Vehicle seat structure

Abstract

To create a vehicle seat structure including an air conditioner for improving occupants' comfort without impairing design around a seat.SOLUTION: A vehicle seat structure includes: through holes 14 provided at a headrest or a seat back 12 of a seat of a vehicle; and air conditioners 16 each of which may be attached to a peripheral portion of the through hole 14 from the rear side of the headrest or the seat back 12 in a vehicle fore and aft direction and performs air-conditioning around an occupant 100 seated on the seat through the through hole 14.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle seat structure, and more particularly to a vehicle seat structure equipped with an air conditioning system. [Background technology]

[0002] Some vehicles are equipped with air conditioning units that adjust the temperature in the headrests or above the seats. Specifically, there is a vehicle seat structure in which a blower and an air outlet are provided in the headrest to send temperature-adjusted air toward the neck and back of the occupant. Such a structure is often adopted in open-top cars, which are equipped with a relatively large number of air conditioning units. However, such a structure has the advantage of efficiently improving comfort with less power than adjusting the temperature of the entire passenger compartment, and is therefore also effective in vehicles other than open-top cars. For this reason, technologies related to vehicle seat structures equipped with air conditioning units have been proposed in the past.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a neck fan configured to generate a temperature-controlled airflow toward an occupant in the area of ​​the headrest or the upper end of the seatback. The neck fan has a compensation means for compensating for asymmetric climatic conditions caused by interference flows in the area around the occupant. Patent Document 1 also claims that a simple structure of the headrest and vehicle seat can be realized while providing uniform and convenient temperature control in the area around the occupant. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6676757 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Incidentally, when installing an air conditioning unit in a headrest or above a seat, consideration must be given to the design of the area around the seat. For example, some vehicles use bucket seats with excellent holding power to improve ride comfort. In such vehicles, air conditioning units are sometimes installed around the necks of occupants to ensure thermal comfort. However, when installing an air conditioning unit in a lightweight, sporty bucket seat, limited space makes it difficult to install it in an appropriate location, which can detract from the design. Therefore, a vehicle seat structure equipped with an air conditioning unit that can maintain the design of the area around the seat while improving occupant comfort is desired.

[0006] In this specification, a vehicle seat structure is realized that is equipped with an air conditioning device for improving the comfort of occupants without compromising the design of the area around the seat. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The vehicle seat structure disclosed in this specification includes a through-hole provided in the headrest or seat back of a vehicle seat, and an air conditioning device that can be attached to the vicinity of the through-hole from the rear side of the headrest or seat back in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, and that conditions the air around an occupant seated in the seat via the through-hole. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the vehicle seat structure disclosed in this specification, the air conditioning device is attached to the area around the through-hole from the rear side of the headrest or seat back, so the design around the seat is not impaired. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a vehicle seat structure according to an embodiment; [Figure 2] 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1. [Figure 3] 1 is a diagram showing an example of a peripheral portion of a through-hole of a vehicle seat structure; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The vehicle seat structure will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, "Fr," "Up," and "Rh" indicate the front, upper, and right sides of the vehicle, respectively.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view that schematically illustrates a vehicle seat structure according to an embodiment. In this example, the vehicle seat structure 10 is applied to a vehicle that employs a bucket seat (i.e., a seat with high edges that allows the occupant's body to sink into and provide a high level of support). Some bucket seats are designed so that one belt is placed on each shoulder of the occupant, and these shoulder belts extend toward the front of the vehicle from through-holes provided in the bucket seat. This example also employs a bucket seat with such a configuration.

[0012] As shown in FIG. 1 , a vehicle seat structure 10 has a through hole 14 provided in a seat back 12 of a vehicle seat. More specifically, a through hole 14 is provided on each of the left and right sides of the seat back 12. An air conditioner 16 is provided in each of the two through holes 14. The air conditioner 16 is attached to a portion of the seat back 12 from the rear side in the vehicle longitudinal direction, around the through hole 14. The air conditioner 16 conditions the air around an occupant 100 seated in the seat via the through hole 14. Here, the air conditioner 16 is a known air conditioning unit including a cooling device, a heating device, and a control unit. Note that the cooling device, heating device, and control unit are not shown. The cooling device, for example, blows air toward the occupant 100 seated in the vehicle seat. The heating device generates heat, for example, by being energized, to heat the surrounding air or the seat, and blow the heated air. The control unit is an electronic control unit that has at least a CPU that performs various arithmetic processing and a memory that stores control programs and data, and controls each device that constitutes the air conditioner 16, such as the cooling device and the heating device. As an example, if the cooling device is provided with a fan that blows conditioned air, the control unit controls the rotation of the fan.

