• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-6
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• 2016

Typically, the seat of an automotive vehicle generally includes a horizontal seat-cushion portion and a vertical seat-back portion that is operatively connected to the seat-cushion portion. The seat may include a recliner for the reclining of the seat-back portion relative to the seat-cushion portion by the seat occupant. An energy absorber or damper can also be provided for the seat-back portion. Because the recliner is configured to be released at a relatively high speed, and it results in an impact at the end of a folding stroke, the damper needs to dissipate energy as the seat back moves with respect to the seat cushion; therefore, the role of the seat damper in the automotive-seat design is important. In this paper, the mechanism of an hydraulic-type automotive-seat damper is investigated, and the torque characteristic is simulated according to the design-parameter variations such as the orifice area and the working-fluid properties.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.205-212
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• 2003

This paper may provide a basic design data for the safer car seat mechanism and the quality of the material used by finding out the passenger's dynamic behavior when protected by seat belt during collision. A computer simulation with finite element method is used to accomplish this objective. At first, a detailed geometric model of the seat is constructed using CAD program. The formation of a finite element from a geometric data of the seat is carried out using Hyper-Mesh that is the commercial software for mesh generation and post processing. In addition to seat modeling, the finite element model of seat belt and dummy is formed using the same software. Rear impact analysis is accomplished using Pam-Crash with crash pulse. The part of the recliner and right frame is under big stress in rear crash analysis because the acceleration force is exerted on the back of the seat by dummy. The stress condition of the part of the bracket is checked as well because it is considered as an important variable on the seat design. Front impact model which including dummy and seal belt is analyzed. A Part of anchor buckle of seat frame has high stress distribution because of retraction force due to forward motion of dummy at the moment of collision. On the basis of the analysis result, remodeling and reanalysis works had been repeatedly done until a satisfactory result is obtained.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.183-189
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• 2019

The driver seat of an automobile is in direct contact with the driver and provides the driver with a safe and comfortable ride. The seat consists of a frame, a rail, and many recliners. In recent years, strength and operating force measurement testing of the recliner have become vital for designing car seats. However, performance evaluation requires expensive testing equipment, numerous seat products, and considerable time. Therefore, the trend is to reduce experimentation through interpretation. This study examines the lubrication of solid lubricant for automotive seat recliners and confirms the friction and wear performance. In this study, the lubrication behavior of solid lubricants for car seat recliners is investigated to ascertain the friction and wear performance and to provide accurate values for the strength analysis. The friction material consists of a pin and a plate made from steel, which is widely used in recliners. The friction and wear under lubrication conditions are measured by a reciprocating friction wear tester. The friction coefficient is obtained according to the load and speed. Based on the obtained results, it is possible to achieve a reduction in the error of the test value and the analysis by providing the friction coefficient and wear of the lubricant. The results can be applied to the analysis of automobile seat design.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 2016

In the automotive seat industry, the use of a fine blanking press is important for manufacturing of high precision products. Among them, a gear part which is a main component of an automotive seat recliner is generally manufactured by fine blanking press. However, the use of conventional mechanical press has been increasing in manufacture of gear part because of low productivity of fine blanking press. In this study, new forming process is suggested to fabricate the gear part with high precision by using mechanical press. The effect of flow restriction die (FRD) which has the restriction of blank edge on dimensional accuracy is investigated by FE-analysis. FE-analysis results for different conditions of FRD indicated that FRD has high dimensional accuracy with the lowest roll-over and the highest perpendicularity of gear part. After application to fabrication of the gear part using mechanical press, the measured dimensional characteristic was compared with the required specification of final product. In addition, results of the performance test showed that the product fabricated by developed process satisfied the required strength and durability. The results show that the suggested forming process by using FRD and mechanical press can replace fine blanking on the viewpoint of dimensional accuracy and productivity.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.64-71
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• 2008

