JP2015064926A - Heater unit and vehicle seat - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heater unit which can be enhanced the workability by preventing disconnection of a heater element, and to provide a vehicle seat using the same.SOLUTION: In a heater unit 31 consisting of a base material 11, and a heater element 10 disposed thereon, the heater unit 31 includes a plurality of warming parts 31a coupled by a coupling part 31b. In the coupling part 31b, the base material 11 has a cylindrical form, and the heater element 10 is inserted into the inside of the cylindrical base material 11, but is not integrated therewith. In a vehicle seat, the warming part 31a is arranged so as to avoid a position where the heater unit 31 is disposed and a suspension part is located, and the coupling part 31b is arranged so as to detour the position where the suspension part is located.

Description

  The present invention relates to a heater unit that can be suitably used for an electric blanket, an electric carpet, a car seat heater, and the like, and relates to an apparatus that prevents disconnection of a heater element and improves workability.

  Conventionally, as a heater unit mounted on a vehicle seat and used as a seat heater, for example, a cord-like heater provided with a heat fusion part on a base material is meandered, and the base is obtained by heat fusion by heating and pressing. The material and the heat-bonded part are bonded and fixed (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2), or a non-woven fabric whose surface is cured by calendering is used as a base material. There is a stitched heater wire (for example, Patent Document 3). Further, as a technique related to the present invention, for example, Patent Document 5 is cited.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-25916: Clave Japanese Patent No. 4202071: Clave JP 2007-200086: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. JP 2004-123721 A: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. JP 2010-3543 A: Clave

  For the heater unit as described above, particularly when applied to a car seat heater, higher demands are made from the market. First, it is required that the heater element is not disconnected even when a load is repeatedly applied by a driver or the like, or when a heater unit is installed on a vehicle seat. The vehicle seat is provided with a hanging portion for fixing the seat skin to the seat pad, and since the heater unit cannot be arranged in this hanging portion, the heater unit is avoided to avoid the hanging portion. The warming part is divided and these warming parts are connected by a connecting part. Such a connecting portion is narrow in width and receives a strong tensile force when the heater unit is installed on the vehicle seat, and therefore there is a high possibility of disconnection at this portion.

  In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 2 describes that a connecting portion is provided with a separation portion that does not adhere and fix the heater element to the base material. In that case, however, other problems arise. That is, in the separation part, the heater element floats in the air and moves freely, so that it is necessary to store the detached heater element in an appropriate position when installing the heater unit. End up. If the heater element is not properly stored, the heater element may be subject to unexpected load or sharp bends, which may cause the heater element to break. Will be necessary and complicated.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a heater unit that prevents disconnection of the heater element and improves workability.

In order to achieve the above object, a heater unit according to the present invention is a heater unit comprising a base material and a heater element disposed on the base material, wherein the heater unit includes a plurality of warming portions as connecting portions. In addition to being connected, the base material is cylindrical in the connecting portion, and the heater element is inserted into the cylindrical base material in the connecting portion, and the heater element Is not integrated with the cylindrical base material.
Further, it is conceivable that the heater element is a cord-like heater and is arranged on the base material in a predetermined pattern shape.
Further, the vehicle seat according to the present invention has a seat skin and a seat pad, a hanging portion for fixing the seat skin to the seat pad is formed, and the above-mentioned seat skin and the seat pad In the vehicle seat in which the heater unit is arranged, the warming part is arranged so as to avoid the position where the hanging part is located, and the connecting part is arranged so as to bypass the place where the hanging part is located. It is characterized by being arranged.

  According to the heater unit of the present invention, since the heater element is not integrated with the base material in the connecting portion, the heater element is not subjected to a strong tensile force, and disconnection at this portion can be prevented. In addition, since the heater element is inserted into the cylindrical base material at the connecting part, the heater element does not float and move freely, and the heater unit is installed on a vehicle seat or the like. It will be excellent in workability.

