JP7783100B2 - Integral molded seat pad and vehicle seat - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a seat pad with an integrally molded upholstery and a vehicle seat.

In recent years, technology has been used to integrally mold the padding and skin in order to reduce the number of parts by eliminating the need for covering the seat cushion, or to enable the creation of an inverse shape for the seat cushion padding.

On the other hand, there are cases where a sensor, such as a seat occupancy sensor, is installed in the seat cushion. When the padding and the cover are integrally molded as in the above-mentioned technology, the padding and the cover are integrally molded, including the sensor. However, if the raw materials of the padding, adhesives, etc., adhere to the sensor, there is a high possibility that the sensor will malfunction.

For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a technology that enables the padding material and the skin to be molded as a single unit by sandwiching the sensor between protective members and setting the protective members with a set pin in a mold that forms the padding material and the skin.

Furthermore, Patent Document 2 below discloses a technology in which a bag-shaped pocket member is sewn to the back side of the skin and an opening for the pocket member is formed on the front side of the skin, allowing a sensor to be stored through this opening when the skin is covering the surface of the padding material.

JP 2014-193689 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2020-93079

However, the prior art described in Patent Document 1 requires a large number of protective parts to protect the sensor, and when the padding and cover are integrally molded, a positioning process for the sensor itself is required, increasing the number of work steps.

Furthermore, in the prior art described in Patent Document 2, the opening of the pocket member is formed on the decorative surface side of the seat cushion, which places limitations on design.

In consideration of the above, the present invention aims to provide a seat pad and vehicle seat that are integrally molded with the skin and padding, in which sensors and other devices are integrally molded with the skin and padding, thereby preventing malfunctions of sensors and other devices with a simple configuration without restricting the design of the seat cushion.

The seat pad integrally molded with skin according to the invention described in claim 1 comprises a pad material that forms part of the seat cushion on which an occupant sits, a skin that is integrally molded with the pad material and covers the decorative surface side of the seat cushion of the pad material, and a pocket member that is provided on the back surface of the skin and that houses a device that can be operated when the occupant is seated , and is formed integrally with the pad material and the skin , and a cover member that covers the opening of the pocket member into which the device is inserted from the outside of the pocket member along the depth direction of the pocket member is provided on the back surface of the skin .

The seat pad according to the present invention is configured to include a pad material, a skin, and a pocket member. The pad material forms part of the seat cushion on which an occupant sits, and the skin is integral with the pad material and covers the decorative surface of the seat cushion.

In addition, in the present invention, the pocket member is provided on the back surface of the cover, and accommodates a device (such as a sensor) that can be activated when the occupant is seated , and is provided integrally with the pad material and the cover. Therefore, in the present invention, there is no need to form an opening on the design surface of the cover for inserting the device, and there are no restrictions on the design of the seat cushion.

Here, the integrally molded seat pad is made by, for example, placing the skin along the cavity surface of a mold that forms the integrally molded seat pad, injecting foam material, which is the raw material for the pad material, into the mold, and foaming the foam material inside the mold to integrate the skin and pad material.

When molding an integrally molded seat pad, a pressing force (internal pressure within the mold) is generated from the space formed within the mold toward the cavity surface of the mold via the foam material. This pressing force acts on the skin, which is positioned along the cavity surface of the mold, from the back side of the skin toward the front side along the thickness direction of the skin.

In other words, a pressing force acts on the pocket member provided on the back surface of the skin in the thickness direction of the pocket member. Therefore, when the skin-integrated seat pad is molded, the pocket member is compressed in the thickness direction, and the opening of the pocket member remains closed.

As a result, in this invention, it is possible to prevent the raw materials for the padding material from penetrating into the pocket member when molding the seat pad with an integrated skin. In this way, by preventing the raw materials for the padding material from penetrating into the pocket member when molding the seat pad with an integrated skin, it is possible to mold the seat pad with a sensor or other device housed inside the pocket member.

Furthermore, by preventing the raw materials for the padding material from penetrating into the pocket member during molding of the integrated skin seat pad, it is possible to prevent malfunctions of devices such as sensors housed inside the pocket member.

In contrast, in the present invention, a cover member is provided on the back surface of the skin. This cover member covers the opening of the pocket member, into which a device such as a sensor is inserted, from the outside of the pocket member along the depth direction of the pocket member. This more reliably prevents the raw material of the padding material from penetrating into the pocket member during molding of the seat pad integrally molded with the skin.
Examples of "devices that can be operated when an occupant is seated" include sensors such as seat sensors and temperature sensors, as well as seat-type heaters and voice coils that form part of speakers.

The seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention recited in claim 2 is the seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention recited in claim 1, wherein the skin is composed of multiple skin pieces, and the ends of the pocket members are sewn together at the seams where adjacent skin pieces are sewn together.

In the seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention described in claim 2, the skin is made up of multiple skin pieces, and adjacent skin pieces are sewn together via a seam. The edge of the pocket member is sewn to this seam.

For example, the pocket member can be attached to the underside of the skin by adhering it to the underside of the skin using double-sided tape, etc., but in this case, an adhesive process is required to adhere the pocket member to the underside of the skin.

In contrast, with the present invention, by sewing the edges of the pocket members together at the seams where the outer skin pieces are sewn together, the pocket members can be attached to the underside of the outer skin using the sewing work originally required to form the outer skin, regardless of whether or not the pocket members are present. Therefore, with the present invention, the bonding work required to adhere the pocket members to the underside of the outer skin can be eliminated, thereby reducing costs.

The seat pad of the invention described in claim 3 is the seat pad of the invention described in claim 2 , in which one end of the cover member along the depth direction of the pocket member is sewn to the sewing portion.

In the seat pad integrally molded with the skin according to the invention described in claim 3 , one end of the cover member along the depth direction of the pocket member is sewn together with the sewing portion, so that the bonding work of adhering the cover member to the back surface of the skin can be reduced, thereby reducing costs.

The seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention described in claim 4 is the seat pad with integrally molded skin according to any one of the inventions described in claims 1 to 3 , and is provided with positioning means for determining the position of the device relative to the pocket member.

In the seat pad according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a positioning means is provided, and the position of a device such as a sensor relative to the pocket member is set by the positioning means.

Here, the pocket member is provided on the back surface of the upholstery, but if the pocket member is sewn to the upholstery, for example, the sewn portion of the pocket member will be visible on the design surface of the one-piece upholstery molded seat pad. For this reason, for example, by co-sewing the side edge of the pocket member to the sewn portion that sews the upholstery pieces together, the side edge of the pocket member can be sewn and the sewn portion dedicated to the pocket member can be eliminated, making the pocket member less noticeable.

On the other hand, the stitching that joins the cover pieces is generally done at the center and both sides of the seat cushion in the seat width direction. For this reason, if a pocket member is provided in the center of the seat cushion in the seat width direction, the pocket member may be too large for some devices, such as sensors.

In such cases, when a device such as a sensor is housed within the pocket member, there will be play between the device and the pocket member. Therefore, it is necessary to position the device such as a sensor relative to the pocket member. For this reason, the present invention provides a positioning means that allows the position of the device such as a sensor relative to the pocket member to be set.

The seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention of claim 5 is the seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention of claim 4 , wherein the device is a seat-shaped seating sensor unit capable of detecting the state of an occupant seated, and the seating sensor unit is configured to include a sensor portion that detects the presence of an occupant seated, and a harness portion that is electrically connected to the sensor portion and a control device on the vehicle side, and the positioning means is configured to include a first positioning portion that is arranged in the pocket member along the opening through which the seating sensor unit is inserted and is formed to match the width of the harness portion.

In the seat pad according to claim 5 , the device operable when an occupant is seated is a seat-shaped seating sensor unit capable of detecting the seating state of an occupant. The seating sensor unit includes a sensor portion and a harness portion, and the sensor portion detects the seating state of an occupant. The harness portion electrically connects the sensor portion to a vehicle-side control device.

The positioning means also includes a first positioning portion. The first positioning portion is arranged along the opening in the pocket member through which the seat occupancy sensor unit is inserted, and is shaped to fit the width of the harness portion of the seat occupancy sensor unit.

When inserting the seat sensor unit into the pocket member, the harness portion of the seat sensor unit can be aligned using the first positioning portion formed at the opening of the pocket member, thereby determining the position of the seat sensor unit in the width direction of the pocket member.

The seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention described in claim 6 is the seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention described in claim 5 , wherein the first positioning portions are a pair of first notch portions formed to match the width of the harness portion.

In the seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention described in claim 6 , the first positioning portion is a pair of first notch portions formed to match the width of the harness portion of the seating sensor unit, and by arranging the harness portion of the seating sensor unit between the first notch portions, the position of the seating sensor unit can be determined in the width direction of the pocket member.

The seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention described in claim 7 is the seat pad with integrally molded skin described in claim 5 or claim 6 , wherein the positioning means further includes a second positioning portion formed in the harness portion and overlapping with the opening when the sensor portion is housed within the pocket member.

