Swivel Back Support Chair With Flexible Coupling for Stackability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Chairs with swivel backs face challenges in balancing comfort, ruggedness, light weight, attractiveness, and stackability or nestability, particularly in commercial settings where they need to be both durable and easy to store.
Innovation Solution
A chair design featuring a unitary shell with a swivel back support and flexible coupling, including a cushion and fasteners, made from laminated wood, with a leg assembly and optional arm assemblies, allowing for stackability or nestability while avoiding pinch-points and providing comfortable support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the chair uses a rigid back support structure for durability and support, then strength and reliability are improved, but weight increases and comfort decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The back support uses a flexible coupling mechanism with a cushion element that allows controlled movement and rotation. This flexible connection provides the necessary support strength while reducing overall weight compared to a fully rigid structure, and enables the back to adapt to user movements for improved comfort.
Solution Approach 2:
The back support is designed with a swivel capability through the flexible coupling, allowing it to dynamically adjust to user movements. This dynamic design maintains structural integrity when needed while reducing weight and improving comfort through adaptability, resolving the contradiction between rigidity and flexibility.
2Reliability
If the chair uses a fixed back support for structural integrity, then reliability is improved, but comfort and adaptability decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The back support transitions from a fixed structure to a dynamic swivel mechanism. The flexible coupling with cushion element allows the back to rotate and adapt to user movements while maintaining structural integrity through controlled flexibility, thereby improving comfort without sacrificing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The back support automatically adjusts to user movements through the swivel mechanism and flexible coupling. The cushion element provides self-adjusting support that responds to user needs without external control, maintaining structural integrity while enhancing comfort through automatic adaptation.
3Ease of operation
If the chair is designed to be stackable or nestable for easy storage, then ease of operation is improved, but structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The chair is divided into separable components including the back support, seat, and leg assembly. The flexible coupling and swivel mechanism allow these segments to be easily disconnected and reconnected, enabling stackability and nestability while managing structural complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The chair components are designed to nest within each other when stacked, with the back support and seat portions fitting together in a compact arrangement. This nesting capability improves storage ease while the modular flexible coupling manages the complexity of the connection mechanisms.
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 chair achieves comfortable, adjustable, and durable seating with a swivel back, maintaining structural integrity and ease of storage, while ensuring user safety and aesthetic appeal.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible coupling that couples a portion of the back support to a portion of the riser portion
Data Source
AI summary
A chair includes a unitary shell defining a seat portion and a riser portion. The riser portion is generally normal to the seat portion. The chair further includes a back support and a flexible coupling that couples a portion of the back support to a portion of the riser portion. The flexible coupling includes a cushion between the portion of the back support and the portion of the riser portion.