Adjustment unit for a vehicle on seat and vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10017085-B2
Application number	US-201314415869-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2013
Priority date	Jul 18, 2012
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

An adjustment unit, for a vehicle seat, is provided for adjusting a position and/or inclination of a component of the vehicle seat. The adjustment unit has a handling element, which is provided in a first direction for applying a first adjustment movement of the component, and in a second direction for applying a second adjustment movement of the component. The adjustment unit is embodied in such a way that the first adjustment movement permits more rapid adjustment of the component than the second adjustment movement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An adjustment unit for a vehicle seat, for adjusting a position and/or an inclination of an adjustable component of the vehicle seat, the adjustment unit comprising:
a control element for initiating a first adjusting movement of the component in a first direction, the first adjusting movement being carried out in a same direction as a force of gravity, and for initiating a second adjusting movement of the component in a second direction, the second adjusting movement being carried out in opposition to the force of gravity, wherein the adjustment unit is embodied to permit by means of the first adjusting movement a quicker adjustment of the component than by means of the second adjusting movement, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to allow a user to freely adjust the position by means of the first adjusting movement and/or orientation of the component, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to initiate by means of the second adjusting movement an active change in the position and/or orientation of the component, wherein the adjustment unit is further configured to cause in the first adjustment movement a coarse adjustment of the component by means of an introduction of force by the body of the user and/or by the force of gravity, wherein the coarse adjustment in the first adjusting movement is provided with assistance by the force of gravity, the adjustment unit being further configured to let occur in the second adjustment movement of the component a fine adjustment in opposition to the force of gravity.

2. An adjustment unit according to claim 1 , wherein the first adjusting movement has a directional component parallel to the spring force and/or the force of gravity.

3. An adjustment unit according to claim 1 , wherein the adjustment unit is embodied so that with a movement of the control element in the first direction first, allowing the user to freely adjust the position by means of the first adjusting movement or another adjusting movement and subsequently, an adjusting mechanism of the adjustment unit is driven, which drives a movement of the component by a defined adjustment distance as part of the second adjusting movement.

4. An adjustment unit according to claim 3 , wherein with the second adjusting movement, the component is moved in steps in a second direction in opposition to a spring force and/or the force of gravity by means of a pumping movement of the control element in the second direction.

5. A vehicle seat comprising:
a seat element;
a backrest embodied in the form of an adjustable component; and
an adjustment unit comprising a control element for initiating a first adjusting movement of the component in a first direction, the first adjusting movement being carried out in a same direction as a force of gravity, and for initiating a second adjusting movement of the component in a second direction, the second adjusting movement being carried out in opposition to the force of gravity, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to permit by means of the first adjusting movement a quicker adjustment of the component than by means of the second adjusting movement, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to allow a user to freely adjust the position via the first adjusting movement and/or orientation of the component, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to initiate by means of the second adjusting movement an active change in the position and/or orientation of the component, wherein the adjustment unit is further configured to cause in the first adjustment movement a coarse adjustment of the component by means of an introduction of force by the body of the user and/or by the force of gravity, wherein the coarse adjustment in the first adjusting movement is provided with assistance by the force of gravity, the adjustment unit being further configured to let occur in the second adjustment movement of the component a fine adjustment in opposition to the force of gravity, wherein an inclination of the backrest relative to the seat element can be pivoted by means of the adjustment unit.

6. The vehicle seat according to claim 5 , wherein the adjustment unit is embodied so that with a movement of the control element in the first direction, a freely moving or spring-force driven first inclination adjusting movement of the backrest in a driving direction and/or against the driving direction is enabled.

7. A vehicle seat according to claim 5 , wherein the adjustment unit is embodied so that with a movement of the control element in the second direction, the user is allowed to freely adjust the position and/or the orientation of the component and in addition, the backrest is pivoted forward by a fixed angle against a driving direction and/or in opposition to the spring force and/or in a spring-assisted fashion.

8. A vehicle seat according to claim 7 , wherein the control element comprises a lever, which can be pivoted around a pivot axis that is parallel to a pivot axis of the backrest, the lever having a free end that protrudes in a driving direction, wherein lifting the lever provides a rotation along the second direction and depressing the lever provides a rotation along the first direction.

9. A vehicle seat according to claim 8 , wherein the free end of the lever protrudes against a driving direction and points upward and wherein pulling the lever forward in the driving direction provides a rotation along the first direction and pulling the lever backward against the driving direction provides a rotation along the second direction.

10. A vehicle seat according to claim 5 , wherein the movement of the control element in the second direction initiates a first inclination adjusting movement of the backrest and movement of the control element in the first direction initiates a second inclination adjusting movement of the backrest.

11. A vehicle seat according to claim 10 , wherein the adjustment unit is embodied so that the first inclination adjusting movement is a free pivoting movement of the backrest and the second inclination adjusting movement includes a pivoting movement of the backrest that is restrictively guided by the movement of the control element and has a defined change in the angle of the backrest.

12. A vehicle seat according to claim 10 , wherein the seat element moves a first distance in the first direction, the seat element moving a second distance in the second direction, wherein the second distance is less than the first distance.

13. A vehicle seat comprising:
a seat part embodied as an adjustable component; and
an adjustment unit comprising a control element for initiating a first adjusting movement of the component in a first direction, the first adjusting movement being carried out in a same direction as a force of gravity, and for initiating a second adjusting movement of the component in a second direction, the second adjusting movement being carried out in opposition to the force of gravity, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to permit by means of the first adjusting movement a quicker adjustment of the component than by means of the second adjusting movement, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to allow a user to freely adjust the position via the first adjusting movement and/or orientation of the component, wherein the adjustment unit is configured to initiate by means of the second adjusting movement an active change in the position and/or orientation of the component, wherein the adjustment unit is further configured to cause in the first adjustment movement a coarse adjustment of the component by means of an introduction of force by the body of the user and/or by the force of gravit

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Gmbh

Inventors

• Kienke Ingo

Classifications

• B60N2/943

  Stepwise movement mechanisms, e.g. ratchets · CPC title

• B60N2/167 Primary

  Ratchet mechanism · CPC title

• B60N2/929

  linear · CPC title

• B60N2/224

  Stepwise movement mechanisms, e.g. ratchets · CPC title

• B60N2/06

  slidable (B60N2/12 {, B60N2/2209} take precedence) · CPC title