JPS6253615A - Pneumatic control type sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a seat for a vehicle, etc., in which the body pressure distribution of an occupant is controlled by air pressure.

Vehicle seats with various adjustment functions include those that are equipped with a refiner, lifter, etc. to adjust the position and posture of the occupant, and those that are equipped with thigh support, side support, lumbar support, etc., and mainly adjust the occupant's feeling and body pressure. There are some that can adjust the distribution. These are further classified into those in which adjustment is performed manually and those in which adjustment is performed by external power. In particular, the present invention relates to a pneumatically controlled seat that is equipped with a occupancy sensing system, in which the occupant's feeling and body pressure distribution are mainly adjusted using external power.

(Prior art) In this type of conventional technology, for example,
As shown in Japanese Patent No. 25812, an air pressure control type seat has been proposed in which a plurality of airbags are embedded in the seat and the pressure value of the air filled in each airbag can be adjusted. With such air pressure-controlled seats, the filling air pressure of each airbag can be quickly and freely adjusted, making it possible to achieve optimal body pressure distribution for each occupant, reducing occupant fatigue. The comfort and usability of the vehicle can be improved.

By the way, in the past, when adjusting the air pressure of such an airbag, adjustment was done point by point at each position after the occupant was seated in the seat, which had the disadvantage that there were many adjustment points and the operation was extremely complicated. Furthermore, if an attempt is made to fill each airbag with a predetermined air pressure when the passenger is not seated, the airbag will inflate excessively, which not only looks unsightly but also impairs the durability of the airbag.

Therefore, systems that detect the occupant's seating on the seat are already known, but in this system, for example, a pressure sensor for detecting the occupant's seating is separately embedded in a predetermined part of the seat, and pressure fluctuations by the sensor are detected to detect the occupant's seating. It was configured to sense.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, when this method is used, it is necessary to provide a sensing system separate from the airbag pressure adjustment system, which leads to problems such as complicating the system configuration and increasing costs. will occur.

The present invention is based on the configuration of a pneumatically controlled seat with a large number of airbags, and by automating the air pressure adjustment, it eliminates the complexity of operations associated with adjusting the air pressure, and also adjusts the air pressure of each airbag. Prior to this, we developed an improved pneumatically controlled seat that detects occupancy and eliminates the need for pressure sensors dedicated to occupancy detection, simplifying the system, reducing manufacturing costs, and improving durability. It is on offer.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention basically provides a vehicle seat of a type in which the feeling or body pressure distribution of a seated person is controlled by air pressure. a plurality of airbags embedded in the seat; an air pressure source; electromagnetic on-off valves provided in the air conduit corresponding to each of the airbags; and the electromagnetic on-off valves and the air pressure source. a single pressure sensor that is installed in the air conduit and detects the air pressure of the airbag; target pressure setting storage means that sets and stores a target pressure value to be filled in each of the airbags; It is electrically connected to an on-off valve, a pressure sensor, and a target pressure setting storage means, and is operated to sequentially open and close the electromagnetic on-off valve so that the detected value of air pressure by the pressure sensor becomes equal to the target pressure value. one of the airbags is selected as a occupancy sensing airbag, and only the electromagnetic on-off valve corresponding to the airbag is opened when occupancy is detected, and the pressure sensor detects the occupancy. A configuration characterized in that the seating on the seat is sensed by detecting fluctuations in the air pressure of the dual-purpose airbag, and then the air pressure control means is activated to adjust each airbag to a target pressure value. This paper proposes a pneumatically controlled seat.

(Operation) According to the configuration of the present invention described above, after the seating of the occupant is detected,
The air pressure control means can be activated to automatically adjust the air pressure of each air bag, which eliminates the complexity of operation and solves problems in appearance such as excessive expansion of the air bag.
The FI durability is improved, and since one of the airbags is also used for seating sensing, the system can be simplified and manufacturing costs can be reduced, thereby fully achieving the above objectives.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the general outline of a pneumatically controlled seat according to the present invention. In the lower region of the seat back part 1a of the vehicle seat l, there are nine air bubbles arranged in a matrix of three rows in each direction, and in the seat cushion part tb, there are nine air bubbles arranged in a matrix of three rows in each direction, for a total of 18 air bubbles. Bags 2 are buried respectively. Each airbag 2 is connected to a valve unit 4 through an independent air pipe 3.