In the seventh aspect of the present invention, the positioning means further includes a second positioning portion formed on the harness portion of the seat sensor unit so as to overlap the opening of the pocket member when the sensor portion of the seat sensor unit is housed in the pocket member.

As mentioned above, the pocket member is provided on the back surface of the upholstery, so if the pocket member is sewn to the upholstery, the sewn portion of the pocket member will be visible on the design surface of the integrally molded upholstery seat pad. Therefore, by co-sewing the edge of the pocket member with the sewn portion that sews the upholstery pieces together in the upholstery, it is possible to eliminate the sewn portion dedicated to the pocket member and make the pocket member less noticeable.

As mentioned above, the cover is sewn to the center and both sides of the seat cushion in the seat width direction. In addition, a sewn section may be provided along the seat width direction in the center of the seat cushion in the seat width direction. In this case, by co-sewing the bottom edge of the pocket member with this sewn section, the bottom edge of the pocket member can be sewn and a sewn section dedicated to the pocket member can be eliminated, making the pocket member less noticeable.

On the other hand, if the bottom edge of the pocket member is sewn together with the sewing portion, there may be play between the tip of the seat sensor unit and the bottom edge of the pocket member when the seat sensor unit is housed inside the pocket member. In this case, it is necessary to position the seat sensor unit in the depth direction of the pocket member.

In this invention, with the sensor portion of the seat occupancy sensor unit housed within the pocket member, the second positioning portion formed on the harness portion of the seat occupancy sensor unit can be aligned with the opening of the pocket member, thereby determining the position of the seat occupancy sensor unit in the depth direction of the pocket member.

The seat pad according to claim 8 is the seat pad according to claim 7 , wherein the second positioning portion is a second notch portion formed in the harness portion.

In the seat pad with integrally molded skin according to the invention described in claim 8 , the second positioning portion is a second notch portion formed in the harness portion of the seat sensor unit, and the position of the seat sensor unit can be determined in the depth direction of the pocket member by overlapping the positions of the second notch portion and the opening of the pocket member.

A vehicle seat according to a ninth aspect of the present invention has a seat cushion on which an occupant sits, the seat pad having the integrally molded skin according to any one of the first to eighth aspects being applied.

In the vehicle seat according to the invention of claim 9 , by applying an integrally molded seat pad to the seat cushion on which the occupant sits, the covering work is eliminated and the number of parts is reduced. Also, in the vehicle seat, devices such as sensors can be housed inside the pocket member without affecting the design of the seat cushion.

As explained above, the present invention provides a seat pad and vehicle seat that are integrally molded with the skin and padding, allowing sensors and other devices to be integrally molded with the skin and padding, eliminating any restrictions on the design of the seat cushion and enabling malfunctions of sensors and other devices to be suppressed with a simple configuration.

1 is a plan view showing a seat cushion of a vehicle seat to which an integrally molded seat pad according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied; 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a seat cushion of a vehicle seat to which an integrated seat pad according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied is cut along the vehicle front-rear direction. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line AA shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is an exploded front view illustrating a main part of a seat pad integrally molded with a cover according to an embodiment of the present invention; 1 is a front view illustrating a main part of a seat pad integrally molded with a cover according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a front view corresponding to FIG. 5 and shown as a comparative example. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a state when the integrally molded seat pad according to the embodiment is molded. FIG. 1 , showing a first modification of a seat cushion for a vehicle seat to which the integrally molded seat pad according to the present embodiment is applied. 5 is an exploded front view corresponding to FIG. 4 for illustrating a main part of the seat pad integrally molded with the skin according to the embodiment. FIG. 1 , showing a second modified example of a seat cushion for a vehicle seat to which the integrated seat pad according to the present embodiment is applied. 11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line BB shown in FIG. 10.

The following describes an embodiment of the one-piece seat pad according to the present invention, using the drawings. Note that the arrow FR, as shown where appropriate in these drawings, indicates the forward direction of the vehicle seat (the direction in which the seated person faces), the arrow UP indicates the upward direction of the vehicle seat, and the arrow RH indicates the rightward direction of the vehicle seat. Hereinafter, when the terms front-to-back, up-down, and left-to-right are used in explanations, they refer to the front-to-back, up-down, and left-to-right directions of the vehicle seat when facing the direction of travel, unless otherwise specified.

