Seat Back Frame Assembly Using Curved Side Frame Overlap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle seat designs face challenges in improving assembly efficiency, ensuring strength while minimizing weight, and enhancing torsional rigidity without increasing workload.
Innovation Solution
The vehicle seat design incorporates side frames with curved regions formed by bent front and rear walls, an upper frame with specific bending features, and strategic welding to enhance rigidity and support, allowing for more efficient assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the left and right side frames sandwich the upper frame from opposite sides, then the structural strength is improved, but the assembly operation becomes cumbersome and work efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of inserting the upper frame between the side frames from the front (conventional method), the patent inverts the assembly sequence by first positioning the upper frame at the rear end and then moving it forward to engage with the side frames. This reversal of assembly direction eliminates the need for cumbersome sandwiching operations while maintaining structural strength
2Strength
If the side frame is made thicker to ensure strength, then the strength is improved, but the weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the side frame thicker only at specific critical locations (rear end and hinge joined parts) where strength is most needed, while keeping other portions thinner. This selective thickening ensures structural strength without unnecessarily increasing overall weight
3Weight of moving object
If the side frame plate thickness is changed to reduce weight, then the weight is reduced, but the rigidity of the linked part may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains linked part rigidity by ensuring that the upper frame's linked portion has sufficient plate thickness at the engagement area, even if other parts of the side frame are thinner. This localized thickness control preserves rigidity where needed while reducing weight overall
Data Source
AI summary
In a vehicle seat, a side frame of a seat back frame has a front wall that is formed so as to be bent inward continuously from a front edge of a plate-shaped portion and forms a curved region extending vertically from around the rotating shaft and reaching an upper frame, and a rear wall that is formed so as to be bent inward continuously from a rear edge of the plate-shaped portion and forms a curved region extending vertically from around the rotating shaft and reaching the upper frame, and an inner edge of the front wall has a projecting piece that spreads to the inside from a virtual outline corresponding to a shape of the upper frame and is superimposed on the front wall of the upper frame from the rear. This provides a vehicle seat that can contribute to improvement of the work efficiency when assembling a seat back frame.