Motion Chair Pivot Design for Dynamic Seating Without Constant Effort
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ergonomic chairs fail to provide a wide range of dynamic movement while seated without requiring constant user effort to maintain a desired position, often compromising comfort and health benefits due to restricted movement and inadequate back support.
Innovation Solution
The ergonomic motion chair features a seat that can be easily adjusted side-to-side and forward-backward along defined pivot axes positioned above the seat plane, with biasing structures to return to neutral positions, allowing for dynamic movement without excessive user effort, and an adjustable seatback that supports the back without limiting shoulder blade movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the seat is allowed to tilt and toggle in all directions about a toggle point, then user movement and exercise are improved, but back support and comfort are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The chair is divided into functionally independent components: a seat assembly that tilts and toggles for movement, and a separate seatback assembly that provides stable support. The seatback is detachably connected to the seat frame, allowing it to remain stationary while the seat moves, thus resolving the contradiction between movement freedom and back support stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat assembly incorporates dynamic movement capabilities through a ball joint connection to the seat frame, enabling tilting and toggling motions. Meanwhile, the seatback maintains a relatively static position to provide consistent support, creating a dynamic-sestatic system that balances movement and support needs.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the seat is required to balance on a ball or ball joint, then user exercise is improved, but fatigue and discomfort increase during long-term sitting
Solution Approach 1:
The chair separates the exercise function (seat tilting and toggling on ball joints) from the support function (stable seatback and seat frame). This segmentation allows users to gain exercise benefits through controlled movements while maintaining comfort during prolonged sitting by returning to stable positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat is designed to perform periodic tilting and toggling movements during use, providing intermittent exercise stimulation. Users can alternately move the seat dynamically and return to neutral positions, creating a rhythm of movement and rest that prevents continuous fatigue while maintaining exercise benefits.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the seat slides forward and backward relative to a preset seatback, then user positioning flexibility is improved, but the user's position relative to the seatback changes, compromising comfort and chair fit
Solution Approach 1:
The seat and seatback are separated into independent assemblies that can move relative to each other. The seat slides forward and backward on the seat frame while the seatback remains fixed in its optimal position, allowing positioning flexibility without compromising the user-seatback relationship.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat frame acts as an intermediary between the movable seat and the fixed seatback. The seat slides relative to the seat frame, which in turn is connected to the seatback, decoupling the movement of the seat from the position of the seatback and maintaining proper chair fit throughout the range of motion.
4Ease of operation
If the bucket rotates front-to-back about a fixed pivot point, then slouching is reduced through affirmative action, but movement is limited to forward-and-back tilting, compromising chair fit and health benefits
Solution Approach 1:
The chair separates posture control functions (provided by the fixed seatback) from movement functions (provided by the seat tilting and toggling on ball joints). This segmentation allows the seat to rotate freely in multiple directions without compromising posture support, as the seatback remains stationary to maintain proper alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat incorporates dynamic ball joint connections that enable tilting and toggling movements in multiple directions, transforming the static single-axis rotation into a multi-degree-of-freedom dynamic system. This provides comprehensive movement freedom while the fixed seatback maintains posture control.
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
This design enables users to achieve a wide range of dynamic movements with minimal effort, enhancing comfort and health benefits by allowing infinite positions and reducing fatigue, while maintaining optimal seatback support throughout various seating adjustments.
Implementation Method 1
a biasing structure (10) between the seat plate and the base mount to bias the seat to a neutral position
Data Source
AI summary
A chair that provides movement side-to-side about a first pivot axis positioned above the seat plane allows the user a wide range of dynamic movement, but does not require constant or excessive action on the part of the user to maintain a desired position. In addition and concurrently thereto, the chair may include structures that allow the seat to be easily positioned and adjusted side-to-side from a neutral position along a defined pivot axis above a seat plane, and it may, if desired, also provide forward-and-back movement of the seat about a second pivot located above or below the seat plane, an improved seatback that supports the user's back without limiting the user's ability to move their shoulder blades, an improved biasing structure for biasing the seat to a neutral position, an imbedded controller or imbedded sensor for allowing the seat's position to be used as a computer controller, or the gathering of the users motion data, and an adjustable tilt locking system to allow the forward-and-back movement of the seat to be held in a desired position.