Patent Grant
10226127
The present invention relates generally to the field of support mechanisms for chairs and other human-supporting devices, and more particularly to a resistive support mechanism for use in a chair capable of providing feedback to a user regarding their activity level while seated.
Various motion control and support devices are known in art to control and support tilt and/or rotational motion. Common prior art examples are found in chairs, such as office chairs that offer a variety of options for adjusting the tilt on a chair or restricting the degree to which a user of the chair is able to adjust and/or control the motion of the chair. A common example are office chairs that have various degrees of freedom and ranges of motion aimed at providing mobility, flexibility and optimal ergonomic positioning with minimal dynamic action. One problem associated with such prior art ergonomic designs is that they allow for an individual fit, but rarely are they readjusted as often as they should, so a user ends up sitting in a fixed position for prolonged periods of time when seated at an office desk. For example, these chairs are able to swivel, flexibly tilt in limited fore and aft planes and be raised and lowered as required by a user. Various mechanisms have been proposed or otherwise known in the art to provide some of the above-mentioned features. There are conventional adjustable chairs where adjustment is possible by way of several, independent adjusting means, to adjust, for example, chair height, angle, etc. In addition, active adjustment chairs provide for multi-directional adjustment based on the seating position of a user. Some problems associated with prior art systems include the complexity of the mechanisms involved, difficulty in operation, lack of fluid control over the motion of the tilt and/or rotation of the chair.
The various prior art devices are generally restricted in the range of motion they support, and in the resistive forces that are applied. That is, resistive support is provided for only a small range of motion. Furthermore, prior art devices and mechanisms for providing such resistive support are generally not readily adaptable to different applications, and do not provide variable resistance throughout the range of motion. Furthermore, in the case of resistive support devices provided on chairs, such resistive support devices have heretofore been inadequate in providing core support and strengthening to a user on the chair, and have not provided a full range of resistive support throughout a full range of tilt and rotational motions. Some shortcomings of these prior art designs include a requirement that a pivot point for motion be at a distance significantly below the user's centre of mass, thereby requiring the user to lean their body more than to mobilize their pelvic and lower back skeletal structure minimizing their significant to the action of an active sitting surface. Some examples of such prior art devices include those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,547,067 to Keilhauer and U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,511 to Marchand.
One such example of a prior art chair having a resistive support mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,958 issued Apr. 3, 2001 to Thole et al. Thole discloses one way of implementing a tilt control mechanism on a seating assembly. However, the Thole mechanism, while providing for universal tilt, does not allow for a full range of positions in which the chair can be locked, or for full flexibility in the degree of resistance. Thole discloses a tilt control mechanism for a char, where the tilt control mechanism defines a pivot connection between a seat assembly and a base, whereby the seat assembly effectively pivots about a pivot point in any direction extending radially from the pivot point. The tilt control mechanism includes an annular elastomeric ring which resists multi-directional tilting by mimicking a spring effect in the resistance, and further biases the seat assembly to a neutral position. The elastomeric ring has a contact area on which the tilting moment of the seat assembly acts which contact area can be selectively varied to adjust tilting resistance. Accordingly, the Thole mechanism tends to be large and bulky where a wide range of resistances is required. Furthermore, there is no discussion in Thole or features provided that result in proper support for the core muscles in a user's body.
In more recent times, it has also become desirable to evaluate and/or measure the activity level of a user during different times of the day. It would therefore also be beneficial to have a chair from which this type of data can be extracted. None of the aforementioned prior art devices make this readily feasible.
According to one embodiment of the invention, there is provided a resistive motion support mechanism joined to a mounting surface and to a base for providing resistive support to the mounting surface as the mounting surface undergoes one or both of rotational and tilt movement relative to the base, the motion support mechanism including: a support bearing connected to the mounting surface and to the base which permits one or both of tilting and rotational motion of the mounting surface relative to the base; a resistance cartridge fixedly connected to the mounting surface such that the resistance cartridge undergoes movement relative to the base and applies a resistive force on the base as the mounting surface undergoes the one or both of rotational and tilt movement. The mounting surface and the resistance cartridge are connected by at least one sensor for measuring one of forces applied by the mounting surface on the resistance cartridge, movement of the mounting surface with respect to the cartridge and/or acceleration of the mounting surface with respect to the cartridge.
