Vehicle Seat Blower Bracket Design to Reduce Weight and Complexity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle seat designs with air conditioning functions require dedicated parts and complex structures, leading to increased weight, manufacturing complexity, and air leakage issues, particularly when switching between seat specifications with and without air conditioning.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle seat design that fixes the blower to the seat back frame using a plastic bracket and cover member, minimizing the need for dedicated parts and reducing weight, while also incorporating a duct with a flange and flexible design to prevent air leakage, and allowing for easy assembly and positioning of the blower despite manufacturing errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the blower is directly fixed to the seat back frame using bolts, then the blower can be securely fixed, but it requires dedicated parts such as weld nuts to be welded to the seat back frame, increasing device complexity and manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
A bracket is introduced as an intermediary component between the blower and the seat back frame. The bracket includes a holding portion that contacts the blower and a fixing portion that is bolted to the seat back frame, eliminating the need for dedicated weld nuts on the frame itself. This mediator component simplifies the overall structure while maintaining secure fixation.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixing structure is segmented into separate functional components: the bracket body, the holding portion for the blower, and the fixing portion for the frame. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and simplifies assembly, as the bracket can be manufactured separately and attached to the frame without requiring pre-installed dedicated parts.
2Reliability
If dedicated parts are provided for the seat with air conditioner, then the blower can be fixed properly, but the same seat back frame cannot be easily used for both specifications (with and without air conditioner), reducing adaptability
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is designed as a universal component that can be used for both seat specifications (with and without air conditioner). The same bracket structure and bolting method work regardless of whether the seat includes air conditioning, allowing the seat back frame to be shared across different specifications without requiring specification-specific dedicated parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket serves as a universal intermediary that decouples the blower fixation from the seat back frame structure. Since the bracket attaches to the frame through standard bolting rather than dedicated welded parts, the same frame design can accommodate both air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned seats using the same bracket and blower assembly.
3Reliability
If the blower is fixed using a complex structure with dedicated parts, then the blower can be securely fixed, but the weight of the vehicle seat increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is designed as a simple, lightweight component that can be manufactured from common materials such as plastic or thin metal. Rather than using heavy dedicated fixation structures or multiple large fasteners, the bracket provides sufficient fixation reliability with minimal material, reducing the overall weight of the seat assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixation function is extracted from the seat back frame itself and placed into a separate, lightweight bracket component. This allows the frame to remain simple and light while the bracket handles the fixation task with minimal weight, as it only needs to support the blower rather than form an integral part of the structural frame.
4Reliability
If the duct is rigidly connected to the blower, then air leakage can be minimized, but the assembly becomes more complex and harder to install
Solution Approach 1:
The duct is made from flexible material that can be molded into the desired shape and connected to the blower outlet. The flexibility of the duct material allows it to conform to slight variations in positioning and manufacturing tolerances while maintaining air tightness through friction fit or simple clamping, eliminating the need for complex rigid connection mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The duct connection utilizes the change in flexibility parameter of the duct material to achieve both air tightness and ease of assembly. By selecting material with appropriate elastic properties, the duct can be easily inserted and secured while the material's flexibility compensates for dimensional variations, maintaining sealing without requiring precision alignment or complex fastening structures.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle seat according to the present invention includes: a seat back frame constituting a framework of a seat back; a blower disposed in the seat back; a bracket to which the blower is fixed; and a cover member provided on the rear side of the seat back frame. Herein, the bracket is fixed to the cover member with the seat back frame being held between the bracket and the cover member.