VEHICLE SEAT

• US 20100259081A1
• Filed: 04/02/2010
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Toyota Boshoku Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: KUNO, Satoru
• Granted Patent: US 8,523,280 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 297/284.400
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2209 by longitudinal displacement of the cushion, e.g. back-rest hinged on the bottom to the cushion and linked on the top to the vehicle frame

Abstract

In a vehicle seat having a seat back and a seat cushion that are placed in one of a normal position and a reclining position that is more reclined than the normal position, a link mechanism is operable to change the positions of the seat back and the seat cushion by moving the seat back and the seat cushion in relation to each other, so that a back contact point of the seat back, where a predetermined portion of the back of the seated person contacts the seat back, contacts the predetermined portion of the back of the seated person in both the normal position and the reclining position, and so that an ischial contact point of the seat cushion, where a tuber-of-ischium of the seated person contacts the seat cushion, contacts the tuber-of-ischium of the seated person in both the normal position and the reclining position.

Claims

1. A vehicle seat comprising:

a seat back that is placed in one of a first position and a second position relative to a mounting portion of the vehicle body on which the seat back is mounted;

a seat cushion that is placed in one of a first position and a second position relative to a mounting portion of the vehicle body on which the seat cushion is mounted; and

a linked position-changing unit that moves the seat back and the seat cushion in relation to each other, so as to change the positions of the seat back and the seat cushion between the first positions and the second positions,

wherein the seat back that is in the second position is more reclined than the seat back that is in the first position, and

the linked position-changing unit moves the seat back and the seat cushion in relation to each other, so that a back contact point of the seat back, at which a predetermined portion of the back of the seated person contacts the seat back when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the first positions, is located at substantially the same position as the predetermined portion of the back of the seated person when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the second positions and so that an ischial contact point of the seat cushion, at which a tuber of ischium of the seated person contacts the seat cushion when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the first positions, is located at substantially the same position as the tuber of ischium of the seated person when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the second positions.

2. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein

the distance between the back contact point and the ischial contact point when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the first positions is substantially equal to the distance between the back contact point and the ischial contact point when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the second positions.

3. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein

the seat cushion and the seat back pivot about a point in the vicinity of the ischial contact point as seen in a side view of the seat cushion.

4. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein:

the linked position-changing unit comprises a mechanical link mechanism that couples the seat back and the seat cushion to each other, and is arranged to move the seat back and the seat cushion in relation to each other so as to change the respective positions thereof; and

when the position of the seat back is changed between the first position and the second position while the seated person is seated in the vehicle seat, the position of the seat cushion is changed in connection with the change in the position of the seat back, such that substantially no change arises in a positional relationship of the tuber of ischium of the seated person relative to the seat cushion as seen in a side view of the seat cushion.

5. The vehicle seat according to claim 4, wherein:

the seat cushion pivots about a first point at which the seat cushion is coupled to the mechanical link mechanism;

the first point is located at the same position as the ischial contact point as seen in the side view of the seat cushion, and

the seat back pivots about the first point via the mechanical link mechanism.

6. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein:

the positional relationship of the tuber of ischium of the seated person relative to the seat cushion when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the first positions and the positional relationship of the tuber of ischium of the seated person relative to the seat cushion when the seat back and the seat cushion are in the second positions are determined by correcting the position of the tuber of ischium of the seated person in view of the amounts of deformation of the seat cushion and the seat back due to a load applied from the seated person.

7. The vehicle seat according to claim 1, wherein:

when the positions of the seat back and the seat cushion are changed from the first positions to the second positions, an upward change in the position of the seat cushion relative to the mounting portion of the vehicle body and a downward change in the position of the seat back relative to the mounting portion of the vehicle body are effected at the same time in relation to each other.