Vehicle Seat Link Structure for Rear-Collision Tilt Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle seat designs face challenges in reducing the angle of backward tilt and minimizing input to the sector gear during a rear collision, as increasing the strength or rigidity of the frame to mitigate damage contradicts the need to prevent excessive deformation and chipping of the sector gear.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat design featuring a link member with a first circular hole portion connected to a lower member, a second circular hole portion connected to a frame member, a plate-shaped main body with a flange and recess, and an offset portion that shifts the main body in the thickness direction, allowing controlled deformation and reduced input to the sector gear while minimizing the angle of backward tilt.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the strength or rigidity of the frame is increased to reduce the angle of backward tilt, then the angle of backward tilt is reduced, but the mass of the seat back increases, causing increased input to the sector gear and damage such as chipped teeth
Solution Approach 1:
The link member is designed with non-uniform thickness, having a first thickness in a first region and a second thickness different from the first thickness in a second region. This local variation in thickness allows different regions of the link member to have different rigidity levels, enabling the structure to achieve the required strength to control backward tilt while maintaining lower overall mass to reduce input to the sector gear and prevent damage
Solution Approach 2:
The thickness parameter of the link member is changed across different regions. By varying the thickness parameter locally rather than maintaining a uniform thickness, the structure achieves optimized mechanical properties that balance strength requirements with mass reduction, thereby preventing both excessive backward tilt and sector gear damage
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle seat includes a lower member, a frame member, and a link member connected to the lower member and the frame member. The link member includes a first circular hole portion connected to the lower member so as to pivot about an axis in a width direction of a vehicle, a second circular hole portion connected to the frame member, a main body of plate shape in which the first circular hole portion and the second circular hole portion are formed, a flange projecting from the main body in a direction crossing the main body, a recess formed to bring the flange closer to an imaginary straight line connecting a center of the first circular hole portion with a center of the second circular hole portion, and an offset portion formed to shift the main body in a thickness direction of the main body.