Built-In Bed Sofa Mechanism for Low Bed Height
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing furniture with a lowerable bed and couch mechanism often damages the couch over time due to creasing and the bed remains elevated because the couch's bulk, requiring manual reconfiguration and limited space for the bed to lower comfortably.
Innovation Solution
A mechanism that allows the seat to split and flatten vertically, enabling the bed to lower to a comfortable height, with arms forming an articulated quadrilateral to guide the seat and backrest, and an actuator or elastic element to facilitate automatic reconfiguration and stabilization, ensuring the seat remains parallel to the ground.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the couch padding is made massive for comfort, then sitting comfort is improved, but the bed cannot lower to ground level
Solution Approach 1:
The couch is divided into separate components: a backrest that remains stationary and a seat that can be independently lowered. This segmentation allows the seat to be positioned at ground level while the backrest maintains its height for comfort, resolving the contradiction between comfortable sitting height and bed accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat is moved from a fixed vertical position to a movable position along a guide mechanism. By introducing horizontal movement capability through guides and rollers, the seat can be repositioned to ground level while the backrest remains in its original vertical position, allowing both comfort and accessibility requirements to be met.
2Productivity
If the bed is lowered over the couch, then space utilization is improved, but the couch becomes damaged and creased
Solution Approach 1:
The seating area is segmented into a stationary backrest and a movable seat. When the bed is lowered, only the movable seat is positioned underneath it, while the backrest remains exposed and protected. This segmentation prevents the backrest from being damaged by the bed's movement while still achieving space utilization benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The vulnerable backrest portion is extracted from the movable seat assembly and kept stationary. By separating the backrest from the seat that moves under the bed, the backrest is protected from damage while the seat can still be repositioned to allow bed lowering, thus preventing creasing and damage while maintaining space efficiency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual reconfiguration of the couch is required every time the bed is raised, then adaptability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The seat is designed with dynamic movement capability through guides and rollers, allowing it to be easily repositioned between raised and lowered positions. This dynamic design enables automatic or assisted reconfiguration when the bed is raised or lowered, eliminating the need for manual couch reassembly while maintaining adaptability between different usage configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
Guides and rollers are introduced as intermediary elements between the seat and the bed mechanism. These intermediaries facilitate smooth movement and automatic repositioning of the seat during bed raising and lowering operations, reducing manual intervention while maintaining the ability to switch between bed and couch configurations.
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 solution allows for a lower bed height, minimizes manual intervention, and provides stability and ease of cleaning, while maintaining the couch's integrity and functionality.
Implementation Method 1
a spring element (X) connected to the support element (68) for the seat (52) and to the bed (18)
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 2~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
A furniture item (10) is described comprising a bed (18) that can be lowered by rotation around a horizontal rotation axis (X); a part (50) for sitting on comprising a movable seat (52) and a back (54) fixed to the bed, and a mechanism (64, 66) adapted to horizontally move away the seat from the axis, when the bed is lowered, at least by a distance (D) equal to the horizontal length of the lowered back. In this manner the part for sitting on splits ands flattens a lot, thereby leaving a lot of stroke to the bed to lower to a comfortable height.