Apparatus and method for inspecting seat motor noise

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11650136-B2
Application number	US-202117175308-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2021
Priority date	Oct 5, 2020
Publication date	May 16, 2023
Grant date	May 16, 2023

Abstract

An apparatus for inspecting seat motor noise includes: a soundproof booth provided on a transfer path of a seat assembly and installed with an opening/closing door at both sides along a transfer direction of the seat assembly; a power supply portion provided within the soundproof booth and configured to apply power to respective seat motors of the seat assembly; a noise detection unit installed within the soundproof booth and configured to detect an operation noise of the seat motors; and a controller configured to determine whether the seat motors are defective in noise based on comparison of noise data detected by the noise detection unit to predetermined reference data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for inspecting seat motor noise, the apparatus comprising:
a soundproof booth provided on a transfer path of a seat assembly and installed with an opening/closing door at both sides along a transfer direction of the seat assembly;
a power supply portion provided within the soundproof booth and configured to apply power to respective seat motors of the seat assembly;
a noise detection unit installed within the soundproof booth to be reciprocally movable along a front-rear direction of the seat assembly and configured to detect an operation noise of the seat motors; and
a controller configured to determine whether the seat motors are defective in noise based on comparison of noise data detected by the noise detection unit to predetermined reference data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the noise detection unit comprises:
a microphone positioned at a rear bottom center portion of the seat assembly and configured to obtain the noise data according to the operation of the seat motors; and
a vibration sensor provided to be reciprocally movable along the transfer path and configured to contact a lower end central portion of the seat assembly and to acquire vibration data according to the operation of the seat motors.

3. An apparatus for inspecting seat motor noise, the apparatus comprising:
a seat loading jig installed to be movable in an up-down direction in a conveyor moving along a predetermined transfer path and configured to fixedly holding a seat assembly;
a soundproof booth provided at a predetermined section of the transfer path and installed with an opening/closing door at both sides along a transfer direction of the seat assembly;
a tag reader installed in a supporting member of the conveyor and configured to receive an output signal of a smart tag attached to the seat loading jig;
a supporting frame installed within the soundproof booth at a predetermined interval from the transfer path;
a power supply portion installed in the supporting frame to be reciprocally movable along a front-rear direction of the seat assembly and configured to supply power to seat motors of the seat assembly;
a noise detection unit installed in the supporting frame to be reciprocally movable along the front-rear direction of the seat assembly and configured to detect an operation noise of the seat motors; and
a controller configured to determine whether the seat motors are defective in noise based on comparison of noise data detected by the noise detection unit to predetermined reference data.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the seat loading jig is installed on the conveyor to be reciprocally movable in the up-down direction by a first driving portion.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the seat loading jig comprises a power supply connector electrically connected to the seat motors of the seat assembly.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the power supply portion is movable forward and rearward by a second driving portion provided in the supporting frame, and is electrically connected to the power supply connector of the seat loading jig through power supply pins.

7. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the noise detection unit comprises:
a microphone provided to be reciprocally movable along a direction perpendicular to the transfer path and configured to obtain the noise data according to the operation of the seat motors at a rear bottom center portion of the seat assembly; and
a vibration sensor provided to be reciprocally movable along the transfer path and configured to contact a lower end central portion of the seat assembly and to acquire vibration data according to the operation of the seat motors.

8. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the noise detection unit comprises:
a movable frame installed in the supporting frame to be reciprocally movable along a direction perpendicular to the transfer path by a third driving portion;
a first supporting rod fixedly installed to the movable frame;
a microphone fixedly installed to an end of the first supporting rod;
a pair of second supporting rods installed at both sides of the movable frame interposing the first supporting rod and to be reciprocally movable in a direction to become further away or closer to each other along the transfer path by a fourth driving portion; and
a vibration sensor installed to an end of the second supporting rod.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the vibration sensor is installed at the end of the second supporting rod to be reciprocally movable in the up-down direction by a fifth driving portion.

10. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the supporting frame comprises:
a supporting leg configured to support a bottom of the soundproof booth; and
a vibration-proof rubber block provided at the supporting leg.

11. A method for inspecting seat motor noise of a seat assembly being transferred in a line along a predetermined transfer path, the method comprising:
inserting at least one seat assembly into a soundproof booth, the at least one seat assembly being loaded on a seat loading jig and being transferred together with the seat loading jig along the predetermined transfer path through a conveyor;
moving a power supply portion forward by motorized driving toward the at least one seat assembly to supply power to seat motors of the at least one seat assembly;
moving a noise detection unit along a front-rear direction of the seat assembly by motorized driving toward the at least one seat assembly to detect an operation noise of respective seat motors, and outputting noise data to a controller; and
determining whether the seat motors are defective in noise based on comparison of the noise data to predetermined reference data.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein, in the inserting of the at least one seat assembly into a soundproof booth, a smart tag storing vehicle type information is attached to the seat loading jig.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
in the inserting of the at least one seat assembly into a soundproof booth, a wireless signal output from the smart tag is received and is output to the controller by a tag reader provided at a supporting member of the conveyor; and
when the at least one seat assembly loaded on the seat loading jig corresponds to a vehicle type to be inspected, which is analyzed by the controller based on the wireless signal, the transfer of the seat loading jig is stopped, both opening/closing doors of the soundproof booth are closed, and the seat loading jig is moved upward.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein, in the moving of the power supply portion, the power supply portion is connected to a power supply connector of the seat loading jig electrically connected to the seat motors of the at least one seat assembly.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein, in the moving of the noise detection unit, a microphone of the noise detection unit is positioned to a rear bottom center portion of the at least one seat assembly to obtain the noise data according to the operation of the seat motors and then the noise data are output to the controller.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein, in the moving of the noise detection unit, a vibration sensor of the noise detection unit is moved along the transfer path by motorized driving to contact each of both lower end central portions of the at least one seat assembly to acquire vibration data according to the operation of the seat motors and then the vibration data is output to the controller.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein, in the determining of whether the seat m

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Park Ki Won

Classifications

• H04R1/08

  Mouthpieces; {Microphones;} Attachments therefor · CPC title

• G01M99/005 Primary

  Testing of complete machines, e.g. washing-machines or mobile phones (testing of machine parts G01M13/00; testing of electric apparatus or components G01R31/50) · CPC title

• G10L25/51

  for comparison or discrimination · CPC title

• G06K19/07758

  arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag · CPC title

• G01D7/002

  giving both analog and numerical indication · CPC title