Seatback Frame Structure for Rear-Collision Neck Impact Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle seats face challenges in reducing neck impact during rear collisions while maintaining cost-effectiveness and thin profile, as existing solutions either require additional mechanisms or increase costs due to the use of multiple cushion materials with different repulsive elasticities.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat design featuring a seat back frame with pipe-shaped side frames and a cushion material that includes a core cavity section, allowing for reduced thickness and deformation resistance, enabling smoother occupant sinking and quicker headrest proximity during collisions without additional mechanisms or increased costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a separately installed mechanism is used to move the headrest forward during rear collision, then the impact on the neck is reduced, but the cost increases and the thickness of the seat back cannot be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The headrest is designed to automatically move forward during rear collision without requiring a separately installed actuating mechanism. The headrest utilizes the inertial force generated during collision to propel itself forward, thereby reducing neck impact while avoiding increased structural complexity and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the headrest from its conventional fixed position and allows it to become a movable component that can independently respond to collision forces. By removing the headrest from the static structural framework, the system eliminates the need for additional actuating mechanisms while maintaining protective function.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple types of cushion materials with different repulsive elasticity are used, then the rebound of the chest region is suppressed and neck impact is reduced, but the cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cushion material is designed with a specific localized structure (convex portion protruding toward the rear) rather than using multiple types of materials with different repulsive elasticity. This local structural modification provides the necessary rebound suppression and neck impact reduction while maintaining material uniformity and controlling costs.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If cushion material with low repulsive elasticity and sufficient thickness is used to suppress chest region rebound, then neck impact is reduced, but the thickness of the seat back increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing the overall thickness of the cushion material, the invention introduces a localized convex portion that protrudes rearward from the front surface. This localized structural feature provides the necessary rebound suppression and neck impact protection while maintaining the overall thin profile of the seat back.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from modifying material properties (repulsive elasticity and thickness) to modifying the geometric dimensioning of the cushion structure. By creating a convex portion with specific dimensional characteristics, the system achieves neck impact reduction without increasing the overall thickness of the seat back.
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 design effectively reduces neck impact during rear collisions by facilitating smoother sinking into the seat back and minimizing the gap between the head and headrest, maintaining a low-cost, thin-profile structure without compromising seated comfort.
Implementation Method 1
a cushion material disposed at least on a front side of the seat back frame
Implementation Method 2
reduce an impact which is applied to a neck of an occupant when a vehicle is collided from behind
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle seat has a seatback frame forming a seatback of a vehicle seat that comprises a pair of side frame sections composed of pipe shaped members at least in part, separated from each other in a lateral direction, and extended in a vertical direction, and comprises an upper frame for interconnecting upper sides of the pair of side frame sections. Flat sections each deformed outward in the lateral direction to reduce the lateral thickness thereof are formed in portions of the pair of side frame sections where their respective pipe shaped members are opposed to each other. Thus, the distance between the pair of side frame sections can be increased without changing lateral dimensions of the seatback frame, allowing an occupant to more smoothly sink into the seatback from the backrest front surface.