SEAT HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT

MECANISME D'AJUSTEMENT DE HAUTEUR DE SIEGE

English Abstract

A seat height adjuster for a vehicle seat consisting of a carrier plate, a base plate connected to the carrier plate by a sliding guide and with an adjustment mechanism with an electrical drive for adjusting the carrier plate to the base plate, wherein the base plate can be mounted on a seat trough, wherein the seat height adjuster can be mounted on the seat trough with a manual drive or an electrical drive.

French Abstract

Un ajusteur de la hauteur dun siège de véhicule comprend une plaque de support, une plaque de base raccordée à la plaque de support par un guide coulissant et à un mécanisme dajustement ayant un moteur électrique pour ajuster la plaque de support à la plaque de base, la plaque de base étant installée sur une auge de siège, lajusteur de la hauteur du siège pouvant être installé sur lauge de siège avec un entraînement manuel ou électrique.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1. A seat height adjuster for a vehicle seat consisting of a carrier plate, a
base plate connected
to the carrier plate by a sliding guide and with an adjustment mechanism with
a drive for
adjusting the carrier plate to the base plate, wherein the base plate of the
seat height adjuster
is mountable onto a seat trough, an electrical drive having an electrical
motor and a
transmission, the electrical drive attached to a side of the carrier plate
facing the base plate
and on a part of the carrier plate extending over a circumference of the base
plate.
2. The seat height adjuster according to claim 1, wherein the electrical drive
is a spindle
drive, whereby the spindle drive is arranged substantially at a right angle to
the electrical
motor.
3. The seat height adjuster according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the electrical
drive can be
clipped to the carrier plate.
4. The seat height adjuster according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the
carrier plate
and the base plate have reinforcement ribs.
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Description

