Vehicle Seat Damper with Rotating Partition for Speed-Dependent Damping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle seat dampers fail to effectively differentiate between low-speed and high-speed collisions, resulting in inadequate impact absorption, where small impacts are not properly cushioned and large impacts are not reliably held.
Innovation Solution
A damper design featuring a vessel with a partitioning member and viscous fluid, where the partitioning member moves at varying velocities to control fluid flow between chambers, providing soft damping at low speeds and stiff resistance at high speeds through a combination of moving force imparting means, resilient urging, and an allowing/limiting mechanism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the damper uses a simple viscous fluid mechanism, then the structure is simple, but it cannot differentiate between low-speed and high-speed collisions
Solution Approach 1:
The damper employs a partitioning member that can dynamically change its position and orientation based on the speed of collision. During low-speed collisions, the partitioning member remains in its initial position allowing fluid communication; during high-speed collisions, it rotates to block fluid flow. This dynamic reconfiguration enables the damper to adapt its damping characteristics to different collision conditions without requiring multiple separate dampers.
Solution Approach 2:
The damper changes the flow resistance parameter of the viscous fluid by altering the flow path configuration. At low speeds, the fluid flows through a relatively open path with lower resistance. At high speeds, the partitioning member rotates to create a blocked or restricted path, dramatically increasing flow resistance. This parameter change in fluid flow resistance enables differentiation between collision speeds.
2Ease of operation
If the damper allows free fluid flow between chambers, then low-speed impacts are absorbed softly, but high-speed impacts cannot be held reliably
Solution Approach 1:
The partitioning member dynamically switches between two states: a first state during low-speed impacts where it allows fluid communication between chambers for soft absorption, and a second state during high-speed impacts where it blocks fluid flow to provide rigid holding. This dynamic state switching is triggered by the speed of the impact force applied to the damper.
Solution Approach 2:
The partitioning member acts as an intermediary element between the first and second accommodation chambers. It mediates the fluid flow between chambers based on impact conditions, allowing flow when appropriate (low-speed) and blocking flow when necessary (high-speed), thereby controlling the damping response to different collision scenarios.
3Reliability
If the partitioning member blocks fluid flow during high-speed collision, then impact holding is reliable, but the headrest cannot move forward during non-collision conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The partitioning member remains in its initial position during normal non-collision conditions, allowing free communication between fluid chambers and enabling the headrest to move freely. Upon detection of a high-speed collision, it dynamically rotates to block fluid flow and provide impact holding. After the collision, it returns to its initial position to restore normal operation.
4Reliability
If the damper uses a complex mechanism to differentiate collision speeds, then impact absorption is effective, but the device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The damper is segmented into functional zones within a single compact structure: a first accommodation chamber, a second accommodation chamber, and a partitioning member that can rotate between positions. This segmentation allows different damping functions to be achieved within one integrated component rather than requiring multiple separate mechanisms, thereby maintaining compact size while achieving effective impact absorption.
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
Enables the damper to absorb small impacts softly while becoming stiff to reliably hold the impact-absorbed body during large impacts, and allows the headrest to move forward only during collisions by discriminating between collision and non-collision conditions, with compact installation in vehicle seats.
Implementation Method 1
a viscous fluid accommodated in the two accommodation chambers in the vessel to flow reciprocally between the two accommodation chambers through the through hole
Implementation Method 2
a resultant damping force, i.e., a reaction force with respect to the input of rotation, assumes a magnitude which is based on the compression resistance of the viscous fluid in the accommodation chamber in the one axial direction
Implementation Method 3
resilient means for resiliently urging the partitioning member in another axial direction
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
A damper 1 includes a vessel 2; a partitioning member 6 which partitions the interior of the vessel 2 into two accommodation chambers 4 and 5 for accommodating a viscous fluid 3, and which rotates together with the vessel 2 in an R direction and is movable in an axial direction A; a moving force imparting means 7 for imparting to the partitioning member 6 a moving force in an A1 direction by the input of rotation in an R1 direction; a resilient means 8 for resiliently urging the partitioning member 6 in an A2 direction; a through hole 9 for allowing the two accommodation chambers 4 and 5 inside the vessel 2 to communicate with each other; and an allowing/limiting member 10 which allows the viscous fluid 3 accommodated in the two accommodation chambers 4 and 5 in the vessel 2 to flow reciprocally between the two accommodation chambers 4 and 5 through the through hole 9, and which limits the flow of the viscous fluid 3 in the accommodation chamber 4 into the accommodation chamber 5 in the A2 direction through the through hole 9 when the internal pressure of the viscous fluid 3 accommodated in the accommodation chamber 4 in the A1 direction is generated in excess of a fixed value on the basis of the movement of the partitioning member 6 in the A1 direction.