Vehicle Seat Guide Sleeve Reducing Headrest Rattle
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing guide sleeves for vehicle seat headrests experience rattling noises due to slight movement of the headrest rod, despite being locked, caused by vibrations, and current solutions with elastic regions and spring elements are not compact enough.
Innovation Solution
A guide sleeve with a sleeve body featuring a rod receptacle and an elastic region pretensioned for fixing the rod, combined with a spring element configured as a clip that partially embraces the sleeve body, providing a spring force via a contact region extending across the entire width of the spring element, allowing for reduced production costs and increased robustness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a wire-shaped spring element is used to load elastic regions, then rattling noises are reduced, but the construction becomes less compact and more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The spring element is segmented into two functional parts: a contact region that directly loads the elastic region, and a mounting region that attaches to the guide sleeve. This segmentation allows the spring element to be optimized for both compactness and effectiveness in reducing rattling noises.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring element transitions from a wire-shaped (1D) configuration to a planar strip-type (2D) configuration. This dimensional change enables the spring element to be more compact while maintaining the necessary spring force and contact area with the elastic region.
2Device complexity
If the spring element is made narrow in the axial direction, then the guide sleeve becomes more compact, but the contact area with the elastic region is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The spring element has different properties in different regions: the contact region has sufficient width to provide adequate contact area with the elastic region, while the mounting region can be narrower to achieve compactness. This local differentiation of dimensions resolves the contradiction between compactness and contact area.
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 solution effectively reduces rattling noises by maintaining the rod's position within the receptacle, compensating for decreased pretension over time and enhancing the guide sleeve's robustness through a compact and efficient design.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic region which is pretensioned in the direction of the rod receptacle in order to fix the rod in the rod receptacle
Implementation Method 2
a spring element arranged on the outer contour of the sleeve body for loading the elastic region with a spring force
Data Source
AI summary
A guide sleeve, for receiving a rod of a headrest, includes a sleeve body that has a rod receptacle for receiving the rod and an elastic region that is force-loaded in a direction of the rod receptacle in order to fix the rod in the rod receptacle. A spring element arranged on the outer contour of the sleeve body spring-loaded the elastic region. The spring element has a contact region adjacent to the elastic region, is configured as a clip that partially embraces the sleeve body and has a width in a sleeve body axial direction. The spring element includes a strip main body and the contact region is configured as a protuberance between two first bending points extending across the entire width of the main body. A vehicle seat for a motor vehicle has a backrest and a headrest, wherein the guide sleeve fastens the headrest to the backrest.