Vehicle Headrest Wave-Profile Support for Impact Head Positioning
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing headrests for vehicle seats lack effective mechanisms to ensure improved positioning and absorption of impact forces, particularly preventing the user's head from slipping off during an impact, while maintaining robustness and reducing the risk of injury.
Innovation Solution
A headrest design featuring a cushion support with a closed wave profile in the head impact area, comprising horizontally extending wave crests and troughs, which are vertically adjacent or separated, and a profile element made of plastic, optionally integrally connected to a base part, ensuring secure head positioning and impact force absorption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If a thin-walled shell body cushion support is used, then the headrest becomes lightweight and cost-effective, but the mechanical stability and robustness in the event of impact is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cushion support is designed as a thin-walled shell body that provides sufficient mechanical stability through its geometric configuration rather than material thickness. The shell structure incorporates a closed wave profile that maintains robustness while keeping the overall weight low, resolving the contradiction between lightweight design and mechanical strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The closed wave profile with horizontally extending wave crests and troughs introduces curved geometric features to the cushion support. These curved structures enhance the mechanical stability and energy absorption capability of the thin-walled shell during impact, while maintaining the lightweight characteristic of the thin-walled construction.
2Strength
If multiple adjacent recesses and protrusions are provided to stiffen the cushion support, then the mechanical stability is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffening features (recesses and protrusions) are merged into a unified closed wave profile structure rather than being separate elements. This integration provides the necessary mechanical stability while reducing the number of discrete components and simplifying the manufacturing process compared to providing multiple separate stiffening elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The closed wave profile with its continuous curved geometry provides structural stiffening through geometric configuration rather than through multiple discrete recesses and protrusions. This approach achieves the required mechanical stability with a simpler, more continuous structure that is easier to manufacture.
3Ease of operation
If a closed wave profile with horizontally extending wave crests is provided, then head positioning is improved and head slipping is prevented, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The closed wave profile is formed as an integral feature of the thin-walled shell body cushion support. The shell construction allows for the formation of the wave profile through conventional forming processes, achieving the required head positioning functionality without excessively tight manufacturing tolerances.
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 design provides enhanced head positioning and robustness, reducing the risk of injury by effectively absorbing impact forces and preventing the head from slipping, while being lightweight and cost-effective to produce.
Implementation Method 1
impact forces are advantageously introduced into the cushion support... the closed wave profile ensures the headrest's high robustness in the event of an impact, which reduces the risk of injury to the user
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A headrest (3) for a vehicle seat (1), with a cushion carrier (9), with a cushion (8) which is arranged or can be arranged on the cushion carrier (9), and with at least one holding rod (4) which extends vertically from the cushion carrier (9) for fastening the headrest (3) to the vehicle seat (1), wherein the cushion carrier (9) has a head impact region (16) on a horizontally and vertically extending front side (12). It is provided that the cushion carrier (9) has a closed wave profile (13) with vertically adjacent and horizontally extending wave peaks (14) in the head impact region (16).