Burr generated on plate holder should be removed through additional process, because it has an influence on the function of automotive seat recliner. The process layout to perform simultaneously embossing and half blanking of plate holder has been developed in this study in order to minimize the influence of burr formation. The optimal process condition to satisfy the required dimensional accuracy of plate holder has been determined using Taguchi method and finite element analysis. It has been shown from experimental results that the proposed method is decidedly superior to the previous FCF method from the aspect of sheared surface, roll-over, flatness and burr height.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.214-221
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• 2011

In recent years, automotive seat components have been manufactured by the fine blanking process, allowing an improvement of dimensional accuracy at sheared surface in series production. However, the rollover has increased and die failures have occurred more frequently when manufacturing gears by fine blanking. Consequently, important goals for manufacturing seat recliner parts with gears have been to decrease the rollover as well as to improve the tool life. In this study, the half blanking and shaving processes were introduced to improve aforementioned problems for the lower tooth, the main component of a seat recliner. For this purpose, the half blanking process was optimized using the finite element (FE) analysis and design of experiment (DOE). The optimized conditions resulting from this study were an offset of 0.2 mm, a clearance of 0.1 mm and a penetration depth of 4.5 mm. Fine blanking experiment conducted under the optimal condition resulted in a rollover depth decrease from 1.9 to 1.3 mm, and no die failure occurrence.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.22-30
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• 2016

It is very important to obtain the net shape of the product to maximize the shear cutting surface of fine blanking. In this paper, the fine blanking die was manufactured to achieve part characteristics, such as flatness and a fully sheared surface. The V-ring in the fine blanking die was designed to prevent lateral movement of the material. The fine blanking experiment was conducted with the fine blanking die. The material usage rate was increased by over 5.7% and that of the water-soluble lubricant was decreased by over 33% when the 2-cavity die technology was applied to fine blanking. The capacity of the existing press could lead to productivity improvement and cost reduction. Thus, 2-cavity die technology for fine blanking with a minute module of an accurate gear for producing seat recliner parts was developed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.55-63
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• 2008

Fine blanking is a process of press shearing which makes it possible to produce the thick sheet metal of the finished surface and the close dimensional accuracy over the whole material thickness in the single blanking operation. In this paper, a plate holder of automotive seat recliner is manufactured by FCF(Flow Control Forming) method using the conventional mechanical press instead of the fine blanking press. Main processes for manufacturing of the plate holder by FCF method are embossing, half blanking and trimming processes. Optimal clearance, stripper force and counter force to increase the dimensional accuracy of the plate holder have been investigated by FE-analysis. As a result of FE-analysis, the clearance for both embossing and half blanking processes was -2%t and the forces of stripper and counter were 25ton and 15ton, respectively. After manufacturing the plate holder by FCF method, the measured dimensional characteristics have been compared with the required specifications as the final product. Although the dimensional accuracy of the plate holder manufactured by FCF method was a little inferior to that by fine blanking process, it was satisfactory in a general sense.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.241-247
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• 1999

This study presents the structural analysis of car a seat frame by the finite element method. The load-deformation characteristics of seat frame are simulated according to the test requirements by FMVSS. Three dimensional modeling technique is applied to the components of the seat frame. The shell, solid , gap and rigid elements are employed to model the car seat frame assembly. Numerical results show that the recliner and kunckle plate are identified as the possible weak part of frame, and the results are well consistent with the experimental static load test. The current analysis model can provide useful informations to design a new car seat and can reduce the overall design cost and time.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.74-78
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• 2015

A bus seat is required to be ergonomically designed in terms of its shape and physical properties to increase seating comfort. The present study is intended to develop a systematic bus seat evaluation protocol based on seating comfort. A total of 48 participants evaluated 12 parts (seat belt, recliner, armrest, headrest, upper-back support, lumbar support, seatback bolster, seatback overall, hip support, thigh support, seatpan bolster, and seatpan overall) of 12 bus seats with 17 subjective comfort measures (e.g., convenience of control, suitability of size, and overall comfort). Lastly, ergonomic features of shape and physical properties of each seat part were identified based on the subject evaluation analysis results. The developed bus seat evaluation protocol can be applied to evaluate various types of seats.