Vehicle Seat Pan Profile Structure for Crash Safety
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle seat pans are difficult to construct and require significant material to achieve both strength and rigidity, making them costly and labor-intensive, while also posing challenges in crash safety and comfort due to their design.
Innovation Solution
A seat pan designed as a profile structure with through-holes between profiles, allowing for a lightweight and inexpensive construction that absorbs loads by aligning with the seat frame's cross member, providing flexibility without redundant rigidity, and incorporating a spring base with adjustable components for enhanced comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a continuous plastic part with slots or glass fiber reinforced plastic material with fan structure of ribs is used for the seat pan, then strength and rigidity are improved, but manufacturing complexity and material usage increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The seat pan is divided into multiple profiles that are arranged in a grid-like pattern. Each profile is a separate structural element that can be manufactured independently and then assembled together, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining overall strength through the collective structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat pan combines plastic material with a grid-like frame structure, creating a composite construction that leverages the advantages of both materials - the plastic provides durability and comfort while the frame structure provides structural integrity and rigidity with reduced material usage.
2Quantity of substance
If a grid-like frame structure with through-holes is used for the seat pan, then material usage is reduced and weight is decreased, but strength and rigidity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The seat pan is segmented into multiple profiles arranged in a grid pattern, where each profile contributes to the overall structural strength. This segmentation allows material to be distributed efficiently throughout the structure, providing strength where needed while minimizing total material usage through the open grid design.
Solution Approach 2:
The strength of the seat pan is enhanced by adding a third dimension through the vertical configuration of profiles with specific cross-sectional shapes. The profiles extend vertically and have optimized cross-sections that provide high rigidity and strength-to-weight ratio, compensating for the reduced material quantity through dimensional optimization.
3Reliability
If the seat pan is designed with high rigidity to ensure crash safety, then safety is improved, but the seat pan becomes less adaptable to load variations and requires more material
Solution Approach 1:
The seat pan incorporates profiles with optimized cross-sectional shapes that provide high rigidity in critical directions for crash safety while allowing controlled flexibility in other directions. This dynamic structural design enables the seat pan to maintain safety under impact loads while adapting to varying operational loads such as seating weight and position.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the seat pan have profiles with different cross-sectional characteristics optimized for their specific functions. High-rigidity profiles are positioned in areas requiring crash safety, while areas requiring load adaptation have profiles with appropriate flexibility, creating a locally optimized structure that balances safety and adaptability without excessive material usage.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a seat pan (9) for attachment to a seat frame (4) of a vehicle seat (1), wherein the seat pan (9) has a profile structure made up of several profiles (16, 17, 18, 19), on the underside of which crossbeam receptacles, preferably downwardly open tube receptacles (24), have for placement on a crossbeam (6a) extending in the transverse direction (Y), in particular a cross tube of the seat frame (4). The seat pan (9) is preferably injection-molded from a plastic material, wherein through holes (22) are formed between the profiles, preferably between all of them, extending vertically through the profile structure.