It is a figure which shows embodiment by this invention, and is a top view which shows the structure of a heater unit. It is a figure which shows embodiment by this invention, and is II-II 'sectional drawing in FIG. 1 which shows the cross section which expanded a part of heater unit. It is a figure which shows embodiment by this invention, and is a figure which shows the structure of a hot press type heater manufacturing apparatus. It is a figure which shows embodiment by this invention, and is a partial perspective view which shows a mode that a code | cord | chord heater is arrange | positioned in a predetermined pattern shape. It is a figure which shows embodiment by this invention, and is a partially notched side view which shows the structure of a cord-shaped heater. It is a figure which shows embodiment by this invention, and is a perspective view which partially cuts out a mode that the heater unit was embedded in the vehicle seat. It is a figure which shows other embodiment by this invention, and is a partially notched side view which shows the structure of a cord-shaped heater. It is a figure which shows the other Example by this invention, and is the top view which expanded a part of heater unit. It is a side view which shows the testing apparatus of a bending test.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a seat heater for a vehicle seat.

  First, the configuration of the heater element in the present embodiment will be described. The present embodiment is an example in which a cord-like heater 10 is used as a heater element. The cord-like heater 10 in the present embodiment is configured as shown in FIG. First, seven conductor strands 5a made of a tin copper alloy wire having a strand diameter of 0.08 mm are arranged on the outer periphery of a heater core 3 made of an aromatic polyamide fiber bundle having an outer diameter of about 0.2 mm, and spiraled at a pitch of 1 mm. The exothermic wire 1 is formed by winding in a shape. The conductor wire 5a is covered with an insulating film 5b made of silicone rubber with a thickness of about 0.005 mm. On the outer periphery of the heating wire 1, a polyethylene resin blended with a flame retardant as the heat fusion part 9 is extruded and coated with a thickness of 0.30 mm. The cord-shaped heater 10 has such a configuration, and its finished outer diameter is 1.0 mm. In addition, the heater core 3 is effective when considering flexibility and tensile strength. However, instead of the heater core 3, a plurality of heating element strands may be aligned or twisted. Conceivable.

Next, the structure of the base material 11 for bonding and fixing the cord-like heater 10 having the above structure will be described. The base material 11 in this example is a non-woven fabric in which 10% heat-fusible fiber having a core-sheath structure having low melting point polyester as a sheath component and 90% flame-retardant fiber made of flame-retardant polyester fiber are mixed. (Weight per unit area 150 g / m ² , thickness 0.6 mm). This non-woven fabric is obtained by laminating a material constituting a fiber while laminating and spinning it to form a web, and is composed of long fibers. This long fiber is a continuous fiber having no fiber length, and is also referred to as a filament. Moreover, since the heater unit 31 according to the present embodiment has a shape in which the two warming portions 31a and 31a ′ are connected by the two connecting portions 31b and 31b ′, the base material 10 also has a shape corresponding thereto. Yes.

  Next, a configuration in which the cord-like heater 10 is arranged in a meandering shape on the substrate 11 and bonded and fixed will be described. In the present embodiment, the meandering interval is 20 mm. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a hot press type heater manufacturing apparatus 13 for bonding and fixing the cord-like heater 10 on the base material 11. First, there is a hot press jig 15, and a plurality of locking mechanisms 17 are provided on the hot press jig 15. As shown in FIG. 4, the locking mechanism 17 includes a pin 19, and the pin 19 is inserted into a hole 21 drilled in the hot press jig 15 from below. A retaining member 23 is attached to the upper portion of the pin 19 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and is always urged upward by a coil spring 25. Then, as shown by phantom lines in FIG. 4, the cord-like heaters 10 are hooked on the locking members 23 of the plurality of locking mechanisms 17 and arranged in a meandering shape.

