Adaptive Vehicle Seat Support for Physique-Based Fatigue Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle seats fail to effectively reduce fatigue caused by prolonged sitting, as they cannot easily adapt to the varying physique of each individual, leading to inadequate posture adjustment and increased skeletal muscle tension.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat with ischial tuberosity, sacrum/ilium, and ninth thoracic vertebra support devices, controlled by a system that acquires physique information to adjust positions and internal pressure of air cells to replicate a neutral posture, reducing muscle tension and fatigue.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the vehicle seat is deformed and/or moved to guide the posture of the seated person, then the posture can be optimized to reduce fatigue, but it is difficult to adapt to varying physiques of different seated persons
Solution Approach 1:
The control device stores multiple sets of driving amounts corresponding to different physique types (thin, standard, plump) in advance. When a seated person uses the seat, the control device determines their physique type and automatically selects the appropriate pre-configured driving amounts to adjust the air cells, thereby resolving the contradiction between providing optimized posture adjustment and adapting to varying physiques without requiring real-time complex calculations or manual input from the user.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple support devices are added to control different body parts (ischial tuberosities, sacrum, ilia, ninth thoracic vertebra), then posture control precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple support functions into a single integrated seat structure with four air cells (first, second, third, and fourth air cells) that collectively support the ischial tuberosities, sacrum, ilia, and ninth thoracic vertebra. The control device manages all these air cells through a unified control system that selects from pre-stored driving amount sets, thereby achieving precise multi-point posture control while maintaining relatively simple device architecture and avoiding the need for separate complex mechanical support mechanisms for each body part.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively reduces fatigue by adjusting the seat to a posture that minimizes skeletal muscle tension and pressure, accommodating different physiques and improving comfort during extended sitting periods.
Implementation Method 1
an air supply and exhaust device configured to supply and exhaust air to and from the air cell to make the internal pressure value a prescribed pressure
Implementation Method 2
a sensor configured to acquire an internal pressure value of the air cell
Data Source
AI summary
To provide a vehicle seat with a function of reducing fatigue regardless of the physique of the seated person, a vehicle seat includes: an ischial tuberosity support device that is driven to change a position of a part of a seat cushion corresponding to ischial tuberosities of a seated person; a sacrum/ilium support device that is driven to change a position of a part of a seat back corresponding to the sacrum and ilia of the seated person; a ninth thoracic vertebra support device that is driven to change a position of a part of the seat back corresponding to a ninth thoracic vertebra of the seated person; and a control device, wherein the control device sequentially executes: an information acquisition step of acquiring physique information of the seated person; a decision step of deciding parameters regarding a driving amount of each of the ischial tuberosity support device, the sacrum/ilium support device, and the ninth thoracic vertebra support device based on the acquired physique information; and an output step of driving the ischial tuberosity support device, the sacrum/ilium support device, and the ninth thoracic vertebra support device based on the corresponding parameters.