The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-202981 filed on Oct. 14, 2015, the content of which is incorporated herein.
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat.
A vehicle seat to be installed in a vehicle such as an automobile has a seat cushion (seat part) and a seat back (backrest).
What is considered important about the above-mentioned vehicle seat is to give a sitter a sense of good fit. Under such circumstances, a seat which has been proposed comprises a seat back whose seat surface has a curved shape so as to be bulged along the sitter's shoulder blade in the vertical direction (see Patent Document 1). Since such seat mainly supports the elbow bones area, as well as the shoulder blades area, which have comparatively low variance depending on the difference in physical sizes of sitters, the seat can provide a good fit irrespective of the physical size of the sitter.
Patent Document 1: JP2015-098213 A
However, when the above-mentioned seat is used, the portion of the seat back which supports the shoulder blades of the sitter bulges in a rightward and leftward direction, the shoulders S of the sitter may be covered and supported by the seat back 100 as shown in, for example,
The present application has been made in light of the above circumstances and an object of the present application is to provide a vehicle seat which allows for smooth movements of the sitter's shoulders while maintaining a good fit for the sitter.
As a result of intensive studies, the inventors have found that, by forming a central part of a seat back which supports the ribs area of a sitter so as to be wider than an upper part which supports a shoulder blades area and a lower part which supports a lower back area, and forming the back seat so as to have a notched shape extending from the central part to the upper part such that the shoulders of the sitter are exposed as viewed from the rear side, it is possible to allow for smooth movements of the shoulders while maintaining a good fit, and the inventors have thereby achieved the present invention.
Specifically, the present invention includes the following aspects.
(1) A vehicle seat, comprising: a seat back having a lower part that supports a lower back area of a sitter, a central part that supports a ribs area, and an upper part that supports a shoulder blades area, wherein the central part has a front surface formed so as to be wider than the lower part and the upper part as viewed from a front side, the front surface being curved with right and left ends thereof being projected forward, wherein the seat back has a notched shape extending from the central part to the upper part such that shoulders of the sitter are exposed as viewed from a rear side.
(2) The vehicle seat according to (1), wherein the seat back has a curved shape in which a width of the seat back gradually decreases from the central part toward the upper part so as to be narrowed inward, as viewed from the front side
(3) The vehicle seat according to (1) or (2), wherein a widest portion in the central part is provided within a range of from 30% to 70% of a length beginning from a border between the seat back and a seat cushion to an upper end of the seat back.
(4) The vehicle seat according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the upper part is extended upward to a neck area of the sitter.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a vehicle seat which allows for smooth movements of the sitter's shoulders while maintaining a good fit for the sitter.
The present invention will now be described below more specifically. Although an embodiment will be described below as an example for explaining the present invention, the present invention is not limited to such embodiment. Like reference numerals denote similar components and redundant explanations thereof will be omitted. The positional relationships such as upper, lower, right and left are based on the positional relationships shown in the drawings, unless otherwise indicated. The dimensional ratios in the drawings are not limited to those shown in the drawings.
The seat back 11 has a wide plate-like shape that is elongated in the vertical direction, the back seat 11 having a lower part 20 for supporting a lower back area H of a sitter P, a central part 21 for supporting a ribs area I and an upper part 22 for supporting a shoulder blades area J. This specification assumes an adult having a typical body length of 150 cm to 185 cm as the “sitter.”
The lower part 20 is relatively thin with an almost constant width as viewed from the front side, as shown in
As shown in
Right and left ends of the central part 21 are projected forward as shown in
The seat back 11 has a notched shape 11a in an area extending from the central part 21 toward the upper part 22 such that the shoulders S of the sitter P are exposed as viewed from the rear side, as shown in
Specifically, the width of an upper end 22a of the upper part 22 may be, for example, about 150-300 mm, which is 30% to 75%, preferably 40% to 60% of the width of the wide portion 21a of the central part 21. The length in the vertical direction of the notched shape 11a (the length from the wide portion 21a of the central part 21 to the upper end 22a of the upper part 22) may be, for example, about 200-300 mm, and the area extending from the wide portion 21a of the central part 21 toward the upper end 22a of the upper part 22 so that the notched shape 11a may be curved so as to be narrowed inward. Further, the wide portion 21a of the central part 21 may be set within a range of from 30% to 70%, preferably from 40% to 60% of a length L (shown in
The upper part 22 supports the shoulder blades area J in the upper back of the sitter P. It should be noted that the upper part 22 may not necessarily support the entire shoulder blades area J, but may support only a part of the shoulder blades area J. As shown in
The front surface of the seat back 11, which extends from the central part 21 to the upper part 22, is curved so as to be projected rearward along, for example, the shape of the back of the sitter P.
A material of the seat back 11 may be, for example, urethane, etc.
The seat cushion 10 shown in
The headrest 12 is connected to the upper end of the seat back 11. A material of the headrest 12 may be, for example, urethane, etc.
According to the present embodiment, since the central part 21 of the seat back 11 is formed so as to be wider than the lower part 20 and the upper part 22 and the central part 21 has the front surface 21b which is curved with the right and left ends thereof being projected forward, the sitter P can obtain a good fit regardless of his/her physical size. Further, since the seat back 11 has a notched shape 11a extending from the central part 21 to the upper part 22 such that the shoulders S of the sitter P are exposed as viewed from the rear side, forward and rearward movements of the shoulders S of the sitter P are not restricted as shown in
Since the seat back 11 has a curved shape in which the width thereof gradually decreases from the central part 21 toward the upper part 22 so as to be narrowed inward, the shoulders S of the sitter P can be sufficiently exposed and restrictions to the movements of the shoulders S can be eliminated in an appropriate manner.
Since the wide portion 21a in the central part 21 is provided within a range of from 30% to 70% of the length, beginning from the border between the seat back 11 and the seat cushion 10, from the border between the seat back 11 and the seat cushion 10 to the upper end of the seat back 11, the shoulders S of the sitter P can be sufficiently exposed, and restrictions to the movements of the shoulders S can be eliminated in an appropriate manner.
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above with reference to the attached drawings, the present invention is not limited to such example. It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can conceive of various types of changes and modifications within the range of ideas to be set forth in the scope of the claims and it should be understood that such changes and modifications belong to the technical scope of the present invention as a matter of course.
For example, in the above embodiment, the upper part 22 may be extended upward to around the neck N of the sitter P as shown in
The present invention is useful for providing a vehicle seat which allows for smooth movements of the shoulders of a sitter while maintaining a good fit for the sitter.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2015-202981 | Oct 2015 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2016/076201 | 9/6/2016 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2017/064943 | 4/20/2017 | WO | A |
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