JP7423948B2 - Armrest device for seating seats - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an armrest device for a seating seat used in vehicles such as automobiles, airplanes, ships, and trains, or in movie theaters.

2. Description of the Related Art There is a known seat in which the reclining angle of the seat back can be changed, in which an armrest is moved in conjunction with changing the reclining angle of the seat back (see Patent Document 1). In such a seat, the seat back, the seat cushion, and the armrest serve as links forming a four-bar linkage mechanism, so that the armrest moves in the front-rear direction in conjunction with the movement of the seat back. At this time, the armrest is configured to maintain a constant angle with respect to the horizontal line regardless of the inclination angle of the seatback.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-231651

However, the optimal value of the angle of the armrest with respect to the horizontal line changes depending on the occupant's preferences, physique, sitting posture, seat usage conditions, and the like. For example, in a normal sitting position such as when driving a car, the angle of the armrest may be horizontal, but if the seatback is tilted far back to take a comfortable posture, the front side will be tilted slightly higher. is preferred. Moreover, the angle changes depending on the preference of the seated person. In addition, when sitting in a comfortable posture, it is desirable that the armrest be at an appropriate angle of inclination, but when sitting on or leaving the seat, the front end of the armrest will interfere with the occupant's movement. The lower the height of the front end of the armrest, the better. Therefore, in the conventional seating seat described above, the angle of the armrest with respect to the horizontal line may not be at an appropriate angle depending on the situation.

An object of the present invention is to enable the angle of the armrest to be always set at an appropriate angle by making it possible to change the angle of the armrest with respect to the horizontal line in a device that moves the armrest in conjunction with changing the reclining angle of the seat back. It is in.

An armrest device for a sitting seat according to a first aspect of the present invention includes: a seat cushion forming a seat portion; a seat back forming a backrest, the reclining angle of which can be changed in the front and rear directions with the lower end being a hinge center; an armrest member that is provided along the front-rear direction on the side of the seat cushion to support the arms of a seated person in a seated state, and whose rear end portion is vertically movably connected above the hinge center of the seat back; In the seating seat, the lower end portion is coupled to the front side of the seat cushion so as to be freely rotatable back and forth, and the upper end portion is coupled to the front side of the armrest member so as to be pivotable back and forth, so that the vertical length can be changed. The front link member is provided with a length changing device that changes the vertical length of the front link member.

In the first invention, the armrest device may be provided on both sides of the seat cushion, or may be provided only on one side. Further, the length changing device may use an actuator such as a motor or a fluid pressure cylinder, or may be a device that changes the length manually.

According to the first invention, the front link member is coupled to the front side of the armrest member and the front side of the seat cushion, thereby forming a four-bar link mechanism together with the armrest member and the seat back. Therefore, when the seat back is tilted rearward, the armrest member is also moved rearward. At this time, by changing the length of the front link member, the angle of the armrest member with respect to the horizontal line can be changed. Therefore, the angle of the armrest member can always be set at an appropriate angle. Moreover, the armrest member is moved in conjunction with the rearward tilting of the seatback, and no additional power is required to move the armrest member.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the rear end portion of the armrest member connected to the seat back is provided with a height changing means for changing the height of the armrest member connected to the seat back.

According to the second aspect of the invention, by changing the height of the rear end of the armrest member using the height changing means, the height near the elbows of the seated person can be changed according to preference or physique.

A third aspect of the present invention is that in the first or second aspect, the front link member is connected to the front side link member so as to be rotatable back and forth on the front side of the seat cushion. A biasing means for biasing is provided.

When folding the seat back backwards, it is possible to do so using the weight of the seated person. On the other hand, when returning the seat back forward, the weight of the seated person cannot be used. According to the third invention, a biasing force is always applied to push the front link member forward. Since the upper end of the front link member is connected to the seat back via the armrest member, the biasing force on the front link member becomes a force that returns the seat back forward, assisting the force that returns the seat back forward. be able to.

A fourth invention of the present invention is that in any one of the first to third inventions, the length changing device includes a motor whose output shaft is coupled to change the length of the front link member, and A sensor detects the reclining angle of the seat back, and the motor is operated based on a detection signal from the sensor to control the angle of the armrest member with respect to the horizontal line to a preset angle with respect to the reclining angle of the seat back. and control means.

According to the fourth invention, when the reclining angle of the seat back is changed, the armrest member moves accordingly, and the length of the front link member is also changed, so that the angle of the armrest member with respect to the horizontal line is automatically adjusted to a preset angle. adjusted accordingly. Therefore, by setting the length of the front link member in advance with respect to the reclining angle of the seat back, the armrest can be set to the desired angle of the seated person in accordance with changes in the reclining angle of the seat back.

