Patent Application
20180326881
Various embodiments are directed to an air bladder assembly for a seat back.
In a seated position, an upper region of a person's back, including the thoracic and cervical spinal regions and the scapular region, the supports much of the person's upper body mass.
According to at least one embodiment, a seat assembly having a seat back and a central bladder assembly oriented in a thoracic region of the seat back. A pair of side bladders each positioned on a lateral side of the central bladder assembly are oriented in a scapular region of the seat back. An inflation device is in fluid communication with the central bladder assembly and the pair of side bladders. A controller is in electrical communication with the inflation device and is programmed to operate the inflation device to inflate the central bladder assembly. The controller operates the inflation device to inflate the pair of side bladders after initiating inflation of the central bladder assembly.
According to another embodiment, the seat assembly has an upper bladder positioned above the central bladder assembly in an upper spinal region and is positioned laterally between the pair of side bladders. The upper bladder is at least partially oriented in a cervical region of the seat back. The controller is further programmed to operate the inflation device to inflate the upper bladder after initiating inflation of the pair of side bladders.
According to another embodiment, the seat assembly has a lumbar bladder positioned below the central bladder assembly in a lumbar region. The controller is further programmed to operate the inflation device to inflate the lumbar bladder before initiating inflation of the pair of side bladders.
According to another embodiment, the seat assembly has a pair of sacral bladders spaced apart laterally and positioned in the sacral region of the seat back. The controller is further programmed to operate the inflation device to inflate the pair of sacral bladders after initiating inflation of the lumbar bladder.
According to at least one embodiment, an air bladder assembly for a seat is provided. The air bladder assembly has a central bladder assembly with an increasing width in the longitudinal direction. A pair of side bladders are each positioned on a lateral side of the central bladder assembly and each has a tapered width decreasing in the longitudinal direction.
According to another embodiment, the air bladder assembly has an upper spinal bladder positioned above the central bladder assembly.
According to another embodiment, the central bladder assembly has a central region and a pair of lateral regions extending from opposed sides of the central region. The pair of lateral regions are oriented at a non-zero angle to incline laterally.
According to another embodiment, an inner edge of each of the side bladders is positioned adjacent to the central bladder assembly along each lateral side.
According to another embodiment, the central bladder assembly is positioned to be symmetric about a central longitudinal axis of the seat. The pair of side bladders are oriented as mirror images about the central longitudinal axis.
According to another embodiment, an upper bladder is positioned laterally between the pair of side bladders and above the central bladder assembly. The upper bladder is symmetric about the central longitudinal axis.
According to another embodiment, the support surface of each of the side bladders is reclined along the longitudinal direction when inflated.
According to another embodiment, the pair of side bladders are spaced apart by at least 60 millimeters.
According to another embodiment, the air bladder is oriented within the seat back.
According to at least one embodiment, an air bladder assembly for a seat back is provided with a pair of scapular bladders spaced apart laterally. Each scapular bladder has a support surface shaped as an irregular quadrilateral. The pair of scapular bladders are oriented as mirror images of each other about a central longitudinal axis of the seat.
According to another embodiment, each scapular bladder has a lower edge that is more narrow than an upper edge.
According to another embodiment, the lower edge expands in a fore-aft direction a greater distance than the upper edge so the support surface is reclined in the fore-aft direction when inflated.
According to another embodiment, the air bladder assembly includes a thoracic bladder assembly is positioned between the pair of scapular bladders.
According to another embodiment, the thoracic bladder assembly has an increasing width in a longitudinal direction, wherein an inner edge of each of the scapular bladders is positioned adjacent to the thoracic bladder assembly along each lateral side.
According to another embodiment, the air bladder assembly includes a cervical bladder positioned laterally between the pair of scapular bladders.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.
Moreover, except where otherwise expressly indicated, all numerical quantities in this disclosure are to be understood as modified by the word “about” in describing the broader scope of this invention. Practice within the numerical limits stated is generally preferred. Also, unless expressly stated to the contrary, the description of a group or class of materials by suitable or preferred for a given purpose in connection with the invention implies that mixtures of any two or more members of the group or class may be equally suitable or preferred.
With the change from a primarily labor intensive work force to one of desk workers who are seated and using computers, we see an increase in low back pain. This is driving the need for an improvement in the location of the seating support system designed to prevent fatigue and the resultant discomfort. It is believed that supporting the upper back including the cervical and thoracic region of the spine and the scapular regions can reduce forces and support as the upper body mass and transfer the load to a more rigid section of the spinal column. By increasing support of the upper body mass, loads are reduced on the muscles, vertebrae, and discs through the lower spine and pelvic regions. Decreased load reduces fatigue on these areas of the body.
The current prevalent comfort back supporting technology for the furniture and transportation seating focuses only on the lumbar, or lower region of the back to provide relief from fatigue. However, support only for the lumbar region of the back does not prevent pain in the lower back from sitting for longer periods of time. By transferring support from solely located in the lumbar region to now instead support the upper back, it is believed that it may decrease lower back pain.
