Longitudinal adjuster for a vehicle seat

• US 20040164599A1
• Filed: 03/03/2004
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adient US, LLC (Adient plc)
• Original Assignee: Keiper GmbH & Company KG (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Jahner, Falko, Scheffler, Sascha, Scheidler, Jochen, Klahold, Wolfgang, Mitulla, Gerhard, Schuler, Rolf, Borbe, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 6,799,800 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 297/341
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0248 with memory of positions
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0705 omega-shaped
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0715 C or U-shaped
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/08 characterised by the locking device
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0818 inside the rail
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/085 about a transversal axis
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/123 and provided with memory locks

Abstract

In a longitudinal adjuster for a vehicle seat having a freely pivotable backrest, with the longitudinal adjuster having a first seat rail, a second seat rail, in relation to which the first seat rail can be slid in the longitudinal direction, and a memory device (11) which is assigned to the first seat rail, interacts with the second seat rail and stores a longitudinal seat position which can be left by means of a longitudinal displacement of the vehicle seat when the backrest pivots freely, and resumed when the backrest pivots back, a displacement measuring device (21), which can be operatively connected to the second seat rail, and a control signal generator (53), which can move in relation to the displacement measuring device (21), are provided for playing a role in resuming the stored longitudinal seat position.

Claims

1. A longitudinal adjuster for a vehicle seat having a backrest that can be pivoted out of and back to a predetermined orientation, the longitudinal adjuster comprising:

first and second seat rails that each extend in a longitudinal direction, with the first and second seat rails being mounted for there being relative longitudinal displacement therebetween; and

a memory device which remembers a longitudinal position of the first and second seat rails with respect to one another, wherein;

the memory device is operative so that;

the first and second seat rails are capable of being moved out of the remembered longitudinal position, via relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails, in response to the backrest being pivoted out of the predetermined orientation, and

the first and second seat rails are capable of being returned to the remembered longitudinal position, via relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails, while the backrest is being pivoted back to the predetermined orientation,

the memory device includes a control signal generator mounted for moving relative to a displacement measuring device in response to the relative longitudinal displacements between the first and second seat rails, with the moving of the control signal generator being relative to a home position of the control signal generator, and the moving of the control signal generator with respect to the home position correlating to magnitudes of the relative longitudinal displacements between the first and second seat rails, and

the control signal generator experiences, at the latest when the remembered longitudinal position is reached via the relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails while the backrest is being pivoted back to the predetermined orientation, a control torque and then the control signal generator actuates at least one locking element so that the locking element interacts with the second seat rail to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails.

2. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, wherein:

the locking element is a positioning lever, whereby the control signal generator actuates the positioning lever so that the positioning lever interacts with the second seat rail to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails,

the positioning lever is mounted on a pivot axis,

the pivot axis is fixed to a housing of the memory device,

the positioning lever includes a locking nose, and

when the control signal generator actuates the positioning lever, the positioning lever pivots out of the memory device and the locking nose interacts with the second seat rail to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails.

3. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 2, wherein:

the positioning lever is a first positioning lever,

the memory device further includes a second positioning lever that includes a locking nose for selectively interacting with the second seat rail to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails, and

the locking nose of the first positioning lever and the locking nose of the second positioning lever are at different distances from the pivot axis.

4. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 3, wherein the control signal generator includes:

a first individual tongue which acts on the first positioning lever in a first pivoting direction,

a second individual tongue which acts on the second positioning lever in the first pivoting direction, and

a common bracket which acts on both the first and second positioning levers in a second pivoting direction, wherein the second pivoting direction is opposite from the first pivoting direction.

5. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, wherein the displacement measuring device includes a spindle, the control signal generator is movably mounted on the spindle, and the moving of the control signal generator includes the control signal generator traveling along the spindle.

6. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, wherein:

the control signal generator includes a stop face,

the displacement measuring device includes a block having a stop face, and

the stop faces bear against one another when the remembered longitudinal position is reached, and the stop faces transmit the control torque while the stop faces bear against one another.

7. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, wherein the memory device includes a running wheel that is mounted for both rolling along the second seat rail and for being disassociated from the second seat rail, and the running wheel is operatively connected to the displacement measuring device so that the signal generator moves relative to the displacement measuring device in response to the running wheel rolling along the second seat rail.

8. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 7, wherein the running wheel is mounted on a lever or a lever arrangement which disassociates the running wheel from the second seat rail in order to reset the memory device by establishing a new remembered longitudinal position.

9. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 7, wherein force of a pressure spring presses the running wheel against the second seat rail, and the force can be overcome so as to disassociate the running wheel from the second seat rail.

10. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, wherein the displacement measuring device has a reset spring which moves the control signal generator into the home position in order to reset the memory device.

11. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, wherein the memory device is arranged within an installation space which is defined by the first seat rail.

12. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, further comprising:

an actuation device for resetting the memory device so that the memory device can remember a different longitudinal position of the first and second seat rails with respect to one another, wherein the memory device is operative so that the memory device is not reset for remembering a different longitudinal position in response to the backrest being pivoted relative to the predetermined orientation; and

a triggering mechanism for at least both;

actuating the actuation device so that the memory device can remember a different longitudinal position of the first and second seat rails with respect to one another, and

enabling relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails.

13. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 12, wherein:

the memory device is arranged within an installation space which is defined by the first seat rail, and

the actuation device is mounted on the first seat rail above the memory device.

14. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, further comprising:

a locking device for locking the longitudinal adjuster in the remembered longitudinal position to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails; and

a triggering mechanism for at least unlocking the locking device to enable relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails.

15. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 12, further comprising a locking device for locking the longitudinal adjuster in the remembered longitudinal position to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails, wherein the triggering mechanism enables relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails by unlocking the locking device and the actuation device supports components for unlocking the locking device.

16. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 15, wherein the actuation device unlocks the locking device in response to the backrest being pivoted out of the predetermined orientation.

17. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal adjuster is in combination with the vehicle seat.

18. A longitudinal adjuster according to one of claim 12, further comprising a locking device that:

locks the longitudinal adjuster in the remembered longitudinal position to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails,

is unlocked by the triggering mechanism to enable relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails, whereby the triggering mechanism is for enabling relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails; and

locks the longitudinal adjuster in the different longitudinal position to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails.

19. A longitudinal adjuster according to claim 3, wherein the second positioning lever is mounted on the pivot axis and the control signal generator actuates the second positioning lever so that the second positioning lever pivots out of the memory device and the locking nose of the second positioning lever interacts with the second seat rail to restrict relative longitudinal displacement between the first and second seat rails.