TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a box apparatus for vehicles that includes a box and a lid for opening and closing the box and that is mounted in a vehicle.

BACKGROUND ART

As a box apparatus for vehicles, such as a center console box, which includes a box and a lid for opening and closing the box and which is mounted in a vehicle, a box apparatus in which a lid is positionally changed between an opened position at which the lid opens an opening and a closed position at which the lid closes the opening, has been known (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-307911 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2018-24342).

The box apparatus for vehicles of this type is generally disposed to the side of an occupant seated on a seat. Since being disposed to the side of an occupant, the lid of the box apparatus for vehicles of this type, at the closed position, may be used as an arm rest for the occupant.

In recent years, interior equipment for vehicles is required to have many functions. Box apparatuses for vehicles that are usable as arm rests are also required to have further improved functions as arm rests.

In the conventional box apparatus for vehicles disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-307911 or Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2018-24342, the lid functions as an arm rest at the closed position at which the lid closes the opening. However, the lid of the conventional box apparatus for vehicles of this type is used as an arm rest only at the closed position.

Moreover, for example, in the box apparatus for vehicles disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2018-24342, the lid which is usable as an arm rest is cooled or warmed by introducing conditioned air into a lid in a console for vehicles. However, in the box apparatus for vehicles of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2018-24342, only when the lid is at the closed position, conditioned air is introduced into the lid, thereby adjusting the temperature of the lid, i.e., arm rest.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a box apparatus for vehicles that has an improved function as an arm rest.

A box apparatus for vehicles of the present invention achieving the above object is a box apparatus for vehicles disposed to a side of a seat, the box apparatus for vehicles including:

a box having an internal space with an opening facing upward; and

at least one lid having a lid body and a pivotal shaft integrated with the lid body and pivotally supported relative to the box, the lid being configured to open and close the opening of the box, wherein

the at least one lid is positionally changed between a closed position at which the lid body is disposed above the box and closes the opening, and an opened position at which the lid body is disposed at a side of the box and opens the opening, and

the lid body has an opened-position upper-surface portion that becomes an upper surface at the opened position and a closed-position upper-surface portion that becomes an upper surface at the closed position and that becomes a side surface at the opened position, and a heating element is disposed at the opened-position upper-surface portion and the closed-position upper-surface portion.

