JP7674998B2 - Power seat control device and power seat - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a power seat and its control device.

In the vehicle occupant posture control device described in Patent Document 1 below, the control unit adjusts the angle of the vehicle seat by outputting a control signal to drive the RY axis direction actuator. Under normal circumstances, the control unit rotates the vehicle seat so that a force acts in a direction that cancels the force that the occupant receives due to the acceleration in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. The control unit also predicts the occurrence of a swing back of the vehicle based on signals input from the vehicle speed sensor and the X-axis acceleration sensor. When the control unit predicts a swing back, it quickly rotates the vehicle seat in the opposite direction before rotating it in the direction returning it to the reference angle. The control unit then slowly rotates the vehicle seat in the direction returning it to the reference angle. This allows the occupant's posture to be appropriately adjusted when there is a swing back of the vehicle.

JP 2009-173232 A

In a vehicle capable of autonomous driving, the driver can stretch his/her legs and assume a relaxed position, for example by sliding the seat cushion of the power seat backwards and reclining the seat back backwards. However, in level 3 autonomous driving, for example, the driver needs to respond appropriately to a request from the autonomous driving system to switch to manual driving. In that case, it is required to quickly return the power seat from the above-mentioned relaxing seat position to the driving seat position. In that case, if the seat cushion is slid at high speed, the driver will feel a shock when the slide stops. In order to reduce this shock, for example, if the slide speed is reduced just before the slide stops, the quick return to the driving seat position will be hindered.

In consideration of the above, the present invention aims to provide a power seat operating device and a power seat that can reduce the shock experienced by the driver when returning to the driver's seat position without reducing the sliding speed of the seat cushion.

The power seat control device of the first aspect is a power seat control device that controls a power seat that has a slide mechanism that slides a seat cushion back and forth relative to the vehicle body floor and a reclining mechanism that rotates a seat back back and forth relative to the seat cushion, and has a memory function that automatically returns the power seat to a pre-registered driver's seat position, and when returning the power seat to the driver's seat position by sliding the seat cushion and rotating the seat back, the seat back is rotated in the opposite direction to the sliding direction of the seat cushion immediately before the sliding of the seat cushion is stopped.

According to the first aspect, a power seat with a changeable seat position, which has a slide mechanism for sliding the seat cushion back and forth relative to the vehicle body floor and a reclining mechanism for rotating the seat back back and forth relative to the seat cushion, is controlled by a power seat control device. This power seat control device has a memory function for automatically returning the power seat to a preregistered driver's seat position, and when returning the power seat to the driver's seat position by sliding the seat cushion and rotating the seat back, the seat back is rotated in the opposite direction to the sliding direction of the seat cushion just before stopping the sliding of the seat cushion. This makes it possible to reduce the shock felt by the driver's upper body without reducing the sliding speed of the seat cushion.

In the power seat control device of the second aspect, in the first aspect, when the power seat is returned to the driver's seat position, if the seat cushion and the seat back are positioned rearward of the driver's seat position, the seat cushion is slid forward while the seat back is temporarily rotated forward of the driver's seat position.

According to the second aspect, when returning the power seat to the driver's seat position, if the seat cushion and the seat back are located rearward of the driver's seat position, the power seat control device slides the seat cushion forward while rotating the seat back once forward of the driver's seat position. Then, just before stopping the sliding of the seat cushion, the seat back is rotated in the opposite direction to the sliding direction of the seat cushion, i.e., rearward. This makes it possible to reduce the shock felt by the driver's upper body when the forward sliding of the seat cushion stops.

The power seat of the third aspect has a slide mechanism that slides the seat cushion back and forth relative to the vehicle body floor, a reclining mechanism that rotates the seat back back and forth relative to the seat cushion, and the power seat control device described in the first or second aspect.

According to the third aspect, the power seat has a slide mechanism that slides the seat cushion back and forth relative to the vehicle body floor, and a reclining mechanism that rotates the seat back back and forth relative to the seat cushion, making it possible to change the seat position. The power seat control device of this power seat is the one of the first or second aspect, and therefore the above-mentioned effects can be obtained.

As described above, the power seat control device and power seat of the present invention can reduce the shock felt by the driver when returning to the driver's seat position without reducing the sliding speed of the seat cushion.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state in which the power seat according to the embodiment is located in a driver's seat position. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state in which the power seat according to the embodiment is located in a relaxation seat position. 1 is a block diagram showing a control system for a power seat according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a side view corresponding to FIG. 2 for explaining an operation of the power seat according to the embodiment when returning to a driver's seat position. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control flow of the power seat control device according to the embodiment.