  Returning to FIG. 3, a press hot plate 27 is disposed above the plurality of locking mechanisms 17 so as to be movable up and down. That is, the cord-shaped heater 10 is arranged in a meandering shape while being hooked on the locking members 23 of the plurality of locking mechanisms 17, and the base material 11 is placed thereon. In this state, the press hot plate 27 is lowered to heat and press the cord-like heater 10 and the base material 11 at, for example, 230 ° C./5 seconds. As a result, the heat fusion part 9 on the cord-like heater 10 side and the heat-fusible fiber on the substrate 11 side are fused, and as a result, the cord-like heater 10 and the substrate 11 are bonded and fixed. It will be. It should be noted that the retaining members 23 of the plurality of retaining mechanisms 17 move downward against the urging force of the coil spring 25 during heating and pressurization due to the lowering of the press hot plate 27. Moreover, about the position of connection part 31b, 31b ', since it is set as the structure which does not integrate the cord-shaped heater 10 and the base material 11, about the location located in connection part 31b, 31b' in the press hot plate 27, a recessed part is provided. Is formed. Thereby, about the position of connection part 31b, 31b ', it does not heat and pressurize, but the cord-shaped heater 10 and the base material 11 will not adhere | attach and fix.

  In this way, with respect to the positions other than the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′, the base material of the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′ is made cylindrical with respect to the heater unit 31 to which the cord heater 10 and the base material 11 are bonded and fixed. As shown in FIG. 2, other base materials 11b and 11b ′ suitable for the shapes of the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′ are prepared and arranged on the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′. Adhere the vicinity of both parallel sides. At this time, the vicinity of the position where the cord-like heater 10 is disposed is not bonded. Adhesion was performed using a commercially available adhesive tape, but various adhesives may be used, and separate base materials 11b and 11b ′ are connected in advance at the time of heating and pressurization by the press hot plate 27 described above. It may be arranged at 31b and 31b ′ and performed together with the bonding and fixing of the cord-like heater 10.

  An adhesive layer may be formed or a double-sided tape may be attached to the surface of the substrate 11 where the cord-like heater 10 is not disposed. This is for fixing the heater unit 31 to the seat when attached to the seat.

  By performing the above operation, the heater unit 31 of the vehicle seat heater as shown in FIG. 1 can be obtained. A cord is connected to both ends of the cord-like heater 10 in the heater unit 31 and to the temperature control device 39. The cord-like heater 10, the temperature control device 39, and the connector 35 are connected by this cord. ing. And it connects to the electric system of the vehicle which is not illustrated via this connector 35.

  And the heater unit 31 which comprises the said structure is embedded and arrange | positioned in the vehicle seat 41 in the state as shown in FIG. That is, as described above, the heater unit 31 is attached to the seat skin 43 or the seat pad 45 of the vehicle seat 41. At this time, it is preferable that the surface of the heater unit 31 on which the cord-like heater 10 is disposed is the sheet skin 43 side. Thereby, the heat from the cord-like heater 10 is transmitted to the seated person only through the seat skin 43 without being insulated by the base material 11, and the heat efficiency is excellent. Further, the warming portions 31a and 31a ′ are arranged so as to avoid the position where the hanging portion 47 of the vehicle seat 41 is positioned, and the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′ are bypassed so as to bypass the position where the hanging portion 47 is positioned. The heater unit 31 is disposed on the vehicle seat 41 so that is disposed.

  In the heater unit 31 obtained as in the above embodiment, since the heater element 10 is not integrated with the base material 11 in the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′, a strong force is applied in the vicinity of the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′. However, the heater element 10 does not receive a strong tensile force, and disconnection at this portion can be prevented. In addition, since the heater element 10 is inserted into the cylindrical base material 11 in the connecting portions 31b and 31b ′, the heater element 10 does not float freely and moves freely. The workability when installing 31 on the vehicle seat 41 or the like is excellent.

