Retractable Support Legs for Vehicle Seat Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicles with travel units and lift-supported seats face instability when the battery charge is low or fails, leading to potential tipping, and existing solutions that extend support legs to prevent tipping increase the vehicle's outer profile, hindering navigation in limited spaces.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle design featuring retractable support legs that deploy only when the seat is lowered, allowing the legs to extend and stabilize the vehicle without increasing the vehicle's profile when traveling, using a mechanism that grounds without power actuators and includes dampers for reduced impact and improved comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If support legs are extended farther away from the vehicle body to prevent tipping, then vehicle stability is improved, but the vehicle outer profile increases and the vehicle cannot travel in limited space
Solution Approach 1:
The support legs are designed to be movable between a retracted position (close to the vehicle body frame) and a deployed position (remote from the vehicle body frame). When the seat is at the high position, the support legs are at the retracted position to minimize the vehicle outer profile for traveling in limited space. When the seat moves to the low position, the support legs automatically deploy to the deployed position to extend the support base and prevent vehicle tipping, thus resolving the contradiction between stability and space constraints through dynamic reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The support legs are configured to automatically deploy from the retracted position to the deployed position when the seat moves from the high position to the low position, before any tipping can occur. This preliminary deployment action ensures that the support base is extended in advance to prevent instability, while maintaining a compact profile during normal operation.
2Reliability
If support legs are deployed to prevent vehicle tipping when inverted pendulum control fails, then vehicle reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support leg mechanism is designed to automatically deploy using the weight of the seat itself as the actuating force. When the seat moves from the high position to the low position, gravity causes the seat to pivot on the lift unit, and this pivoting motion directly drives the support legs from the retracted position to the deployed position through a linkage mechanism. No separate power actuator or complex control system is required, thus improving reliability while minimizing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The support leg deployment function is merged with the seat lowering function. The same gravitational force that lowers the seat also automatically deploys the support legs through a mechanical linkage. This combining of functions eliminates the need for separate actuators and control systems for support leg deployment, reducing device complexity while ensuring reliable automatic deployment when needed.
3Stability of the object's composition
If support legs are made extendable to maximize stability when stationary, then vehicle stability is improved, but the vehicle cannot navigate in confined spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The support legs are designed with variable length through a telescopic or extendable structure that allows them to be short (retracted position) when the seat is at the high position for navigating confined spaces, and long (deployed position) when the seat is at the low position for maximizing stability when stationary or parked. This dynamic length adjustment resolves the contradiction between stability and maneuverability.
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 vehicle maintains stability when stationary or parked while minimizing its outer profile during travel, enabling navigation in confined spaces without the need for power-driven leg deployment, thus addressing both stability and space constraints.
Implementation Method 1
a first biasing member (77) urging the first member toward the retracted position
Implementation Method 2
a first grounding member (76) provided at a lower end of the first member and configured to ground on the floor surface in a movable manner along the floor surface
Implementation Method 3
the support leg further includes a first damper (83) provided between the first member and the seat
Data Source
AI summary
The vehicle is provided with a seat which is movable between a high position and a low position, and configured to be grounded when the seat is at the low position, and a support leg extending substantially downward from the seat of the vehicle. The support leg is movable between a retracted position positioned close to a vehicle body frame and a deployed position positioned remote from the vehicle body frame, the support leg being configured to be at the retracted position when the seat is at the high position, and to move from the retracted position to the deployed position when the seat moves from the high position to the low position.