US 12,214,700 B2
Longitudinal adjuster for a seat and seat
Vasile Emil Bozintan, Farmington Hills, MI (US)
Assigned to Keiper Seating Mechanisms Co., Ltd., Shanghai (CN)
Appl. No. 17/277,348
Filed by ADIENT ENGINEERING AND IP GMBH, Burscheid (DE)
PCT Filed Sep. 12, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/074393
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 18, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/064358, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 2, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/735,204, filed on Sep. 24, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0347282 A1, Nov. 11, 2021
Int. Cl. B60N 2/08 (2006.01); B60N 2/06 (2006.01); B60N 2/07 (2006.01); B60N 2/90 (2018.01)
CPC B60N 2/0818 (2013.01) [B60N 2/067 (2013.01); B60N 2/0705 (2013.01); B60N 2/0875 (2013.01); B60N 2/0881 (2013.01); B60N 2002/924 (2018.02)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A longitudinal adjuster for a vehicle seat, comprising:
a fixed lower track and
an upper track slidable coupled to the lower track,
wherein the upper track and lower track coupled together form a pair of rails,
an adjustment device for longitudinally adjusting the upper track relative to the lower track,
wherein the adjustment device comprises a rack and pinion drive arranged laterally to the pair of rails and at least partially along a longitudinal length of the tracks,
a latch mechanism to latch the upper track relative to the lower track, wherein the latch mechanism has a pin and a latch plate,
wherein the latch plate extends entirely across the upper track and at least partially across the lower track,
wherein the latch plate is adapted to selectively engage with recesses in the lower track,
wherein the adjustment device further comprises a driving unit located above the upper rail and laterally centered on the upper rail and adapted to power the rack and pinion drive,
wherein the adjustment device further comprises a clutch unit to connect or disconnect the driving unit and the rack and pinion drive upon release or latching of the latch mechanism,
an electromechanical device coupled to the latch mechanism,
wherein the electromechanical device is configured to bias the latch mechanism between a release position and a latch position, and upon release of the latch mechanism the adjustment device is actuated to drive the upper track relative to the lower track.