Aircraft Seat Footrest With Sliding Pivot for In-Seat Leg Exercise
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Solution Overview
Problem
Long periods of sitting during air travel increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis due to limited opportunities for passengers to exercise their legs, especially during take-off, landing, and turbulence.
Innovation Solution
A footrest for aircraft seats that is slideable and pivotable, allowing passengers to exercise their legs by moving the footrest with their feet, incorporating connectors for secure attachment to the seat and a damping mechanism to reduce vibrations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If passengers remain seated during flights, then safety and comfort are maintained, but the risk of deep vein thrombosis increases due to prolonged immobility
Solution Approach 1:
The footrest is designed with dynamic movement capabilities, allowing it to slide forward and backward along the seat and pivot at an intermediate point. This enables passengers to perform leg exercises by moving their feet against the footrest, promoting blood circulation while remaining seated during the flight.
2Ease of operation
If a footrest is made fully movable to enable leg exercises, then leg exercise capability is improved, but stability and control deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The footrest incorporates controlled movement through a sliding mechanism along the seat with defined travel limits, and a pivoting mechanism at an intermediate point. This provides sufficient mobility for leg exercises while maintaining stability through constrained motion paths and controlled degrees of freedom.
Solution Approach 2:
The footrest allows adjustment of movement parameters including the range of sliding motion along the seat and the angle of pivoting at the intermediate point. These adjustable parameters enable optimization between exercise capability and stability based on different flight conditions and passenger needs.
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 passengers to effectively exercise their legs, reducing the risk of deep vein thrombosis by providing a means to move their legs during flights, while minimizing disruptions and discomfort through adjustable friction and vibration reduction.
Implementation Method 1
incorporating connectors for secure attachment to the seat and a damping mechanism to reduce vibrations
Data Source
AI summary
A footrest for a seat can include (i) one or more foot supports for supporting one or more feet, and (ii) one or more mounts to which the one or more foot supports are connected. The one or more foot supports are slideable and pivotable relative to the one or more mounts. Also described is a seat comprising the footrest and a row of said seats.