Thin, double-wall molded seat frame system

Abstract

A seat frame for a vehicle or other seating comprises a seat back and a seat pan formed of molded double wall members having thin, substantially closed exterior walls and a substantially open interior. The exterior walls include front and back sections having a cavity therebetween, secured together to form a hollow, box beam type of structure. Integrally formed, spaced cup-shaped standoffs extend between the front and back sections between side walls thereof and provide internal reinforcement of the seat member between the side walls. The seat back includes a cavity for a seat back reinforcement member for either a restraint or non-restraint seat.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is based on and claims the benefit of the filing date of co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 237,926, entitled Thin, Double-Wall Molded Seat Frame System and filed on Oct. 4, 2000, by Patrick M. Glance and Bradley M. Glance, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The invention relates to vehicular seating generally and more particularly to a new vehicular seat frame. [0003] Today automotive seat frames, for example, are constructed from a number of materials and manufacturing technologies. Most seat frames and seat backs are fabricated from steel tubing. Front bucket seat pans (a lower seat frame utilized to mount a seat lower cushion) are commonly stamped steel with a steel seat spring suspension, although a technology limitation of steel seating frames is their large mass. Some seat frames utilize aluminum or magnesium, which has lighter mas...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0043] Another advantage of the present invention is that the seat frame pan and seat back are formed in two cavity halves, which are molded together to form a closed box section. It is desired that the walls of the two cavities, in each case, are relatively thin (typically about 1 mm) and hence flexible, with internal, molded standoffs reinforcing the outer walls when the two cavities are joined together. Notwithstanding the extremely thin walls, the seat frame pan and seat back provide good structural performance.

[0044] The seat frame pan and seat back can be formed from a number of different manufacturing processes, such as injection molding, twin sheet vacuum forming, vacuum die casting, casting, or compression molding. The seat frame pan may be formed of a number of different materials, such as high density polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polycarbonate, sheet molding compound, PBT, PET, or metal such as magnesium, zinc alloy, or aluminum. Talc filled HDPE is typical. The seat back can be made of comparable materials.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 10, the formation of th

Problems solved by technology

Front bucket seat pans (a lower seat frame utilized to mount a seat lower cushion) are commonly stamped steel with a steel seat spring suspension, although a technology limitation of steel seating frames is their large mass.

Some seat frames utilize aluminum or magnesium, which has lighter mass, but is more expensive.

A technology limitation of molded seat frames is their relatively large molding thickness, typically about 3 mm with ranges from about 6 to about 2 mm.

The large molding thickness results in a slow molding cycle time, and greater material usage, which directly results in a higher seat frame cost.

This is a techn

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