1 is a perspective view of a skeleton member of a seating seat to which a first embodiment of the present invention is applied; FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view of the main parts of the seating seat when the seatback is in a normal seating state at a reclining angle. FIG. 3 is a side view of the main portion of the seating seat when the reclining angle of the seat back is larger than the normal seating state. FIG. 4 is a side view showing how the length of the front link member is changed in the state shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the length changing device provided on the front link member as seen from inside the seat. It is a block diagram showing the control circuit of the above-mentioned length changing device. FIG. 3 is a characteristic diagram showing control contents by a control means of the control circuit. FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view of the rear end portion of the armrest member according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

<Overall configuration of first embodiment>
1 and 2 show an automobile seating seat (hereinafter simply referred to as a seat) 1 to which an armrest device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied. Here, the sheet 1 is shown only as a skeleton member. As is well known, a typical seat 1 is constructed by covering a frame member with a pad serving as a cushioning material and a seat cover serving as an outer skin. In each figure, arrows indicate each direction when the seat 1 is mounted on an automobile. In the following description, descriptions regarding directions will be made with this direction as a reference. The same applies to each figure other than FIGS. 1 and 2.

The seat 1 is configured to be slidable on a slide rail 2 fixed on the floor of an automobile. Therefore, the seat 1 is movable along the slide rail 2 in the longitudinal direction of the automobile.

The seat 1 includes a seat cushion 10 forming a seat portion, a seat back 20 forming a backrest, and an armrest provided along the front-rear direction on the side of the seat cushion 10 so as to support the arms of a seated person in a seated state. and a member 30.

In the seat cushion 10, a pair of left and right side frames 11 are connected and integrated by a front pipe 14 on the front side, a rear pipe 15 on the rear side, and a center pipe 16 between the front and rear sides. A cushion bracket 12 and a lower arm 13 are provided on the outside of each side frame 11 and connected to each other by a connecting member such as a connecting pipe 17. The lower arm 13 is coupled to the upper arm 22 via a recliner 23, which will be described later.

The seat back 20 includes a back frame 21, and upper arms 22 are fixed to lower portions on both left and right sides of the back frame 21, respectively. The lower end of each upper arm 22 is rotatably supported by the upper end of the lower arm 13 via a recliner 23, respectively. Here, the recliner 23 can be locked, and when the locking operation is performed, the rotation angle at that time is maintained. Therefore, the back frame 21 is rotatable in the front-back direction around the hinge pin 24 of the recliner 23, and the reclining angle of the seat back 20 can be changed arbitrarily by locking the recliner 23.

The armrest member 30 includes an armrest main body 31, and the rear end of the armrest main body 31 is coupled to the upper end of the upper arm 22 by a fixing bolt 32 so as to be vertically movable. Further, the front end portion of the armrest main body 31 is coupled to the upper end portion of the front link member 40 so as to be rotatable back and forth. On the other hand, the lower end of the front link member 40 is coupled to the front end of the cushion bracket 12 via a rotating shaft 44 so as to be rotatable back and forth. As a result, the armrest main body 31 constitutes a four-bar link mechanism together with the side frame 11 including the cushion bracket 12 and the lower arm 13, the front link member 40, and the upper arm 22 integrated with the back frame 21.

Note that a torsion spring 45 serving as a biasing means is provided around the rotating shaft 44 (see FIGS. 2 and 5). The torsion spring 45 has a spiral outer peripheral end hooked to the rear end portion of the lower link 42 of the front link member 40, and an inner peripheral end hooked to the outer circumference of the rotating shaft 44. Therefore, the front link member 40 is biased forward from the rotating shaft 44 by the torsion spring 45, and is always biased to fall forward.

<Operation overview 1 of the first embodiment (Figs. 2 and 3)>
FIG. 2 shows a state in which the reclining angle of the seat back 20 is set to the angle set in a normal seating state. At this time, the upper arm 22 is tilted backward, and the front link member 40 is tilted forward. The armrest member 30 is in a substantially horizontal state.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 shows a state in which the reclining angle of the seat back 20 is larger than the angle set in the normal seating state. That is, the seat back 20 is tilted backward as shown by the arrow. At this time, the upper arm 22 is further tilted rearward than in the case of FIG. 2, and the front link member 40 is in a substantially vertical state. As a result, the armrest member 30 is in a highly inclined state on the front side. In other words, it is tilted by θ with respect to the horizontal line. This is because when the state changes from FIG. 2 to FIG. 3, the rear end of the armrest member 30 moves rearward and downward, and the front end of the armrest member 30 moves rearward and upward.

