Concave Seatback Cover Retention With Tie-Down Straps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Concave vehicle seat backs with integrated massage and lumbar systems often experience loose seat covers that fail to maintain their shape over time, resulting in a saggy appearance.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat design featuring a frame with connected wires or bars, a foam bun, and a seat cover with strategically placed straps and actuators that secure the cover to the frame, ensuring the concave shape is maintained through a combination of quilting patterns, adhesive pads, and hooks, and optional pneumatic or mechanical actuators for massage functions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If actuators and adjustable systems are incorporated in a seat with a concave seat back, then massage and lumbar adjustment functions are provided, but the seat cover becomes loose over time and fails to return to the desired concave shape
Solution Approach 1:
The seat cover is divided into multiple sections with individual straps (side straps, center straps, and additional straps) that can independently secure different regions. This segmentation allows each strap to maintain tension on specific areas, preventing the entire cover from becoming loose while accommodating the movement from actuators.
Solution Approach 2:
Straps are pre-positioned and secured to the frame and foam bun at spaced locations before the seat cover becomes loose. These pre-positioned straps create a tension network that continuously pulls the seat cover back toward its desired concave shape, preventing permanent deformation rather than correcting it after the fact.
2Ease of operation
If a concave seat back surface is constructed, then side bolsters can wrap around the seat occupant, but the trim cover floats and creates a saggy baggy appearance
Solution Approach 1:
Straps are strategically positioned at specific locations (side straps near the openings, center straps in the middle region) to provide localized tension where the trim cover is most prone to floating. This localized reinforcement maintains the sleek appearance in critical areas while preserving the overall concave shape and side bolster functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The trim cover is designed as a flexible thin film that can wrap around the occupant when needed, but the straps provide underlying structural support to prevent excessive floating. The flexible nature allows the cover to conform to the concave shape and wrap around sides, while the straps prevent sagging by maintaining tension across the flexible material.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle seat having a seat cover including an outer cover, a padding layer, and a backing element that are joined together with stitches or a lamination joint. A seat cover retention apparatus is operatively connected to the backing element wherein a plurality of straps secure the backing element to the vehicle seat structure. Lateral side straps are secured to the backing element and extend through openings defined by the foam bun and are secured to the frame and/or the foam bun. A center strap is secured to the backing element and extends through a center opening to be secured to a back side of the foam bun and/or frame. The backing element may be an elastic strap or a layer of non-woven fleece material with slits for the straps. The straps may be elastic material or non-woven material.