes 26 of the upper and lower dies 22, 24 is made larger in the area α where the side supports 14 are formed on both sides of the pad 10 than in the area where the central part 12 of the pad 10 is formed. Thereby, it is possible to improve the flow of the hot air on both sides of the pad where the hot air is difficult to pass due to the large thickness, and it is possible to satisfactorily fuse the polyester fibers. Therefore, molding defects such as delamination on both sides of the pad can be suppressed.

The configuration in which the opening diameter of the ventilation hole 26 is increased in the region where the thick portion of the pad 10 is formed as described above is as follows.
It is not always necessary that the upper mold 22 and the lower mold 24 match each other. That is, for example, as shown in FIG.
When the safety pad portion 15 is formed so as to protrude on the rear side of the upper surface 22 of the upper die 22 forming the front side, the ventilation hole 2 is formed in the region β (see FIG. 6A) where the side support 14 is formed.
6 is set larger than the other areas, while the lower mold 24 forming the back side has the safety pad 1
5 and the region γ2 (see FIG. 6B) forming the lower side portions of the safety pad portion 15, the opening diameter of the vent hole 26 is set to be larger than the other regions. Is also good.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the sheet pad is formed by fixing the contact points between the fibers by heat fusion at the time of heating and compression molding using an aggregate of polyester fibers, the recyclability is excellent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a molding die during production of a sheet pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective cross-sectional view of polyester fibers constituting the seat pad.

3A and 3B are cross-sectional views for explaining a manufacturing process of the sheet pad, wherein FIG. 3A shows a process of holding a web in a molding die, FIG. 3B shows a heating process, and FIG. ing.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the seat pad.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a backrest of the vehicle seat;

FIG. 6A is a front perspective view of a seat pad according to another embodiment, and FIG. 6B is a rear perspective view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Sheet pad 12 ... Pad center part 14 ... Pad side support 16 ... Polyester fiber web 18 ... Polyester fiber 18a ... Core part 18b ... Outer layer part 20 ... Forming mold 22 ... Lower mold 24 …… Upper mold 26 …… Vent hole 28 …… Shield plate

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sheet pad formed by heat-pressing an aggregate of polyester fibers to thermally fuse the contact points between the fibers. 2. The pad according to claim 1, wherein the polyester fiber is a fiber comprising a core of a high-melting polyester and an outer layer of a low-melting polyester. 3. The pad for a sheet according to claim 1, wherein the aggregate is a web of polyester fibers, and only this web is subjected to heat compression molding. 4. An assembly of polyester fibers is kept in a compressed state in a mold having a plurality of air holes, and hot air is passed through the mold through the air holes, so that the fibers in the aggregate can be connected to each other. A method for manufacturing a pad for a sheet, comprising forming a pad by heat-sealing a contact. 5. The molding die includes a pair of an upper die and a lower die that hold the assembly in a thickness direction of the pad so that the ventilation hole is formed in a region where a thick portion of the pad is molded. An opening area per unit area is set to be larger than that of the ventilation hole in a region where a thin portion is formed, and the assembly is heated by vertically passing the hot air through the forming die. 5. The method for manufacturing a sheet pad according to item 4. 6. The molding die includes a pair of an upper die and a lower die that hold the assembly so as to sandwich the assembly in a thickness direction of the pad, and a part of the molding die where a side surface portion of the pad is molded. The method for manufacturing a pad for a sheet according to claim 4, wherein the ventilation holes are shielded, and the assembly is heated by passing the hot air vertically through the mold. 7. The method for producing a sheet pad according to claim 4, wherein only the web of the polyester fiber is held in the molding die and subjected to heat compression molding.