The valve unit 4 is attached with a single pressure sensor 5, and an electric air pump unit 6 which serves as an air pressure source and includes a pump section 6a and a motor section 6b. Based on the detection result of No. 5, control is performed by a control unit 7 to which a keyboard 8 is connected.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the circuit configuration of the pneumatic system and electrical control system in the seat shown in FIG. The discharge side of the air pump unit 6 is connected to a common pipe line 10. 101 to 118, respectively, to the airbag 2 shown in FIG.
I will give the number. These airbags correspond to each other.

2-point, 2-position electromagnetic on-off valve 20 biased by a spring in the closing direction
1 to 218 via individual air pipe lines 3, and further connected to air pipe line IO via these electromagnetic on-off valves. Furthermore, this air conduit 10 is also connected to a two-bottom, two-position electromagnetic exhaust valve 11 which is also spring-biased in the closing direction. The other end of this exhaust valve 11 is open to the atmosphere.

Further, the single pressure sensor 5 is provided in a common air conduit 10, and its output terminal is electrically connected to the control unit 7.

In FIG. 2, solid lines indicate air piping paths, and broken lines indicate electrical control paths.

The control unit 7 constitutes a microprocessor together with a CPU 14 to which a RAM 12 and a ROM 13 are connected. The pressure signal from the pressure sensor 5 is sent to the Ill unit 7.
The signal is input to the A/D converter 15 in the computer, digitized there, and input to the CPU 14 via the input/output port 16.

The CPU 14 operates the airbags lo1 to 118 by operating the pump unitro and any one of the electromagnetic on-off valves 201 to 218 or the electromagnetic exhaust valve 11 via the driver circuit 17 in synchronization with the clock signal of its internal clock.
control to either increase or decrease the air pressure. That is, the pressure control means for each airbag is configured here.The keyboard 8 is used to give necessary instructions to the CPU 14 via the input circuit 18 and input/output capo 16, - The air pressure to be filled into the iis, that is, the target pressure value, can be set and stored in the ROM 13. That is, the target pressure value setting storage means is configured here.

In addition to manual setting, a function can also be provided in which a predetermined filling air pressure for each bag is automatically stored in advance in the ROM 13 as a target pressure value, and this is reproduced under the control of the CPU 12 at the time of pressure adjustment.

The air pressure adjustment operation of each air bag 101 to 118 will be explained next. The CPU 14 in the control unit 7 sequentially detects the air pressure of each air bag 101 to 118 according to a predetermined program using the common pressure sensor 5. , this is stored in the RAM 12, the detected air pressure of each airbag is compared with the target pressure value set and stored in the ROM 13, and the excess or defective amount Fr- is given to the IT worker 7 bag. These are the driver circuit 15 from the CPU 14.
The electromagnetic on-off valve 201~ corresponding to the target airbag via
218, by selectively operating the electromagnetic exhaust valve 11 and the motor section 6b of the pump unitro.

In the simplest case, this target pressure value may be set to the same pressure value for each airbag 101-118, but in some cases, a different target pressure value may be set for each airbag. 0 For example, assuming that the desired pressure of the support area of the seat does not differ much regardless of the size of the seated human body, the desired pressure data for each area is stored in ROM1 in advance as a target pressure value.
3 can be stored.

Further, the filling air pressure of each airbag 101 to 118 only needs to be adjusted once when the occupant is seated, but the above-described operation may be repeated at fixed time intervals, for example, every 10 minutes, or It is also possible to perform the above-mentioned adjustment operation at all times while the occupant is seated, and to control the body pressure distribution so as to constantly correspond to the seated posture of the occupant.

By the way, in this way, a large number of airbags 101 to 118
Conventionally, the operation of filling air into the body to adjust the body pressure distribution of the occupant was performed point by point at each position while the occupant was seated, making the adjustment operation extremely complicated and difficult to get used to the mechanism. For people, the operation was painful. Additionally, if you try to fill each airbag with the predetermined air pressure when the occupant is not seated, the airbags will not only inflate excessively, causing unsightliness, but also reduce the durability of the airbags, since no external pressure from the occupant is applied to the airbags. There is a risk of damage.

Therefore, in the present invention, prior to adjusting the air pressure of each airbag 101 to 118, the fact that an occupant is seated on the seat is sensed using the air pressure adjustment piping system, and after the sensing operation is completed, the internal pressure of each airbag is adjusted. The airbag is configured to automatically adjust to the target pressure value stored in the ROM 13, thereby eliminating the complexity of the conventional adjustment operation described above and improving the durability of the airbag.

