JP2023109058A - Automotive seat front frame - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to improve jointability with other members and bending workability in a front frame of an automobile seat. A front frame (100) of an automobile seat (1) has a non-straight tubular shape subjected to bending. The front frame 100 includes a flat outer flat surface 101 forming at least a portion of the outer side of the bending, and a curved inner arc surface 102 forming at least a portion of the inner side of the bending. The outer flat surface 101 continues to joint portions 121 and 131 that are joined to the cushion side frames 11 and 12 of the automobile seat 1, forming joint surfaces 121a and 131a. [Selection drawing] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a front frame of an automobile seat.

Metal pipes such as front frames of automobile seats are bent. In such a metal pipe, wrinkles or buckling may occur inside the bent portion when the bending curvature is large.

In Patent Document 1, the cross-sectional shape is an oval shape in which the upper and lower shapes are outwardly convex and the lateral part is straight, or the upper and lower shapes are outwardly convex and the lateral part is inwardly convex. An ultra-high-strength deformed electric resistance welded steel pipe is disclosed, which is characterized by a rounded gourd shape, an oval shape, or a gourd shape in which the lower side has a radius of curvature close to a straight line. This ultra-high tensile deformed electric resistance welded steel pipe has improved bending properties compared to round pipes.

JP-A-6-106978

The ultra-high tensile deformed electric resistance welded steel pipe of Patent Document 1 aims to improve the bending characteristics of the member alone, and does not consider the joinability with other members. In addition, no consideration is given to bending workability in the extending direction (longitudinal direction), which affects the aesthetic appearance of the product.

An object of the present invention is to improve bondability with other members and bending workability in a front frame of an automobile seat.

The present invention provides a bent non-straight tubular automobile seat front frame, comprising: a flat outer flat surface forming at least a part of the outside of the bending; and a curved inner arcuate surface constituting a part of the automobile seat, wherein the outer flat surface continues to a joint portion where the cushion side frame of the automobile seat is joined, and constitutes a joint surface. Provide front frame.

According to this configuration, since the joint surface can be flattened by the outer flat surface, the jointability between the front frame and the cushion side frame can be improved. If the front frame were made of a circular pipe, the joint surface would be an arcuate surface. Therefore, the cushion side frames also need to have complementary arcuate surfaces, which complicates the joining structure. On the other hand, in the above configuration, the bonding structure can be simplified by flattening the bonding surface with the outer flat surface. Therefore, since many types of bonding methods can be employed, a bonding method can be selected according to the manufacturing cost and required bonding strength. In addition, wrinkles or buckling due to bending can be suppressed by the inner arcuate surface. In addition, since the outer flat surface enables sharp bending, the degree of freedom in product design is high. Here, for example, the inner side of bending refers to the inner angle side when an inner angle of less than 180 degrees is formed after bending, and the outer side of bending refers to the outer angle side.

The front frame of the automobile seat may be made of an aluminum alloy extruded material having a uniform cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the extending direction.

According to this configuration, the aluminum alloy extruded material can be extruded so as to have an outer flat surface and an inner arc surface. Therefore, the manufacturing process can be simplified as compared with the case where the outer flat surface and the inner arcuate surface are formed by post-processing. For example, post-processing such as crushing a pipe member having a circular cross section to form an outer flat surface can be omitted.

In the cross section, the length of the outer flat surface may be less than or equal to twice the radius of curvature of the inner arcuate surface.

According to this configuration, it is possible to prevent the outer flat surface from becoming larger than necessary. The size of the outer flat surface may be determined from the viewpoint of bending workability and functioning as a joint surface, and these can be achieved by the above configuration. Further, for example, since the relationship between the outer flat surface and the inner circular arc surface can be set to the relationship between the chord and the arc in the cross section, the cross-sectional shape can be simplified.

In the cross section, the thickness of the portion forming the inner arcuate surface may be greater than the thickness of the portion forming the outer flat surface.

According to this configuration, the inner arc surface that contributes to the suppression of wrinkles or buckling is formed thicker than the outer flat surface that is not related thereto, thereby suppressing the weight increase and efficiently suppressing wrinkles or buckling. can.

The front frame of the automobile seat may further include a flat upper flat surface forming at least a portion of the upper side in the vehicle vertical direction.

According to this configuration, since the occupant can be supported by the upper flat surface, it is possible to effectively prevent the occupant from sliding on the automobile seat toward the front of the vehicle, thereby suppressing the so-called submarine phenomenon. Here, the upper side in the vertical direction of the vehicle refers to, for example, the upper half or more of the front frame.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the front frame of a seat for motor vehicles, the bondability with other members and bending workability can be improved.

