Body support member with lattice structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional body support structures, such as chairs, often feature rigid frames and hard contact points that limit flexibility and ergonomic responsiveness, restricting the ability to comfortably support users as they move, and require complex and costly assembly processes with multiple parts.
Innovation Solution
A body support structure incorporating a lattice structure with a structural lattice providing stiffness, a compressive lattice for compliance, and a skin lattice for resistance to shear deformation, connected through connectors that allow for flexibility and expansion, manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques like 3-D printing, eliminating the need for complex tooling and assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a rigid frame is used to provide structural support, then structural integrity is improved, but flexibility and ergonomic responsiveness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid frame is segmented into multiple lattice units (structural lattice, compressive lattice, skin lattice) that can independently deform. Each lattice cell acts as a discrete element that can compress and flex, allowing the overall structure to maintain integrity while adapting to user movement through distributed deformation across many segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite lattice structures combining different lattice types (structural, compressive, skin) with varying material properties. The structural lattice provides stiffness, the compressive lattice allows controlled compression, and the skin lattice provides surface integrity. This composite approach enables simultaneous achievement of strength and flexibility through material and structural composition.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple assemblies and parts are used to create the chair, then functional requirements are met, but manufacturing complexity and assembly costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functional components (frame, support structures, surface elements) are merged into a single integrated lattice structure. The structural lattice, compressive lattice, and skin lattice are connected through connectors to form one unified assembly that replaces multiple separate parts, thereby reducing assembly complexity while maintaining all necessary functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The lattice structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: the structural lattice provides structural support, the compressive lattice enables flexibility and compression, the skin lattice provides surface integrity, and the connectors enable assembly. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate specialized components, reducing overall device complexity.
3Stability of the object's composition
If hard contact points are used in the frame, then structural stability is improved, but comfort and ergonomic responsiveness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the lattice structure have different local properties optimized for their specific functions. The structural lattice regions provide stability where needed, while the compressive lattice regions provide compliance and comfort where user contact occurs. The skin lattice provides surface integrity at contact points. This local differentiation allows simultaneous achievement of stability and comfort through spatially varying structure properties.
Data Source
AI summary
A body support structure includes a structural lattice structure having a first stiffness, and a compressive lattice structure supported by the structural lattice structure and having a second stiffness less than the first stiffness. A skin lattice structure is supported by the compressive lattice structure, wherein the skin lattice structure is resistant to shear deformation in response to a normal force and is expandable in a direction transverse to the normal force.