(Configuration of the seat pad integrally molded with the surface)
First, the structure of the integrally molded seat pad according to this embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle seat 10 is a rear seat located rearward of the front seat (not shown) in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and includes a seat cushion 12 on which an occupant sits, a seat back (not shown) that extends from the rear end 12A of the seat cushion 12 and supports the upper body of the occupant seated on the seat cushion 12, and a headrest that is attached to the upper end of the seat back and supports the head of the occupant seated on the seat cushion 12.

The headrest may be applied to separate left and right vehicle seats, or to bench seat-type vehicle seats. Therefore, the shape of the headrest can be changed as appropriate depending on the seat to which it is applied. Of course, a headrest is not necessarily required.

As shown in Figure 2, the seat cushion 12 includes a seat frame (not shown) as a skeletal member, a seat pad (pad material) 14, and a seat cover (cover) 16 that covers the seat pad 14 (described below).

In this embodiment, the seat pad 14 and seat cover 16 are molded as a single unit, and the top surface 14A, front surface 14B, rear surface 14C, and both side surfaces 14D (see Figure 1) of the seat pad 14 are covered by the seat cover 16. Hereinafter, a seat pad 14 molded integrally with the seat cover 16 will be referred to as an integrated cover pad (seat pad integrally molded with cover) 18.

As shown in FIG. 1, the seat cushion 12 is composed of a seat cushion 12R located on the right side of the vehicle and a seat cushion 12L located on the left side of the vehicle. For example, an armrest (not shown) can be placed in a forward-folded position between the seat cushions 12R and 12L.

Here, each of the seat cushions 12R and 12L has a main portion 20 located in the center in the seat width direction, where the occupant's buttocks and thighs are positioned. Side portions 22 are provided on the outer sides of the main portion 20 in the vehicle width direction. A center portion 24 is provided between the main portion 20 of the seat cushion 12R and the main portion 20 of the seat cushion 12L, and an armrest can be placed above the center portion 24. However, this armrest is not necessarily required.

In this embodiment, the seat cover 16 is composed of multiple cover pieces 16A, 16B, and 16C that correspond to the main portion 20, side portions 22, and center portion 24 of the seat cushion 12. Adjacent cover pieces 16A and 16B are sewn together at a seam 26, and adjacent cover pieces 16A and 16C are sewn together at a seam 28. Cover piece 16A is divided into cover pieces 16A1 and 16A2 at the front and rear of the seat in the longitudinal direction, and cover pieces 16A1 and 16A2 are sewn together at a seam 30.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, a pocket member 32 is provided on the rear surface 17 of the seat cover 16 on the rear portion 20A side of the main portion 20 of the seat cushion 12L. Note that although the pocket member 32 is shown only on the seat cushion 12L side, a pocket member 32 is also provided on the seat cushion 12R side.

In this embodiment, the seat cushions 12R and 12L shown in FIG. 1 have substantially the same configuration, so in the following description, no distinction will be made between the seat cushions 12R and 12L, and they will be described as the seat cushion 12.

The pocket member 32 provided on the seat cushion 12 has, for example, a generally rectangular shape in a plan view, and is formed from a sheet material that is not impregnated with the raw material of the seat pad 14. For example, the material of the sheet material is preferably polyvinyl chloride (PVC), film-laminated slab urethane, or other material that is non-breathable and has a hardness comparable to that used for general covering materials.

In this embodiment, the side edges 32A, 32B of the pocket member 32 are sewn together with the stitching portions 26, 28, respectively, and as shown in FIG. 3, the bottom edge 32C of the pocket member 32 is sewn together with the stitching portion 30. In this embodiment, a so-called pocket portion is formed between the pocket member 32 and the back surface 17 of the seat cover 16, but the pocket portion may also be formed by the pocket member 32 alone. Here, FIG. 3 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main portion when cut along line A-A shown in FIG. 1. Note that for ease of viewing, the hatching of the seat pad 14 is not shown in FIG. 3.

In addition, in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 3 and 5, an occupancy sensor unit (device) 38 is housed inside the pocket member 32 in the interior 33, and the position of the occupancy sensor unit 38 relative to the pocket member 32 can be set by the positioning portion 35.

Specifically, in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, a pair of notches 34, 36, which are wedge-shaped notches cut out toward the bottom end 32C of the pocket member 32, are arranged along the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 as first positioning portions 35A. The distance between notches 34 and 36 is set to be approximately the same as the width dimension of the harness portion 40 of the seating sensor unit 38, which will be described later.

Note that the seat sensor unit 38 is shown as being thick in the illustration to indicate that it is housed inside the pocket member 32's interior 33, but the seat sensor unit 38 is sheet-shaped and is actually thin.

