Adjustable Child Restraint Anchoring for Variable Seat Inclines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing child restraints face challenges in securely anchoring to variously shaped vehicle passenger seats with steeply or shallowly inclined seat bottoms, limiting their adaptability and stability.
Innovation Solution
A child restraint system featuring a seat-support base with a foundation that includes adjustable engagement pads and a foundation-anchor belt, allowing secure anchoring to different vehicle seat geometries by creating a fulcrum away from the seat belt buckle, ensuring consistent stability and easy mounting of a juvenile seat.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a child restraint uses a single fixed engagement pad configuration, then it can be simple in structure, but it cannot adapt to variously shaped vehicle passenger seats with different seat bottom inclines
Solution Approach 1:
The engagement pad is divided into multiple segments including a lower engagement pad and an upper engagement pad that can be independently positioned. This segmentation allows each pad to be adjusted to match different seat geometries, enabling the child restraint to adapt to various vehicle seats without requiring a completely different structure for each seat type
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement pads are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing them to be repositioned along the foundation to match different seat bottom inclines and seat back positions. This dynamic adjustment capability enables the same child restraint structure to work with variously shaped vehicle seats
2Ease of operation
If the foundation-anchor belt creates a fulcrum close to the seat belt buckle, then the belt path is short and simple, but the buckle may be forced over the fulcrum limiting the tightening function
Solution Approach 1:
The fulcrum is repositioned from a location near the seat belt buckle to a location at the rearward edge of the foundation, effectively moving it to a different spatial dimension relative to the buckle. This repositioning ensures the buckle remains outside the foundation and cannot be forced over the fulcrum, preserving the tightening function of the foundation-anchor belt
Data Source
AI summary
A child restraint includes a juvenile seat and a seat-support base having a seat bottom and a seat back. The seat-support base is adapted to be anchored on a passenger seat of a vehicle.