Active Head Restraint Wire Routing Through a Seat Back
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wire harness routing solutions for vehicle seats with active head restraints face challenges in navigating movable seat components without disturbing the seat cover, particularly in routing electrical connections through the seat back.
Innovation Solution
A wire harness assembly featuring a movable member with a sleeve and guide tube system that allows the headrest rod to move with the seat frame, incorporating a guide tube and attachment member to route the wire harness through the seat back while maintaining the seat cover's integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a wire harness is routed through the seat back with an active head restraint, then electrical connectivity is achieved, but the seat cover must be disturbed or removed during installation
Solution Approach 1:
The wire harness routing system is segmented into separate components: a guide assembly that remains fixed in the seat back and a movable member that moves with the headrest. This segmentation allows the guide tube to be installed through the seat back without removing the seat cover, while the movable member is attached later to the headrest assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
A guide tube serves as an intermediary structure that facilitates wire harness routing through the seat back. The guide tube is inserted through the seat back fabric and foam, providing a protected pathway for the wire harness without requiring the seat cover to be removed or disturbed.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the headrest is made movable relative to the seat frame, then active head restraint functionality is achieved, but wire harness routing becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates a movable member that dynamically moves with the headrest relative to the seat frame. This movable member includes a sleeve that slides along the headrest rod, allowing the headrest to move freely while the wire harness remains properly routed through the guide tube.
Solution Approach 2:
The sleeve of the movable member is positioned within the guide tube structure, creating a nested arrangement. The sleeve moves within the stationary guide tube, allowing the headrest to move while the wire harness remains protected within the guide tube pathway.
3Ease of operation
If the wire harness is routed after seat assembly, then installation flexibility is improved, but access to the seat back interior becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tube is pre-installed through the seat back fabric and foam structure before the seat cover is fully assembled. This preliminary action creates a ready-made pathway that allows the wire harness to be routed later without requiring disassembly of the seat cover or access to the interior seat back structure.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are embodiments of a wire harness assembly for routing a wire harness through a vehicle seat back having an active head restraint system. The assembly can comprise a movable member configured to move relative to a seat frame in a vehicle fore-aft direction and can have a sleeve with a first end configured to receive a headrest. A harness guide is included with a guide tube and an attachment member that is connected to the guide tube and to the movable member, the guide tube having a first open end and a second open, and a guide passage that extends through the guide tube from the first open end to the second open end. A second end of the sleeve opposite the first end is located within the attachment member and configured such that the sleeve and the attachment member move with the movable member.