On the other hand, the seating sensor unit 38 is seat-shaped and includes an H-shaped sensor section 46 in a front view and a belt-shaped harness section 40, and the sensor section 46 detects when an occupant is seated. Note that, although the sensor section 46 is H-shaped in this embodiment, the shape of the sensor section 46 is not limited to H-shape.

The harness portion 40 also has a second positioning portion 35B, which is a wedge-shaped notch 48 cut out along the width of the harness portion 40. Although not shown, the harness portion 40 is electrically connected to an on-board ECU (Electronic Control Unit; hereinafter simply referred to as "ECU"), which serves as a vehicle-side control device, and the harness portion 40 connects the ECU and the sensor portion 46.

The ECU has a CPU, ROM, RAM, storage, and a communication interface, and these components are connected to each other via a bus so that they can communicate with each other. The ECU also has a control unit as a functional component. The control unit's functional component is realized when the CPU reads and executes a program stored in the ROM or storage. The control unit may be configured to detect the presence of an occupant in the seat cushion 12 (see Figure 1), and thereby control an air conditioning device such as a heater on the rear seat side, for example.

In this embodiment, as an example, the molding die (hereinafter referred to as the "mold") used to mold the integrated pad 18 (see Figure 2) is made of an aluminum alloy. The mold includes a lower die 42 and an upper die (not shown) as shown in Figure 7. A space 44 is formed between the upper die and the lower die 42, and a foam material such as urethane, which is the raw material for the seat pad, is injected into this space 44.

When molding the integrated pad 18, the seat cover 16 is placed in the lower mold 42 along the cavity surface 42A. In this state, foam material is injected and the upper mold is closed. The foam material foams, forming the seat pad 14 (see Figure 2) integrally with the seat cover 16.

(Actions and Effects of the Seat Pad Integrated with the Covering Skin)
Next, the operation and effect of the integrally molded seat pad according to this embodiment will be described.

As shown in Figure 2, in this embodiment, the seat cover 16 is molded integrally with the seat pad 14 and covers the design surface 19 (top surface 14A, front surface 14B, rear surface 14C, and both side surfaces 14D) of the seat cushion 12 of the seat pad 14. In this way, by molding the seat cover 16 and the seat pad 14 integrally, in this embodiment, the covering process is eliminated and the number of parts is reduced.

In addition, in this embodiment, a pocket member 32 is provided on the back surface 17 of the seat cover 16, and the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 is housed in the pocket member 32. In other words, in this embodiment, the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 is molded integrally with the seat pad 14 and the seat cover 16 while being housed therein.

Therefore, in this embodiment, there is no need to form an opening for inserting the seating sensor unit 38 on the design surface 19 side of the seat cover 16, and there are no restrictions on the design of the seat cushion 12.

Here, the integrated pad 18, formed by integrally molding the seat pad 14 and seat cover 16, is formed by placing the seat cover 16 on the side of a lower mold 42 that forms part of a mold 41 used to mold the integrated pad 18, as shown in Figure 7, and injecting the foam material that will be used to form the seat pad 14 (see Figure 2) into the mold 41. The foam material is then foamed within the mold 41, integrating the seat cover 16 and seat pad 14.

When molding the skin-integrated pad 18, the seat skin 16 is placed on the lower die 42 side of the mold 41, and a pressing force (in the direction of the arrow) is generated via the foam material from the space 44 formed between the upper die (not shown), which constitutes the other part of the mold 41, toward the cavity surface 42A of the lower die 42.

As a result, the pressing force acts on the seat skin 16 placed on the lower mold 42 side in the thickness direction (direction of the arrow) of the seat skin 16, from the back surface 17 side of the seat skin 16 toward the front surface (design surface 19) side.

In other words, a pressing force acts on the pocket member 32 provided on the back surface 17 of the seat cover 16 in the thickness direction of the pocket member 32. Therefore, when the cover-integrated pad 18 is formed, the pocket member 32 is compressed in the thickness direction, and the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 is closed.

In this embodiment, this prevents the raw material of the seat pad 14 from entering the interior 33 of the pocket member 32 when molding the integrated pad 18. The harness portion 40 of the seating sensor unit 38 is positioned outside the parting line (not shown) where the upper and lower dies 42 of the mold 41 meet.

In this way, by preventing the raw materials of the seat pad 14 (see FIG. 2) from entering the interior 33 of the pocket member 32 when molding the integrated pad 18, it is possible to prevent malfunction of the seat sensor unit 38 housed within the interior 33 of the pocket member 32. In other words, in this embodiment, it is possible to mold the integrated pad 18 (see FIG. 2) with devices such as the seat sensor unit 38 housed within the interior 33 of the pocket member 32.