The power seat 10 and power seat control device 30 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figures 1 to 3. Note that the arrows FR and UP shown in Figure 2 indicate the front and top of the power seat 10, respectively. The front-rear, left-right (width) and up-down directions of this power seat 10 coincide with the front-rear, left-right (width) and up-down directions of the vehicle (automobile) in which this power seat 10 is mounted. In the following description, when the front-rear, left-right, up-down directions are used simply, they refer to directions relative to the power seat 10, unless otherwise specified.

1 and 2 show a side view of a power seat 10 according to this embodiment. This power seat 10 is a driver's seat for a vehicle capable of level 3 automatic driving, and has a seat cushion 12 on which the driver sits and a seat back 14 against which the driver rests. This power seat 10 is, as an example, an 8-way power seat, and has a slide mechanism 16 that slides the seat cushion 12 back and forth relative to the vehicle floor F, a reclining mechanism 18 that rotates the seat back 14 back and forth relative to the seat cushion 12, a lifter mechanism 20 that moves the seat cushion 12 up and down relative to the vehicle floor F, and a tilt mechanism 22 that changes the inclination of the seat surface of the seat cushion 12, making it possible to change the seat position in a variety of ways. This power seat 10 has a power seat control device 30 shown in FIG. 3, and its operation is controlled by the power seat control device 30.

The power seat control device 30 has a seat ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 32, which is a control unit, an 8-way power seat switch 34, and a memory switch 36. The seat ECU 32 is composed of a microcomputer with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and an input/output I/F (Inter Face) connected to a bus. The input/output I/F of the seat ECU 32 is electrically connected to various vehicle ECUs and vehicle-side electrical equipment 38 such as a battery mounted on the vehicle. The vehicle ECU includes an automatic driving ECU that controls automatic driving of the vehicle.

The input/output I/F of the seat ECU 32 is electrically connected to the high-speed slide motor 16A, which is the drive source of the slide mechanism 16, the high-speed reclining motor 18A, which is the drive source of the reclining mechanism 18, the lifter motor 20A, which is the drive source of the lifter mechanism 20, and the tilt motor 22A, which is the drive source of the tilt mechanism 22. The high-speed slide motor 16A, the high-speed reclining motor 18A, the lifter motor 20A, and the tilt motor 22A each have a hall sensor that outputs a pulse signal according to the rotational position of the output shaft of each motor. The seat ECU 32 detects the rotational position of the output shaft of each motor 16A, 18A, 20A, and 22A based on the pulse signal from the hall sensor of each motor 16A, 18A, 20A, and 22A, and detects the position of the seat cushion 12 and the seat back 14 based on the detection result.

The 8-way power seat switch 34 is electrically connected to the input/output I/F of the seat ECU 32. This 8-way power seat switch 34 has, for example, two operation knobs. The seat ECU 32 activates the high-speed slide motor 16A, the high-speed reclining motor 18A, the lifter motor 20A, or the tilt motor 22A in response to the operation of the two operation knobs. This causes the slide mechanism 16, the reclining mechanism 18, the lifter mechanism 20, or the tilt mechanism 22 to operate.

The memory switch 36 is electrically connected to the input/output I/F of the seat ECU 32. This memory switch 36 is used when using the memory function of the seat ECU 32. This memory function is a function to automatically move the power seat 10 to a seat position that has been registered (stored) in advance. This memory switch 36 has, for example, a "SET" switch, a "Memory 1" switch, and a "Memory 2" switch, and is capable of registering two seat positions. When registering a seat position, for example, with the power seat 10 moved to the seat position to be registered, the "SET" switch is pressed and the "Memory 1" or "Memory 2" switch is pressed. This causes the seat position to be registered to be stored in the seat ECU 32. When the "Memory 1" or "Memory 2" switch is pressed thereafter, the seat ECU 32 moves (returns) the power seat 10 to the registered seat position.

In this embodiment, the driver's seat position shown in FIG. 1 (hereinafter referred to as the "driving position") is registered in the "memory 1" switch, and the relaxation seat position shown in FIG. 2 (hereinafter referred to as the "relaxation position") is registered in the "memory 2" switch. The driving position is a seat position that makes it easy for the driver to drive, and the relaxation position is a seat position where the driver can stretch their legs and relax. In the relaxation position, the seat cushion 12 is slid rearward from the driving position, and the seat back 14 is rotated (reclined) rearward from the driving position. In addition, in the relaxation position, the vertical position of the seat cushion 12 and the inclination of the seat surface are adjusted to the pre-registered states.

When the automatic driving ECU requests a switch to manual driving while the power seat 10 is in the relaxed position, the seat ECU 32 controls the operation of the slide mechanism 16, reclining mechanism 18, lifter mechanism 20, and tilt mechanism 22 to automatically return the power seat 10 to the driving position. When returning from the relaxed position to the driving position, the seat cushion 12 slides forward and the seat back 14 rotates forward. At this time, the seat ECU 32 controls the slide mechanism 16 and reclining mechanism 18 so that the seat back 14 rotates in the direction opposite to the sliding direction of the seat cushion 12 just before stopping the sliding of the seat cushion 12.

