Adjustable Vehicle Seat Bowden Cable Actuation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing adjustable vehicle seats face issues with inconsistent actuating travels of Bowden cables between the design and table positions, affecting the reliability of locking and unlocking mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A leadthrough element is introduced, with identical leadthrough openings for the Bowden cables aligned with the backrest pivot axis, ensuring consistent actuating travels and compensating for mounting tolerances, and featuring a radially protruding fastening arm and collars for secure guidance and protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the backrest is pivoted from design position to table position, then the vehicle seat can be transformed into a table configuration, but the actuating travels of the Bowden cables become inconsistent
Solution Approach 1:
A leadthrough element is introduced as an intermediary component that guides the Bowden cables through identical leadthrough openings. This leadthrough element acts as a mediator that ensures consistent cable actuating travels regardless of the backrest position, thereby maintaining locking mechanism reliability while enabling vehicle seat transformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The leadthrough openings are positioned at identical spacings from the backrest pivot axis, creating a geometric configuration that compensates for position changes. This parameter arrangement ensures that the actuating travels of the Bowden cables remain consistent whether the backrest is in design position or table position.
2Ease of operation
If the Bowden cables are used to unlock locking apparatuses, then the seat part can be released from vehicle structure, but mounting tolerances affect the consistency of cable actuation
Solution Approach 1:
The leadthrough element serves as a mediator that guides the Bowden cables through fixed leadthrough openings. This intermediary structure compensates for mounting tolerances by providing a stable reference frame, ensuring consistent cable actuation for unlocking the locking apparatuses regardless of manufacturing variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The leadthrough openings are positioned at identical spacings from the backrest pivot axis, creating a geometric parameter arrangement that compensates for mounting tolerances. This configuration ensures that small variations in mounting position do not affect the consistency of Bowden cable actuation.
Data Source
AI summary
An adjustable vehicle seat (1) has a seat part (2) and a backrest part (3) which is pivotable relative to the seat part about a backrest pivot axis (6) and is lockable in a design position (the backrest is approximately upright) and in a table position (the backrest rests on the seat part). Two locking devices (90) are kinematically assigned to the seat part and an unlocking unit (10) is kinematically assigned to the backrest, for unlocking the locking devices (90). The unlocking unit (10) is connected to the locking devices (90) by two Bowden cables (83, 84). A passage element (80), that is approximately cylindrical, is fastened to the seat part with a cylinder axis aligned with the backrest pivot axis (6) and with a first Bowden cable passage opening (81) and a second Bowden cable passage opening (82) arranged at a same distance from the backrest pivot axis.