A comfort seating system for office or home seating furniture or comfort vehicular seating systems, such as in automotive, train, off-road vehicular or aircraft seating, provides supporting pressure along the user's spine between the C4 to the T12 vertebrae, and lesser support in the lumbar region. The region above the T1 vertebrae is the cervical region; and the regions below the T12 vertebrae are the lumbar, sacral and coccyx regions.
There are four main factors that affect subjective comfort: 1) smoothness of the pressure integral; 2) sufficiency of the pressure change; 3) ability to create even pressure for a wide range of anthropometry; and 4) ergonomic/control suitability of actuation. An upper back region comfort seating system design is focused on addressing subjective comfort factors. By supporting the upper back including the cervical region, the thoracic region, and the scapular region, the user's load is transferred from the lumbar region to the upper back, reducing stress and fatigue in the muscles, tendons, and vertebrae of the lower back.
A design feature permits even pressure for a wide range of anthropometry, which can be accommodated by having the degree of pressure adjustable.
Referring now to
The inflatable support system 20 has an array of bladders that can be each adjustable and individually or collectively inflated providing support at various locations in the seat intended to accommodate different sized and statured individual occupants, as an upper back and neck support system, as shown in
According to one embodiment, the inflatable upper back support system 20 is a power pneumatic system in the seat back 12 which provides support to thoracic and cervical vertebrae, the scapulae, and the posterior rib cage, as shown in
The inflatable support system 20 has a plurality of support bladders. The support bladders are individually adjustable to achieve an optimum support condition for a variety of postures and occupant sizes. The inflatable support system 20 may mounted to the wire mat suspension on the frame 16 of the seat back 12, or retained in the seat back in a pocket or with any suitable attachment device.
As shown in
The inflatable support system 20 includes a compressor 36 for providing a source of pressurized air to valves 38. The valves 38 are controlled by a controller 40. The valves 38 are in fluid communication with each of the bladders in the inflatable support system 20 for controlling pressure and inflation. The controller 40 permits individual adjustment of pressure of each of the bladders in the inflatable support system 20 as specified by an occupant selection or a predetermined pressure setting.
A seat cushion 42 that defines a seating surface 44 is provided over the inflatable support system 20. The seat cushion 42 may define the seating surface 44 supporting the occupant on a seat back 12 or a seat bottom 14. A rear surface of the cushion 42, opposite the seating surface 44, is mounted adjacent the inflatable support system 20. The seating surface 44 of the seat cushion 42 is covered with seat trim, such as fabric or leather.
The inflatable support system 20 may be oriented along the upper region of an occupant's back. In other words, the inflatable support system 20 is sized to support the cervical and thoracic vertebrae and the scapulae located in the upper back of an occupant. The inflatable support system is sized to have the cervical bladder 24 support the cervical vertebrae, such as from the C3 to the C7 vertebrae, as shown in
The inflatable support system 20 may also have a thoracic bladder assembly 26 located between the scapulae, or shoulder blades and between the T1 and T12 vertebrae for an average occupant. The inflatable support system 20 is sized to have a plurality of thoracic air bladders 28, 30, 32, 34 positioned in the thoracic region of the upper back.
The inflatable support system also includes two scapular bladders 22. One scapular bladder 22 is located along each of the lateral sides of the thoracic bladder assembly 26 and oriented to support the shoulder blades of an average occupant to reduce slouching and prevent the upper back from becoming rounded.
The seat back 12 has a seating surface 44 as depicted in
The wedge configuration of support system 20 depicted in
The inflatable support system 20 is also illustrated removed from the seat back 12 in
As shown in
For example, as shown in more detail in
Referring again to
With continued reference to
The scapular bladders 24 have an angled inner edge 86 and outer edge 88. The inner edge 86 angles laterally outward from the top edge at an angle D. The angle D is an acute angle within a range of sixty to eighty degrees. In another embodiment, the angle D is approximately seventy degrees, for example. The angle D may be supplementary to the angle E of the thoracic bladder 28, as shown in
The lower edge 82 is narrower than the upper edge 80 and the lower edge 82. The distance between the upper edge 80 and the lower edge 82 in the longitudinal direction is in the range of 140 mm and 180 mm.
As shown in
The scapular bladders 24 are oriented as mirror images about the central axis 48 of the seat back 12. As such, inner side edges 86 of the pair of bladders 24 are not parallel. As shown in
The scapular bladders 24 may have an angled outer edge 88. The outer edge 88 may be angled laterally inward from the upper edge 80. The distance between the outer edges 88 of the pair of scapular bladders 24 at the lower edge 82 is in the range of 220 mm to 280 mm. In at least one embodiment, the lower edge 82 may be defined by the intersection of the side edges 86, 88 so that the scapular bladder 22 is shaped as an irregular triangle.
