Self-Keeping Lock Mechanism for Car Seat Base
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Solution Overview
Problem
In severe vehicle collisions, the spring-biased hook elements in car seat bases can accidentally open due to vibrations, potentially ejecting the car seat and endangering the occupant, as they fail to maintain a secure lock during intense inertial forces.
Innovation Solution
A self-keeping lock mechanism is integrated into the car seat base, featuring front and rear hook elements and positioners that automatically lock and unlock the rods, ensuring the hook elements remain closed during vibrations, and provide convenience for manual loading by maintaining the hook elements in an open position until the rods are securely engaged.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If spring-biased hook elements are used to connect the car seat to the base, then the installation is simple and the hook elements can be easily opened by hand, but the hook elements may accidentally open due to severe vibration during vehicle collision
Solution Approach 1:
The positioners are pre-configured to detect when rods are properly inserted and automatically engage to prevent the hook elements from opening during vibration. This preliminary protective action counteracts the harmful vibrational forces before they can cause accidental disengagement.
Solution Approach 2:
Positioners serve as intermediary components between the hook elements and the rods. These positioners detect rod insertion and trigger the locking mechanism, acting as a mediator that ensures reliable locking while maintaining ease of operation during normal installation.
2Reliability
If a locking mechanism is added to prevent accidental opening of hook elements during vibration, then the reliability of the connection is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioners automatically detect when rods are inserted and self-engage to lock the hook elements in place. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex external locking systems or additional actuators, maintaining simplicity while ensuring reliability during vibration.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking function is merged with the existing positioner structure that already exists in the base. By combining the positioning and locking functions into a single integrated mechanism, the patent avoids adding separate complex locking components while achieving the desired reliability improvement.
3Ease of operation
If the hook elements are kept in the opened position by positioners before rod insertion, then manual loading convenience is improved, but the risk of accidental opening during vibration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioners dynamically change their function based on rod insertion status. Before rod insertion, they maintain hooks in the open position for loading convenience. After rod insertion, they automatically transition to the locked position to provide vibration resistance, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The positioners perform preliminary action by holding hooks open to facilitate easy loading. Once rods are inserted, the positioners automatically execute the locking action, ensuring that the convenience of easy loading does not compromise the security against vibration during normal operation.
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 mechanism effectively prevents the car seat from being dislodged during severe vibrations, ensuring the occupant's safety by maintaining a secure lock and simplifying the installation process through automatic positioning of the hook elements.
Implementation Method 1
a resilient element 23 receiving the protruded portion 211 of the hook element 2, the resilient element 23 biasing the hook element 2 towards the opened position
Data Source
AI summary
A car seat base with a self-keeping lock mechanism for releasably locking a car seat rested thereon. The car seat has a pair of rods fixed at its underside, and the self-keeping lock mechanism is characterized by including at least a front hook element and a rear hook element and at least a front positioner and a rear positioner. The front hook element and the rear hook element are spaced apart from each other and pivoted inside the car seat base for locking the rods in a closed position, and releasing the rod in an opened position; the front positioner and the rear positioner are pivoted near the hook elements for keeping the hook elements in the opened position before the rods being entered into and caught by the hook elements, and may keep the hook elements in the closed position when the rods have been locked by the hook elements.