In other words, according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, devices such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 are integrally molded with the seat cover 16 and the seat pad 14, which does not restrict the design of the seat cushion 12 and makes it possible to suppress malfunctions of devices such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 with a simple configuration. This improves yield and ultimately reduces manufacturing costs.

In this embodiment, as described above, when molding the integrated pad 18, the pocket member 32 is compressed in the thickness direction, and the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 is closed. However, after inserting a device such as the seating sensor unit 38 into the interior 33 of the pocket member 32, the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 can of course be closed by gluing or the like, if necessary.

Also, as a comparative example, for example, when the surface of the seat pad 14 is covered with a seat covering 16, if the seat pad has an inverse shape (not shown), the seat covering will float relative to the seat pad, making it necessary to use adhesive to bond the seat pad and the seat covering together.

In contrast, in this embodiment, the seat pad 14 and seat cover 16 are molded as a single unit, so the seat cover does not float above the seat pad. In other words, this embodiment makes it possible to realize an inverse shape for the seat pad, improving the design freedom of the seat cushion 12.

Furthermore, according to this embodiment, devices such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 can be integrally molded with the seat cover 16 and the seat pad 14. This eliminates the need to dispose devices such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 between the seat cover 16 and the seat pad 14 after the seat cover 16 and the seat pad 14 are integrally molded, thereby reducing manufacturing costs.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the seat cover 16 is made up of multiple cover pieces 16A, 16B, and 16C, with adjacent cover pieces 16A and 16B sewn together via a seam 26, and adjacent cover pieces 16A and 16C sewn together via a seam 28. Side edges 32A and 32B of the pocket member 32 are sewn together to these seams 26 and 28, respectively.

For example, as a comparative example (not shown), the pocket member 32 can be attached to the back surface 17 of the seat cover 16 (see Figure 2) by adhering the pocket member 32 to the back surface 17 of the seat cover 16 using double-sided tape or the like. In this case, however, an adhesive process is required to adhere the pocket member 32 to the back surface 17 of the seat cover 16.

In contrast, in this embodiment, the side edges 32A, 32B of the pocket member 32 are sewn together at the stitching portions 26, 28 that sew the skin pieces 16A, 16B, 16C together. This allows the pocket member 32 to be attached to the back surface 17 of the seat skin 16 using the sewing work that is originally required regardless of whether the pocket member 32 is present or not. Therefore, in this embodiment, the bonding work of adhering the pocket member 32 to the back surface 17 of the seat skin 16 can be eliminated, thereby reducing costs.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the position of devices such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 is set relative to the pocket member 32 by the positioning portion 35. Also, as shown in Figure 3, the pocket member 32 is provided on the back surface 17 of the seat cover 16.

For example, as a comparative example (not shown), if the pocket member 32 is sewn to the seat cover 16, the sewn portion of the pocket member 32 will be exposed on the design surface 19 side of the cover-integrated pad 18.

For this reason, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the side edges 32A, 32B of the pocket member 32 are sewn together with the stitching portions 26, 28 that sew together the skin pieces 16A, 16B, 16C in the seat skin 16. This allows the side edges 32A, 32B of the pocket member 32 to be sewn together, while eliminating stitching portions dedicated to the pocket member, making the pocket member 32 less noticeable.

On the other hand, the stitching portions 26, 28 that sew the skin pieces 16A, 16B, and 16C together also sew the main portion 20, side portion 22, and center portion 24 of the seat cushion 12, respectively. Therefore, if a pocket member 32 is provided in the main portion 20 of the seat cushion 12, depending on the device, such as the seat sensor unit 38, the pocket member 32 may be too large for the seat sensor unit 38.

In such a case, when a device such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 is housed in the pocket member 32, play will occur between the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 and the pocket member 32, and as shown in Figure 6, the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 may be positioned in a misaligned or tilted position in the seat width direction relative to the pocket member 32.

For this reason, as shown in Figure 5, it is necessary to position devices such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 relative to the pocket member 32. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the positioning portion 35 is provided, which makes it possible to set the position of devices such as the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 relative to the pocket member 32.

Here, as shown in Figure 1, in addition to sewing the main portion 20, side portions 22, and center portion 24 of the seat cushion 12, a stitching portion 30 may be provided in the main portion 20 of the seat cushion 12 along the seat width direction.

In this case, as shown in Figure 3, by co-sewing the bottom end 32C of the pocket member 32 with the sewing portion 30, the bottom end 32C of the pocket member 32 can be sewn and a sewing portion dedicated to the pocket member can be eliminated, making the pocket member 32 less noticeable.

