Patent Application
20180339777
The present disclosure relates to seats, including passenger seats for various vehicles. The disclosure also relates to features of seats, including headrests and storage pockets. Certain features may be particularly relevant with vehicles for which seatback height is constrained by safety requirements.
Passenger seats in highly-regulated mass transportation vehicles such as aircrafts, trains and watercrafts must provide both comfort and safety to passengers. These goals can often conflict. For example, it may be desirable to make seats small to leave a sufficiently large unobstructed area such that a person responsible for safety (such as an airplane crew member) can see if somebody is in an aisle. Otherwise, a person might be accidentally left-behind during an emergency evacuation or have a safety-related issue that cannot be seen. However, a seat that is small enough to provide this visibility may be too small for some passengers to sit comfortably.
To strike a balance between these objectives, many seats include a fixed seatback and an extendible headrest to provide head support for the passenger. The fixed seatback is set at a low height for visibility, and the head and neck support can be adjusted higher for comfort.
There are a number of issues associated with this approach. First, the adjustment feature is far from intuitive and passengers are usually unaware of its existence. Second, the headrest, as a moving part which is regularly subjected to abuse load and cyclic fatigue, has a limited lifetime and upon mechanical failure can easily detach from the seatback, not only causing serious hazard but also removing the seat from service midflight. Third, the extra moving parts are expensive, both directly in terms of increased production cost, and indirectly in added weight which leads to higher fuel consumption. Finally, mechanical hinges and slides that facilitate adjustability and extension are difficult to mask using padding and can therefore cause discomfort over time.
The seating industry is in need of innovative solutions that can offer a simplified system balancing safety, human factors, production cost, manufacturability, weight-saving, passenger comfort, and visual appeal, among others.
In one embodiment, a passenger seat with an extended backrest can be tapered in a fashion to satisfy cabin viewing regulations, yet accommodate a fixed headrest which is ergonomically positioned and hence requires no moving parts. The headrest can comprise a variety of multi-density foam laminates, fiberfill, reinforcements and memory foam to provide omni-directional head and neck support.
The seatback assembly can further include a literature pocket (or storage space) that is seamlessly integrated and therefore fortifies structural integrity. A wide-screen entertainment unit (or a display), whether as part of the seat or a passenger's own device (e.g. electronic tablets) can be also fitted into the seatback assembly and conceal the underlying storage space.
Moreover, the resulting gap between neighboring seats, due to the tapered geometry of the seatback which improves visibility, may promote a sense of spaciousness, as opposed to claustrophobia, in high-density seating configurations.
In a further embodiment, a passenger seat assembly can provide high visibility behind the seat while also having a high seatback. The seat assembly can include a lower body section positioned to receive a lower body of a user in a seated position. The seat assembly can also include an upper body section positioned to receive an upper body of a user in a seated position. The upper body section can be operably connected to the lower body section and define a profile in the coronal plane such that a standing-person having a height of 5 feet behind the seat assembly can be seen by somebody in front of the seat assembly in the context of an airplane cabin. The profile can include a top at least 45 inches from the ground and two sides comprising tapered portions at an angle between 120 and 160 degrees. The seat assembly can also include a display disposed on a rear side of the upper body section, at or above a bottom of the tapered portions, and having a diagonal size of at least 9 inches.
In a further embodiment, a passenger seat assembly can provide high visibility behind the seat while also having a high seatback. The seat assembly can include a lower body section positioned to receive a lower body of a user in a seated position. The seat assembly can also include an upper body section positioned to receive an upper body portion of a user in a seated position. The upper body section can be operably connected to the lower body section and define a profile in the coronal plane. The profile in the coronal plane can include a top portion defining a highest point on the seatback and a maximum horizontal width, the maximum horizontal width occurring at an intermediate portion. A substantially triangular area in the coronal plane can be defined on either side of the seat by a horizontal line tangent to the top portion, a vertical line tangent to the profile at the maximum horizontal width, and the profile. The substantially triangular area can be at least 20 square inches.
A more thorough understanding of the present invention may be achieved by referring to the detailed description and claims along with the accompanying figures.
The following description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the embodiments described herein. Moreover, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description.
It is evident that the seatback in the prior art seat is shorter than the sitting height of an average male passenger (generally considered to be 5 feet and 9 inches) and hence does not provide adequate head or neck support.
In this particular example, a non-continuous double tapering is depicted on the side of the seat. This configuration includes a first (lower) tapered portion 22 at an angle, followed by a vertical portion 23, and a second (higher) tapered portion 24 which may or may not have a similar angle to that of the first tapered portion 22. As further discussed herein and depicted in
Other configurations of the upper body section are also possible. For example, the upper body section can have a continuous double tapering, with two tapered portions at different angles without a vertical portion. Another example is shown in
Another example configuration of the upper body section is depicted in
The various seats described herein can also provide adequate visibility to see a person behind the seat. For example, the seats can define a profile in the coronal plane such that a standing person having a height of 5 feet, standing behind the seat, can be seen by somebody in front of the seat. For example, a stewardess (or other person) in an airplane cabin can see the person behind a seat. The seat can define an area in the coronal plane through which the standing person behind the seat can be seen. More specifically, the seat can have a maximum horizontal width (for example, corresponding to the general torso of the seated person), and a top portion (which can be, for example, at least 45 inches above the ground). A vertical line tangent to the profile of the seat in the coronal plane at the maximum horizontal width, a horizontal line tangent to the top of the seat, and the profile of the seat itself can define an area on each side of the seat that can be substantially triangular (although the area may include more than three sides, or non-straight sides). The area on either side of the seat can be at least 20 square inches. Even further, the area can include at least 10 square inches below a height of 45 inches from the ground, ensuring sufficient area for viewing of people below that height.
When the seats are symmetric and arranged adjacent to each other, a comparable area defined by adjacent seats can form an area of at least 40 square inches, and this area can be sufficient to easily see a person behind the seat (as best shown in
Even further, distance between the seats at the maximum horizontal width can also increase the space for viewing of a person standing behind the seats. However, increasing this space can also reduce the amount of space on the seat to support the user. In some embodiments, this distance can be no more than 3 inches.
More generally, moving from a substantially rectangular seat shape, as used in many prior art seating systems in transportation settings (such as that shown in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2014/0300171 and 2013/0169009, both incorporated by reference in their entirety), to a tapered shape can allow for improved visibility without overly reducing comfort. For example, this can allow a taller and wider seat.
Configurations such as those described herein can be deployed in passenger seats for mass transportation vehicles such as, but not limited to, aircrafts, trains, and watercrafts in any number of seating configurations (e.g. single-seat, double-seat, triple-seat, quadruple-seat, etc.) or tapering configuration (e.g. continuous, non-continuous, single, double, etc.). The seat configurations depicted in the figures are not intended to restrict the application or scope of the application in any way.
It is apparent from
A high seatback can further provide extra space on the rear side of the seat which may be used to integrate secondary components.
In either case, the storage can be concealed by the display 53 in a normal configuration. The display can be an electronic display such as an LCD or other graphical interface. In some embodiments, the display 53 can be moved (fully removed, pivoted upward or in another direction, or otherwise moved) such as for cleaning and maintenance, as shown in the perspective view of
Furthermore, passengers using prior art seats often have to tilt their head slightly downward to maintain a direct line-of-sight with the display. This is due to the low height at which the display is placed (as readily observed in the side view presented in
While at least one example embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the example embodiment or embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the described embodiment or embodiments. It should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims and the legal equivalents thereof which include known equivalents and foreseeable equivalents at the time of filing this patent application.
