Child Safety Seat Side Blocks With Automatic Unfolding

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing safety seats with side protective blocks often fail to provide effective side impact protection due to users forgetting to manually unfold them, leading to reduced safety in emergency situations.

Innovation Solution

A safety seat equipped with an anchoring device sensor, control module, and side protective block driving module that automatically unfolds the side protective blocks when the seat is installed and occupied by a child, ensuring the side protection function is consistently activated.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Volume of moving object

If side protective blocks are designed to be foldable to reduce space occupied, then the space occupied by the safety seat is reduced, but the side protection function becomes invalid or greatly reduced when users forget to unfold them

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvespace occupied by safety seatVSAvoidside protection function

Core Design Contradiction:

Volume of moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The control module automatically unfolds the side protective blocks when it detects that the sitting part is occupied, performing the protective action in advance before any accident could occur. This eliminates the need for manual intervention and ensures the protection function is always active when needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The safety seat system performs self-monitoring through the occupancy sensor and self-activation through the control module that automatically unfolds the protective blocks. The system serves itself by detecting its own state and taking appropriate action without external human intervention.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

2Device complexity

If side protective blocks are made manually unfoldable, then the structure remains simple, but user negligence causes the protection function to be invalid or greatly reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestructure of side protective blocksVSAvoidside protection function

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The safety seat system performs self-monitoring through the occupancy sensor and self-activation through the control module that automatically unfolds the protective blocks. The system serves itself by detecting its own state and taking appropriate action without external human intervention.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The occupancy sensor provides continuous feedback about whether the sitting part is occupied, and the control module uses this feedback to automatically activate the side protective blocks. This closed-loop feedback system ensures the protection function responds automatically to actual usage conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Reliability

If automatic unfolding mechanism is added to ensure side protective blocks are always deployed, then the side impact protection capability is enhanced, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveside impact protection capabilityVSAvoidstructure of safety seat

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The safety seat system performs self-monitoring through the occupancy sensor and self-activation through the control module that automatically unfolds the protective blocks. The system serves itself by detecting its own state and taking appropriate action without external human intervention.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The occupancy sensor provides continuous feedback about whether the sitting part is occupied, and the control module uses this feedback to automatically activate the side protective blocks. This closed-loop feedback system ensures the protection function responds automatically to actual usage conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS12552291B2Safety seat

Publication Date: 2026.02.17 WONDERLAND SWITZERLAND AG

AI summary

A safety seat includes a sitting part, an anchoring device, two movable side protective blocks, a side protective block driving module, an anchoring device sensor and a control module. The anchoring device sensor is arranged adjacent to the anchoring device. The side protective block driving module is connected with the side protective blocks to drive the side protective blocks to be folded or unfolded. The control module is electrically connected with the anchoring device sensor and the side protective block driving module, and senses whether the sitting part is occupied. The control module controls the side protective block driving module to control at least one of the side protective blocks to be unfolded when the control module senses that the anchoring device is in a locking state through the anchoring device sensor and the sitting part is occupied, improving capability of the side impact protection of the safety seat.