chair
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing exercise chairs that simulate horseback riding or other lower limb exercises are costly and inconvenient due to the use of actuators, limiting their accessibility and usability for providing effective exercise.
Innovation Solution
A chair design featuring a movable seat supported by rails that allow lateral movement, biased by elastic means to return to a neutral position, enabling effective exercise of both lower limbs and trunk muscles without the need for expensive actuators, with the seat capable of tilting and turning to enhance motion linkage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If actuators are used to drive the seat for exercise simulation, then the exercise effectiveness is improved, but the cost increases and convenience is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the actuator component from the system entirely. Instead of using powered actuators to drive the seat, the invention uses passive mechanical elements (springs and gravity) to achieve the same exercise function, thereby eliminating the complexity and cost associated with actuators while maintaining exercise effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The seat movement is achieved through self-service mechanisms where the user's own body movements and gravity work together with spring elements to produce the desired seat oscillation. The system uses the user's kinetic energy and gravitational force rather than external powered actuators, making the system simpler and more cost-effective
2Reliability
If the movable part is supported to descend when away from neutral position, then exercise effectiveness is improved through motion linkage, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the supporting structure with inclined rails that create a gravitational potential gradient. When the movable part moves away from the neutral position, gravity naturally pulls it downward along the incline, creating the desired motion linkage effect without complex mechanical linkages. The inclined rail structure passively converts gravitational potential energy into the motion needed for effective exercise
Solution Approach 2:
The supporting structure incorporates dynamic elements including springs that provide restoring force and inclined rails that enable natural oscillatory motion. This dynamic design allows the seat to move freely in response to user input while maintaining stability through the combined action of spring force and gravity, achieving effective exercise motion without rigid complex linkages
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 chair provides a low-cost, convenient, and effective exercise solution that strengthens trunk muscles, reduces waist size, improves posture, and increases flexibility, while preventing head and arm shaking during exercise.
Implementation Method 1
biasing means for biasing the movable part toward a neutral position in the right and the left
Implementation Method 2
a coil spring that is disposed between the seat and the movable part body and resists tilting of the seat with respect to the movable part body
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A chair 3 includes a movable part 10 including a seat 14 on which a user U sits, a supporting part 11 configured to support the movable part 10 in such a way that the movable part 10 can be moved to the right and to the left; and a restoration unit 12, which is biasing means for biasing the movable part 10 toward the neutral position in the right and the left. The supporting part 11 supports the movable part 10 in such a way that the movable part 10 descends as the movable part 10 is away from the neutral position.