Portable adjustable lumbar support and ergonomic chair
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current lumbar supports fail to provide adequate customization for various body shapes and do not maintain the lumbar lordotic curve when users lean forward, leading to poor posture and back pain.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable lumbar support system with a foam seat cushion that tilts users backward and features ergonomically shaped cushions with multiple adjustment modes, allowing for customizable support from a hypolordotic to hyperlordotic curve, and providing spinal joint mobilization and curve correction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If current lumbar supports are used, then basic lumbar support is provided, but they fail to accommodate different elliptical curves in the user's lumbar spine and do not provide sufficient customization for various body shapes
Solution Approach 1:
The lumbar support device employs dynamic adjustment mechanisms that allow the support surface to adapt to different lumbar spine curvatures. The device can be adjusted to accommodate hypolordotic, lordotic, and hyperlordotic curves, transforming a static support into a dynamic one that responds to individual user anatomy.
Solution Approach 2:
The device changes physical parameters of the lumbar support, specifically the curvature and angle of the support surface. By adjusting these parameters, the device can match different elliptical curves of the lumbar spine, providing customized support without requiring completely different devices for each body type.
2Reliability
If traditional lumbar supports are used, then support is provided when sitting upright, but the lumbar support does not remain in contact when the user leans forward, thus allowing for a loss of the lumbar lordotic curve
Solution Approach 1:
The lumbar support is designed with dynamic characteristics that allow it to move with the user's body. When the user leans forward, the support maintains contact through its ability to adjust position and angle, ensuring continuous support of the lumbar lordotic curve throughout the range of motion.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is positioned and angled in advance to counteract the forward leaning motion. The preliminary positioning of the lumbar support ensures that it opposes the tendency to lose the lordotic curve when leaning forward, maintaining proper spinal alignment proactively rather than reactively.
3Adaptability or versatility
If lumbar and thoracic regions are combined in current ergonomic chairs, then comprehensive back support is provided, but it makes the support less supportive and individualized for the lumbar region
Solution Approach 1:
The back support is segmented into distinct lumbar and thoracic regions, with the lumbar portion being the primary focus of adjustment and customization. This segmentation allows the lumbar support to be individually tailored without being compromised by the thoracic section, providing specialized support for each region.
Solution Approach 2:
The lumbar support function is extracted and emphasized as a separate, adjustable component within the broader chair system. By giving the lumbar support independent adjustment capabilities, the device can be optimized for individual lumbar needs without being constrained by the fixed design of a combined backrest.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable lumbar support and ergonomic chair having a lumbar support. The lumbar support has a seat hingedly coupled to a seat back having a teardrop-shaped lumbar support seat back cushion. A rigid back support portion may be rotated forward about hinges to collapse substantially parallel to the seat frame and backward to open to a variety of angles with respect to the seat frame. The seat back freely pivots around an upper lateral axis, and the rigid back support portion is linearly adjustable to space the seat back toward and away from the hinges to enable raising or lowering the upper lateral axis and thus the seat back with respect to the lower lateral axis. This provides multiple ways of changing which part of the teardrop-shaped lumbar support curve hits your lumbar curve for proper support. Variable lumbar lordotic support is thus provided.