  A bending test was performed on the heater unit 31 obtained as described above. The bending test uses a test apparatus 51 shown in FIG. 9. This test apparatus 51 is provided with presser fittings 53 and 53 ′ for fixing a heater unit 31 as a sample, and one presser fitting 53 is installed vertically. The upper plate 55 that reciprocates and the lower plate 57 on which the other pressing metal 53 ′ is provided and has a cushioning material. First, the heater unit 31 is set in the test apparatus 51 so that the connecting portion 31b of the heater unit 31 is positioned at the two pressing metal pieces 53 and 53 ′. In this state, the upper plate 55 is reciprocated up and down so that a substantially central portion between the presser fittings 53 and 53 ′ in the heater unit 31 is bent. This reciprocating motion was performed at an amplitude of 2 seconds / cycle, a minimum value L = 3 mm, and a maximum value L = 90 mm for the interval L between the upper plate 55 and the lower plate 57. During this time, each of the seven conductor strands 5a in the cord-shaped heater 10 of the heater unit 31 is energized independently until one of the conductor strands 5a is broken due to the bending of the heater unit 31. The number of round trips was measured. In contrast to the present embodiment, in the connecting portion 31b, the base material 11 is not cylindrical, and the cord-like heater 10 is bonded and fixed on the base material 11 as a comparative form. A bending test was conducted. These test results are shown in Table 1.

  As shown in Table 1, it is confirmed that the heater unit 31 according to the present embodiment has no breakage of the conductor wire 5a even when bent over 50000 times, and is surely prevented from being broken. It was done. During this bending test, the cord-like heater 10 remained inserted into the cylindrical base material 11, and the cord-like heater 10 did not move to an unexpected position. On the other hand, in the heater unit 31 according to the comparative form, the breakage of the conductor wire was confirmed about 1000 times, which was sufficient in actual use, but further measures for preventing the breakage were necessary.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment. As the cord-shaped heater 10, various conventionally known cord-shaped heaters can be used. For example, a configuration as shown in FIG. Specifically, there is a heater core 3 made of an aromatic polyamide fiber bundle having an outer diameter of about 0.2 mm, and the outer periphery of the heater core 3 is a tin-plated hard tin-containing copper alloy wire (0.08 mm in diameter). A structure in which six conductor strands 5a made of TH-SNCC-3) are arranged together is spirally wound at a pitch of about 0.7 mm. On the outer periphery of the conductor core 5a wound on the heater core 3, a tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene copolymer (FEP) as an insulator layer 7 is extruded with a thickness of about 0.15 mm. The heating wire 1 is formed by covering. Further, the outer periphery of the heating wire 1 is further extruded and coated with a thickness of 0.4 mm of a polyester resin blended with a flame retardant as the heat fusion part 9. The cord-shaped heater 10 has such a configuration, and its finished outer diameter is 1.5 mm. Moreover, since various materials can be used for each constituent material constituting the cord-like heater 10, it may be appropriately selected. Moreover, the cord-like heater 10 integrated with a temperature detection line, a pressure detection line, a human body detection line, etc. can also be used.

  In addition to the cord heater 10 described above, various heaters such as an etching heater, a carbon heater, and a foil heater can be used as the heater element.

  As the base material 11, various materials such as a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a foamed resin sheet, a foamed rubber sheet, and a stretched porous body can be used in addition to the nonwoven fabric shown in the above embodiment. Among these, non-woven fabrics are particularly preferable for use in car seat heaters because they have a good texture and are flexible. Also, when using a non-woven fabric, in the case of the above embodiment, as the heat-fusible fiber constituting the non-woven fabric, a fiber having a core-sheath structure having a low melting point polyester as a sheath component is used. In addition, for example, use of a fiber having a core-sheath structure having a low melting point polypropylene as a sheath component or a fiber having a core-sheath structure having polyethylene as a sheath component is conceivable. By using such a heat-fusible fiber, the sheath portion of the heat-fusible fiber and the heat-fusible portion 9 are fused and integrated with each other while surrounding the core portion of the heat-fusible fiber. Therefore, the adhesion between the cord-like heater 1 and the nonwoven fabric becomes very strong. Moreover, as flame retardant fiber, use of various flame retardant fibers other than said flame retardant polyester is considered, for example.

