DAMPING MECHANISM FOR UNWANTED HORIZONTAL MOVEMENTS IN ADDITION TO VERTICAL SUSPENSIONS OF VEHICLE SEATS

The Related Art

The invention relates to mechanisms that improve the comfort of drivers or passengers by damping unwanted horizontal movements such as vibration, impact, shock etc. formed on vehicle seats during motion of vehicles, by means of its spring and piston components.

The Prior Art

In vehicles, people, especially drivers are exposed to shocks and vibrations on the seat due to road conditions, and this leads to exhaustion and discomfort such as backache and muscle pain. In the case of long distance drivers who sit down on the vehicle seats for days, development of embodiments that improve comfort by eliminating shocks caused by road conditions and vehicle movements is of great importance especially for companies who work in this field.

Systems like the one provided in the patent document with No. TR2010/10036, titled "Seat suspension system" serve this purpose and perform to task of exposing the drivers or passengers to the minimum level of shocks and vibrations caused by the vehicle. In such embodiments, the flexible groups positioned between the seats and the lower groups ensuring mounting of the seats to the vehicles perform said task.

In the prior art embodiments, systems are formed by providing motion either only by guide shafts or the piston stroke lengths. Systems with guide shafts perform horizontal motion via springs. They perform the task of stroke limiting via guide shafts. Since these springs are quite hard initially, the system also works in a hard manner, and in time, these springs are deformed and start to make sounds. On the other hand, in the systems that comprise only a piston, when a soft piston is chosen, it cannot provide damping completely, and when a hard piston is chosen, then damping does not occur at all, and the impact caused by the vehicle is directly transferred to the passenger. In such systems, the piston stroke is the system stroke.

As a result, the need for mechanisms that improve the comfort of drivers or passengers by damping unwanted horizontal movements such as vibration, impact, shock etc. formed on seats during motion of vehicles, by means of its spring and piston components, and the inadequacy of the prior art solutions have necessitated an improvement in the related technical field. Purpose of the Invention

The invention relates to a damping mechanism, which meets the above said requirements, eliminates all of the drawbacks, and brings some additional advantages. The main purpose of the damping mechanism according to the invention is to perform the damping of impact, shock, vibration etc. unwanted horizontal movements between the vehicle and the seat by means of a piston and supporting springs. The stroke limiting is performed by shafts. In this way, by providing resistance against these unwanted movements from two different points, the quality and therefore the comfort of the damping operation are improved. Moreover, by distributing the load between both the piston and the springs, they are prevented from reaching or exceeding their capacities. Correspondingly, it is aimed to ensure that these components serve for long time without being exposed to deformation. The springs and pistons that are not deformed work as new and do not cause scratch noises.

Another purpose of the invention is to either cancel or release (activate) the damping mechanism when desired, by means of the lock mechanism ensuring fixing of the damping mechanism. Another purpose of the invention is to position the switch group used for opening and closing the lock mechanism close to the seat so that the user can easily and quickly activate or inactivate the mechanism. In order to achieve the above said purposes in the most general sense, the invention relates to a damping mechanism improving the comfort of drivers or passengers by damping unwanted horizontal movements such as vibration, impact, and shock etc. formed during motion of the flexible group found between an upper group and a lower group enabling connection of vehicle seats to the vehicle. The invention comprises:

at least one body directly connected to said flexible group,

a piston bracket connected to said upper group,

at least one spring guide connected to said body, upper group, and piston bracket,

- at least one spring positioned on said spring guide such that it would enclose the spring guide between the body and the upper group and/or between the upper group and the piston bracket,

at least one piston connected to said flexible group at one end and to said piston bracket at the other end.

The structural and characteristic features of the invention and all of its advantages shall be understood better with the figures and the detailed description given below in reference to the figures, and therefore, the assessment should be made by taking into account the said figures and detailed explanations.

Figures for Better Understanding of the Invention

For better understanding of the embodiment of the present invention and its advantages with its additional components, it should be evaluated together with below described figures.

Figure - 1 : General view of the seat at which the damping mechanism of the invention is positioned.

Figure - 2: Section view of the lower group, upper group, and flexible group, where the damping mechanism according to the invention is positioned.

Figure - 3: Top view of the damping mechanism according to the invention.

Figure - 4: Bottom view of the damping mechanism according to the invention.

