Foldable Vehicle Seat with Riser Assembly for Flat Load Floor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle seat designs for sport-utility vehicles and minivans often result in angled or multi-leveled load floors when folding auxiliary seats, which complicates cargo space utilization and occupant ingress/egress, particularly due to gaps between the folded seat and the load surface.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat with a pivotally connected seat base and seatback that folds from a vertical to a parallel position, utilizing a riser assembly with pivoting links and a lock mechanism, allowing the seat base to move rearward and downward, and optional sliding tracks for enhanced space creation, facilitated by modified Geneva drive linkages or slotted bell-crank mechanisms for coordinated motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If the seatback is folded forward over the seat base, then the seatback achieves a flattened position, but the load floor height increases and gaps are created between the folded seat and adjacent load surface
Solution Approach 1:
The riser assembly incorporates two pivoting links that enable dynamic adjustment of the seat base between a raised use position and a lowered stow position. This dynamic mechanism allows the seat base to move rearward and downward, reducing the load floor height and minimizing gaps between folded seats, thereby resolving the contradiction between seatback flattening and load floor height maintenance.
2Volume of stationary object
If the seat base is moved rearward and downward, then the load floor height is reduced and cargo volume is maximized, but the seat base requires additional articulation mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The riser assembly is segmented into two distinct pivoting links, each connected for pivotal rotation with respect to both the vehicle floor and the seat base frame. This segmentation allows independent control and adjustment of the seat base position, enabling the complex motion required to maximize cargo volume while managing the structural complexity through modular design.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the seat base is locked in a fixed position, then the seat maintains stability during use, but the seat cannot be adjusted to provide ingress/egress space for rearward rows
Solution Approach 1:
The lock mechanism provides dynamic control over the seat base position, allowing it to be locked in a fixed use position for stability during normal operation, and unlocked to permit adjustment to stow positions that create ingress/egress space for rearward rows. This dynamic locking system resolves the contradiction between maintaining stability and providing adaptability.
4Ease of operation
If the seatbase is tipped forward, then additional ingress/egress space is created, but the seat structure requires additional articulation mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The riser assembly combines the functions of seat base positioning and tipping articulation into a single integrated mechanism. The two pivoting links work together to enable both the rearward/downward movement for load floor reduction and the forward tipping motion for ingress/egress access, thereby achieving multiple functions without requiring separate articulation mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
A foldable vehicle includes a seat base, a seatback connected to the seat base for pivotal movement relative to the seat base from a generally vertical use position to a generally horizontal stow position atop the seat base, wherein the seat base is pivotally connected to the floor such that, when the seatback is moved from its use position to the folded, stow position, the seat base may be moved rearward and downward to thereby provide a lower load floor position. The seat also includes a lock mechanism to engage and lock the seat base in a first position when the seatback is positioned within the defined range of use positions, and unlock the seat base for movement to a second position when the seatback is positioned outside the use range.