Headrest Closing Members Prevent Finger Pinching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing headrest designs with rotatable features often suffer from gaps in elongated holes, which can pinch occupants' fingers and allow scarves or jackets to get caught, while also restricting design freedom due to the need for additional spaces for closing members to rotate.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a pair of closing members with a main plate and sub-plate that move in the front-rear direction without rotating, ensuring the elongated holes remain closed throughout the headrest's rotation, eliminating gaps and allowing for greater design flexibility by not requiring additional spaces for rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If closing members are designed to rotate to cover elongated holes during headrest rotation, then the holes remain closed and safety is improved, but additional space is required for rotation which restricts design freedom
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the closing members rotate to follow the headrest rotation, the patent inverts the approach by making the closing members translate linearly along the elongated holes. This inversion eliminates the need for rotational space while maintaining hole coverage during headrest rotation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the motion dimension of the closing members from rotational (requiring radial space) to translational (requiring linear space along the hole axis). This dimensional change allows the closing members to follow the headrest rotation without requiring additional rotational clearance, thus improving design freedom.
2Adaptability or versatility
If elongated holes are made longer to allow headrest rotation, then rotation functionality is achieved, but gaps remain at the front and back of the stay legs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the closing members dynamic by enabling them to translate along the elongated holes in response to headrest rotation. This dynamic movement ensures the holes remain covered throughout the rotation range, eliminating gaps while maintaining rotation functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The closing members are positioned to cover the elongated holes before rotation occurs, and their translational movement is predetermined to follow the rotation arc. This preliminary positioning and predetermined movement path ensures continuous coverage without gaps during rotation.
3Reliability
If closing members are added to cover elongated holes, then safety is improved by preventing finger pinching, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The closing members serve multiple functions: they cover the elongated holes to prevent finger pinching, guide the stay legs through the holes, and translate to maintain coverage during rotation. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A headrest includes a stay having left and right legs; a headrest main body attached to the stay and able to rotate in a front-rear direction; a pair of elongated holes made in a bottom surface of the headrest main body and a pair of closing members arranged on the bottom surface of the headrest main body, covering the elongated holes, wherein each closing member includes a main plate and a sub-plate, the main plate has an insertion hole guiding one leg of the stay and moves in the front-rear direction as the main plate is rotated, and the sub-plate is provided, overlapping the main plate, and is able to move as the main plate moves; the main plate and the sub-plate may move as the headrest main body is rotated, while covering the elongated hole made in the bottom surface of the headrest main body.