Rotating Child Seat Base With Sideways Locking for Safe Loading
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing child car seats lack a versatile and safe mechanism for rotating between travel orientations and sideways orientations, which complicates the loading and unloading of children.
Innovation Solution
A child restraint system featuring a seat base with a rotation controller and a juvenile seat that can pivot between forward-facing, rearward-facing, and sideways orientations, with a rotation-blocking system to secure the seat in the sideways orientation for easy access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the juvenile seat is made rotatable between travel and sideways orientations, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to risk of unintentional rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The rotation-blocking system includes blockers positioned to prevent unintentional rotation of the juvenile seat while allowing intentional rotation when needed. The blockers are pre-positioned to counteract any forces that might cause accidental rotation, thus maintaining reliability while preserving ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat-orientation controller allows the juvenile seat to rotate dynamically between orientations when needed, but the rotation-blocking system dynamically engages to prevent rotation during normal use. This dynamic control resolves the contradiction by making the system adaptable to different operational states.
2Reliability
If a rotation-blocking system is added to prevent unintentional rotation, then reliability is improved, but device complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The rotation-blocking system is segmented into separate blockers positioned at different locations around the rotation path. Each blocker independently prevents rotation in specific directions, allowing the system to achieve reliable orientation control without requiring a single complex locking mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotation blockers act as intermediary elements between the juvenile seat and the seat-base foundation. These blockers mediate the rotation control function, preventing direct complex mechanical linkages while achieving reliable orientation stability.
3Reliability
If the sideways orientation is secured with rotation blockers, then reliability is improved, but ease of operation worsens due to restricted movement
Solution Approach 1:
The rotation blockers are designed to prevent rotation only when the seat is in the sideways orientation, while allowing rotation when the seat is in travel orientations. This preliminary anti-action selectively applies constraints only when needed, maintaining both reliability and operational flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A child restraint includes a seat base, and a juvenile seat coupled to the seat base. The seat base may include a seat-base foundation adapted to rest on a vehicle seat and a seat-orientation controller coupled to the seat-base foundation for rotation about a vertical rotation axis. The juvenile seat is configured to couple to the seat-orientation controller to be secured to the vehicle seat. The juvenile seat is rotatable relative to the seat-base foundation about the vertical rotation axis with the seat-orientation controller between a travel orientation, including a forward-facing orientation and a rearward-facing orientation relative to the seat-base foundation, and a sideways orientation relative to the seat-base foundation.