1 is a perspective view of an automobile seat; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a front frame of an automobile seat according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the front frame of FIG. 2; FIG. 3 is a side view of the front frame of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the front frame of FIG. 3 taken along line V-V; The top view similar to FIG. 3 which shows the 1st modification of a front frame. The top view similar to FIG. 3 which shows the 2nd modification of a front frame. The side view similar to FIG. 4 which shows the 3rd modification of a front frame. The side view similar to FIG. 4 which shows the 4th modification of a front frame. Sectional drawing similar to FIG. 5 which shows the 5th modification of a front frame. Sectional drawing similar to FIG. 5 which shows the 6th modification of a front frame.

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

An automobile seat 1 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, surface members such as a seat cushion and a seat back that are originally attached to the automobile seat 1 are omitted so that the frame can be clearly seen. In the drawings, the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is indicated by the X direction, the lateral direction of the vehicle (horizontal direction of the vehicle) is indicated by the Y direction, and the vertical direction of the vehicle is indicated by the Z direction. These are also simply referred to as front and back, left and right, or up and down, respectively.

The automobile seat 1 has a seat cushion frame 10 that supports the occupant from below and a seatback frame 20 that supports the occupant from behind. A seat cushion (not shown) is attached to the seat cushion frame 10 , and a seat back (not shown) is attached to the seatback frame 20 .

The seat cushion frame 10 has cushion side frames 11 and 12 , seat cross members 13 and 14 , a rear frame 15 and a front frame 100 . The cushion side frames 11 and 12 are spaced apart in the left-right direction and extend in the front-rear direction. The seat cross members 13 and 14 are spaced apart in the front-rear direction and extend in the left-right direction to connect front and rear portions of the cushion side frames 11 and 12, respectively. The rear frame 15 extends in the left-right direction and connects the upper rear portions of the cushion side frames 11 and 12 . The front frame 100 constitutes the front portion of the automobile seat 1 , extends substantially in the left-right direction, and connects upper front portions of the cushion side frames 11 and 12 . Details of the front frame 100 will be described later.

The seat back frame 20 has back side frames 21 and 22, an upper frame 23, a middle frame 24, and angle adjustment units 25 and 26. As shown in FIG. The back side frames 21 and 22 are spaced apart in the left-right direction and extend in the up-down direction. The upper frame 23 extends in the left-right direction and connects upper ends of the back side frames 21 and 22 . The middle frame 24 extends in the left-right direction and connects central portions of the back side frames 21 and 22 . The angle adjustment units 25 and 26 connect the seat cushion frame 10 and the back side frames 21 and 22 so that the angle can be adjusted.

In this embodiment, fixing members 31 and 32 are provided at the lower left and lower right portions of the seat cross member 13, and fixing members 33 and 34 are provided at the lower left and lower right portions of the seat cross member 14. there is The fixing members 31 to 34 are fixed to a slide rail unit 40 schematically illustrated by dashed lines. The slide rail unit 40 has a mechanism for sliding the automobile seat 1 in the front-rear direction with respect to the floor panel 50 forming the floor surface of the passenger compartment. Note that only a portion of the floor panel 50 is shown in FIG.

A front frame 100 of an automobile seat 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 4, the cushion side frame 12 is schematically indicated by broken lines.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, front frame 100 has a non-straight tubular shape that is bent when viewed in the vertical direction of the vehicle. The front frame 100 is manufactured by bending both ends of a straight pipe backward. Specifically, the front frame 100 includes a base portion 110 extending in the left-right direction at the center in the vehicle width direction, end portions 120 and 130 extending in the front-rear direction at both ends in the vehicle width direction, and bent portions 140 and 150 connecting them, respectively. and That is, the bent portions 140 and 150 are portions subjected to bending. In the illustrated example, each of the bent portions 140 and 150 is bent and curved so that the internal angle is approximately 90 degrees.

In this embodiment, a portion of the outer side of the bent portions 140 and 150 is a flat outer flat surface 101 . The outer flat surface 101 preferably constitutes at least part of the outside of the bending of the bending portions 140 and 150 . In addition, a part of the inner side of the bent portions 140 and 150 is a curved inner arc surface 102 . The inner arcuate surface 102 preferably constitutes at least part of the inside of the bending. Here, for example, the inside of bending means the inside angle side when forming an inside angle of less than 180 degrees after bending, and the outside of bending means the outside angle side.