When tilting the seat back 20 backward from the state shown in FIGS. 2 to 3, the seat back 20 can be tilted using the weight of the seated person. On the other hand, when returning the seat back 20 forward from the state shown in FIG. 3 to the state shown in FIG. 2, the weight of the seated person cannot be used. In the first embodiment, a biasing force is constantly applied by the torsion spring 45 to tilt the front link member 40 forward. Since the upper end of the front link member 40 is connected to the seat back 20 via the armrest member 30, the biasing force exerted by the torsion spring 45 on the front link member 40 acts as a force to return the seat back 20 forward, and the seat back 20 is moved forward. It can assist with the force of returning the bag 20 forward.

<Configuration of front link member>
As shown in FIG. 5, the front link member 40 includes an upper link 41 constituting an upper portion thereof, and a lower link 42 constituting a lower portion thereof. The lower end of the upper link 41 and the upper end of the lower link 42 are joined in a horizontally overlapping state face-to-face, and are configured to move relative to each other in the vertical direction so that the amount of overlap between the two increases or decreases. ing. Therefore, a length changing device 43 is provided between the upper link 41 and the lower link 42.

In the length changing device 43, a block-shaped linear slider 43b is fixed to a side surface (right side) of the upper link 41 at the upper end of the lower link 42, and a block-shaped linear slider 43b is fixed to the side surface (left side) of the lower link 42 at the lower end of the upper link 41. A slide guide 43c having a guide surface extending in the vertical direction is fixed to the slide guide 43c. The linear slider 43b and the slide guide 43c are coupled to each other on opposing surfaces so as not to be separated from each other in the left-right direction, and are relatively movable in the up-down direction.

The length changing device 43 includes a bracket 43a on the side surface (right side) of the lower end of the upper link 41 opposite to the lower link 42. The length changing device 43 also includes a motor 43f on the right side of the lower end of the lower link 42. An output shaft (not shown) of the motor 43f is provided with a nut assembly 43e including a nut (not shown) rotated by the output shaft. The nut of the nut assembly 43e is screwed onto the screw shaft 43d to constitute a feed screw mechanism. Therefore, the screw shaft 43d is moved up and down by the rotation of the nut of the nut assembly 43e. The upper end of the screw shaft 43d is fixed to the bracket 43a.

Therefore, when the screw shaft 43d is moved up and down, the upper link 41 is moved up and down with respect to the lower link 42 via the bracket 43a. At this time, the movement direction is guided in the direction in which the slide guide 43c extends due to the coupling between the linear slider 43b and the slide guide 43c.

<Control circuit for front link member>
As shown in FIG. 6, the motor 43f is driven and controlled by an output signal from a control means 43h. The control means 43h is constituted by a digital computer or a discrete circuit, and is configured to receive signals from the sensor 43g and the operation switch 43j and output a signal for controlling the motor 43f. The sensor 43g is attached to detect the rotation angle of the recliner 23. Further, the operation switch 43j is provided to arbitrarily drive the motor 43f in the upward direction or downward direction by operating the operation switch 43j.

FIG. 7 shows the characteristics of changes in the length of the front link member 40 with respect to changes in the reclining angle. The reclining angle is detected by the sensor 43g. Here, characteristics of three selectable patterns A to C are shown. In each characteristic, the length of the front link member 40 increases as the reclining angle increases. In the case of characteristic B, the length of the front link member 40 increases in proportion to the increase in the reclining angle, and in the case of characteristics A and C, the length of the front link member 40 increases in proportion to the increase in the reclining angle. The pattern is changed. Characteristic A is that in a region where the reclining angle is small, the length of the front link member 40 increases greatly as the reclining angle increases, and in a region where the reclining angle is large, the length of the front link member 40 increases as the reclining angle increases. The growth rate has been reduced. Further, the characteristic of C is that in a region where the reclining angle is small, the elongation rate of the length of the front link member 40 is gradually increased with respect to an increase in the reclining angle, and in a region where the reclining angle is large, with respect to an increase in the reclining angle. The elongation rate of the length of the front link member 40 is reduced, and in the intermediate region of the reclining angle, the length of the front link member 40 increases in proportion to the increase in the reclining angle.

<Operation overview 2 of the first embodiment (Fig. 4)>
By controlling the motor 43f in this way and changing the length of the front link member 40, the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line when the reclining angle is changed can be changed. As described above, FIG. 3 shows how the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line changes when the length of the front link member 40 is not changed when the reclining angle is increased. On the other hand, FIG. 4 shows how the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line changes when the length of the front link member 40 is also changed when the reclining angle is increased.