As shown in the cross section in
Referring again to
As shown in
In at least one embodiment, the cervical bladder 24 is also positioned above the scapular bladders 24. In another embodiment, the cervical bladder 24 extend below the upper surface 80 to be positioned between the scapular bladders 24 so that side surfaces 92 are adjacent the inner surfaces 86 of the scapular bladders 24. The cervical bladder 24 has a length in the longitudinal direction in the range of approximately 70 mm to 130 mm. The cervical bladder 24 may be an irregular parallelogram, such as a trapezoid so that the upper surface 94 is narrower than the lower surface, as illustrated in
The thoracic bladder assembly 126 and each of the thoracic bladders 128-135 have tapered outward width to fit between an occupant's shoulder blades. Each of the thoracic bladders 128-135 has a central bladder region 150 adjacent the central axis 140 of the seat back and lateral air bladder regions 152 extending from opposed sides of the central air bladder region for supporting the ribs in the thoracic region of an occupant. Each of the lateral air bladder regions 152 is angled relative to the central air bladder region 150 to incline laterally so that each air bladder 128-135 fits adequately within the thoracic region. According to one embodiment, the offset angle of the pair of lateral bladder regions 152 is within a range of fifteen to forty-five degrees. In another embodiment, the lateral bladder regions 152 extend at an offset angle of approximately thirty degrees, for example.
Referring to
As shown in
The scapular bladders 124 have an angled inner edge 186 and outer edge 188. The inner edge 186 may be generally parallel to the lateral edge 190 of the thoracic bladder assembly 126 that has a tapered and expanding width in the longitudinal direction.
As shown in
With continued reference to
Also shown in
The controller 40 controls inflation of the bladders in the support system to provide various adjustment positions of a vehicle seat assembly 10 for various users, as described in U.S. application Ser. No. 14/575,474, incorporated by reference in its entirety by reference herein.
At block 210, the controller 40 includes data or is programmed to collect and receive data. The data may include expert positioning of a suitable sample of occupants for optimal comfort or preferred posture by a medical professional. The expert input provides a high level of expert comfort, posture and personalized fitting. The data may be based on anthropometry, body pressure distribution (BPD), status of actuators (such as pressure of inflatable air bladders, status of valves or the like), or other data that provides a comfort, posture and biomechanically optimized position of the adjustable vehicle seat assembly.
The data may also include occupant specific data input by the occupant on a user interface, for example. The data is collected in a knowledge base or table for setting adjustments based on categories of data. The setting adjustments from the knowledge base are utilized for pre-set options in the vehicle seat assembly. The setting adjustments can be customized by a user interface or display. The interface may be integrated into the vehicle, such as an instrument panel display that is in suitable wired or wireless communication with the controller 40. The interface may be remote, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) including phones, tablets and the like. The interface may be provided as a smart device application, wherein users enter relevant information about themselves. The smart phone interface may not require on-site expertise or seat properties. The remote interface permits a user to transport settings to each vehicle, such as personal passenger vehicles, airline seating, rental cars, and the like.
At block 212 the controller monitors the occupant seating position. Each of the bladders in the inflatable support system may include a pressure sensor to detect air pressure in the respective bladders. Any pressure sensor is contemplated, such as a pneumatic pressure sensor at the outlet valve of each respective air bladder. Pressure can also be sensed by contact pressure sensors disposed in front of or behind some or all the respective air bladders, including on a front or rear surface thereof. The contact pressure sensors may include pressure-sensing mats, for example, or any suitable contact sensor. The controller 40 may receive an occupant weight distribution from the air bladder pressure sensors.
The controller 40 compares the sensor values, and if the controller 40 determines that the occupant is not seated evenly or in a proper neutral position, the controller 40 adjusts the bladder values, as shown in block 214. The controller 40 may adjust the air pressure in the bladders to balance the occupant seating position. Steps 212 and 214 may be repeated for dynamically and incrementally adjusting the inflatable support system to adjust the occupant's position.
The adjustment may be manual adjustment, as shown at block 216. The bladders of the support system may be manually adjusted where the occupant can select a region of the seat for adjustment, such as scapular support, cervical support, thoracic support or other support regions such as lumbar support or side support, to adjust the pressure and inflation setting. As block 218, the support system may also be automatically adjusted based on the measurements from the pressure sensors and the anthropometric data, for example.
The automatic adjustment of the bladders of the inflatable support system may be a sequential adjustment. The bladders are inflated in a sequence to support posture alignment, posture support and movement. Misalignments of spinal vertebrae and discs may cause irritation to the nervous system and may be an underlying cause to many health problems. Additionally, spinal misalignments can be a contributing factor to a herniated disc, a bulging disc, a facet joint problem, osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis.
The sequence can be controlled by the seat controller 40. Initially, as shown in block 220, the thoracic air bladder assembly is inflated. The thoracic air bladders may be inflated individually or simultaneously. Next, at block 222, the lumbar air bladders are inflated thereby supporting the lumbar vertebrae.
Subsequently, at block 224, the scapular bladders are inflated for scapular support. The scapular bladders are inflated to further lift the upper back region and pull the shoulder blades of the occupant up and rearward to help prevent slouching and a rounded upper. Subsequently, at block 226, the sacral air bladders are inflated for sacrum pressure to promote a slight forward tilt of the sacrum and pelvis.
Next, at block 228, the cervical bladder is inflated to support the neck and thoracic-cervical junction as the occupant is induced to straighten their back and sit upright in a more neutral posture.
While various embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention.