In one aspect of the invention, a pivot ball is functionally attached to a portion of the base; wherein the resistance cartridge includes: a cartridge housing; and, a resilient member in contact relation with the pivot ball and with a wall of the housing such that the resilient member is compressed by the relative movement between the resistance cartridge and the pivot ball to thereby provide the resistive support to the mounting surface.
In another aspect of the invention, the at least one sensor comprises four axial load sensors, one in each quadrant of the mounting surface.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided one or more of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer for providing additional measurements regarding the motion of the mounting surface with respect to the resistance cartridge.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a circuit board including a processing unit receiving data from the at least one sensor; and a communication means for transferring data processed by the processing unit to a computer device remote from the mechanism.
In another aspect of the invention, the communication means is a Bluetooth transmitter.
In another aspect of the invention, the circuit board further comprises means for determining atmospheric temperature and/or humidity to calibrate measurements obtained from the at least one sensor.
In another aspect of the invention, the resilient member is selected from the group comprising an elastomeric ring, a silicone member, a dampening gel, a viscoelastomer, a bonded dampening material and a combination of same.
In another aspect of the invention, the pivot ball comprises a rigid extension element and the resilient member is in contact relation with the rigid extension element and with the wall of the housing.
In another aspect of the invention, the resilient member is adapted to bias the mounting surface to a home position.
In another aspect of the invention, a means for locking the resistance cartridge is provided at a position in which the mounting surface has undergone the movement relative to the base.
In another aspect of the invention, a means for varying the resistive force.
In another aspect of the invention, the means for varying the resistive force comprises a means for varying the distance between the support bearing and the pivot ball such that the pivot ball is functionally attached at a variable position on the base, wherein the means for varying the distance comprises a spring within the housing and adapted to apply a force onto the resistance cartridge.
In another aspect of the invention, the housing comprises two or more stepped notches offset vertically from each other and wherein the resistance lever is moveable between each of the two or more stepped notches to vary the effective length of the spring.
In another aspect of the invention, the stepped notches are further offset horizontally from each other to facilitate moving the resistance lever between each of the notches.
In another aspect of the invention, the mounting surface is adapted to mount the base of a seat thereon, and the base comprises the base of a chair.
In another embodiment of the invention, there is provided a chair having a seat, a base, and a motion support mechanism joined to the base and the seat, wherein the motion support mechanism is joined to the seat by a plurality of load sensors; the motion support mechanism providing resistive support to the seat as the seat undergoes one or both of rotational and tilt movement relative to the base, the motion support mechanism comprising: a support bearing connected to the seat and to the base which permits one or both of tilting and rotational motion of the seat relative to the base; a pivot ball fixedly attached to a portion of the base; and, a resistance cartridge fixedly connected to the seat such that the resistance cartridge undergoes movement relative to the base and applies a resistive force on the base as the seat undergoes the one or both of rotational and tilt movement; wherein the resistance cartridge includes: a cartridge housing; and, a resilient member in contact relation with the pivot ball and with a wall of the housing such that the resilient member is compressed by the relative movement between the resistance cartridge and the pivot ball to thereby provide the resistive support to the seat.
Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:
The preferred embodiments of the invention as described herein below teach a motion support mechanism capable of providing resistive support, and referred to interchangeably as a motion support mechanism and a resistive motion support mechanism. In the preferred embodiment, the invention is applied for use with a chair, such as an office chair. The resistive support mechanisms described herein, help in providing the additional benefit of improving core strength in a user on the seat and mobilize the joints of the pelvis and vertebrae, thereby for example preventing contractures and atrophy of the supportive soft tissue and in fact enhancing the endurance of the relevant supportive musculature around these joints to counter the potential of back pain and injury as a result of chronic static sitting by allowing the user to be constantly counteracting the rotational motion of the ball. This ability to affect continuous movement and/or dynamic movement further aids in improving blood circulation, as well as the redistribution of sitting pressures to reduce pressure points which directly correlates to the sitting comfort of the user.
