Vehicle seat, and electric sliding rail and locking mechanism therefor

Abstract

A locking mechanism (4a) for an electric sliding rail, wherein the electric sliding rail comprises a first rail (5) and a second rail (1) for linearly sliding a seat by means of a driving apparatus generating relative displacement. The locking mechanism (4a) comprises a locking mechanism support (51) and a nut (57), wherein the locking mechanism support (51) and the nut (57) form an integrated structure, and the integrated structure is provided with a mixed-material threaded hole structure that extends through the locking mechanism support (51) and the nut (57). Also provided are an electric sliding rail for a vehicle seat and a vehicle seat.

Description

Vehicle Seat, Its Electric Slide Rail and Locking Mechanism

[0001] This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application with the application number 202411704113.X and the invention title "An Electric Slide Rail and Seat" filed with the Chinese Patent Office on November 26, 2024. The entire content thereof is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to the field of seat slide rails, and particularly to a vehicle seat, its electric slide rail and locking mechanism. Background Art

[0003] In the existing slide rail screw drive structure, the locking mechanism uses a nut made of engineering plastic material to mesh with the screw. Although this meshing method is beneficial to reducing transmission noise, due to the low strength of the plastic material, it will wear after long-term meshing transmission with the metal screw, resulting in an increase in the thread clearance at the meshing part, and there is an obvious sense of jerk during use. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to overcome the above-mentioned defects of the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a vehicle seat, its electric slide rail and locking mechanism to improve the problem of excessive clearance and shaking between the screw and the locking mechanism under durable working conditions.

[0005] In order to achieve the above purpose, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0006] The present invention provides a locking mechanism for an electric slide rail. The electric slide rail includes a first rail and a second rail that move relative to each other through a driving device to linearly slide the seat. The locking mechanism includes a locking mechanism bracket and a nut. The locking mechanism bracket and the nut form an integral structure, and the integral structure has a hybrid material screw hole structure that penetrates both the locking mechanism bracket and the nut.

[0007] Optionally, the nut is made of a first material, and the locking mechanism bracket is made of a second material with a strength superior to the first material.

[0008] Optionally, the nut is a plastic nut, and the locking mechanism bracket is a metal bracket.

[0009] Optionally, the hybrid material screw hole structure includes a bracket screw hole opened on the locking mechanism bracket and a nut screw hole opened on the nut.

[0010] Optionally, the locking mechanism bracket is in a U-shape or a square shape, and an installation part for installing the nut is formed in the middle of the locking mechanism bracket.

[0011] Optionally, the side wall of the locking mechanism bracket is provided with opposing bosses, and the end of the nut is provided with a countersunk that engages with the bosses. The nut screw hole is placed between the countersunks, and the bracket screw hole passes through the bosses and engages with the nut screw hole to improve the engagement matching degree of the bracket screw hole and the nut screw hole.

[0012] Optionally, the nut is formed within the mounting portion of the locking mechanism bracket using a plastic coating process.

[0013] Accordingly, the present invention also provides an electric slide rail for a vehicle seat, the electric slide rail having the locking mechanism of the present invention for an electric slide rail.

[0014] Optionally, the locking mechanism bracket has outwardly extending mounting feet on opposite sides, and is connected to the second track via the mounting feet, with a buffer provided on the outer periphery of the mounting feet; or the locking mechanism bracket has inwardly folding mounting feet on opposite sides, and the buffer is configured to wrap around the inwardly folding mounting feet.

[0015] Optionally, the inwardly folded mounting feet are configured not to extend beyond the sidewall of the locking mechanism bracket in the through direction of the hybrid material screw hole structure.

[0016] Optionally, the electric slide rail further includes a transmission mechanism, which has a first gear and a second gear. The drive device has a lead screw, and the transmission mechanism and the lead screw are driven by the first gear and the second gear. The first gear is made of metal, and the second gear is made of plastic or a plastic-metal hybrid material.

[0017] Optionally, the second gear is fixed to the end of the lead screw via a metal base shaft, and the outer teeth of the second gear are arranged on the outer periphery of the metal base shaft to form an integral structure. The outer teeth of the second gear are made of plastic.

[0018] Optionally, a base shaft gear ring is provided on the outer surface of the metal base shaft, and the outer teeth of the second gear are wrapped around the base shaft gear ring.

[0019] Optionally, the second gear is integrally molded over the end of the lead screw.

[0020] Furthermore, the present invention also provides a vehicle seat, the vehicle seat including the electric slide rail of the present invention. The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0021] The present invention provides a vehicle seat and its electric slide rail and locking mechanism. Firstly, the locking mechanism uses a mixed material screw hole structure arranged with a locking mechanism bracket and nut to ensure the screw hole strength, prevent excessive gaps due to wear between threads, improve meshing stability, and ensure stable operation, low noise and low vibration. Secondly, the input gear in the gearbox is changed to a metal material and the output gear is changed to a plastic material to further improve the quietness performance. Attached Figure Description

[0022] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained from these drawings without creative effort.

