JP2020006183A - Chair - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a chair capable of maintaining a fitting state stably by heightening fitting strength between a holding member and the chair.SOLUTION: A chair S with a leg includes a leg member F3, a support rod connected to the leg member F3, a metal frame integrated with the support rod and constituting a seat part, an awakening device U for awakening a seated person, a battery 8 for supplying power to the awakening device U, an ECU 7 for controlling the awakening device U, and a holding cover for holding the battery 8 and the ECU 7. The holding cover is fitted to the metal frame having high rigidity.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a chair, and more particularly, to a chair equipped with a wake-up device for applying a stimulus to a seated person.

2. Description of the Related Art For the purpose of preventing occurrence of an accident during driving of a vehicle, there is known a technique of preventing a driver of a vehicle from lowering the arousal level.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for applying a vibration stimulus to a occupant using a vehicle seat including a heart rate sensor or a respiration sensor and an electric device such as a motor.
On the other hand, a technique for preventing a decrease in arousal level, in other words, preventing drowsiness, can be used for not only vehicle seats but also office chairs for the purpose of efficiently studying and working.

However, when electric equipment is mounted on a chair with legs, unlike a vehicle seat in which electric equipment can be arranged inside a vehicle, it is necessary to secure a mounting space and mounting strength for a battery, an electronic control unit (ECU), and the like. It was difficult.
Here, as a technique using an electric device for a chair with a leg, Patent Document 2 discloses a control including a battery and a control device in which a sensor is arranged on a chair with a leg in order to correct the posture of a seated person. A technique is disclosed in which a unit (a member that holds a battery and a control device is referred to as a holding member) is attached to the lower surface of a cushion pan, and the posture of a seated person is detected based on the presence or absence of a detection signal from a sensor.

JP 2013-220810 A JP 2006-503599 A

In the chair with legs described in Patent Literature 2, the leg or the like of a seated person may hit the control unit and impact the control unit, so that the control unit may come off the cushion pan.
For this reason, it was necessary to secure the mounting strength of the control unit to the chair with legs.

In addition, the operation speed of the control device may decrease due to the heat generated from the battery and the control device in the control unit.
Further, it has been difficult to secure a space for managing the harness attached to the control unit. Particularly in a chair with legs on casters, the harness is easily entangled with the chair, and there has been a problem in attaching the harness.

  In addition, since the control unit is provided below the seat, it is difficult for the occupant to replace the battery constituting the control unit or charge the battery while sitting.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a chair capable of increasing the mounting strength between a holding member and a chair and stably maintaining the mounted state.
Another object is to suppress the influence of heat on the control device and prevent a decrease in operation speed.
Still another object is to provide a space around a harness in a chair.
Still another object is to facilitate replacement or charging of a battery provided in a chair.

  According to the chair according to the present invention, the object is to provide a leg member, a column connected to the leg member, a metal frame that is integrated with the column, and forms a seat, and stimulates a seated person. A wake-up device that includes a stimulating device to be added and a control device that controls the stimulating device to wake up the occupant, a battery that supplies power to the wake-up device, a holding member that holds the battery and the control device, And the holding member is attached to the metal frame.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the holding member holding the battery and the control device is attached to the metal frame integrated with the support provided on the chair, the attachment state of the holding member to the chair can be reduced. Can be maintained stably.

Preferably, the metal frame is formed to be curved.
According to the above configuration, by supporting the holding member with the metal frame whose rigidity has been increased by the curved shape of the metal frame, the supporting state of the holding member can be stably maintained.

Further, the holding member has a protruding portion that is mounted above the metal frame by protruding above the battery or the control device that is being held, and in a state where the holding member is mounted on the metal frame, It is preferable that a space is formed between the battery or the control device and the metal frame.
According to the above configuration, since the space is formed between the battery or the control device and the metal frame, the heat dissipation is improved, and the harness can be routed in the space.