Some embodiments of the invention also allow the user to restrict this movement either by increasing/decreasing the resistance and or locking the system in a desired position. For example, one such desirable position would be such that the user is allowed to sit with their knees lower than their hips promoting a more upright pelvis and natural extension and balance of the spine. The invention also permits accommodation of mild to moderate orthopedic abnormalities allowing for an individual's hip, for example, to sit lower on one side versus the other and by doing so allow the spine to be erect whereas on a level fixed surface, the spine would be challenged to be upright further complicating spine balance and alignment, pain and injury. These features may also be advantageously used to accommodate other factors that affect proper pelvic positioning such as a wallet that might tend to cause a similar uneven positioning of the pelvis.
Furthermore, the motion support mechanism as herein described may be applied to other seating devices, such as dentists' chairs, lab stools, car seats, gaming chairs, leisure chairs such as bar stools, amusement park rides, children's school stools and similar devices where it would be beneficial to provide resistive support to a user. Other applications include devices meant to support a user in a standing position, such as construction support surfaces or pedestals. In the case of a dental hygienist using a hygienist's chair, for example, while the user reaches to perform their tasks, the free movement of the seat by way of the motion support mechanism prevents an acceleration of forces through the lower lumbar region of the user thereby reducing the potential of strains associated with this movement, which contributes to user pain and injury that may be experienced while sitting on a fixed level seating surface.
Referring now to
Referring to
A pivot ball 55 is positioned on a portion of the base 30. As will be described below, pivot ball 55 has a resistive force providing means acting on it to provide the resistive support to the mechanism. Various ways of implementing the resistive force providing means are contemplated. The resistive force providing means is preferably implemented by way of a resistance cartridge 40 that acts on the pivot ball 55. In this manner, the resistive and/or dampening forces are exerted perpendicular to the vertical plane of the mounting surface 45 resulting in a more stable and controlled ride compared to prior art devices. For example, the aforementioned Thole patent allows the resilient material as therein arranged to undergo various compression and torque forces resulting in various compression and torque forces being applied to the resilient material.
In the embodiment of
The resilient member 65b is preferably selected from the group consisting of an elastomeric ring, silicone, a gel, a series of rubber elements, and any similar materials know to have damping characteristics or otherwise able to resist relative movement when compressed or otherwise subjected to a force. It is also contemplated that a combination of resilient members may be employed to vary the resistance being applied across the range of motion available. For example, the resilient member 65b may include a first resilient member in contact relation with the extension element 65a and a second resilient member in contact relation with the wall 70. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the resilient member 65b is a viscoelastomeric material bonded to the wall 70 and to the extension element 65a. The use of a viscoelastomeric material provides a damping effect where the material deforms, absorbs and distributes more of the load as it is compressed and slowly recovers when the load is removed. The result is that when the resistive support mechanism 40 is returning to a home position, the movement back to the home position is dampened and controlled based on the material properties. The use of a viscoelastomeric material allows the rate of resistance to be accentuated such that the flow properties of the resilient member are more prominent, thus providing for increased dampening. That is, viscoelastomeric materials have a response that exhibits both viscous and elastic properties when a load is applied and therefore hysteresis is observed.
Wall 70 of the resistance cartridge 40 includes an outer surface that is capable of sliding vertically within the housing 60 to thereby permit the resistance cartridge 40 to have its vertical position adjusted within the housing 60, as will be described in further detail below. In a preferred embodiment, the resilient member 65b is a viscoelastomeric ring, and the extension element 65a is a rigid material in a ring shape articulating with the pivot ball and radiating outward to compresses the resilient member 65b having damping properties. It is also contemplated that the second resilient member may be provided that includes a plurality of gels in contact with each other and/or the leading edge of the extension member 65a. Where a plurality of gels are included, it is preferably that the gels further away from the pivot ball 55 will have a higher density than those gels closer to the pivot ball 55, although variations of this are considered within the scope of the invention. This permits the resistance to tilting to be greater as the degree of tilt increases.
Furthermore, the provision of the resilient members 65 as herein described allows the mounting surface 45, and the seat 20 mounted thereon, to be biased towards a home position, having no tilt or rotational due to pre-compression of the resilient members 65. Thus, if a user seated in the chair leans in one direction and is supported there by the resistive support mechanism as described, but subsequently stands up, the seat will return to an unbiased home position.