[0023] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the locking mechanism of the electric slide rail of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 2 is a structural schematic diagram of one embodiment of the locking mechanism in the electric slide rail of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 3 is a front sectional view of the embodiment shown in Figure 2.

[0026] Figure 4 is a breakdown diagram of the embodiment shown in Figure 3.

[0027] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the locking mechanism in the electric slide rail of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 6 is a front sectional view of the embodiment shown in Figure 5.

[0029] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the gearbox in the electric slide rail of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the second embodiment of the gearbox in the electric slide rail of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0031] As can be seen from the background technology, the locking mechanism in the existing slide rail screw transmission structure has the problem of low material strength, which can easily lead to obvious erratic movement due to long-term wear.

[0032] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention provides a vehicle seat, its electric slide rail, and a locking mechanism. The locking mechanism utilizes a hybrid material screw hole structure arranged through a locking mechanism bracket and nut to ensure screw hole strength, prevent excessive clearance due to thread wear, improve engagement stability, and guarantee stable operation, low noise, and minimal vibration. Furthermore, replacing the input gear in the gearbox with a metal material and the output gear with a plastic material further enhances noise reduction performance.

[0033] Exemplary embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the present application can be presented in many different ways and is not limited to the embodiments described below. It should also be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in various ways to provide more additional embodiments. In all the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same or functionally identical elements.

[0034] An embodiment of the electric slide rail of the present invention is shown in reference to FIG. 1.

[0035] The electric slide rail includes a first rail 5 and a second rail 1 that are driven to displace relative to each other by a set of driving devices to linearly slide the seat. The driving device is a screw driving structure, that is, the displacement is achieved through a screw 2 and a locking mechanism 4 screwed onto the screw 2. It further includes a transmission mechanism 3 for driving the screw 2 to rotate. The transmission structure 3 includes a gearbox of a primary transmission structure having a first gear 32 and a second gear 33 disposed on the screw 2.

[0036] FIGS. 2 to 4 show a schematic structural view of the locking mechanism of the electric slide rail of the present invention. The locking mechanism bracket 51 of the locking mechanism 4a is in a "C" shape. The two sides are mounting feet 52 for connecting to the second rail 1, and the middle part is a mounting portion 53 for setting a nut 57. Side walls 54 extend upward from the mounting feet 52 and form a groove 53a at the mounting portion 53. The nut 57 is placed in the groove 53a and forms an integral structure with the locking mechanism bracket 51. The locking mechanism 4a has a hybrid material screw hole structure that penetrates both the locking mechanism bracket 51 and the nut 57. The thread structure of the hybrid material screw hole structure is composed of bracket screw holes 56 on the side walls 54 of the locking mechanism bracket 51 on both sides of the mounting portion 53 and nut screw holes 59 located in the nut 57 and engaged with the bracket screw holes 56. The nut 57 is made of plastic material, and the locking mechanism bracket 51 is made of metal material. Therefore, the thread structure of the hybrid material screw hole structure made of the hybrid material can ensure the strength of the screw hole, prevent excessive wear between the threads and large gaps, improve the biting stability, and ensure stable operation, low noise, and small vibration. The nut 57 is formed on the locking mechanism bracket 51 by a plastic coating process to form an integral structure. In order to improve the engagement matching degree of the bracket screw holes 56 and the nut screw holes 59, convex platforms 55 extending towards each other are arranged on the inner side of the side walls 54, and corresponding sinking platforms 58 are provided on the nut 57. The bracket screw holes 56 pass through the convex platforms 55 and are connected to the nut screw holes 59 also connected between the sinking platforms 58. Further, a buffer member 52a is also provided around the outer periphery of the mounting feet 52 to reduce the vibration of the locking mechanism 4a during operation.

[0037] Figures 5 and 6 show another embodiment of the locking mechanism. A gap 57a is left between the nut screw hole 59 and the bracket screw hole 56. After the screw rod 2 enters from the bracket screw hole 56, it passes through the gap 57a, meshes with the nut screw hole 59, and then passes through the gap 57a on the other side and exits. The locking mechanism bracket 51 of the locking mechanism is in the shape of a Chinese character 'hui'. The mounting feet 52 are designed to be folded inward and then wrapped by the buffer member 52a, which can further integrate and miniaturize the volume of the locking mechanism 4a.

