Seat or lounger
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Seating/reclining furniture with adjustable footrests faces challenges in providing a large contact surface with minimal ground clearance, leading to restrictions in upholstery options and potential disruptive folds during folding and unfolding.
Innovation Solution
The footrest is designed to be shorter in the intermediate position than in the basic and use positions, allowing it to be contracted during pivoting to accommodate low ground clearance, enabling a continuous cover or padding without temporary folds, even with multi-part designs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the footrest is designed to be long to provide large contact surface, then the footrest contact area is improved, but the footrest cannot be folded into compact position due to low ground clearance
Solution Approach 1:
The footrest is designed with variable length capability, extending from a compact retracted position to a fully extended position. The extension element allows the footrest to dynamically change its length based on usage requirements, providing long contact surface when needed while maintaining compact folded volume for storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The footrest is divided into multiple segments: a base part that remains stationary or pivots, and an extension element that can be extended or retracted relative to the base part. This segmentation allows the footrest to achieve both compact folded state and extended usage state.
2Ease of operation
If the footrest is extended to provide large contact surface, then the footrest usability is improved, but the ground clearance requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The footrest transitions from a static structure to a dynamic one that can extend and retract. When extended, it provides large contact surface for usability; when retracted, it minimizes the required ground clearance, allowing the furniture to work in spaces with limited clearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The extension element is designed to nest within or alongside the base part when retracted, similar to a nested doll structure. This nesting approach minimizes the overall length of the footrest in its retracted state, reducing the ground clearance requirement while maintaining the ability to extend to full length for usability.
3Area of moving object
If the footrest is made multi-part to extend length, then the footrest contact area is improved, but the upholstery complexity increases due to folding requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The upholstery is designed as a continuous flexible cover that spans across the base part and extension element. This continuous film approach eliminates the need for separate upholstery pieces and complex folding mechanisms, allowing the cover to smoothly accommodate the extension and retraction movements while maintaining aesthetic appearance.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a piece of seating/reclining furniture, in particular an armchair or chair, with a back part (11), a seat part (13) and an adjustable footrest arrangement (15) which, between a folded-in basic position (I) below a seat surface of the seat part (13), and a folded-out use position (III) relative to the seat part (13), wherein the footrest arrangement (15) has a frame (17) which is part of the seat part (13) or is attached to the seat part (13), and a frame ( 17) comprises a pivotable footrest, and wherein the footrest has a base part (19) and an extension (21) which can be moved between the basic position (I) and the use position (III) relative to the base part (19) in such a way that the footrest is in an intermediate position (II) is shorter than in the use position (III) and in the basic position (I).