In particular, it is preferable that the holding member holds the battery below the control device.
According to the above configuration, since the holding member holds the battery at a position below the seat, the user of the chair can attach and detach the battery while sitting on the seat. Or the workability is improved because the power supply cord is easily attached to and detached from the plug connected to the rechargeable battery.
Furthermore, since the control device is held by the holding member above the battery, the dead space above the battery can be effectively used.

It is preferable that the holding member has a resin part at least in part and includes a fastening member for fastening the resin part to the metal frame.
According to the above configuration, the fastening member is fastened by sandwiching the metal frame and the low rigidity resin portion of the holding member, so that the fastening length of the fastening member can be increased, and the mounting strength can be increased. Can be.

According to the present invention, the mounting strength of the holding member to the chair can be increased, and the mounting state can be stably maintained.
Further, according to the present invention, the heat dissipation is improved, and the harness can be routed in the space.
The user of the chair can easily attach / detach or charge the battery while sitting on the seat, thereby improving workability.
Further, the dead space above the battery can be effectively used.

1 is an external view of a legged chair according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a lower side perspective view showing the cushion pan lower surface to which a holding cover is attached. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an ECU, a battery, a holding cover, and the like attached to the chair with legs. It is a perspective view which shows the assembled state of ECU, a battery, a holding cover, etc. attached to a chair with legs. FIG. 3 is a schematic front view showing a state where a holding cover for holding an ECU and a battery is attached to a lower surface of a cushion pan.

The present invention relates to a chair, and more particularly to a chair provided with an awakening (drowsiness prevention) device.
The embodiments described below are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and do not limit the present invention. That is, the shapes, dimensions, arrangements, and the like of the members described below can be changed and improved without departing from the gist of the present invention, and the present invention naturally includes equivalents thereof.
Hereinafter, a legged chair S according to an embodiment of the present invention, an ECU 7, a battery 8 provided in the legged chair S, and a holding cover 71 holding these will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the following, the front-rear direction indicates the front-rear direction of the chair, and the left-right direction indicates the left-right direction of the chair, which is also referred to as the width direction of the chair.

First, the main configuration of the chair S with legs will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, FIG. 1 is an external view of a chair S with legs according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a lower perspective view showing a lower surface of a cushion pan F21 to which a holding cover 71 is attached.
The chair S with legs mainly includes a leg member F3, a cushion pan F21 attached to the leg member F3 to support the buttocks of the occupant, a back pan F22 which is a backrest connected to the cushion pan F21, and awakening. And a device U.

The leg member F3 includes a foot portion F31 that branches into four, and a column tube F30 that is formed continuously with the foot portion F31, and is mainly formed of a resin material.
A caster 31a is attached to each of the four branched ends of the foot F31.
Further, in the present embodiment, the foot portion F31 has a configuration of branching into four, but may have a configuration of branching into three or more, and may not include the casters 31a.

  The support tube F30 is fixed to the center of the foot portion F31 and extends upward. A support column F21a, which will be described later, is passed through and fixed to the support cylinder F30.

  The cushion pan F21 corresponds to a seat portion according to the present invention, and as shown in FIG. 2, a lower frame portion F21b extending in the width direction of the chair, and a lower frame portion F21b extending in a cross shape with the lower frame portion F21b. An upper frame portion F21c, a resin plate F21d attached to the upper portion thereof, and a pad portion F21e with a skin attached to the upper portion of the resin plate F21d.

  The lower frame portion F21b extends in the width direction of the chair behind the cushion pan F21, and a through hole F21f is formed in the center of the lower frame portion F21b through which the support post F21a passes.