The above control will be specifically described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates a state in which the seat cushion 12 and the seat back 14 are in the relax position. The position indicated by the two-dot chain line SL0 in FIG. 4 indicates the position of the front of the seat cushion 12 when the seat cushion 12 is in the driving position. The position indicated by the two-dot chain line RC0 in FIG. 4 indicates the position (angle) of the front of the seat back 14 when the seat back 14 is in the driving position. The position indicated by the one-dot chain line SL1 in FIG. 4 indicates the position of the front of the seat cushion 12 when the seat cushion 12 is in the middle between the driving position and the relax position. The position indicated by the one-dot chain line RC1 in FIG. 4 indicates the position of the front of the seat back 14 when the seat back 14 is rotated slightly forward from the driving position.

When the seat cushion 12 slides from the relaxed position to the position of the dashed line SL1 in FIG. 4, the seat ECU 32 rotates the seat back 14 from the relaxed position to the position of the dashed line RC1 in FIG. 4. When the seat cushion 12 slides from the position of the dashed line SL1 in FIG. 4 to the position of the dashed line SL0 in FIG. 4, the seat ECU 32 rotates the seat back 14 from the position of the dashed line RC1 in FIG. 4 to the position of the dashed line RC0 in FIG. 4. In other words, when the power seat 10 is returned from the relaxed position to the driving position, since the seat cushion 12 and the seat back 14 are located rearward of the driving position, the seat ECU 32 slides the seat cushion 12 forward while rotating the seat back 14 once forward of the driving position position (angle). Then, just before stopping the sliding of the seat cushion 12, the seat back 14 is rotated in the opposite direction to the sliding direction of the seat cushion 12, that is, backward.

Next, the flow of the above control by the seat ECU 32 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, slide is described as "SLIDE", reclining is described as "RCL", lifter is described as "LIFT", and tilt is described as "TILT". As shown in FIG. 5, the seat ECU 32 first determines in step S1 whether the "Memory 1" switch is turned ON. The "Memory 1" switch is turned ON not only when the switch is operated by the occupant, but also when there is a request for changing the position by the automatic driving ECU. If the determination in step S1 is negative, the process proceeds to step S2, and if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S4.

When the process proceeds to step S2, the seat ECU 32 determines whether the "Memory 2" switch is ON. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S1 and repeats the above-mentioned process. If the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step S3. When the process proceeds to step S3, the seat ECU 32 appropriately operates the motors 16A, 18A, 20A, and 22A of the mechanisms 16, 18, 20, and 22 to move the power seat 10 to the relaxed position.

On the other hand, if the process proceeds to step S4, the seat ECU 32 starts counting the pulse signals output from each motor 16A, 18A, 20A, and 22A, and then proceeds to the next steps S5 and S8.

In step S5, the seat ECU 32 activates the reclining high-speed motor 18A of the reclining mechanism 18 to rotate the seat back 14 forward (recline), and proceeds to the next step S6. In step S6, the seat ECU 32 judges whether the seat back 14 has reached the position of the dashed line RC1 in FIG. 4. Specifically, based on the pulse signal from the reclining high-speed motor 18A, the seat ECU 32 judges whether the difference between the position of the seat back 14 registered in the "Memory 1" switch (i.e., the driving position) and the current position of the seat back 14 has reached B (the distance from the position of the two-dot dashed line RC0 to the position of the dashed line RC1 in FIG. 4). If this judgment is negative, the process returns to step S5 and repeats the above-mentioned process. If this judgment is positive, the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, the seat ECU 32 stops the rotation of the seat back 14 forward.

On the other hand, in step S8, the seat ECU 32 activates the high-speed slide motor 16A of the slide mechanism 16 to slide (advance) the seat cushion 12 forward, and proceeds to the next step S9. In step S9, the seat ECU 32 judges whether the seat cushion 12 has reached the position of the dashed line SL1 in FIG. 4. Specifically, based on the pulse signal from the high-speed slide motor 16A, the seat ECU 32 judges whether the difference between the position of the seat cushion 12 registered in the "Memory 1" switch (i.e., the driving position) and the current position of the seat cushion 12 has reached A (the distance from the position of the two-dot dashed line SL0 to the position of the dashed line SL1 in FIG. 4). If this judgment is negative, the process returns to step S8 and repeats the above-mentioned process. If this judgment is positive, the process proceeds to step S10. In step S10, the seat ECU 32 activates the reclining high-speed motor 18A of the reclining mechanism 18 to rotate the seat back 14 rearward to the driving position (the position of the two-dot chain line RC0 in FIG. 4), and then proceeds to step S11. The movement distance of the seat back 14 in step S10 is the distance indicated by the symbol B in FIG. 4.