When the bottom end 32C of the pocket member 32 is sewn together with the sewing portion 30, as shown in FIG. 5, there may be play between the tip 38A of the seat sensor unit 38 and the bottom end 32C of the pocket member 32 when the seat sensor unit 38 is housed within the pocket member 32. In this case, it is necessary to position the seat sensor unit 38 in the depth direction of the pocket member 32.

In light of the above, in this embodiment, the positioning portion 35 is configured to include a first positioning portion 35A provided on the pocket member 32 side and a second positioning portion 35B provided on the seating sensor unit 38 side.

Specifically, the first positioning portion 35A is a pair of notches 34, 36 arranged in the pocket member 32 along the opening 32D through which the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 is inserted, and formed to fit the width of the harness portion 40 of the seat occupancy sensor unit 38. By positioning the harness portion 40 of the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 between the notches 34 and 36, the position of the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 can be determined in the width direction of the pocket member 32.

In this embodiment, the harness portion 40 is belt-shaped, and the position of the seating sensor unit 38 in the width direction of the pocket member 32 is determined by the harness portion 40 and the notches 34, 36. However, the shape of the harness portion 40 is not limited to a belt-like shape. For example, although not shown, the harness portion 40 may be linear. In this case, the position of the seating sensor unit 38 in the width direction of the pocket member 32 may be determined by a single notch.

The second positioning portion 35B is a notch 48 formed in the harness portion 40 of the seat sensor unit 38, which overlaps with the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 when the sensor portion 46 of the seat sensor unit 38 is housed within the pocket member 32. By overlapping the notch 48 with the opening 32D of the pocket member 32, the position of the seat sensor unit 38 can be determined in the depth direction of the pocket member 32.

As described above, in this embodiment, the position of the seat sensor unit 38 can be determined in the width and depth directions relative to the pocket member 32. In this way, the seat sensor unit 38 is positioned in the width and depth directions relative to the pocket member 32, and the sensor portion 46 is adhered to the inner surface of the pocket member 32 via an adhesive such as double-sided tape.

Here, when molding the integrated pad 18, the seating sensor unit 38 may malfunction if the raw materials, adhesive, etc. of the seat pad 14 adhere to the sensor portion 46. For this reason, it is preferable to position the sensor portion 46 of the seating sensor unit 38 toward the back of the pocket member 32. Therefore, the notch portion 48 should not be completely exposed from the pocket member 32.

In addition, in this embodiment, the wedge-shaped notches 34, 36, and 48 are used as examples of the first positioning portion 35A and the second positioning portion 35B, but this is not limited to this, as long as the seating sensor unit 38 can be positioned in the width and depth directions relative to the pocket member 32. For example, positioning lines that serve as markers may also be used.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, a pocket member 32 is provided on the rear portion 20A side of the main portion 20 of the seat cushion 12, and an occupancy sensor unit 38 is housed inside 33 of the pocket member 32.

(Supplementary information about this embodiment)
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the side end portions 32A, 32B of the pocket member 32 are sewn together with the sewing portions 26, 28, respectively, but only one of the side end portions 32A, 32B of the pocket member 32 may be sewn together with the sewing portions 26, 28.

As a first modification, as shown in FIG. 8, it is of course possible to adhere the pocket member 52 to the rear surface 17 of the seat cover 16 using double-sided tape 50 or the like. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, the pocket member 52 is formed to fit the size of the seat occupancy sensor unit 38. Therefore, the seat occupancy sensor unit 38 is positioned while housed inside the pocket member 52. Therefore, the positioning portion 35 shown in FIG. 4 is not necessary in this case.

In addition, as a second variation, a cover 54 that covers the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 may be provided as shown in Figures 10 and 11 to prevent the raw materials of the seat pad 14 from seeping into the interior 33 of the pocket member 32. Note that Figure 11 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part when cut along line B-B shown in Figure 10. Also, for ease of viewing, hatching of the seat pad 14 is not shown in Figure 11.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, one end 54A of the cover 54 along the depth direction of the pocket member 32 is sewn together with the pocket member 32 at a stitched portion 56. As a result, in this embodiment, even when the cover 54 is provided, there is no need for a stitched portion dedicated to the cover, and the cover 54 can be made less noticeable.

The cover 54 also has a notch 58, which is cut out in a generally rectangular shape, for example, in the center of the width of the cover 54, with the opening facing the pocket member 32. The harness portion 40 can be exposed to the outside through this notch 58.