The upper frame portion F21c corresponds to the metal frame according to the present invention, extends in the front-rear direction of the chair at the center in the width direction of the chair, and is joined to the lower frame portion F21b by welding. At the center of the upper frame portion F21c, a pipe-like column F21a extending perpendicular to the periphery is joined by welding or the like.
Further, two recesses F21g extending in the front-rear direction are formed in the upper frame portion F21c on the front side in the front-rear direction of the chair relative to the lower frame portion F21b, and are formed so as to be wavy in the width direction of the chair. And rigidity is increased.
Two through holes F21h for passing a tapping screw N1 (see FIG. 3) corresponding to a fastening member according to the present invention are formed on both outer sides of the chair in the width direction of the chair than the concave portion F21g in the upper frame portion F21c. ing.
Specifically, the through-hole F21h is for passing a tapping screw N1 for attaching an upper frame portion F21c, a lower frame portion F21b integrally joined thereto, and a holding cover 71 described later to the resin plate F21d.

  The pad portion with skin F21e is composed of a pad made of a cushion material such as urethane and a skin covering the pad, and a respiration sensor 9 described later is arranged between the skin and the pad.

The back pan F22 is connected to the rear part of the cushion pan F21, and extends vertically upward from the cushion pan F21.
At the center inside the back pan F22, a vibration device 35 is attached as shown in FIG. Although described in detail later, the vibration device 35 is a component of the awakening device U, and applies vibration stimulation to a seated person according to a control signal of the ECU 7.

<About Awakening Equipment>
Next, the awakening device U will be described.
The awakening device U according to the present embodiment mainly includes an ECU 7, a battery 8, a respiration sensor 9, and a vibration device 35.

  The vibration device 35 corresponds to the stimulating device according to the present invention, and is a device including a so-called “vibration motor” including a known unbalanced mass motor.

The ECU 7 is equivalent to a control device according to the present invention, and is a central function that comprehensively executes electric control. In this example, the ECU 7 is based on a potential difference signal converted into a digital signal indicating a breathing interval. And a function of driving and controlling the vibration device 35.
The ECU 7 according to the present embodiment is a general-purpose ECU in terms of hardware, including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like for arithmetic control.

The signal input to the ECU 7 is a potential difference signal converted into a digital signal by a signal processing circuit, and the output is power for driving the vibration device 35.
The RAM temporarily stores parameters including signals under arithmetic control and input / output signals, and functions as a storage unit that stores a potential difference signal converted into a digital signal and other signals.

The ROM stores a program executed by the CPU and a parameter of a predetermined value. For example, the ROM stores a reference value setting unit that sets a predetermined reference value, a determination unit that determines an awake state based on the reference value, and a vibration device 35. Is recorded as a program.
The driving unit has a function of driving the vibration device 35 by supplying electric power in accordance with an instruction from the CPU.
The instruction signal of the CPU is formed by calculating a signal from the respiration sensor 9.
In other words, it is configured that the awake state of the seated person is determined by the signal transmitted from the respiration sensor 9, and when it is determined that the occupant is not in the awake state, a signal for driving the vibration device 35 is transmitted from the CPU. I have. Note that a known configuration may be used for the configuration, and a heart rate sensor may be used instead of the respiration sensor 9.

  The ECU 7 constituting the awakening device U is attached to the lower surface side of the cushion pan F21 by the holding cover 71 (see FIG. 5), and the vibration device 35 moves the seated person side of the back pan F22 as shown in FIG. It is mounted near the center of the facing surface.

The battery 8 has a function of supplying electric power to the ECU 7 and the vibration device 35. In the present embodiment, the battery 8 is formed in a plate shape, and a power supply terminal is formed on a front surface. The battery 8 is charged from a household power supply by connecting a charging cord (not shown) from a power supply terminal. As the battery 8, a battery used for charging a smartphone or the like can be diverted.
In addition, the battery 8 is not limited to a rechargeable type, and may be a single-use type detachable type.

Next, attachment of the ECU 7 and the battery 8 will be described with reference to FIGS.
Here, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the ECU 7, the battery 8 and the holding cover 71 attached to the chair S with legs, and FIG. 4 is an assembly of the ECU 7, the battery 8 and the holding cover 71 attached to the chair S with legs. FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing a state in which a holding cover 71 for holding the ECU 7 and the battery 8 is attached to the lower surface of the cushion pan F21.

