Delta Tooling Co., Ltd.

Delta Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Ryuji Kuwano

Etsunori Fujita

Yumi Ogura

Eiji Sugimoto

Minoru Nakamura

Seiji Kawasaki

Katsuhiro Inoue

Masahiro Kuromoto

Soichi Makita

Toshiya Kushiyama

Jun Fukuda

Atsushi Nishida

Shigeyuki Kojima

Seiya Yoshida

Hitoshi Fujita

Shuji Kasama

Masahiro Mashino

Jiro Kondo

Katsutoshi Aratani

Koji Wakita

There are improved a vibration absorption characteristic and an impact absorption characteristic. A seat suspension mechanism set so that links of a first link mechanism on a base frame side and links of a second link mechanism on a seat support frame side, between which an intermediate frame is put, differ in operating angles, that is, so that the links of the second link mechanism operate in the range of an angle closer to a vertical to a front-rear direction of a vehicle body. This allows front-rear movement of the seat support frame through the second link mechanism to mainly respond to input vibrations of front-rear movement to thereby improve a vibration absorption characteristic and an impact absorption characteristic in the front-rear direction.

Seat suspension mechanism

A body weight adjustment mechanism for automatic adjustment to a balanced point is provided to improve vibration absorption characteristics and impact absorption characteristics. A torsion angle of a lower frame-side torsion bar when an upper frame is at a balanced point is found in advance, a torsion angle of the lower frame-side torsion bar in a state in which a person is seated is detected, the detected torsion angle is compared with the aforesaid balanced point torsion angle, a control signal is sent to an elastic force adjusting unit, and torsion angles of upper frame-side torsion bars are adjusted so that the torsion angle of the lower frame-side torsion bar becomes equal to the balanced point torsion angle. The upper frame can be set to an appropriate position in an initial state and a static state in which a person is seated and vibration and impact absorption characteristics are improved.

There are improved a vibration absorption characteristic and an impact absorption characteristic. In a suspension mechanismof the present invention, first and second dampers () are suspended in parallel between an upper frame () and a lower frame () with mounting angles different from each other. For this reason, the smaller mounting angle the damper has, the smaller a vertical component of damping force becomes, and the damping force which acts on the upper frame () and the lower frame () which move up and down relatively is moderate in effectiveness as compared with a case of disposing all the dampers at the same mounting angle. Thus, a sense of incongruity in which strong damping force acts abruptly is suppressed and the vibration absorption characteristic and the impact absorption characteristic are improved, which leads to improvement in ride comfort.

Suspension mechanism, multi-suspension mechanism and damper

A damper includes: a line-shaped member wound around an outer peripheral surface of a piston which makes a relative motion in a cylinder; and a viscous fluid made to adhere to the line-shaped member and exhibiting viscous damping force. The relative motion of the cylinder and the piston produces tension, and in the line-shaped member, as an amplitude is smaller, its contiguously wound portions each try to deform to twist along a circumferential direction of the line-shaped member itself, and as the amplitude is larger, the contiguously wound portions try to deform as a unit. When the amplitude is small, frictional resistance decreases, resulting in smooth motion of the piston, and appropriate damping force is obtained due to the viscous damping force of the viscous fluid. When the amplitude is large, as a result of the increased tendency that the contiguously wound portions of the line-shaped member try to deform as a unit, friction damping force acts relatively greatly.

Damper

A seat cushion part includes a base fabric extending between and looped around a front edge frame and a rear edge frame, and having an upper layer part and a lower layer part which are provided apart from each other in an up-down direction. Wire members of metal are provided respectively on side edge portions of the base fabric, and coil springs are spring members each extending between an end portion of the wire member and the front edge frame or the rear edge frame. A load further applied due to vibration, impact, and so on causes the upper layer part to come into contact with the lower layer part to also displace the lower layer part in the up-down direction. Consequently, the coil springs connected through the wire members extend/contract, and their elastic force acts.

