Vehicle Seat Structural Rail With Integrated Belt Retractor Cavity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle seat designs face challenges in integrating seat belt retractors in a space-saving and dimensionally stable manner, particularly in vehicles without a load-bearing B-pillar, while ensuring they can withstand tensile forces during restraint events.
Innovation Solution
A load-bearing structural component with a U-shaped profile rail and cavity design, featuring angled fastening projections, allows the belt retractor to be positioned compactly within the vehicle seat, transferring restraint forces directly into the seat structure, enhancing torsional and bending stiffness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the belt retractor is attached to the vehicle structure, then the seat belt device can be securely mounted, but the vehicle seat loses adjustability and occupies excessive space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the belt retractor mounting function with the seat structure itself. The load-bearing structural part of the seat incorporates a cavity that houses the belt retractor, merging two previously separate functions (seat structure and belt mounting) into a single integrated component. This eliminates the need for separate vehicle structure attachments while maintaining both adjustability and security.
Solution Approach 2:
The load-bearing structural part is designed to serve multiple functions: it provides structural support for the seat, houses the belt retractor through its cavity, and offers mounting points via fastening projections. This multi-functional design allows the same component to fulfill both seating and safety belt functions, resolving the contradiction between adjustability and secure mounting.
2Volume of moving object
If the belt retractor is integrated into the seat structure, then space efficiency is improved, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The seat structure is segmented into modular load-bearing structural parts, each with a specific cavity designed to house the belt retractor. This segmentation allows the complex integration to be broken down into manageable modules that can be manufactured and assembled separately, reducing overall structural complexity while achieving compact integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The belt retractor is nested within the cavity of the load-bearing structural part. This nesting arrangement allows the belt retractor to be housed inside the seat structure without increasing external dimensions, achieving space efficiency while containing the complexity within a dedicated internal space rather than distributing it throughout the entire structure.
3Strength
If the structural part absorbs tensile forces, then the seat belt security is improved, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The load-bearing structural part is designed with localized features optimized for force absorption: the cavity shape is specifically adapted to the outer shape of the belt retractor, and fastening projections are positioned at specific locations to distribute tensile forces. This local optimization allows high strength requirements to be met in critical areas without requiring uniformly high manufacturing precision across the entire component.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a load-bearing structural part (2) of a seat structure of a vehicle seat, which has a cavity (21) in which a belt retractor (40) is arranged.