In this manner, in this embodiment, the cover 54 covers the opening 32D of the pocket member 32, into which the seating sensor unit 38 is inserted, from the outside of the pocket member 32 along the depth direction of the pocket member 32. This more reliably prevents the raw materials of the seat pad 14 from penetrating into the interior 33 of the pocket member 32 when the integrated pad 18 is being molded.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the seating sensor unit 38 is used as an example of a device to be housed in the pocket member 32, but this is not limited to this, and other sensors such as temperature sensors may also be housed. Furthermore, devices other than sensors, such as seat-shaped heaters and voice coils, may also be housed.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 can be set at any position. In other words, the orientation of the opening 32D of the pocket member 32 (the insertion direction of a device such as a sensor) can be freely set. This makes it possible to avoid interference with components provided on the back side of the seat cushion 12 or the vehicle floor when inserting a device such as a sensor, although this is not shown.

Furthermore, the position of the pocket member 32 is not limited to this. In other words, the position of the pocket member 32 can be changed as appropriate depending on the device housed inside 33 of the pocket member 32. For example, the pocket member 32 may be provided on the front surface 14B or side surface 14D of the seat cushion 12.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, an example has been described in which the present invention is applied to the seat cushion 12 of the vehicle seat 10. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may also be applied to the seat back of the vehicle seat 10. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the vehicle seat 10, and may also be applied to a massage seat (not shown) or the like.

The above describes one embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above and can be implemented in various other modifications without departing from the spirit of the invention. It goes without saying that the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

10 Vehicle seat 12 Seat cushion 14 Seat pad (pad material)
16 Seat cover (cover)
16A Epidermis piece 16A1 Epidermis piece 16A2 Epidermis piece 16B Epidermis piece 16C Epidermis piece 17 Back side (back side of epidermis)
18. Integrated seat pad (integrated seat pad)
20A Rear (rear part of the seat cushion in the front-to-rear direction of the seat)
26 Sewn portion 28 Sewn portion 30 Sewn portion 32 Pocket member 32A Side end portion (end portion of pocket member)
32B Side end (end of pocket member)
32C Bottom end (end of pocket member)
32D Opening (Opening of pocket member)
34 Notch portion (first notch portion, first positioning portion, positioning means)
35 Positioning unit (positioning means)
35A First positioning portion (positioning means)
35B Second positioning portion (positioning means)
36 Notch portion (first notch portion, first positioning portion, positioning means)
38 Seating sensor unit (device)
40 Harness section (seat sensor unit)
46 Sensor unit (seat sensor unit)
48 Notch portion (second notch portion, second positioning portion, positioning means)
52 Pocket member 54 Cover (cover member)
54A One end (one end of cover member)
56 Sewing section

Claims (9)

a padding material that constitutes a part of the seat cushion on which the occupant sits;
a surface layer formed integrally with the pad material and covering the design surface side of the seat cushion of the pad material;
a pocket member provided on the rear surface of the skin, accommodating a device that can be operated while an occupant is seated , and integrally formed with the pad material and the skin;
Equipped with
A seat pad integrally molded with a skin , wherein a cover member is provided on the back surface of the skin to cover the opening of the pocket member into which the device is inserted from the outside of the pocket member along the depth direction of the pocket member . The seat pad according to claim 1, wherein the surface is composed of multiple surface pieces, and the ends of the pocket members are sewn together at the seams where adjacent surface pieces are sewn together. 3. The seat pad according to claim 2, wherein one end of the cover member along the depth direction of the pocket member is sewn together with the sewn portion . 4. The seat pad according to claim 1, further comprising a positioning means for determining the position of the device relative to the pocket member. The device is a seat-shaped seating sensor unit capable of detecting a state in which an occupant is seated,
The seating sensor unit includes:
a sensor unit that detects that an occupant is seated;
a harness portion electrically connected to the sensor portion and a vehicle-side control device;
The invention comprises:
The positioning means is
5. The seat pad according to claim 4, wherein the pocket member includes a first positioning portion that is arranged along an opening into which the seating sensor unit is inserted and that is formed to fit the width of the harness portion . 6. The seat pad according to claim 5 , wherein the first positioning portions are a pair of first notches formed to match the width of the harness portion . The positioning means is
7. The seat pad according to claim 5, further comprising a second positioning portion formed in the harness portion and overlapping with the opening when the sensor portion is housed in the pocket member . 8. The integrally molded seat pad according to claim 7, wherein the second positioning portion is a second notch formed in the harness portion . A vehicle seat, in which the seat pad integrally molded with the upholstery according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is applied to a seat cushion on which an occupant sits.