Seat Headrest Speaker Mounting Before Foam Injection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for manufacturing vehicle seat headrests with integrated loudspeakers fail to optimize sound transmission directly to the ears of the seated person, often resulting in suboptimal acoustics and difficulty in pre-positioning speaker components before foam injection.

Innovation Solution

A method involving precise pre-positioning of loudspeaker supports and connectors within a trim, followed by foam injection to create a headrest with predefined shape and dimensions, ensuring the loudspeakers are perfectly positioned and sealed, allowing for adjustable height and directional sound emission.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If speaker mounts are pre-positioned in the trim piece before foam injection, then speaker positioning precision is improved, but the complexity of the manufacturing process increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvespeaker positioning precisionVSAvoidmanufacturing process complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The speaker mounts are pre-positioned in the trim piece before the foam injection process. The trim piece with pre-positioned speaker mounts is then placed in the molding cavity, allowing speakers to be accurately positioned without complex post-processing steps. This preliminary positioning action resolves the contradiction by achieving high precision through advance preparation rather than complex manufacturing equipment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Manufacturing precision

If foam is injected to create a predefined headrest shape, then headrest shape precision is improved, but the difficulty of inserting speaker connectors increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveheadrest shape precisionVSAvoidconnector insertion difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

Speaker connectors are inserted through the trim piece before the foam injection process. The trim piece acts as a guide structure that allows connectors to be positioned accurately before the foam sets. This preliminary insertion action resolves the contradiction by enabling connector installation before the foam creates the final rigid structure, maintaining both shape precision and manufacturing ease.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The manufacturing process is segmented into distinct stages: first positioning speaker mounts and inserting connectors through the trim piece, then injecting foam to create the headrest shape. This segmentation allows each operation to be performed optimally without interfering with others, resolving the contradiction between shape precision and connector insertion ease.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Ease of operation

If speaker mounts are designed with hollow cylindrical bodies and enlarged collars, then speaker mounting ease is improved, but the volume of the headrest increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvespeaker mounting easeVSAvoidheadrest volume
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSVolume of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The speaker mount is segmented into two functional parts: a hollow cylindrical body for housing the speaker and an enlarged collar for positioning and securing. This segmentation allows the mount to provide easy speaker installation through the collar interface while minimizing overall volume by only adding material where functionally necessary.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The enlarged collar provides localized volume increase only at the positioning interface, while the cylindrical body maintains minimal volume required for speaker housing. This local quality approach resolves the contradiction by concentrating volume increases only where needed for mounting ease, rather than uniformly increasing overall headrest volume.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

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

The method enables the production of a headrest that provides directional and high-quality sound, with loudspeakers optimally positioned for direct sound transmission to the ears, enhancing listening experience and maintaining mechanical strength.

Implementation Method 1

a step of injecting foam to obtain a headrest with a rod and a structure and two mounts

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectFoam injection: Foam

Data Source

PatentEP3808598B1Method for manufacturing a seat headrest provided with loudspeakers
Publication Date: 2023.08.30 RENAULT SA
  • EP3808598B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3808598B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3808598B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a vehicle seat headrest (1, 100). The principle of such a method is to position speaker brackets (110, 111) in the upholstery at designated locations, then to pass through said brackets (110, 111) various components necessary for the proper functioning of the speakers, such as power wires (130) or connectors (121), before injecting foam into the upholstery to give the headrest (1, 100) a particular shape, dictated by the profile of the upholstery. The result is a headrest of a given shape equipped with speakers.