  The size and thickness of the base material are appropriately changed depending on the intended use. For example, when a nonwoven fabric is used as the equipment, the thickness (value measured at the time of drying) is, for example, 0. It is desirable to be about 6 mm to 1.4 mm. If a nonwoven fabric having such a thickness is used, when the cord heater and the nonwoven fabric are bonded and fixed by heating and pressing, the nonwoven fabric has a portion of 30% or more, preferably 50% or more of the outer circumference of the cord heater. It is because it will adhere | attach favorably and it can obtain a strong adhesion state by it.

  In addition, with respect to the adhesive layer for fixing the heater unit 31 to the seat, from the viewpoint of stretchability of the base material 11 and maintenance of a good quality texture, an adhesive composed only of an adhesive on a release sheet or the like. It is preferable to form an adhesive layer by forming a layer and transferring the adhesive layer from the release sheet to the surface of the substrate 11.

  Further, when the cord-like heater 10 is disposed on the base material 11, the cord-like heater 10 is not bonded and fixed by fusion by heat and pressure using a hot press jig as described above, but according to another embodiment. May be fixed to the substrate 11. For example, it is also conceivable to fix the cord-like heater 10 to the base material 11 while melting the heat-sealed portion 9 with a heating roll. In addition, the heater element is arranged on the substrate 11 by various methods such as a method of sewing and a method of holding and holding the substrate 31 having adhesiveness as well as a method of bonding with the heat-sealing layer formed on the heater element. It is conceivable to install.

  Moreover, the number of the warming parts 31a may be three or more instead of two. Also, the number of connecting portions 31b may be three or more instead of two. If the number of warming portions 31a is two, the number of connecting portions 31b may be one. Further, a plurality of heater elements may be inserted into one connecting portion 31b.

  Moreover, about the structure of the connection part 31b, although the other base material 11b was used in the said embodiment, another form is also considered. For example, it is conceivable to use a base material in which a portion located in the connecting portion 31b is formed into a cylindrical shape in advance. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 8, using the base material which widened the location located in the connection part 31b (refer to (a) of FIG. 8), a part of the base material 11 is sandwiched between the heater elements. It is also conceivable that the heater element is disposed with the direction in which the heater element is disposed as a fold line (see FIG. 8B), and both sides parallel to the direction in which the heater element is disposed are bonded together (see FIG. 8C).

  As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a heater unit that prevents disconnection of the heater element and improves workability. This heater unit can be suitably used for, for example, an electric blanket, an electric carpet, a car seat heater, a steering heater, a heating toilet seat, a defogging mirror heater, a heating cooker, a floor heating heater, and the like.

10 Cord heater (heater element)
11 Base material 31 Heater unit 31a, 31a 'Heating part 31b, 31b' Connection part 41 Vehicle seat

Claims (3)

In a heater unit comprising a base material and a heater element disposed on the base material,
In the heater unit, a plurality of warming portions are connected by a connecting portion, the base material is cylindrical in the connecting portion, and the heater element is cylindrical in the connecting portion. A heater unit, wherein the heater element is inserted into a material and the heater element is not integrated with the cylindrical base material. 2. The heater unit according to claim 1, wherein the heater element is a cord-shaped heater and is disposed on the base material in a predetermined pattern shape. A heater unit according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a seat skin and a seat pad, a hanging portion for fixing the seat skin to the seat pad is formed, and the heater unit according to claim 1 or 2 between the seat skin and the seat pad. In the arranged vehicle seat,
The vehicular seat, wherein the warming part is arranged so as to avoid the place where the hanging part is located, and the connecting part is arranged so as to bypass the place where the hanging part is located.

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