That is, for this purpose, one of the airbags 101 to 118, for example, the airbag 101, is selected as the airbag that also serves to detect the occupant's seating. Then, under the control of the CPU 14 in the control unit 7, when the seating is detected, only the electromagnetic on-off valve 201 corresponding to the air purifier 101 is opened, the other electromagnetic on-off valves are left closed, and the selected one is The pressure inside the airbag 101 is detected by the pressure sensor 5.

To explain this series of operations using the flowchart in Fig. 3, first, when starting the vehicle, turn on the ignition switch (step SL) and turn on the circuit power supply (not shown in Fig. 2) (step 32). When the power is turned on, the control operation of the CPU 14 is started, whereby only the electromagnetic on-off valve 201 is turned on and opened (step S3).

Then, the pressure sensor 5 detects the seating position of the airbag 1.
01 is detected and its detection (step S4
), it is confirmed whether or not there is a pressure fluctuation in the detected value that is greater than a reference value set by the CPU 14 (step S5).

If there is no confirmed pressure fluctuation yet, the process returns to step S4 to continue pressure detection, and then returns to step S5. On the other hand, if there is a pressure fluctuation, the seating sensing of the occupant sitting on the seat is completed here.

Therefore, after that is completed, the adjustment operation of the air pressure of each airbag 101 to 118 is started, and the above-mentioned adjustment is made so that the air pressure of each airbag reaches the target pressure value set in the ROM 13 (step S6 ),and,
It is confirmed that the adjustment of all airbags is completed (step S7).
If the adjustment is not completed, the adjustment of the airbag is repeated one after another (step S8); if the adjustment is completed, all one or more control operations are completed (step S9).

Note that the selected seat 10 position of the airbag 101 is as follows:
The most reliable contact point when the passenger is seated is the position A, which is directly below the hip point of the cushion portion 1b of the seat 1. Thigh support part B or seat bag part 1a
A desirable position is the lumbar support portion C of

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the air pressure of all airbags is adjusted after the seating of the occupant is detected, and a series of these operations is automatically performed. A comfortable seating feeling can always be obtained without imposing any operational burden, improving comfort, operability, and reducing fatigue.Moreover, the seating sensing function is superior to that of airbags for adjusting air pressure. In addition, the corresponding electromagnetic on-off valve and pressure sensor are also used, and there is no need for a separate means for occupancy detection, making it easy to simplify, downsize, and further reduce the cost of the system. Various effects can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is an overall perspective view showing the external configuration of a pneumatically controlled seat according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the circuit structure of the pneumatic system and electrical control system of the seat according to the embodiment of FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a series of control modes for sensing seating and adjusting the pressure of the airbag. 1--Seat 3.10...Air pipe 2.101
~118 fist・Air bag 4・・Valve unit 5・・Pressure sensor 6・・Pump unit 7・・Control unit 11・・Solenoid exhaust valve
1411・CPU201~218・e Solenoid on/off valve

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A vehicle seat of a type in which the feeling or body pressure distribution of a seated person is controlled by air pressure, which includes a plurality of airbags embedded in the seat, an air pressure source, and each of the airbags and the air pressure source. an air conduit connecting the air bags; an electromagnetic on-off valve provided in the air conduit corresponding to each air bag; a single pressure sensor for detecting the air pressure of the airbag, a target pressure setting storage means for setting and storing a target pressure value to be filled into each of the airbags, and a target pressure setting storage means for the electromagnetic on-off valve, the pressure sensor and the target pressure setting storage means pressure control means that is electrically connected and operates to sequentially open and close the electromagnetic on-off valve so that the detected value of the air pressure by the pressure sensor becomes equal to the target pressure value; One of the airbags is selected as the occupancy sensing airbag, and only the electromagnetic on-off valve corresponding to the airbag is opened when the occupancy is detected, and the pressure sensor detects fluctuations in the air pressure of the occupancy sensing airbag, and the airbag is moved to the seat. 1. A pneumatic control type seat, characterized in that the pneumatic pressure control type seat detects the seating of a person, and thereafter activates the pneumatic pressure control means to adjust each airbag to a target pressure value. (2) The pneumatically controlled seat according to claim 1, wherein the airbag that also serves as a seating sensor is located directly below the hip point in the cushion portion of the seat. (3) The pneumatically controlled seat according to claim 1, wherein the airbag for both seating sensing and seating is located in the thigh support portion of the cushion portion of the seat. (4) The pneumatically controlled seat according to claim 1, wherein the seating sensing airbag is located in a lumbar support portion of the back portion of the seat.