Passenger Seat Tilting Base for Comfort Without Row Spacing Loss
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing passenger seats in transport vehicles, particularly aircraft, lack sufficient resistance to impacts and offer limited options for tilting, resulting in inadequate passenger comfort when trying to adopt a more relaxed position.
Innovation Solution
A passenger seat design where the horizontal portion is mounted on a moving mechanism that allows the whole horizontal portion to tilt, forming a slope towards the floor and under the seat in front, with a locking system that can be easily controlled by crew or passengers, ensuring comfort without compromising seat spacing or safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the guide rail is housed in the armrests of the seat to enable tilting, then the tilting function is achieved, but the resistance to impacts is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rail is extracted from the armrests and relocated to the support frame structure. This separation allows the tilting mechanism to be decoupled from the armrest assembly, enabling the armrests to be optimized for impact resistance while the support frame provides the guiding function. The guide rail remains mounted on the support frame to maintain tilting functionality while improving overall structural reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide rail mounting is moved from a horizontal dimension (armrests) to a vertical dimension (support frame). This dimensional relocation allows the guide rail to be integrated into the load-bearing structure of the seat, which is designed to withstand impact forces, while still enabling the horizontal portion to tilt along the guide rail's path.
2Length of stationary object
If the horizontal portion is made fixed to maintain seat spacing, then the distance between rows is maintained, but passenger comfort is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The horizontal portion is transformed from a fixed structure to a dynamic one that can tilt relative to the vertical portion. This is achieved through the guide rail mechanism mounted on the support frame, which allows the horizontal portion to rotate along a controlled path. The tilting motion enables passengers to adjust their seating position and leg angle while the support frame ensures the overall seat spacing remains constant.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat is segmented into distinct functional components: the vertical portion remains fixed to maintain spacing, while the horizontal portion is made movable through the guide rail mechanism. This segmentation allows different parts of the seat to have different degrees of freedom, with the horizontal portion providing adjustability for comfort while the vertical portion maintains the required distance between rows.
3Ease of operation
If the whole horizontal portion tilts to improve comfort, then leg support is enhanced, but the mechanism complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rail mechanism is merged with the support frame structure, integrating the tilting function into the existing seat framework. This integration avoids adding separate, complex tilting mechanisms and utilizes the support frame as both a structural element and a mounting base for the guide rail, thereby reducing overall mechanism complexity while enabling full horizontal portion tilting.
Data Source
AI summary
Passenger seat for a transport vehicle, which seat comprises a vertical portion and a horizontal portion mounted on a support frame, which horizontal portion comprises a rear edge located at the edge of the vertical portion and a front edge located on the opposite side to that of the rear edge, which support frame delimits a free space underneath the horizontal portion, characterized in that the horizontal portion is mounted on a first moving mechanism arranged to enable the whole of the horizontal portion to be tilted such that the front edge descends relative to the vertical portion.