Granted Patent B2

US 12,515,569 · App. 18/469,173 · Granted Jan 6, 2026

Inventors: Srujan Nelakuditi (Riley, MI); George W. Wade, III (Bloomfield Hills, MI); Rami Z. Sayed (Farmington Hills, MI); Kamilo Susman (Royal Oak, MI)

Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC

B60N2/753

Abstract

Claims (26)

1 . An arm rest for a seat having a seatback and a seat bottom, the arm rest comprising:

a housing rotatable relative to the seatback;

a motor disposed within the housing and configured to maintain a position of the housing relative to the seat bottom during movement of the seatback relative to the seat bottom; and

a first sensor configured to detect a number of revolutions of the motor.

2 . The arm rest of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a Hall effect sensor.

3 . The arm rest of claim 1 , further comprising a screw extending from and driven by the motor, the screw configured to rotate a lever in contact with the seatback to adjust a position of the housing relative to the seatback.

4 . The arm rest of claim 3 , wherein the screw and the lever are disposed within the housing.

5 . The arm rest of claim 3 , wherein the lever defines a first stop and a second stop that cooperate to define a range-of-motion of the arm rest relative to the seatback.

6 . A vehicle incorporating the arm rest and the seat of claim 1 .

7 . A seat comprising:

a seat bottom;

a seatback rotatably attached to the seat bottom;

an arm rest rotatably attached to the seatback and including a housing; and

an actuator disposed within the housing of the arm rest and including a motor and a screw, the actuator configured to move the arm rest relative to the seatback when the seatback is moved relative to the seat bottom to maintain a position of the arm rest relative to the seat bottom, the screw extending from and driven by the motor and configured to rotate a lever in contact with the seatback to adjust a position of the housing relative to the seatback.

8 . The seat of claim 7 , further comprising a seatback position sensor configured to detect a position of the seatback relative to the seat bottom and an arm rest position sensor configured to detect a position of the arm rest relative to the seatback.

9 . The seat of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the seatback position sensor and the arm rest position sensor includes a Hall effect sensor.

10 . A vehicle incorporating the seat of claim 7 .

11 . A system for controlling a position of an arm rest relative to a seat having a seatback and a seat bottom, the system comprising:

a first motor configured to adjust a position of the arm rest relative to the seatback;

a second motor configured to adjust an angular position of the seatback relative to the seat bottom, the seatback movable between a number of angular positions relative to the seat bottom by the second motor;

an arm rest control module configured to synchronize operation of the first motor with operation of the second motor to maintain a position of the arm rest relative to the seat bottom during and following movement of the seatback relative to the seat bottom between the number of angular positions;

a first sensor configured to detect a position of the arm rest relative to the seatback and monitor the first motor; and

a second sensor configured to detect a position of the seatback relative to the seat bottom and monitor the second motor.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the first motor is disposed within a housing of the arm rest.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor is a Hall effect sensor.

14 . A vehicle incorporating the system of claim 11 .

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (11)