Child Seat Impact Shield With Soft Recessed Head Section
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing child seat impact shields do not adequately address the risk of head injuries during frontal collisions, as they often provide insufficient cushioning and may cause the child's head to impact the shield early in the collision, increasing the risk of injury.
Innovation Solution
The impact shield features a head impact section designed to be softer and recessed, allowing the head to impact later in the collision, with a larger shield area to distribute restraint forces and include a recess to minimize head resistance, and is made of materials like EPP or EPS for energy absorption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the impact shield is made rigid to provide strong restraint, then the restraint capability is improved, but the risk of head injury increases due to early head impact
Solution Approach 1:
The impact shield features a head impact section with different material properties (softer, energy-absorbing material) compared to other sections. This local differentiation allows the shield to provide strong restraint in most areas while specifically reducing head injury risk where the child's head may contact during frontal collision.
Solution Approach 2:
The head impact section is designed with softer, energy-absorbing material in advance to cushion the child's head before impact occurs. This pre-positioned cushioning allows the head to impact later in the collision sequence, reducing the risk of injury while maintaining overall restraint effectiveness.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the impact shield uses softer material to reduce head injury, then the head injury risk is reduced, but the restraint capability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than making the entire shield uniformly soft, only the head impact section uses softer, energy-absorbing material. Other sections maintain rigid or semi-rigid properties to provide effective restraint forces, thus resolving the contradiction between softness for head protection and strength for restraint.
Solution Approach 2:
The impact shield employs composite construction with different material properties in different sections. The head impact section uses energy-absorbing foam or similar soft material, while other portions use harder materials, creating a composite structure that simultaneously provides both head protection and restraint capability.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the head impact section is made completely soft to maximize head protection, then the head injury risk is minimized, but the overall structural integrity of the impact shield deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The soft material is localized specifically to the head impact section where it is needed for head protection. The rest of the shield maintains its structural integrity with rigid or semi-rigid materials, ensuring the shield remains stable and effective while minimizing head injury risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The impact shield is segmented into distinct functional zones: a soft head impact section for head protection and other sections with different material properties for structural support and restraint. This segmentation allows each portion to optimize its properties without compromising the whole structure.
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
This design reduces the risk of head injuries by allowing the head to impact the shield later in the collision, distributing forces more evenly and providing enhanced safety through energy absorption, thus minimizing injury.
Implementation Method 1
the head impact section has at least one recess and/or is at least partially softer than at least a second surface section of the impact body
Implementation Method 2
the impact shield is at least partially energy-absorbing and/or made of a deformable, in particular plastically deformable, material (e.g., EPP, EPS, or EPO)
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The invention relates to an impact shield (10) for a child seat for mounting on a motor vehicle seat, the child seat having a main body for receiving a child, the impact shield (10) having a first surface section, namely a head impact section (18), onto which the head of the child impacts in the event of sudden deceleration, the head impact section (18) having at least one recess (19) and/or being at least partially softer than at least a second surface section of the impact shield (10).