Seat Height Adjustment
The present invention relates to a seat height adjustment.
Prior art
Refer in the prior art to DE 10 2009 018 754 Al, in which the drive is built
into a seat trough.
The energy is subsequently transferred via a flexible shaft from the seat
trough into an adjusting
mechanism in the seat height adjuster.
Problem of the invention
There is the problem in seat height adjustments from the prior art that, for
example, the
electronic drive was received in the seat trough. This, for its part, has,
however, the
disadvantage that the seat trough is overloaded at times with other components
such as control
devices, plug receptacles, cable fastenings, drawers or fans and that the
additional integration of
a drive poses problems.
Solution of the problem
A seat height adjuster according to the invention is designed for a vehicle
seat. The vehicle seat
is designed for being built into a motor vehicle or a truck or a boat or an
airplane.
The seat height adjuster consists of a carrier plate and a base plate.
Furthermore, the seat height
adjuster comprises a drive that can move the carrier plate to the base plate.
The moving takes
place here by a cooperation of an adjusting mechanism with a sliding guide.
The adjusting mechanism serves to move the carrier plate to the base plate.
The sliding guide
ensures that during the shifting a linear lateral movement is achieved without
the carrier plate
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CA 02882394 2015-02-18
being able to be removed from the base plate, whereby the base plate can be
mounted on a seat
trough.
The manual drive and/or the electrical drive are designed in such a manner
that the seat height
adjuster should be able to be mounted on one and the same seat trough
construction
independently of whether it has a manual drive or an electrical drive.
Furthermore, the seat height adjuster in accordance with the invention is
designed for an
electrical drive in such a manner that the electrical drive is arranged on the
carrier plate. The
arrangement of the electrical drive is on the carrier plate, as is also the
case, for example, for a
manual drive. It is primarily of no importance, in which position of the
carrier plate the
electrical drive is arranged. In a preferred exemplary embodiment the
electrical drive is
arranged on the bottom of the carrier plate. The bottom of the carrier plate
is the side of the
carrier plate that faces the base plate in a proper mounting. An electromotor
requires the most
space. Therefore. an electromotor is arranged on a part of the carrier plate
that extends over the
circumference of the baseplate. The baseplate is firmly connected to the seat
trough. Upon a
moving of the carrier plate away from the base plate the electromotor is
entrained with it.
It is especially advantageous that all essential parts of the seat height
adjustment can be screwed
onto a scat trough regardless of whether an electrical drive or a manual drive
is used for the
adjustment of the seat height. This means that even an electrical drive can be
integrated into
the seat height adjustment, as already takes place in the case of the manual
drive, by a low total
construction height. As a result, the same seat trough is always used,
regardless of whether an
electrical or a manual drive is used, since, for example, no recesses are used
any more in the
seat trough in order to bring the energy of an electromotor located in the
seat trough via a shaft
into the seat height adjuster.
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CA 02882394 2015-02-18
The electrical drive also comprises a transmission in addition to the
electromotor. In another
exemplary embodiment the electrical drive is a spindle drive. The spindle is
arranged
substantially at a right angle to the electromotor. In this exemplary
embodiment the base plate
has a U-shaped recess into which the spindle extends. Furthermore, the spindle
drive comprises
a spindle anchor that makes possible a moving of the carrier plate to the base
plate. The spindle
is rotated by the spindle anchor, adjusting the carrier plate to the base
plate.
In another exemplary embodiment either the entire electrical drive or a part
of the electrical
drive can be clipped onto the carrier plate. That means that a part of the
electrical drive or, for
example, only the electromotor can be clipped on without other fastening means
such as screws
or adhesives. To this end the carrier plate comprises appropriate receptacles
into which the
electrical drive or parts of the electrical drive can be clipped in by
overcoming a first resistance.
The clipped-in parts of the electrical drive should slide out only during
proper usage.
In addition, the manual drive comprises a catch mechanism activated by a
lever. Upon
activation of the lever the catch mechanism is released and the user can shift
the carrier plate
to the base plate. The lever is connected by an activation clement to the
catch mechanism.
When the desired position has been reached, the user can, for example, let go
of the lever and
the catch mechanism re-engages so that the carrier plate is fixed on the base
plate. Since the
individual parts of the seat height adjuster are to be manufactured from
plastic to the extent
possible, reinforcing devices are required. Therefore, in an exemplary
embodiment according
to the invention the carrier plate and the baseplate comprise appropriate
reinforcement ribs.
Description of the figures
Other advantages, details and features result from the following description
of the figures. The
figures show in detail in
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Fig. 1 an oblique view from below onto a seat height adjuster in accordance
with the
invention;
Fig. 2 an oblique view from above onto the seat height adjuster according
to figure 1;
Fig. 3 a view from below onto the seat height adjuster according to figure
1 ;
Fig. 4 a lateral view of the seat height adjuster according to figure 1;
Fig. 5 a front view of the seat height adjuster according to figure 1:
Fig. 6 a perspective view from above onto a seat height adjuster according
to another
exemplary embodiment:
Fig. 7 a perspective view from below onto the seat height adjuster
according to figure
6; and
Fig. 8 a bottom view of the seat height adjuster according to figure 6.
Figure I shows a seat height adjuster according to the invention. The seat
height adjuster
according to the invention comprises a carrier plate 1 and a base plate 2.
Furthermore, an
electrical drive 3 is shown that consists of an electromotor, a transmission 5
and a spindle 6.
The electrical drive 3 is attached to the bottom of the carrier plate 1.
"Bottom" means here the
side of the carrier plate 1 that faces the base plate 2. Moreover, a spindle
anchor 7 is shown
through which the spindle 6 extends. The spindle anchor 7 brings it about in
conjunction with
the electromotor 4 and the transmission 5 that the spindle 6 rotates in the
spindle anchor 7 and
moves the carrier plate 1 to the base plate 2.
According to the invention the electrical drive 3 is connected to the carrier
plate 1 in such a
manner that retains its position relative to the base plate 2 during the
shifting of the carrier plate
1. This can take place, for example, in that the drive 3 can be clipped in
prefabricated recesses
present on the bottom of the carrier plate 1. However, it can also take place
in that the electrical
drive 3 is screwed fast on the bottom of the carrier plate 1. Furthermore,
figure 1 shows how
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the carrier plate 1 comprises reinforcement ribs 9 and the base plate 2
comprises reinforcement
ribs 8.
Figure 2 shows a top view of figure 1. The carrier plate 1 can be recognized
again in it.
Figure 3 shows a bottom view onto the seat height adjuster. The base plate 2
comprises
openings 10.1 to 10.4 there that serve to fasten the base plate 2 to a seat
trough (not shown).
Furthermore, longitudinal struts 11.1, 11.2 can also be recognized that
represent a part of a
sliding guide. The sliding guide is constructed in such a manner that the
carrier plate 1 can be
shifted to the base plate 2 in such a manner that it cannot be raised from the
base plate 2. The
longitudinal struts 11.1, 11.2 also indicate the contours of the base plate 2
as a demarcation to
the carrier plate 1.
Different views of the features already shown and explained in the previous
figures can be
recognized again in the figures 4 and 5. A repetition will not be made.
Figure 6 shows another exemplary embodiment of a seat height adjuster. Here, a
manual drive
can be recognized instead of the electrical drive 3. The manual drive consists
of a lever 12, an
activation element 13 and a catch mechanism that is not shown in detail.
The user pulls the lever 12 away from the base plate 2, activating the catch
mechanism, that
had locked the carrier plate 1 to the base plate 2 up to then. The lever 12 is
spring-supported
so that it snaps back when the user lets go of the lever 12. After the user
has activated the lever
12 and the catch mechanism was unlocked, he pulls the carrier plate 1 with the
aid of the
activation element 13 away from the base plate 2. As soon as the user has
reached the desired
position he lets go of lever 12 and the catch mechanism firmly holds the
carrier plate 1 in the
desired position to the base plate.

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Furthermore, figure 7 also shows screw elements 14.1 to 14.3 that are thrust
through the
openings 10.1 to 10.3. The screw elements 14.1 to 14.3 serve to locally fix
the base plate 2 to
a seat trough (not shown in detail).
Refer regarding the remaining features to the description of the figures 1 to
5. In particular,
the explanations for features should be used if they have the same reference
numbers.
It can be recognized especially well in figure 8 how the lever 12 is connected
to the fastening
element 13. Otherwise, refer to the above explanations.
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List of reference numerals
'1 Carrier plate 34 67
2 Base plate 35 68
3 Electrical drive 36 69
4 Electromotor 37 70
Transmission 38 71
6 Spindle 39 72
7 Spindle anchor 40 73
8 Reinforcement rib 41 74
-
9 Reinforcement rib 47 75
Opening 43 76
11 Longitudinal strut 44 77
12 Lever 45 78
=
13 Activation element 46 79
14 47
48
16 49
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17 50
18 51
19 52
20 53
21 54
22 55
23 56
24 57
25 58
26 59
27 60
28 61
29 62
30 63
31 64
32 65
33 66
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Representative Drawing