Asymmetric Shoulder Support Air Cell for Stable Vehicle Seating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle seats struggle to properly hold the shoulders of seated passengers, especially in configurations with reduced-sized protective bags, leading to instability in maintaining the seating posture.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat design featuring a seat back with a shoulder support portion that includes a bag capable of expanding with fluid supply, where one end portion moves more forward than the other end portion in the width direction, thereby pushing the shoulders inward and stabilizing the posture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If protective bags are used to hold the shoulders of the seated passenger, then the posture stability is improved, but the device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bag is designed with asymmetric expansion characteristics where one end portion moves more forward than the other end portion in the width direction. This asymmetric configuration allows the bag to effectively push shoulders inward and stabilize posture while maintaining a more compact overall size compared to symmetric expansion designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The bag provides localized support specifically at the shoulder region with differential expansion at different portions. The one end portion that moves more forward creates a concentrated pushing force on the shoulders, providing effective posture stabilization without requiring the entire bag to be large.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the bag expands to cover around the shoulders from above toward the front, then forward and upward movement is restricted, but movement in the right-to-left direction cannot be properly restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The bag's asymmetric expansion pattern, with one end portion moving more forward than the other, creates a pushing force that effectively restricts shoulder movement in the right-to-left direction. This asymmetric configuration generates lateral pressure on the shoulders that prevents side-to-side movement while maintaining comfort.
3Stability of the object's composition
If sufficiently-large protective bags are used to hold the shoulders, then posture stability is improved, but the mechanism size for expanding the protective bag increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bag provides concentrated local support at the shoulder region through asymmetric expansion, where one end portion moves more forward. This localized effective action allows posture stabilization without requiring a large overall bag size or complex expansion mechanism, simplifying the device while maintaining functionality.
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 displacement movement of the upper body in the width direction, thereby maintaining the stability of the seating posture even with reduced-sized bags.
Implementation Method 1
a bag configured to expand by supply of fluid into the bag
Data Source
AI summary
A seating posture is stabilized for the shoulders of a passenger seated on a vehicle seat. A vehicle seat is provided with a seat back configured to support the seated person from the rear. A shoulder support portion of the seat back configured to support a corresponding one of the shoulders of the seated passenger includes an air cell configured to expand when air is supplied. When the air cell expands, one end portion of the shoulder support portion on the outside in the width direction of the vehicle seat moves more forward than the other end portion of the shoulder support portion on the inside in the width direction.