In this embodiment, the front frame 100 is made of an aluminum alloy extruded material having a uniform cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the extending direction. Thus, the outer planar surface 101 is continuous all the way from the distal end 120 through the base 110 to the distal end 130 . Similarly, inner arcuate surface 102 is also continuous all the way from distal end 120 through base 110 to distal end 130 .

3 and 4, in the present embodiment, end portions 120 and 130 have joint portions 121 and 131 arranged horizontally and inclined portions 122 and 132 inclined upward from joint portions 121 and 131, respectively. and respectively. The inclined portions 122, 132 connect the joint portions 121, 131 and the bent portions 140, 150, respectively. Thereby, the bent portions 140 and 150 and the base portion 110 are located above the joint portions 121 and 131 .

The outer surfaces of the joint portions 121 and 131 in the vehicle width direction are joint surfaces 121a and 131a that are joined to the cushion side frames 11 and 12, respectively. That is, the outer flat surface 101 continues to joint portions 121 and 131 that are joined to the cushion side frames 11 and 12 of the automobile seat 1, forming joint surfaces 121a and 131a. In addition, the surfaces of the cushion side frames 11 and 12 on the inner side in the vehicle width direction are flat joint surfaces 11a and 12a (see FIG. 1), respectively, so as to be in contact with the joint surfaces 121a and 131a. For joining here, for example, arc welding such as MIG or TIG can be adopted by forming the cushion side frames 11 and 12 and the front frame 100 from the same kind of metal. Other welding such as resistance, electron beam, plasma, laser, or friction stir may alternatively be combined. Furthermore, even if the cushion side frames 11 and 12 and the front frame 100 are made of different materials, they may be joined by mechanical fastening such as bolting or riveting, or if the bonding strength is ensured, an adhesive may be used. or brazing.

Referring to FIG. 5, the cross-sectional shape of the inner arcuate surface 102 is arcuate with a radius of curvature R. As shown in FIG. Preferably, in the same cross section, the length D1 of the outer flat surface 101 is less than twice the radius of curvature R of the inner arcuate surface 102 (D1≤2R). This prevents the outer flat surface 101 from becoming larger than necessary. The size of the outer flat surface 101 may be determined from the viewpoint of bending workability and functioning as the joint surfaces 121a and 131a (see FIG. 3), and these can be achieved by the numerical ranges described above. Further, for example, since the relationship between the outer flat surface 101 and the inner arcuate surface 102 in the cross section can be a chord-arc relationship as in the present embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the front frame 100 can be simplified.

In this embodiment, the thickness t1 of the portion forming the inner arcuate surface 102 is the same as the thickness t2 of the portion forming the outer flat surface 101 (t1=t2). In this embodiment, as described above, the front frame 100 is made of an extruded material made of an aluminum alloy having a uniform cross-sectional shape, and the thickness of the front frame 100 is uniform at any portion.

According to the front frame 100 of the automobile seat 1 according to this embodiment, the following effects are exhibited.

Since the joint surfaces 121a and 131a can be flattened by the outer flat surface 101, the jointability between the front frame 100 and the cushion side frames 11 and 12 can be improved. If the front frame 100 were made of a circular tube, the joint surfaces 121a and 131a would be circular arc surfaces. Therefore, the cushion side frames 11 and 12 also need to have complementary arcuate surfaces 11a and 12a, which complicates the joining structure. On the other hand, in this embodiment, by flattening the joint surfaces 121a and 131a by the outer flat surface 101, the joint structure can be simplified. Therefore, since many types of bonding methods can be employed, a bonding method can be selected according to the manufacturing cost and required bonding strength. In addition, the inner arcuate surface 102 can suppress wrinkles or buckling due to bending. In addition, since the outer flat surface 101 enables sharp bending, the degree of freedom in product design is high.

In addition, since the extruded material made of aluminum alloy is extruded so as to have the outer flat surface 101 and the inner arc surface 102, it is easier to manufacture than the case where the outer flat surface 101 and the inner arc surface 102 are formed by post-processing. Process can be simplified. For example, it is possible to omit post-processing such as partially flattening a pipe member having a circular cross section to form an outer flat surface. Further, if the post-processing is permitted, the material and molding method of the front frame 100 are not particularly limited. For example, a steel pipe member with a circular cross section is partially flattened to form an outer flat surface 101, the remaining arc surface is used as an inner arc surface 102, and then the outer flat surface 101 is formed into an outer and inner arc. Bending may be performed so that the surface 102 faces the inside.

