Movable Headrest Base Plates for Ponytail Accommodation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Passengers with ponytails or buns experience discomfort and obstruction issues when using conventional headrests in aircraft seats, leading to neck pain and unsightly adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A headrest assembly with movable base plates that can configure between a continuous surface and a recess to accommodate ponytails or buns, featuring adjustable linkages, cushioning, and a dress cover, allowing for comfortable support of the head with or without hair gathered at the back.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional headrest with a continuous surface is used, then it provides uniform support for the head, but it creates discomfort and pressure points for passengers with ponytails or buns
Solution Approach 1:
The headrest base is divided into multiple base plates (first base plate, second base plate, third base plate) that can be independently positioned. This segmentation allows the creation of a recess by displacing the first and second base plates, while the third base plate maintains continuous surface support for portions of the head, thus resolving the contradiction between accommodating ponytails and providing uniform head support.
Solution Approach 2:
The base plates are configured to be movable relative to each other through linkage mechanisms. This dynamic capability allows the headrest to transform from a continuous surface configuration to a recess configuration, adapting to different passenger needs (with or without ponytails) and eliminating the need to choose between comfort and support.
2Reliability
If the headrest surface is made continuous and fixed, then it maintains structural simplicity, but it causes neck pain and discomfort for sustained periods when passengers have gathered hair
Solution Approach 1:
The headrest is segmented into multiple functional base plates that can be independently positioned. This segmentation enables the creation of a recess for ponytail accommodation without requiring a complete redesign of the entire headrest structure, thus improving comfort during sustained periods while limiting the increase in overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The headrest assembly is designed to perform multiple functions: it can provide a continuous surface for passengers without ponytails and create a recess for passengers with ponytails or buns. This multi-functionality is achieved through the movable base plates and linkage mechanisms, allowing a single device to serve diverse passenger needs without requiring multiple separate headrests.
3Ease of operation
If passengers adjust their ponytail to high points or flip it over the seat, then they avoid headrest discomfort, but they create unsightly appearances or intrude into living space of passengers behind
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the problematic area (where the ponytail contacts the headrest) by creating a recess in the headrest surface. This recess accommodates the ponytail or bun, allowing it to rest comfortably without creating pressure points. This eliminates the need for passengers to perform unsightly adjustments like flipping their ponytails over the seat, thus resolving the contradiction between comfort and appearance/space arrangement.
Data Source
AI summary
Described are headrest assemblies having at least one moveable member that is movable to reconfigure the headrest between: an opened arrangement in which a recess sized for receiving a ponytail or bun of hair is defined between portions of a head-receiving surface of the headrest; and a closed arrangement in which the recess is reduced or eliminated by edges of two members of the headrest being in abutment or adjacent to one another.