If the characteristic of changing the length of the front link member 40 with respect to an increase in the reclining angle is set to the characteristic A described above, the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line increases as shown by A in FIG. 4 . Further, when the characteristic of changing the length of the front link member 40 with respect to an increase in the reclining angle is set to the characteristic C, the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line becomes relatively small as shown by C in FIG. 4. Further, if the characteristic of changing the length of the front link member 40 with respect to an increase in the reclining angle is the characteristic B described above, the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line is between A and C, as shown by B in FIG. Therefore, the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line can be set to a desired angle by selecting the change characteristic of the length of the front link member 40 with respect to the increase in the reclining angle according to the preference of the person sitting on the seat 1. . Further, by changing the length of the front link member 40 by operating the operation switch 43j, the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line can be set to a desired angle different from a predetermined angle each time.

<Operations and effects of the first embodiment>
When the seat back 20 is tilted rearward, the armrest member 30 is also moved rearward, and the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line is changed. At this time, by changing the length of the front link member 40, the angle of the armrest member 30 with respect to the horizontal line can be further changed. Therefore, the angle of the armrest member 30 can always be set at an appropriate angle according to the seated person's preference or the situation in which the seat is placed.

<Second embodiment>
FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the invention. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the height at which the armrest main body 31 is connected to the upper arm 22 can be changed. The other configurations of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same parts will not be described again.

The rear end of the armrest main body 31 is coupled to the upper end of the upper arm 22 with a fixing bolt 32, similar to the first embodiment. However, a height changing means 33 is provided at this joint portion. The height changing means 33 is configured by forming a through hole in the armrest main body 31 through which the fixing bolt 32 passes into an elongated hole 33a that is elongated in the vertical direction. Therefore, the position where the fixing bolt 32 is connected to the upper arm 22 can be changed in the vertical direction along the longitudinal direction of the elongated hole 33a. The height changing means 33 can be provided on each of the left and right armrest bodies 31, but depending on the case, it may be provided only on either the left or the right.

By changing the coupling position of the armrest main body 31 to the upper arm 22 in the vertical direction in this way, the height of the rear end of the armrest member 30 can be changed, and the elbow of the seated person placed on the armrest member 30 can be changed. You can change the nearby height according to your preference and physique.

<Other embodiments>
Although specific embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to their appearance and configuration, and various changes, additions, and deletions are possible. For example, in the above embodiments, the present invention is applied to seats in automobiles, but it may also be applied to seats installed in airplanes, ships, trains, etc., or seats installed in movie theaters, etc.

1 Seating seat (seat)
2 Slide rail 10 Seat cushion 11 Side frame 12 Cushion bracket 13 Lower arm 14 Front pipe 15 Rear pipe 16 Center pipe 17 Connection pipe 20 Seat back 21 Back frame 22 Upper arm 23 Recliner 24 Hinge pin 30 Armrest member 31 Armrest body 32 Fixing bolt 33 Height changing means 33a Long hole 40 Front link member 41 Upper link 42 Lower link 43 Length change device 43a Bracket 43b Linear slider 43c Slide guide 43d Screw shaft 43e Nut assembly 43f Motor 43g Sensor 43h Control means 43j Operation switch 44 Rotating shaft 45 Torsion spring (with force)

Claims (3)

A seat cushion that forms the seat,
A seat back that forms a backrest and can change the reclining angle in the front and rear directions using a hinge at the lower end;
an armrest member that is provided along the front-rear direction on the side of the seat cushion to support the arms of a seated person in a seated state, and whose rear end portion is vertically movably connected above the hinge center of the seat back; In a seating seat equipped with and,
a front link member whose lower end is rotatably connected to the front side of the seat cushion, whose upper end is rotatably connected to the front side of the armrest member, and whose vertical length can be changed;
The front link member is provided with a length changing device that changes the vertical length of the front link member,
A rear end portion of the armrest member coupled to the seat back is provided with a height changing means that can change the height of the armrest member coupled to the seat back, and the height changing means is provided at the rear end portion of the armrest member coupled to the seat back. The armrest member is connected to the seat back by a fixing bolt, and the through hole at the rear end of the armrest member through which the fixing bolt passes is a long hole that is elongated in the vertical direction.
Armrest device for seating seats.
In claim 1 ,
The front link member includes a biasing means for biasing an upper side of the front link member forward and backward from a lower end portion of the front link member that is coupled to the front side of the seat cushion so as to be rotatable back and forth. In claim 1 or 2 ,
The length changing device includes:
a motor whose output shaft is coupled to change the length of the front link member;
a sensor that detects a reclining angle of the seat back;
and control means for controlling the angle of the armrest member with respect to the horizontal line to a preset angle with respect to the reclining angle of the seat back by operating the motor based on a detection signal from the sensor. Device.

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