Adjustable Child Carrier Seat for Ergonomic Leg Support
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional child carriers often fail to ergonomically support a child's legs, limiting flexibility and allowing only single orientations, such as facing the wearer or away from them, while providing inadequate pelvic and thigh support.
Innovation Solution
A child carrier design featuring a waist belt, upper torso support, hammock, and adjustable thigh support straps that form a bucket seat, allowing the child to be positioned in an ergonomic spread-squat position in multiple orientations, including front, back, and side carry positions, with the ability to face inward or outward.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional child carriers are used, then the child can be transported with freedom of hand and arm movement for the wearer, but the child's legs are not ergonomically supported and are allowed to dangle
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier is divided into distinct functional segments: a waist belt for securing the carrier to the wearer, a hammock for supporting the child's bottom and back, and separate thigh support straps for each leg. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific ergonomic function while maintaining overall flexibility for the wearer.
Solution Approach 2:
The thigh support straps are designed to be adjustable and reconfigurable, allowing the carrier to dynamically adapt to different child sizes and positions. The straps can be coupled to the upper torso support at multiple positions to create an adjustable bucket seat that maintains proper leg support throughout use.
2Device complexity
If many carriers are designed for single orientation only, then the structure can be simpler, but the flexibility and adaptability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier is designed with universal attachment points on the upper torso support where the thigh support straps can be coupled at multiple positions. This multi-functionality allows the same carrier structure to support children in various orientations (front, back, side) and configurations without requiring multiple specialized carriers.
Solution Approach 2:
The reconfigurable thigh support straps enable the carrier to dynamically change its configuration and orientation. The straps can be adjusted and recoupled to create different seat orientations, allowing the carrier to adapt from front-carry to back-carry positions while maintaining ergonomic support.
3Adaptability or versatility
If thigh support straps are made adjustable and reconfigurable, then multiple orientations and ergonomic positions are achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex functionality is achieved through segmentation into modular components: separate thigh support straps for each leg, multiple attachment points distributed on the upper torso support, and a hammock section. This modular approach allows the complexity to be distributed and managed through simple, repeatable attachment mechanisms rather than a single complex structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A child carrier having a waist belt, an upper torso support, a hammock coupled to the waist belt and to the upper torso support, and a thigh support strap extending to each side of the hammock. Each thigh support strap has an inward end portion proximate to the hammock and an outward end portion configured for selective coupling to the upper torso support in multiple positions. When the thigh support straps are coupled to the upper torso support, the hammock and the thigh support straps form a seat to support a child in an ergonomic spread-squat position in inward and outward facing orientations. The shape of the seat adjusts depending on the positions in which the outward end portions of the thigh support straps are coupled to the upper torso support.