Aircraft Seat Headrest Mechanism for Front Sleep Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial aircraft seats, particularly in economy class, do not provide an ideal sleeping position for passengers with medical conditions like orthopnoea, and reclining seats reduce personal space and cause disturbances to adjacent passengers.
Innovation Solution
A front sleep support system with a moveable headrest portion that can pivot and linearly move between stowed and deployed positions, allowing users to choose their preferred rest or sleep position without disturbing others.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the seat is partially reclined to provide a more comfortable sleeping position, then the user's comfort is improved, but the legroom and personal space of adjacent passengers is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the headrest function from the seat backrest and relocates it to a front sleep support system that moves over the user's head. This allows the seat backrest to remain upright, preserving legroom for adjacent passengers, while still providing the desired sleeping position through the relocated headrest portion
Solution Approach 2:
The headrest portion moves in a vertical dimension (over the user's head) rather than requiring horizontal reclining space. This dimensional change allows the user to achieve a comfortable sleeping position without encroaching on the legroom of passengers behind
2Ease of operation
If a headrest portion is moved over the user's head to provide multiple rest positions, then the ease of operation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The moveable arm is divided into multiple segments (first arm portion, second arm portion, spine member) that can move relative to each other. This segmentation allows the complex motion of moving the headrest over the user's head to be achieved through simpler, coordinated movements of individual segments, making the mechanism more manageable and controllable
Data Source
AI summary
A front sleep support system for an airplane seat having a headrest portion moveable between a stowed position in which the headrest portion is configured to support the back of a user's head and a deployed position in which the headrest portion is configured to support the front of a user's head, and a moveable arm configured to connect the headrest portion to a seat having a seat backrest and a seat base, the moveable arm defining a pivot point, wherein the headrest portion is configured to move pivotably about the pivot point between the stowed position and the deployed position, and wherein the moveable arm permits the headrest portion to move linearly relative to the seat base for deployment and/or stowing of the headrest portion between the stowed position and the deployed position.