Hinged Cargo Liner With Pleats for Moving Seat Back Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cargo liners for SUVs and minivans fail to provide continuous protection to seat backs, which move angularly and translationally, disrupting the protective barrier provided by the cargo liner when seat backs are adjusted.
Innovation Solution
A cargo liner with integrally molded thermoplastic material featuring a living hinge and accordion pleats that accommodate the angular and translational movement of seat backs, maintaining a continuous protective barrier across the cargo area and seat backs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a conventional cargo liner is used to protect the cargo area floor, then the floor is protected from dirt and fluids, but the seat backs are not continuously protected when they move between positions
Solution Approach 1:
The cargo liner incorporates a hinge mechanism that allows the liner to dynamically change its configuration as the seat back moves between upright and folded positions. This dynamic adaptation ensures the protective barrier remains intact and continuous regardless of seat position, resolving the contradiction between floor protection and continuous seat back protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The cargo liner is divided into separate segments including a floor portion and a seat back portion connected by a hinge. This segmentation allows each portion to independently adapt to its respective surface while maintaining a continuous protective barrier through the hinged connection, enabling reliable protection across both surfaces.
2Area of moving object
If the seat back is folded forward to extend cargo area surface area, then cargo capacity is increased, but the protective barrier continuity is disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The hinged connection enables the cargo liner to dynamically reconfigure as the seat back folds forward. The liner transitions from a vertical configuration protecting the seat back to a horizontal configuration extending the cargo floor, maintaining continuous protection throughout the motion and eliminating gaps in the protective barrier.
Solution Approach 2:
The cargo liner serves multiple functions: it protects the cargo floor when the seat is upright, continuously protects the seat back during movement, and extends the cargo floor surface area when the seat is folded. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction between cargo capacity expansion and protective barrier continuity.
3Ease of manufacture
If a uniform thickness thermoplastic sheet is thermoformed to create the cargo liner, then manufacturing is simplified, but the liner cannot accommodate seat back movement
Solution Approach 1:
The liner is manufactured as segmented components (floor portion and seat back portion) connected by a hinge, allowing each segment to be thermoformed independently for optimal fit while the hinge provides the necessary adaptability for seat back movement. This segmentation resolves the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and movement accommodation.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge mechanism introduces dynamic capability to the otherwise static thermoformed structure. The hinge allows the liner to adapt to seat back movement while the individual portions remain simple thermoformed components, maintaining ease of manufacture while adding versatility.
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 ensures continuous protection of both the cargo area floor and seat backs by adapting to the movement of seat backs, providing a longitudinally continuous barrier against dirt and fluids regardless of seat position adjustments.
Implementation Method 1
the cargo liner and all components of it are integrally molded of a thermoplastic material
Implementation Method 2
A hinge connects a front margin of the first panel to a rear margin of a second panel. The hinge thickness is less than the thicknesses of the first and second panels. This creates a living hinge between the first and second panels.
Data Source
AI summary
An injection-molded cargo liner has a floor panel, at least one seat back panel and first and second pleats joining the floor panel to the seat back panel. Living hinges between adjacent ones of the panels and pleats are made by reducing thickness. A surface of each hinge is concave in the direction of folding. The pleats allow the seat back panel to travel with the seat back, as the seat back is moved forward and down. In this way, the cargo liner provides a continuous barrier against dirt and water.