Vehicle seat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11535130-B2
Application number	US-201916590819-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2019
Priority date	Oct 4, 2018
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle seat includes a seat cushion configured to support the buttocks of an occupant, a seat back configured to support the back of the occupant, an elastic force adjustment unit configured to adjust elastic force of a lumbar spine support of the seat back configured to support the lumbar spine of the occupant, in a longitudinal direction, and a controller configured to operate the elastic force adjustment unit. The controller is configured to make the elastic force larger in the case where oscillation of the vehicle is large, than that in the case where oscillation of the vehicle is small.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle seat comprising:
a seat cushion configured to support buttocks of an occupant;
a seat back configured to support a back of the occupant, the seat back including a lumbar spine support configured to support a lumbar spine of the occupant;
an elastic force adjustment unit configured to adjust elastic force of the lumbar spine support in a longitudinal direction; and
a controller configured to operate the elastic force adjustment unit, the controller being configured to cause the elastic force adjustment unit to make the elastic force larger in a case where oscillation of a vehicle is large, than that in a case where oscillation of the vehicle is small.

2. The vehicle seat according to claim 1 , wherein:
the elastic force adjustment unit is configured to adjust the elastic force of only the lumbar spine support in the longitudinal direction; and
the controller is configured to cause the elastic force adjustment unit to make the elastic force of only the lumbar spine support larger in the case where oscillation of the vehicle is large, than that in the case where oscillation of the vehicle is small.

3. The vehicle seat according to claim 1 , wherein the elastic force adjustment unit is configured to make the elastic force of the lumbar spine support larger than elastic force of a portion of the seat back other than the lumbar spine support.

4. The vehicle seat according to claim 3 , wherein:
the elastic force adjustment unit is configured to adjust elastic force of a sacrum support included in the seat back and the sacrum support configured to support a sacrum located below the lumbar spine of the occupant, and elastic force of a thoracic spine support included in the seat back and the thoracic spine support configured to support a thoracic spine located above the lumbar spine of the occupant, in addition to the elastic force of the lumbar spine support; and
the elastic force adjustment unit is configured to make the elastic force of the lumbar spine support larger than the elastic force of each of the sacrum support and the thoracic spine support, when oscillation of the vehicle is large.

5. The vehicle seat according to claim 1 , wherein:
the case where oscillation of the vehicle is large includes at least one case selected from traveling on a bad road, cornering, lane change, and acceleration; and
the controller is configured to make the elastic force of the lumbar spine support larger than elastic force of a portion of the seat back other than the lumbar spine support, in at least one case selected from traveling on a bad road, cornering, lane change, and acceleration.

6. The vehicle seat according to claim 1 , wherein:
the elastic force adjustment unit includes a wire extended in a width direction of the seat back, and a tension adjustment mechanism configured to adjust tension of the wire; and
the elastic force adjustment unit is configured to change the elastic force by causing the tension adjustment mechanism to adjust the tension of the wire.

7. The vehicle seat according to claim 1 , wherein the seat back is configured to rotate relative to the seat cushion.

8. The vehicle seat according to claim 1 , further comprising a frame that is mounted on the vehicle and supports the seat cushion and the seat back, wherein
the seat cushion is configured to pivot in a roll direction and a yaw direction of the vehicle relative to the frame, and is configured to support the buttocks and thighs of the occupant;
the seat back is configured to pivot in the roll direction and the yaw direction of the vehicle relative to the frame; and
a pivot center axis of the seat cushion passes the lumbar spine support of the seat back.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nagai Tetsuya
• Katoh Kohshi
• Sugimoto Takashi
• Oda Osamu
• Hada Masatoshi

Classifications

• B60N2/6671 Primary

  with cable actuators · CPC title

• B60N2/667

  having flexible support member bowed by applied forces · CPC title

• B60N2/501 Primary

  actively controlled suspension, e.g. electronic control · CPC title

• B60N2/503

  attached to the backrest (B60N2/504 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/0244 Primary

  with logic circuits · CPC title