According to an aspect of the invention, a means for varying the resistive force acting on the pivot ball 55 is provided. This allows the resistance applied by the resistive cartridge to be increased or decreased depending on, for example, the intended use of the resistive support mechanism or the user. In the case of a chair, a larger user may require a higher resistive force than a small sized user. In addition, regardless of size, the user may wish to have more or less resistance, which will allow them the possibility of more recruitment of core musculature to affect an exercise phenomena, and opportunity to mobilize the joints of their pelvis and vertebral regions and or a reduction of forces experienced on the sitting support soft tissue and joints in question when the user may otherwise be required to make repetitive movements as may be best illustrated by the work of a dental hygienist as an example. In the illustrated embodiment of
Various other implementations and embodiments of the invention are described below, however, the principle of operation in that there is a support bearing and a pivot ball provided as described above. Furthermore, there is preferably provided a means for varying the resistive force by varying the distance between the pivot ball on which the resilient material acts, and the support bearing. Referring now to
According to another aspect of the invention, a means for locking the resistance cartridge 40 at any position in which the mounting surface 45 has undergone movement relative to the base is also provided. Such a locking means provides the benefit of allowing the seat, or other apparatus mounted on the mounting surface 45 to be locked in position, and to therefore prevent the mechanism from returning to its home position. The different embodiments of the means for locking herein described permit locking in either predetermined incremental positions, or at a free floating position. The inclusion of a means for locking may be of particular benefit where the resistive support mechanism is deployed in environments where it may not always be beneficial for the resistive functionality to be active, or in the alternative, to provide additional functionality whereby the mechanism may be locked at any position of tilt or rotation—during use.
Referring to
Other locking means contemplated include systems similar to bicycle disk brakes, multi-layer compression plates and rotors and pads, all of which may be applied to the invention in a manner analogous to the Preferably, the locking means of the invention is capable of being activated in either predetermined increments or at random engagement points as will be possible in the various embodiments described herein.
Referring back to
Having thus described a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, including the resistance cartridge, and optional means for varying the resistance and for locking the motion support mechanism in a particular position, various alternatives will now be described. Specifically, the alternatives relate to alternate means for varying the resistance and/or for locking the motion support mechanism. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to particular combinations of the embodiments of the resistance cartridge, means for varying the resistance and means for locking in the combinations as described. Combinations of the resistance cartridge, means for varying the resistance, and means for locking that are herein described are contemplated by the invention, which is only limited by the claims at the end of the specification. In the description that follows, elements common to the description above are not described in further detail, and their operation will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, having regard thereto.
Referring now to
It has been discovered that adapting the resistive support mechanism according to the invention to have a range of tilt of approximately fourteen degrees allows for the effective mobilization of the joints involved to optimize the range of motion and to ensure a reasonable limit for safety considerations.
Referring now to
Referring to
A pivot ball 1055, within resistance cartridge 1040, is positioned on a portion of the base 1030. As described with respect to previous embodiments of the invention, the resistance applied is varied by permitting the distance between the pivot ball 1055 and the support bearing 1050 to be varied, by adjusting the position on the base 1030 on which the pivot ball 1055 acts. Extension element 1063 is a rigid element extending from the pivot ball 1055 on which resilient member 1065 acts. As illustrated, resilient member 1065 is compressed between the extension element 1063 and a wall of the resistance cartridge 1040 to provide the resistance to tilt and/or rotation.
In this embodiment, there is provided a cable 1005 adapted to raise or lower the position of seat, or other surface atop the mounting surface that is being subject to resistive motion of the resistance cartridge 1010 with respect to the base 1015. The cable 1005 may be drawn by activation of the lever 1020 by rotation about the vertical axis. The cable 1005 may be provided within a cable tube, as illustrated, to prevent damage to the cable. According to the invention, rotation of the lever 1020 about the vertical axis releases and dispenses a length of the cable 1005 to activate an air cylinder atop the base 1015, which results in the cylinder being moved up or down. Various other hardware elements are illustrated, but not described as these are provided for facilitating installation or have been described with respect to previous embodiments of the invention.