A first modification of the front frame 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the first modified example, each of bending portions 140 and 150 is configured to bend at two locations. In the illustrated example, the internal angles after the bending process are all about 135 degrees. In this manner, the bent portions 140 and 150 may not only be smoothly curved, but may also be bent. Also, the number of bends is not particularly limited.

A second modification of the front frame 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the second modified example, base 110 is curved in a wavy manner when viewed from the vehicle up-down direction. Thus, the shape of base 110 is not particularly limited.

Third and fourth modifications of the front frame 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, respectively.

In the third modification shown in FIG. 8, the inclined portions 122, 132 (see FIG. 4) are not provided, and the end portions 120, 130 (joint portions 121, 131) are arranged to be inclined from the horizontal. there is In the fourth modification shown in FIG. 9, the inclined portions 122 and 132 (see FIG. 4) are not provided as in the third modification, and the end portions 120 and 130 (joint portions 121 and 131) are each horizontal. are placed in Therefore, in the fourth variant, the base portion 110, the bent portions 140, 150 and the end portions 120, 130 are arranged at the same height. As described above, the arrangement angle of the end portions 120 and 130 or the joint portions 121 and 131 is not particularly limited.

A fifth modification of the front frame 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the fifth modified example, a portion of the upper side in the vehicle vertical direction is a flat upper flat surface 103 . The upper flat surface 103 is positioned to support the back of the occupant's thighs. The upper flat surface 103 preferably constitutes at least part of the upper side in the vehicle vertical direction. In the illustrated example, the upper planar surface 103 is discontinuous with the outer planar surface 101 , i.e., formed apart from the outer planar surface 101 . Here, the upper side in the vertical direction of the vehicle refers to, for example, the upper half or more of the front frame 100 .

In the illustrated cross section, the length D1 of the outer flat surface 101, the curvature radius R of the inner arcuate surface 102, and the length D2 of the upper flat surface 103 are larger in this order (D1>R>D2). Preferably, the length D2 of the upper flat surface 103 is less than twice the radius of curvature R of the inner arcuate surface 102 (D2≦2R). However, the magnitude relationship can be arbitrarily adjusted.

According to the fifth modification, since the upper flat surface 103 can support the occupant, it is possible to effectively prevent the occupant from sliding on the automobile seat 1 toward the front of the vehicle, thereby suppressing the so-called submarine phenomenon.

A sixth modification of the front frame 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the sixth modification, in the illustrated cross section, the thickness t2 of the portion forming the inner arcuate surface 102 is greater than the thickness t1 of the portion forming the outer flat surface 101 (t2>t1).

According to this modification, the inner arc surface 102 that contributes to suppressing wrinkles or buckling is formed thicker than the outer flat surface 101 that is not related to them, thereby suppressing weight increase and efficiently wrinkling or buckling. can be suppressed.

As described above, specific embodiments and modifications thereof of the present invention have been described, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, an embodiment of the present invention may be an appropriate combination of the contents of individual modifications.

Reference Signs List 1 automobile seat 10 seat cushion frame 11, 12 cushion side frame 11a, 12a joint surface 13, 14 seat cross member 15 rear frame 20 seat back frame 21, 22 back side frame 23 upper frame 24 middle frame 25, 26 angle adjustment unit 31 to 34 fixing member 40 slide rail unit 50 floor panel 100 front frame 101 outer flat surface 102 inner arc surface 103 upper flat surface 110 base 120 end 121 joint 121a joint surface 122 inclined portion 130 end 131 joint 131a joint surface 132 Inclined portion 140 Bending portion 150 Bending portion

Claims (5)

A bent non-straight tubular automobile seat front frame,
a flat outer flat surface forming at least a portion of the outer side of the bending;
a curved inner arc surface that forms at least a part of the inner side of the bending,
The front frame of the automobile seat, wherein the outer flat surface continues to a joint portion joined to the cushion side frame of the automobile seat to form a joint surface. 2. The front frame of an automobile seat according to claim 1, made of an extruded material made of an aluminum alloy having a uniform cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the extending direction. 3. The front frame of an automobile seat according to claim 2, wherein in the cross section, the length of the outer flat surface is less than or equal to twice the radius of curvature of the inner arcuate surface. 4. The front frame of an automobile seat according to claim 2, wherein, in said cross section, the thickness of the portion forming said inner arcuate surface is greater than the thickness of the portion forming said outer flat surface. The front frame of an automobile seat according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a flat upper flat surface forming at least a portion of the upper side in the vehicle vertical direction.

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