Bearings – Rotary bearing – Plain bearing
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-22
2004-06-29
Lavinder, Jack (Department: 3683)
Bearings
Rotary bearing
Plain bearing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06755571
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to bearing structures for use in a rotational structure of a mechanical structure and in an automobile cabin and further relates to a seat weight measuring apparatus having the bearing structures. In particular, it relates to a rotational structure and a bearing structure wherein discomfort of people therearound is eliminated by suppressing noise due to movement (rattle) of a member in a rotational supporting point within small clearance.
In an automobile cabin, various bearing structures are used, in which shaft members are inserted into bearing members. In these bearing structures, rattling of the shaft member may occur due to errors in size of the shaft member, the bearing member, and a sleeve member, or errors in size of a vehicle cabin and a seat. Although noise due to the chattering is very low, comfortableness in the automobile cabin may be reduced. Therefore, means for suppressing the rattle of the bearing structures is required.
The prior art will be described in detail below with reference to the bearing structure in the automobile cabin as an example, in which a seat belt and an airbag are equipped.
With regard to the current trend, in order to improve the performance of the seat belt and the airbag, operation of such safety equipment may be controlled in accordance with the weight of an occupant. For example, the gas quantity or gas rate for deploying the airbag may be adjusted, or the pre-tension of the seat belt may be adjusted according to the weight of an occupant. That requires detecting the weight of an occupant. As an example of such means, it is proposed to measure the seat-weight including the weight of an occupant by arranging load sensors (load cells) at four corners, back-and-forth and the right and left, under the seat so as to sum the loads applied to the load cells in the vertical direction.
An example of such a seat-weight measuring apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-258233 (incorporated by reference herein in its entirety). The seat-weight measuring apparatus in the Publication simply measures not only the weight of an occupant and a seat but also has a mechanism for absorbing displacement and/or deflection between the seat and a vehicle body for eliminating the load other than from the weight of the seat and an occupant (or goods) thereon as much as possible. In the seat-weight measuring apparatus having such a deflection absorbing mechanism, bearing structures are also used, so that means for suppressing rattle of bearing parts is also required.
Referring to
FIGS. 9
to
12
, the seat-weight measuring apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-258233 will be further described below. First, structures around an vehicle seat will be described with reference to FIG.
12
.
FIG.
12
(A) is a front sectional view for schematically showing a structure of the seat attached to the vehicle body; and FIG.
12
(B) is a side view thereof. In addition, arrows shown in the drawings indicate the following directions. UP: upward gravitational direction when the vehicle body is horizontal, DOWN: downward direction, FRONT: vehicle proceeding direction, REAR: reverse travel direction, LEFT: the left side facing in the vehicle proceeding direction, and RIGHT: the right side.
In FIGS.
12
(
a
) and
12
(
b
), a seat
3
is shown. An occupant
1
sits on a seat cushion
3
a
. The bottom surface of the seat cushion
3
a
is supported by a seat frame
5
made of a steel plate. The seat frame
5
comprises a bottom plate
5
a
, side plates
5
c
, vertical plates
5
e
, and slide plates
5
g
. The bottom plate
5
a
spreads out so as to cover the bottom surface of the seat cushion
3
a
. The side plates
5
c
extend along the respective right and left sides of the bottom surface of the bottom plate
5
a
. The vertical plate
5
e
hangs down from the bottom surface center of the side plate
5
c
. The slide plate
5
g
protrudes to the right and left from the vertical plate
5
e
as blades, and end portions thereof are further bent upwardly.
Two seat rails
7
are arranged in parallel under the seat
3
in the right and left sides, extending in the back-and-forth direction. The cross-section of the seat rail
7
is U-shaped, a concave portion
7
c
exists inside thereof. The upper opening of the concave portion
7
c
is a groove
7
a
extending in the back-and-forth direction. Into the groove
7
a
, the vertical plate
5
e
of the seat frame
5
is inserted. Into the concave portion
7
c
of the seat rail
7
, the slide plate
5
g
of the seat frame
5
is entered. The slide plate
5
g
is slidable within the seat rail
7
in the back-and-forth direction. To the bottom surface of the seat rail
7
, the seat-weight measuring apparatus
9
is connected. The seat-weight measuring apparatus
9
has an elongated box-like shape extending in the back-and-forth direction. Details of the seat-weight measuring apparatus
9
will be described later. At the front and rear ends of the bottom surface of the seat-weight measuring apparatus
9
, seat brackets
11
are attached. The seat bracket
11
is fixed to a seat fixing portion
13
of the vehicle body with bolts, etc.
Next, the structure of the seat-weight measuring apparatus is described.
FIG.
9
(A) is a disassembled perspective view of the displacement and/or deflection absorbing mechanism of the seat-weight measuring apparatus
9
; FIG.
9
(B) is a front sectional view of a pin bracket.
FIG.
10
(A) is a plan view of the entire structure of the seat-weight measuring apparatus; FIG.
10
(B) is a side sectional view; FIGS.
10
(C) and (D) are front sectional views. In addition, in FIGS.
10
(A) and (B), substantially half of the rear part is not shown.
FIG.
11
(A) is a plan view showing the relationship between a sensor plate and a half arm; FIG.
11
(B) is a side view in a no-load state; FIG.
11
(C) is a side view schematically showing a state in that a load is applied.
The seat-weight measuring apparatus
9
is constructed based on an elongated rail-like base (base frame)
21
. The base
21
extends in the back-and-forth direction when attached to the vehicle body and is a steel-plate pressed product having an upward U-shape front-section as shown in FIGS.
10
(C) and (D). The sectional bottom portion of the base
21
is called a bottom plate
21
c
; portions elevated at right angles from lateral ends of the bottom plate
21
c
are called side plates
21
a.
In the base side plate
21
a
, pin holes
21
e
and
21
g
are formed two each on the front and rear portions. The respective holes
21
e
and
21
g
are formed on the right and left side plates
21
a
and
21
a′
opposing each other.
The holes
21
e
, which are closer to the end, are formed at positions approaching the center by approximately ⅛ of the entire length of the base
21
from the front and rear ends. The hole
21
e
is a hole much elongated in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG.
9
(A). Within the elongated holes
21
e
, end portions of a bracket pin (stopper pin)
27
are entered.
However, there are clearances between the bracket pin
27
and top/bottom and right/left ends of the elongated hole
21
e
, so that the bracket pin
27
does not normally come into contact with internal edges of the elongated hole
21
e
. When an excessive load is applied to the seat-weight measuring apparatus
9
(specifically, part of a pin bracket
25
), however, the bracket pin
27
is lowered and abuts the bottom end of the elongated hole
21
e
, so that the excessive load cannot be transmitted to a load sensor (a sensor plate
51
, details will be described). That is, the pin
27
and the elongated hole
21
e
form part of a mechanism for restricting the upper limit load applied to the sensor plate
51
. In addition, the principal function of the bracket pin
27
is to transmit the seat weight applied to the pin bracket
25
to a Z-arm (arm member)
23
.
At positions slightly closer to the center from the elongate
Foley & Lardner
Lavinder Jack
Nguyen Xuan Lan
Takata Corporation
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