Figure - 5: Exploded view of the switch group found in the damping mechanism according to the invention. Parts References

100 Lower group 51 1 Locking piece pin

200 Upper group 512 Lock spring

300 Flexible group 513 Locking piece pin connection

400 Seat component

500 Damping mechanism 514 Transmission component connection

501 Body bracket

502 Spring 600 Switch group

503 Spring guide 601 Switch connection bracket

504 Piston 602 Switch

505 Piston pin 602a Pressing side

506 Piston bracket 602b Traction side

507 Spring guide connection component 603 Switch pin

508 Lock pin housing 604 Switch pin fixing component

509 Locking piece 605 Switch spring

510 Lock pin 606 Transmission component

607 Switch connection point Detailed Description of the Invention

A damping mechanism (500) as shown in Figure 1 , developed for improving the comfort of drivers or passengers by damping unwanted horizontal movements such as vibration, impact and shock etc. formed during motion of flexible groups (300) found between an upper group (200) and a lower group (100) enabling connection of vehicle seats (400) to the vehicle, provides flexibility for seats (400) in the horizontal plane and thus provides comfortable posture for the driver by springing the seat (400) in sudden starts and stops. Different from the prior art systems, the developed damping mechanism (500) comprises: at least one body (501 ) forming the main structure and directly connected to the flexible group (300), at least one spring (502) positioned between the body (501 ) and the upper group (200), and at least one piston (504) positioned between the flexible group (300) and the piston bracket (506) found at the upper group (200). Figure 2 shows a section view of the upper group (200) where the damping mechanism (500) according to the invention is positioned, the lower group (100), and the flexible group (300). In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the damping mechanism (500) is found between the flexible group (300) and the upper group (200). The flexible group (300) is a scissors system in a preferred embodiment.

The springs (502) positioned between the upper group (200) and the body (501 ) connected to the flexible group (300) are housed with the spring guide (503) and fixed with the spring guide connection component (507). The purpose of the spring guide (503) is to bear the movements of the springs (502) so as to prevent them from coming out of their operating routes. The spring guides (503) are passed through the body and one of their ends is connected to the upper group (200). They are attached to the piston brackets (506) on the other end. By means of the springs (502), the upper group (200) can come to normal balance position by making a horizontal flexion motion. The piston (504) positioned between the flexible group (300) and the upper group (200) facilitates the system to reach the balance position by damping the horizontal impact, vibration, shock etc. movements of the seat (400). The connection of the piston (504) with the upper group (200) is made through a piston bracket (506) that is mounted to the upper group (200) via a piston pin (505).

The invention also comprises additional springs (502) that are housed with the spring guides (503) positioned between the body (501 ) and the piston bracket (506) connected to the upper group (200). In this way, advantage is gained by reducing the load via distribution on the springs (502).

As can be seen in Figure 3, the lock pin (510) positioned on the body (501 ) and the locking piece (509) positioned on the upper group (200) by means of the locking piece pin (51 1 ) such that it would make a rotating motion are used to lock the system so that it cannot perform the damping task anymore. The lock pin housing (508) formed on the locking piece (509) is fixed by engaging with the lock pin (510) found on the body (501 ) with the rotating motion of the locking piece (509) around the axis of the locking piece pin (51 1 ). In this way, the flexion motion of the body (501 ) and thus the flexible group (300) with regard to the upper group (200) is prevented. The locking piece pin connection component (513) is the component that ensures fixing of the locking piece (509) and prevents its removal from the locking piece pin (51 1 ). The lock spring (512) connected to the locking piece (509) continuously acts against the movement of the locking piece (509) and thus ensures that the lock pin housing (508) stays on the lock pin (510). In this way, the system is continuously maintained in a locked state.

The component controlling the movement of the locking piece (509) is the switch group (600) shown in Figure 4 in an exploded view. The switch group (600) essentially consists of a switch (602) triggering the motion of the locking piece (509) and a transmission component (606) ensuring transmission of motion between the switch (602) and the locking piece (509). In a preferred embodiment, the transmission component (606) is a wire made of a material with a low flexibility coefficient, and its positioning and fixing on the upper group (200) is made by a transmission component connection bracket (514). Connection of the switch (602) with the upper group (200) is made by means of a switch connection point (607) formed on the switch connection bracket (601 ). The switch (602), preferably formed of two parts as the pressing side (602a) and the traction side (602b), is connected to the switch connection point (607) by means of a switch pin (603), which also allows rotating motion. The pressing side (602a) and the traction side (602b) move in opposite directions to each other with regard to the switch pin (603). The switch pin fixing component (604) allows fixing of the switch (602) on the switch pin (603). The transmission component (606) is connected to the switch (602) via the traction side (602b). When pressure is applied on the pressing side (602a), the transmission component (606) is pulled from the traction side (602b) and transmits the relevant force to the locking piece (509). The locking piece (509) overcoming the force applied by the lock spring (512), with the force it receives from the transmission component (606), is released from the lock pin (510) so that it releases the body (501 ) and thus the flexible group (300). The switch spring (605) connected to the switch (602) through the traction side (602b), prevents movement with the tensile strength it applies. Therefore, when no force is applied from the pressing side (602a), the switch (602) releases the transmission component (606) backwards so as to keep the system locked.