Vehicle seat

A back cushioning member having a tensile structure to reduce discomfort of a seated person. A lower lumbar supportinstalled in a lower portion of a back frameand an upper lumbar supportinstalled in an upper portion of the lower lumbar supportare provided. Having vertically two lumbar supportsenables a first support plateof the lower lumbar supportto be provided so as to correspond mainly to a pelvis part where the sense of contact is hardly perceived, whereby the back cushioning memberhaving a tensile structure can be provided with a predetermined restoring force at a predetermined applicable elastic strength. Since the pelvis part located at a lower portion of a human body can be supported reliably, prevention of collapse of posture can be facilitated. Since the upper lumbar supportcorresponds mainly to a lumbar part, by setting the upper lumbar supportto provide a softer springiness than the lower lumbar supportthe sense of contact in the lumbar part is suppressed and the feeling during seating can be improved.

Lumbar support structure and seat structure

A sheet cushioning member includes front links coupled to a front torsion bar and rear links coupled to a rear torsion bar are arranged at a predetermined interval from each other in a front and rear direction of a seat, and when a predetermined load or larger is applied, the front links and the rear links rotate in opposite directions, and dampers are disposed to extend between lower portions of the front links and the rear links. When a predetermined load fluctuation or larger occurs, the dampers expand or contract to exhibit a damping force, and a load fluctuation smaller than this does not cause the dampers to expand or contract and is alleviated by elasticity of the front torsion bar and the rear torsion bar. An impact absorbing characteristic is thereby improved with a simple structure.

Seat cushioning member support mechanism and seat structure

A seat slide device includes lower rails and upper rails both formed substantially symmetrical bilaterally across a center in a width direction, and lock mechanisms on both sides of the upper rails to be engaged with the lower rails to lock them. An entire structure combining the lower rails, the upper rails and the lock mechanisms is substantially symmetrical forward, backward, and bilaterally, and a force applied to the lower rails and the upper rails can be absorbed substantially evenly forward, backward, and left and right. Since the lock mechanisms have an elastic lock member in a substantially center part in a longitudinal direction, the lower rails and the upper rails are elastically deformable for reduction of a biased load at a time of locking, improvement in vibration absorption characteristic, and the like, and a plate thickness of each material can be made thinner than conventional for weight reduction.

Seat slide device

A seat suitable for sports type automobiles with a low hip point. An energy absorbing structure part provided in a cushion frame is constituted of a substantially square frame body including a front beam and a rear beam, and stringers bridged across them and provided separately from side frames. It is structured such that belt anchor attaching members are each provided between a coupling position to a vicinity of a rear portion of upper rails of sliders and a coupling position of the rear beam in the stringers. When an impact force of a predetermined value or higher is applied, the stringers deform to absorb the impact force and trusses are formed after the deformation, thereby enabling to sustain a further impact force which continues to be applied.

A neck injury is improved with a structure having a lifting mechanism part only on one side. While a lifting driving part is provided on a side of one side frame, a coupling driving rod is coupled to a rotation center of a drive gear a driving link is disposed on a side of the other side frame, and the driving link is coupled to the coupling driving rod. A driving force in the lifting driving part operates on the side of one side frame having the drive gear, but on the side of the other side frame, the driving link rotates together with the drive gear via the coupling driving rod, so as to perform a lifting or lowering operation. The shape of a virtual square coupling contact points of the driving link, the side connectors, the coupling driving rod, and the drive gear does not collapse, and thus an external input is dispersed.

Lifter mechanism and vehicle seat

A predetermined component such as a recliner is attached to a long member in advance, and thereafter by bending the long member, a pair of side frames and an upper frame are integrally formed. Therefore, the recliner can be attached to the long member not bent yet and thus in a substantially flat state, and in addition, the pair of side frames and the upper frame can be integrally formed, which does not require labor and contributes to a reduction in manufacturing cost. Moreover, by adjusting a position where the bending is performed, it is possible to manufacture seat frame structures different in dimension even if the long members not bent yet have the same length, and from this viewpoint as well, it is possible to reduce labor and manufacturing cost.

Manufacturing method for seat frame structure

A vehicle seat suitable for weight reduction. A left and right side frames constituting a cushion frame unit are constituted of plate-shaped frames which are long in a forward and backward direction and formed of a thin material made of metal with a predetermined thickness or less, a plurality of beams are bridged across the side frames, and moreover, one or both of the side frames is or are supported on a seat slide device via a truss support part. In other words, the side frames disposed in a direction substantially orthogonal to the plurality of beams serve the role of stringers, and as a result, rigidity in the forward and backward direction of the side frames in particular is high rigidity of a predetermined value or more even if they are made of a thin material, and they can be reduced in weight.

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Hiroshima, Japan

Ryuji Kuwano