Modular High-Leg Row Seating With Reclining Pitch Linkage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial environments such as movie theaters face challenges in accommodating motion furniture designed for home use, requiring adaptations for uneven flooring, easy maintenance, and space-efficient seating configurations.
Innovation Solution
A modular base system with adjustable legs, removable arms and back panels, and a linkage mechanism that allows the seating unit to pivot and change pitch, combined with a low-profile metal footrest plate for easy cleaning and a slim profile chair back assembly, enabling smooth transitions between closed, extended, and fully reclined positions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If motion furniture mechanisms are adapted for commercial environments like movie theaters, then seating comfort and functionality are improved, but the complexity of accommodating uneven flooring and maintaining the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The base system is divided into modular components including adjustable legs, mounting plates, and interchangeable mechanisms that can be independently selected and configured. This segmentation allows the system to adapt to different commercial environments without requiring complete system redesign, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The base system is designed with universal mounting plates and standardized interfaces that can accommodate various seating mechanisms and configurations. The adjustable legs provide both leveling function and structural support, demonstrating multi-functionality that reduces overall system complexity while maintaining high adaptability to different commercial settings.
2Reliability
If traditional home-use motion furniture is used in commercial theaters, then seating functionality is maintained, but ease of maintenance and repair deteriorates due to inaccessibility of internal components
Solution Approach 1:
The seating mechanism is extracted from a fully enclosed structure and positioned within an open base assembly. The linkage mechanism, motor, and other internal components are accessible from the front and sides of the base, allowing maintenance personnel to service the system without disassembling the entire seating unit, thus maintaining reliability while dramatically improving ease of repair.
3Ease of manufacture
If standard row seating configurations are used, then installation simplicity is maintained, but space efficiency and comfort in commercial theaters deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The base system incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities including adjustable leg lengths and reconfigurable mounting plates that allow the seating units to be adapted to different row spacings and floor conditions. This dynamic configurability enables optimal space efficiency in commercial theaters while maintaining relatively simple installation procedures through standardized interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
A modular assembly for a row of seating units is provided. Each seating unit has a pair of mechanisms operable to move between a closed position and a reclined position. Each mechanism includes first and second roller track that are oriented at opposite angles to one another. A seat mounting plate is moveably coupled to, and constrained by, a linkage coupling the seat mounting plate to the first and second roller tracks so that the seat mounting plate is moveable from a generally horizontal orientation in the closed position, to an inclined orientation in the reclined position, with the incline from back end of the seating unit to the front end of the seating unit.