  In the present embodiment, the ECU 7 is covered and supported by the base member 72 and the cover member 73, and furthermore, is held together with the battery 8 by the holding cover 71 and attached to the upper frame portion F21c.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the holding cover 71 corresponds to the holding member and the resin portion according to the present invention, and has an accommodation concave groove 71 a having an open upper portion and a substantially U-shaped vertical cross section. A pan mounting portion 71b extending in a flange shape from both ends of the upper portion to the upper side is formed of a resin material. The pan mounting portion 71b corresponds to a protrusion according to the present invention, and has a pan mounting hole 71c through which the tapping screw N1 is passed.

A plurality of L-shaped ribs 71d whose lower portions are formed longer in the width direction of the chair are formed on the inner walls on both sides in the width direction of the chair of the holding cover 71 in a row in the front-rear direction of the chair. A base member 72 described later is placed on the rib 71d. The lower portions of the pair of ribs 71d in the width direction of the chair are formed at intervals longer than the length of the battery 8 in the width direction of the chair so that the battery 8 fits therebetween, and It is formed at a high height.
Further, the rib 71e at the forefront of the holding cover 71 in the front-rear direction of the chair is formed such that an upper portion of the rib 71e extends in the width direction of the chair than other ribs 71d. More specifically, the length between the pair of ribs 71e on both sides in the width direction of the chair is set shorter than the length of the cover member 73 described later in the width direction of the chair.
For this reason, the cover member 73 held by the holding cover 71 covering the ECU 7 is restricted from moving forward by the rib 71e.

On the front side of the bottom wall of the holding cover 71, a cantilever piece 71f formed by cutting out both sides in the width direction of the chair from the front end to the rear is formed.
At the front end of the cantilever piece 71f, a mountain-shaped locking projection 71g projecting upward and continuing in the width direction of the chair is formed.
The cantilever piece 71f is for supporting a battery 8 described later detachably from the holding cover 71.
Specifically, the cantilever piece 71f is held by the locking projection 71g being locked to the battery 8 in a normal state where no external force is applied.
On the other hand, when the battery 8 attached to the holding cover 71 is pulled forward, the battery 8 can be removed by abutting against the locking projection 71g and bending.

The base member 72 and the cover member 73 are frame members each having a substantially U-shaped vertical cross section.
Specifically, the base member 72 has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and extends in the front-rear direction longer than the length in the width direction.
On the other hand, the cover member 73 has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and extends in the width direction longer than the length in the front-rear direction.
Particularly, a rectangular notch is formed on the front surface of the cover member 73 to expose a coupler (not shown) of the ECU 7 and connect the ECU 7 to the respiration sensor 9 or the vibration device 35 by the coupler.
These are superimposed on each other to form a storage space for the ECU 7 therein.
Then, the base member 72 and the cover member 73 are fastened by the fixing screw N2 in a state in which the ECU 7 is stored, stacked on the battery 8, and held in the housing groove 71a.

Since the base member 72 is placed on the ribs 71d arranged at an interval in the front and rear, the heated air generated from the ECU 7 passes between the ribs 71d through the opening of the base member 72. I will pass. Therefore, the heat radiation of the ECU 7 can be improved.
Furthermore, since the lower part of the rib 71d is formed at a height higher than the vertical thickness of the battery 8, the holding cover 71 disposed on the rib 71d and the battery 8 can be separated.
As described above, by disposing the holding cover 71 and the battery 8 apart from each other, it is possible to prevent the heat between the two from being directly transmitted, and to suppress a temperature rise between the two.

