Movable Headrest Sliding Mechanism for Child Safety Seat Impact Reduction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional child safety seats do not effectively absorb impact energy, causing harm to a child's head and neck during sudden movements, as the headrest does not adjust to reduce the distance between the child's head and the impact point.

Innovation Solution

A child safety seat design featuring a movable headrest with sliding slot structures and rods that adjust during impact, reducing the distance between the child's head and the headrest, thereby minimizing impact energy and potential harm.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If the head rest is fixed on the seat back, then the structure is simple and stable, but the distance from the child's head to the head rest cannot be reduced during impact, causing high impact energy to the child's head

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimpact energy to child's headVSAvoidhead rest structure

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The head rest is transformed from a fixed structure to a movable one through sliding rods that can move along sliding slots. During impact, the sliding rods allow the head rest to move forward dynamically, reducing the distance to the child's head and thereby reducing impact energy. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between structural simplicity and impact protection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The position parameter of the head rest is changed from fixed to variable. The sliding mechanism enables the head rest position to change during impact events, specifically moving forward to reduce the gap distance. This parameter change allows the system to adapt to different impact conditions while maintaining structural integrity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Object-affected harmful factors

If the head rest is positioned closer to the seat back, then the structure is compact, but the distance from the child's head after forward leaning to the head rest increases, causing more harm during impact

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimpact harm to child's head and neckVSAvoiddistance from head rest to seat back

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSLength of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The head rest position is made dynamic through the sliding rod mechanism. Although the head rest may be positioned relatively close to the seat back in its retracted state, the sliding rods enable it to move forward dynamically during impact to reduce the effective distance to the child's head, thereby reducing impact harm while maintaining a compact overall structure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The sliding rod mechanism is pre-configured with sliding slots that allow the head rest to move forward automatically during impact. This preliminary structural arrangement ensures that when impact occurs, the head rest can rapidly adjust its position to minimize the distance to the child's head, preventing harm before it fully occurs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Object-affected harmful factors

If the sliding rod is restrained at the first position, then the head rest is farther from the seat back providing better protection, but the structure requires more space and may interfere with child seating

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprotection level for child's headVSAvoidspace occupied by head rest mechanism

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSArea of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS9511697B2Child safety seat

Publication Date: 2016.12.06 WONDERLAND SWITZERLAND AG

AI summary

A child safety seat includes a seat back and a head rest disposed on the seat back. When a child sits on the child safety seat, his back is against the seat back, and his head is against the head rest. The child safety seat also includes two sliding slot structures, formed on the seat back, and two sliding rods. The two sliding rod are connected to two opposite sides of the head rest corresponding to the two sliding slot structures and slidably disposed in the corresponding sliding slot structures. When the sliding rod is at a first restraining position of the sliding slot structure and the child safety seat shakes because of an impact, the head rest moves relative to the seat back, so that the sliding rod slides to a second restraining position sliding slot structure, which reduces possible harm to the head of the child.