When the process proceeds to step S11, the seat ECU 32 judges whether the seat cushion 12 has reached the position indicated by the two-dot chain line SL0 in FIG. 4. Specifically, the seat ECU 32 judges whether the difference between the position of the seat back 14 registered in the "Memory 1" switch (i.e., the driving position) and the current position of the seat back 14 has become 0 based on the pulse signal from the reclining high-speed motor 18A of the reclining mechanism 18. If the judgment is negative, the process returns to step S11 and repeats the above process. If the judgment is positive, the process proceeds to step S12. In step S12, the seat ECU 32 stops the sliding movement (forward movement) of the seat cushion 12. When the process in step S12 is completed, the process proceeds to the next step S13.

In step S13, the seat ECU 32 activates the lifter motor 20A of the lifter mechanism 20 to move the seat cushion 12 to the up or down position of the seat cushion 12 registered in the "Memory 1" switch. When the process in step S13 is completed, the process proceeds to the next step S14. In step S14, the seat ECU 32 activates the tilt motor 22A of the tilt mechanism 22 to move the seat cushion 12 to the seat surface angle of the seat cushion 12 registered in the "Memory 1" switch. When the process in step S14 is completed, the process proceeds to the next step S15. In step S15, the seat ECU 32 stops counting the pulse signals output from each of the motors 16A, 18A, 20A, and 22A. When the process in step S15 is completed, the seat ECU 32 ends the control process for returning the power seat 10 to the driving position.

The above describes the control when the seat ECU 32 returns the power seat 10 from the relax position to the driving position (i.e., when the seat ECU 32 returns the power seat 10 to the driving position, the seat cushion 12 and the seat back 14 are located further rearward than the driving position), but the control by the seat ECU 32 is not limited to this. For example, when the seat ECU 32 returns the power seat 10 to the driving position, if the seat cushion 12 and the seat back 14 are located further forward than the driving position, the seat ECU 32 slides the seat cushion 12 rearward while rotating the seat back 14 once rearward than the driving position. Then, just before stopping the sliding of the seat cushion 12, it rotates the seat back in the opposite direction to the sliding direction of the seat cushion 12, i.e., forward.

According to this embodiment, the power seat 10, which has a slide mechanism 16 that slides the seat cushion 12 back and forth relative to the vehicle body floor F and a reclining mechanism 18 that rotates the seat back 14 back and forth relative to the seat cushion 12, and whose seat position can be changed, is controlled by a power seat control device 30. This power seat control device 30 has a memory function that automatically returns the power seat 10 to a driving position registered in advance, and when returning the power seat to the driving position by sliding the seat cushion 12 and rotating the seat back 14, the seat back 14 is rotated in the opposite direction to the sliding direction of the seat cushion 12 just before the sliding of the seat cushion is stopped. This reduces the inertia acting on the driver's upper body, so that the shock felt by the driver's upper body can be reduced without reducing the sliding speed of the seat cushion 12.

In addition, according to this embodiment, when returning the power seat 10 to the driving position, if the seat cushion 12 and the seat back 14 are located rearward of the driving position, the power seat control device 30 slides the seat cushion 12 forward while rotating the seat back 14 once forward of the driving position. Then, just before stopping the sliding of the seat cushion 12, the seat back is rotated in the opposite direction to the sliding direction of the seat cushion 12, i.e., rearward. This makes it possible to reduce the shock felt by the driver's upper body when the forward sliding of the seat cushion stops.

In the above embodiment, the power seat 10 has been described as having a lifter mechanism 20 and a tilt mechanism 22, but this is not limiting, and the power seat 10 may also have other mechanisms, such as a lumbar support mechanism, a tilt mechanism, an ottoman mechanism, or a thigh support mechanism.

The present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. The scope of the invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 power seat 12 seat cushion 14 seat back 16 slide mechanism 18 reclining mechanism 30 power seat control device F vehicle body floor

Claims (3)

A power seat control device that controls a power seat capable of changing a seat position, the power seat control device having a slide mechanism that slides a seat cushion back and forth relative to a vehicle body floor and a reclining mechanism that rotates a seat back back and forth relative to the seat cushion,
A memory function is provided to automatically return the power seat to a pre-registered driver's seat position.
A power seat control device that, when returning the power seat to the driving seat position by sliding the seat cushion and rotating the seat back, rotates the seat back in the direction opposite to the sliding direction of the seat cushion just before stopping the sliding of the seat cushion. The power seat control device according to claim 1, wherein, when the power seat is returned to the driver's seat position, if the seat cushion and the seat back are positioned rearward of the driver's seat position, the seat cushion is slid forward while the seat back is temporarily rotated forward of the driver's seat position. a slide mechanism that slides the seat cushion back and forth relative to a vehicle body floor;
a reclining mechanism for rotating a seat back forward and backward relative to the seat cushion;
The power seat control device according to claim 1 or 2,
Power seat with