[0013] Next, the configuration of the vehicle seat structure 10 will be further described with reference to Figure 2. Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in Figure 1. More specifically, Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the vehicle seat structure 10 and the occupant 100 in a plan view. As also shown in Figure 2, the air conditioners 16 are mounted on the left and right sides of the seat back 12 (i.e., near the shoulders of the occupant 100 when seated). By mounting the air conditioners 16 on both the left and right sides instead of one per seat, it is possible to set the air volume and the like independently. Here, in order to explain the configuration of the through-holes 14, the air conditioners 16, and their peripheral components, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the left and right components will be described as having the same configuration.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle seat structure 10 includes a through hole 14 provided in the seat back 12 and an air conditioning unit 16 attached to a portion surrounding the through hole 14. The portion surrounding the through hole 14 is, for example, a resin member provided inside or on a side of the seat back 12, but the shape and material are not particularly limited. In FIG. 2, this peripheral member is shown as a base portion 18. As shown in FIG. 2, the air conditioning unit 16 is attached to the base portion 18. As also shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioning unit 16 is attached from the rear side of the seat back 12. A cover 20 is attached from further rearward of the air conditioning unit 16. Note that FIG. 2 shows the air conditioning unit 16 in a schematic manner. To distinguish it from other components, the base portion 18 is shown as a shaded portion and the cover 20 is shown as a dark black portion. This is also true in FIG. 3. The base portion 18 and the cover 20 are provided so as to surround the air conditioning unit 16, with portions of each fixed to each other. With this configuration, the air conditioning unit 16 can be firmly attached to the seat back 12. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, if the cover 20 is not provided or the cover 20 is configured to be easily removable, the user can remove the air conditioning unit 16 from the rear side of the seat back 12 after purchasing the vehicle. In this case, it becomes possible to use the air conditioning unit 16 separately from the shoulder seat belt.

[0015] Next, two vehicle seat structures with different structures will be described with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the periphery of a through hole of a vehicle seat structure. FIG. 3 shows a vehicle seat structure 10a and a vehicle seat structure 10b arranged one above the other. These vehicle seat structures 10a and 10b share characteristic parts with the vehicle seat structure 10 described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. That is, both vehicle seat structures 10a and 10b include a through hole 14 provided in a seat back 12 and an air conditioning unit 16 attached to a portion around the through hole 14, and air-condition the area around an occupant (not shown) seated in the seat via the through hole 14. Therefore, in FIG. 3, elements equivalent to those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are designated by the same reference numerals.

[0016] The vehicle seat structure 10a and the vehicle seat structure 10b shown in FIG. 3 are each an example of a vehicle seat structure disclosed in this specification, and differ from each other in the structure of the base portion 18. In the vehicle seat structure 10a, the base portion 18 for attaching the air conditioning unit 16 is fixed to the seat back 12 with screws 22. That is, the base portion 18 and the air conditioning unit 16 are configured as a single unit and are detachably attached to the seat back 12 with the screws 22. On the other hand, in the vehicle seat structure 10b, the air conditioning unit 16 is fixed to the base portion 18 with the screws 22, and a cover 20 is further attached to the rear of the base portion 18. That is, the base portion 18 is fixed to the seat back 12, and the air conditioning unit 16 is attached to the base portion 18, which is integrated with the seat back 12, with the screws 22. In other words, in the vehicle seat structure 10a, the base portion 18 can be removed with the screws 22, whereas in the vehicle seat structure 10b, the base portion 18 cannot be removed. As described above, the vehicle seat structure 10a and the vehicle seat structure 10b are each an example of the vehicle seat structure disclosed in this specification, and therefore either configuration may be adopted.

[0017] The above description is merely an example, and the vehicle seat structure disclosed in this specification may be configured to include an air conditioning device that can be attached to a peripheral portion of a through hole from the rear side of the headrest or seat back in the vehicle longitudinal direction and that conditions air through the through hole. Therefore, other configurations may be changed as appropriate. In this example, the air conditioning device is covered with a base portion and a cover, but this is not limited to this. Furthermore, in this example, the member to which the air conditioning device is attached is a peripheral member of a through hole for a shoulder belt provided in a bucket seat, but it may also be a peripheral member of a through hole provided in a headrest. [Explanation of symbols]

[0018] 10, 10a, 10b vehicle seat structure, 12 seat back, 14 through hole, 16 air conditioning unit, 18 base portion, 20 cover, 22 screws.

Claims

[Claim 1] a through-hole provided in a headrest or a seat back of a vehicle seat; an air conditioning device that can be attached to a peripheral portion of the through hole from a rear side of the headrest or the seat back in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and that conditions air around an occupant seated in the seat via the through hole; A vehicle seat structure comprising:

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