The above-described embodiments are intended to be examples of the present invention and alterations and modifications may be effected thereto, by those of skill in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention that is defined solely by the claims appended hereto. For example, various materials may be used in providing the elastomeric ring or gels in the resistance cartridge described above. Furthermore, other means of providing the damping and/or resistive properties other than by way of such materials are also contemplated, for example, springs. Furthermore, other means for varying the resistance applied are also contemplated. The presently preferred embodiments as herein described are to be considered illustrative of applicant's invention. Similarly, other means for locking the support mechanism of the invention are also contemplated.
It has also been discovered that the positioning of the support bearing of the invention being immediately beneath and close to the user's centre of mass provides the unexpected benefit of more acutely affecting the mobilization of the user's joints compared to prior art mechanisms. Prior art active sitting solutions have pivot points further from the user, resulting more in a lean of the entire body of the user rather than a mobilization of critical joints.
Referring now to
As described above, and particularly with respect to
Axial load sensors 1402 may be used to obtain real-time measurements which may then be transmitted via a radio processing unit and wireless interface, for example a Bluetooth™ low energy transmitter. The measurements may then be used, optionally in combination with other sensor readings, to calculate an estimate of work performed, for example number of calories burned.
In another embodiment circuit board 1602 (or processing unit 1604) may perform the work estimate calculations based on the measured data from the sensors and send work estimate data to the radio processing unit 1612.
At 1702, measurements of applied forces from axial load sensors 1402 are obtained and read by or sent to the main processing unit 1604.
At 1704, measurements from the optional accelerometer 1606, gyro 1608, and magnetometer 1610 are ready by or sent to the main processing unit 1604. These sensors obtain data along three axes and are able to provide a wide array of information.
Optionally, temperature and humidity sensors are also included to adjust for variation in sensor-read data based on environmental factors. The mechanics of these effects are well known, and not described in detail here. In this variation, at 1706, main processing unit 1604 receives measurements for ambient temperature and humidity.
At 1708, main processing unit 1604 filters the obtained data, for example by applying a low pass baseline filter, such as a Kalman or a simple IIR filter.
At 1710, the energy used to exert the measured forces on the load sensors is calculated based on the filtered parameters. The energy parameter uses data from each of the axial load sensors, and from the accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer to obtain a numerical parameter representative of the energy exerted by the user of the chair.
At 1712, the temperature and humidity measurement data is used to calibrate the calculated energy parameter.
At 1714, the work parameter is calculated based on the calibrated energy parameter. The work parameter may continuously accumulate and represents the activity level of the user. The word parameter may then be manipulated in software to represent a number of different user feedback information, such as calories burned, distance moved, etc. The invention is not limited to the type of data or calculations performed, as it is well known in the art the types of data obtainable from the sensors as used herein. However, it is believed to be novel to obtain this data from the physical structure described herein and obtain the data for the purposes of modeling a user's sitting experience in the chair as herein described.
Steps 1702 to 1714 may be repeated continuously so as to provide a real-time feedback or a user's movements and activity level.
Various user feedback may be provided based on the data obtained from this embodiment of the invention. For example, the data could be communicated to an application on a smartphone which tracks the users seated activity throughout the course of a day, thus encouraging more movement while seated in the chair. In addition, day to day comparisons may be performed to further encourage more active seating, which is made possible by other embodiments of the invention as have been herein described.
This application is a continuation in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/988,712 filed on May 21, 2013 (U.S. Pat. No. 9,211,013 issued Dec. 15, 2015), which was a national phase application of PCT/CA2011/050733, filed on Nov. 24, 2011 which claimed priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/417,258, filed on Nov. 25, 2010 and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/475,010 filed on Apr. 13, 2011, the contents of all of which, in their entirety, are herein incorporated by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6209958 | Thole | Apr 2001 | B1 |
| 20080191525 | Jensen | Aug 2008 | A1 |
| 20090230743 | Derakhshan | Sep 2009 | A1 |
| 20110084525 | Endo | Apr 2011 | A1 |
| 20130334851 | Hoell | Dec 2013 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20160081483 A1 | Mar 2016 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61417258 | Nov 2010 | US | |
| 61475010 | Apr 2011 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13988712 | US | |
| Child | 14960525 | US |