The battery 8 is provided below the ECU 7 and farther away from the cushion pan F21. By arranging the battery 8 in this manner, a seated person can easily reach for the battery 8 while sitting on the cushion pan F21. That is, the seated person can easily attach / detach or charge the battery 8 while sitting on the cushion pan F21, and workability is improved.
The dead space of the chair S with legs can be effectively used by arranging the ECU 7 above the battery 8 that is not frequently touched except for maintenance.

As described above, the complex of the base member 72 and the cover member 73 is stored in the groove of the holding cover 71 together with the battery 8 in a state where the ECU 7 is stored in the storage space, and in this state, the pan mounting portion 71b ( In the present example, two are provided (in the present example, two are present), and are fixed to the cushion pan F21 by tapping screws N1 from the pan mounting holes 71c (in the present example, four are present).
More specifically, the tapping screw N1 passes through the pan mounting hole 71c and the through hole F21h of the upper frame portion F21c, and is fixed to the resin plate F21d by tapping.
That is, since the holding cover 71 has the concave portion F21g and is formed integrally with the column F21a, the holding cover 71 is fixed by the tapping screw N1 in a state of contacting the rigid upper frame portion F21c. Strength can be increased.

Further, the tapping screw N1 is tapped and fixed in a state where the lower surface of the screw head is in contact with the resin pan mounting portion 71b. For this reason, the fastening strength by the tapping screw N1 is higher than that in the case of contacting the metal surface.
Then, the reaction force acting on the lower surface of the screw head is increased by the thickness of the pan mounting portion 71b as compared with the case where the upper frame portion F21c is directly mounted on the resin plate F21d without mounting the holding cover 71, so that the tapping screw N1 is It becomes possible to prevent loosening.
The cover member 73 is preferably formed of a resin material. However, if attention is paid only to obtaining the above-described effects, only the portion fastened by the tapping screw N1 may be formed of the resin material.

As shown in FIG. 5, in a state where the holding cover 71 is attached to the upper frame portion F21c, the pan attachment portion 71b abutting on the upper frame portion F21c projects above the cover member 73. A space SP is formed between 73 and the upper frame portion F21c.
Thus, the heat generated from the ECU 7 and the battery 8 can be radiated by the formed space SP.
Furthermore, a harness (not shown) connected to at least one of the respiration sensor 9, the vibration device 35, the ECU 7, and the battery 8 can be provided by using a part of the space SP.

An extension cable (not shown) having, for example, a male-female terminal is connected to the charging terminal of the battery 8 held by the holding cover 71, and a charging port is provided at the tip of the foot F31 above the caster F31a. You may make it.
By doing so, the seated person can more easily see the tip of the foot portion F31 than near the lower surface of the cushion pan F21, so that the charging cord of the battery 8 can be more easily connected.
In this case, it is particularly preferable to arrange an extension cable (not shown) inside the support cylinder F30 and the foot F31.
Although illustration is omitted, an LED or the like for displaying electricity may be mounted.

F21 Cushion pan (seat)
F21a Support F21b Lower frame F21c Upper frame (metal frame)
F21d Resin plate F21e Pad portion with skin F21f Through hole F21g Depression F21h Through hole F22 Back pan F3 Leg member F30 Support tube F31 Foot F31a Caster N1 Tapping screw (fastening member)
N2 Fixing screw S Chair with legs SP Space U Awakening device 31a Caster 35 Vibration device (stimulator)
7 ECU (control device)
71 Holding cover (holding member, resin part)
71a accommodation groove 71b pan attachment part (projection part)
71c Pan mounting hole 71d, 71e Rib 71f Cantilever section 71g Locking projection 72 Base member 73 Cover member 8 Battery 9 Respiration sensor

Claims (1)

Leg members,
A column connected to the leg member;
A metal frame that is integrated with the column and constitutes a seat;
A wake-up device that wakes up the occupant having a stimulating device that applies a stimulus to the occupant and a control device that controls the stimulating device;
A battery for supplying power to the awakening device;
A holding member that holds the battery and the control device,
The chair, wherein the holding member is attached to the metal frame.

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