[0038] Figures 7 and 8 show the structure of the gearbox of the transmission mechanism in the electric slide rail of the present invention, including a first gear 32 and a second gear 33 meshing with it for transmission. Since the rotational speed of the first gear 32 is greater than that of the second gear 33, a metal material is selected to make it to improve the dimensional accuracy and ensure the transmission stability. The second gear 33 is correspondingly selected with a plastic material to ensure low noise during the operation of the gearbox 3. Since the materials of the second gear 33 and the screw rod 2 are different, they cannot be connected together through a simple assembly process.

[0039] Figure 7 specifically shows the first preferred embodiment. The second gear 33 is integrally plastic-coated at the end of the screw rod 2. This connection method effectively avoids the problem of large fluctuations in the dimensional deviation of parts caused by material deformation under the original metal riveting structure.

[0040] Figure 8 specifically shows the second preferred embodiment. A base shaft tooth ring 34a is arranged on the outer periphery of the metal base shaft 34. The external teeth 33a of the second gear are directly formed on the base shaft 34 by an injection molding process to form an integral structure. The tooth profile structure of the base shaft tooth ring 34a can increase the connection area between the external teeth 33a of the second gear and the base shaft 34 to improve the strength, and finally the base shaft 34 is press-fitted at the end of the screw rod 2.

[0041] Correspondingly, the present invention also provides a vehicle seat. The vehicle seat includes: the electric slide rail of the present invention.

[0042] The electric slide rail is the electric slide rail of the present invention. The specific technical solution of the electric slide rail can refer to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 above.

Claims

1. A locking mechanism for an electric slide rail, the electric slide rail comprising a first rail and a second rail that linearly slide a seat by relative displacement through a driving device, characterized in that the locking mechanism comprises a locking mechanism bracket and a nut, wherein the locking mechanism bracket and the nut form an integral structure, and the integral structure has a hybrid material screw hole structure penetrating both the locking mechanism bracket and the nut.

2. The locking mechanism for an electric slide rail as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The nut is of a first material, and the locking mechanism bracket is of a second material with a strength superior to the first material.

3. The locking mechanism for an electric slide rail as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The nut is a plastic nut, and the locking mechanism bracket is a metal bracket.

4. The locking mechanism for an electric slide rail as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The hybrid material screw hole structure includes a bracket screw hole formed in the locking mechanism bracket and a nut screw hole formed in the nut.

5. The locking mechanism for an electric slide rail as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The locking mechanism bracket is in a U-shape or a square shape with a hole in the middle, and an installation part for installing the nut is formed in the middle of the locking mechanism bracket.

6. The locking mechanism for an electric slide rail as described in claim 5, characterized in that, On the side wall of the locking mechanism bracket, there are opposite bosses, and on the corresponding end of the nut, there are sunk seats corresponding to and engaging with the bosses. The nut screw hole is placed between the sunk seats, and the bracket screw hole passes through the bosses and engages with the nut screw hole to improve the engagement matching degree of the bracket screw hole and the nut screw hole.

7. The locking mechanism for an electric slide rail as described in claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, The nut is formed in the installation part of the locking mechanism bracket by overmolding.

8. An electric slide rail for a vehicle seat, the electric slide rail having the locking mechanism for an electric slide rail according to any one of claims 1-6.

9. The electric slide rail as described in claim 8, characterized in that, On opposite sides of the locking mechanism bracket, there are respectively outwardly extending mounting feet, and the mounting feet are connected to the second rail via the mounting feet, and buffer members are provided on the outer periphery of the mounting feet; or On opposite sides of the locking mechanism bracket, there are respectively inwardly folded mounting feet, and the buffer member is configured to wrap the inwardly folded mounting feet.

10. The electric slide rail as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that, The inwardly folded mounting feet are configured not to extend beyond the side wall of the locking mechanism bracket in the direction of penetration of the hybrid material screw hole structure.

11. The electric slide rail as described in any one of claims 8-10, characterized in that, The electric slide rail further comprises a transmission mechanism, the transmission mechanism having a first gear and a second gear, the driving device having a丝杆 (it should be'screw rod' in English), and the transmission mechanism and the screw rod are传动 (it should be 'driven' in English) through the first gear and the second gear. The first gear is made of metal, and the second gear is made of plastic or a plastic-metal hybrid material.

12. The electric slide rail as described in claim 11, characterized in that, The second gear is fixed to the end of the screw rod by a metal base shaft, and the external teeth of the second gear are arranged on the outer periphery of the metal base shaft and form an integral structure. The external teeth of the second gear are made of plastic.

13. The electric slide rail as described in claim 12, characterized in that, On the outer surface of the metal base shaft, there is a base shaft tooth ring, and the external teeth of the second gear are wrapped around the base shaft tooth ring.

14. The electric slide rail as described in claim 11, characterized in that, The second gear is integrally overmolded on the end of the screw rod.

15. A vehicle seat, the vehicle seat comprising an electric slide rail according to any one of claims 8 to 14.

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