Rotatable seat cradle

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Solution Overview

Problem

Prolonged sitting leads to back pain due to unloading of the lumbar spine, causing alordosis and subsequent upper back and neck pain, as existing seating solutions fail to promote neutral spine posture effectively.

Innovation Solution

A rotatable seat cradle with a lumbar supporting back, a downwardly sloping thigh supporting front, and an intermediate pelvic support bucket, which rotates when the user leans forward, inducing anterior pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis, thereby unloading the upper body weight and promoting a neutral spine posture.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If a conventional seat is used, then the user can sit comfortably, but the user's pelvis rocks posteriorly causing alordosis of the lumbar spine and back pain

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveseating comfortVSAvoidback pain and alordosis

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The seat cradle is made rotatable about a vertical axis passing through the user's hip joints. When the user leans forward, the cradle rotates dynamically, causing the lumbar support to push against the user's lower back and promote lordosis, thereby preventing alordosis and back pain while maintaining comfort

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The seat cradle is pre-configured with lumbar support and thigh support surfaces positioned to automatically promote neutral spine posture and anterior pelvic tilt when the user sits, preventing alordosis before it occurs

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Object-affected harmful factors

If the seat cradle rotates to promote neutral spine posture, then lumbar lordosis is induced, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveneutral spine postureVSAvoidrotatable mechanism

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The seat cradle utilizes the user's own body weight and natural leaning motion to drive the rotation. The system requires no external power source, motors, or complex control mechanisms - the user's movement automatically activates the posture-correcting rotation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The seat cradle is divided into functionally distinct segments: pelvic support bucket, lumbar supporting back, and thigh supporting front, each contributing to the overall posture correction while allowing independent optimization of each component

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS10314400B2Rotatable seat cradle

Publication Date: 2019.06.11 ALL33 LLC

AI summary

A rotatable seat cradle including a lumbar supporting back, a thigh supporting front, an intermediate pelvic support bucket located between the back and the front, and an upwardly sloping transition wall that extends continuously and co-extensively between the pelvic support bucket and the thigh supporting front. The seat cradle is pivotally coupled to a stand or to a yoke connected to a chair base. The thigh supporting front of the seat cradle lies above the pelvic support bucket and cantilevers outwardly from the upwardly sloping transition wall. A seated user shifting his weight towards the front of the seat cradle pushes his legs against the thigh supporting front to generate a rotational force thereagainst for causing a corresponding rotation of the seat cradle relative to the stand or the yoke to which the seat cradle is pivotally coupled.