초록

An arrangement in passenger vehicles, that provide a mechanism for reducing the peak inertial loading on the occupant including children during lateral acceleration, and has synergistic comfort, convenience and utility features.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A support element for a child with a head and a torso in a vehicle with a head assembly for front impact protection comprising a hub with a pillow pad and a harness attached to the hub on each side with a spring loaded pivot arrangement on arms, wherein said pillow pads are enabled for a front im

1. A support element for a child with a head and a torso in a vehicle with a head assembly for front impact protection comprising a hub with a pillow pad and a harness attached to the hub on each side with a spring loaded pivot arrangement on arms, wherein said pillow pads are enabled for a front impact support during a forward projection of the head with a motion of said pillow pads towards the head caused by forward motion of the harness with an inertial loading of the torso of the child, enabled to articulate said pillow pads towards the head of the child and enabled to support and restrain in an impact, the head of the child, with a central or a pair of hinges on arms that pivot forward, thereby reducing the gap between said pillow pads and supporting and thereby restraining the head of the child. 2. A support mechanism for a forward facing occupant in a vehicle wherein during accelerations of the vehicle said support mechanism is adapted to re-orient, while providing support for said occupant during said reorientation, and wherein said support mechanism comprises a plurality of support elements, wherein one of said plurality of elements is a torso support assembly for the support of the torso, and another of said plurality of elements is a head support assembly for the support of the head supported by a flex spine, and where in the head support assembly is adapted under transient lateral accelerations of the vehicle, to provide controlled support while one or both of rotating about a predefined axis substantially parallel to a back of the occupant relative to the torso support assembly, and bending laterally along its axis substantially parallel to a back of the occupant relative to the torso assembly enabled by the distortion of the flex spine thereby providing controlled resistance to the head and torso under transient accelerations, thereby reducing a peak acceleration of one or both of the head and torso. 3. A dynamic occupant support for a child in a seat in a vehicle said dynamic occupant support, attached slidably to the base assembly of the seat with a plurality of separate pivoted slides, wherein during lateral accelerations of the vehicle said dynamic occupant support in the seat is adapted to reorient as a result of the inertial loading of the child about an axis of rotation which translates along a path on a plane substantially orthogonal to said axis of rotation enabled by the plurality of separate pivoted slides, pivotally attached to said dynamic occupant support, a support surface for the child on said support structure, by an angular displacement of a facing direction of the support surface, towards a direction of the lateral acceleration thereby enabling an increase in the support surface area during said lateral acceleration while providing substantial controlled support for the child during such time of reorientation. 4. A support mechanism for an occupant in a vehicle as in claim 3, further comprising a cradle, wherein said cradle is detachable and may be replaced with a booster shell for older children. 5. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle as in claim 3, further comprising latches and a tether attachment point to attach to the vehicle on a car seat with a back and a bottom, with at least two latch attachment points at the base of the seat back and a tether, wherein said base of said support mechanism comprises a wishbone that connects the tether attachment point to the at least two latches, thereby enabling a rigid triangle of supports for the occupant support mechanism. 6. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle as in claim 3, further comprising a cradle, wherein said cradle is adapted to attach to a rear facing support shell, wherein said rear facing support shell is detachably attached to said cradle, and comprises wheels and a handle, adapted to transport said shell when detached from said cradle of said support mechanism. 7. A support mechanism as in claim 6 wherein one or both of the wheels and handle of the support shell are retractable, thereby reducing the required space in the vehicle when said support shell is attached to the cradle of the support mechanism for a child. 8. A support for an occupant in a vehicle as in claim 3, comprising a support shell for the occupant that is adapted to be reoriented to face substantially outside the vehicle to facilitate egress and ingress. 9. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle as in claim 3, wherein: i) the head is supported by one of a pair of pillow pads oriented to be substantially orthogonal to and on the side of a lateral transient acceleration towards the child of the vehicle and the support mechanism, thereby enabling the pillow pad to apply a substantially orthogonal lateral reaction force, to support the head of the child, andii) wherein in the absence of a lateral transient acceleration, said pillow pads are adapted to lie in an angled position to the vertical and displaced downwards with regard to the head to enable one or more of: allow the child to rest its head on said pillow pad; provides a less obstructed field of view as a result of fixed protective wings; reduces obstruction to hearing. 10. A support for a child in a vehicle as in claim 3, wherein said support is adapted to reorient a supported child under transient acceleration conditions, wherein said reorientation is one or both of: a reorientation in discrete steps with multiple stages of reorientation with increasing accelerations enabled with multistage shock absorption devices; and reorientation enabled with shock absorption devices enabled for the higher acceleration of impact and the lower acceleration of centrifugal forces as the vehicle negotiates turns. 11. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle as in claim 3, and wherein said support mechanism further comprising a Crash Bar (247) with one end attached to the support shell and the other end attached to the seat support, that upon intrusion into the vehicle during impact, resists said intrusion and at a predetermined level of force is adapted relocate the support shell away from the impact side of the support for an occupant. 12. A support for a child, in a vehicle as in claim 3, comprising a base and a support shell in direct contact with the occupant, a plurality of sliding arrangements attached to the base, and pivotal attachments of the support shell to the sliding arrangements, thereby enabling the relocation and rotation of the occupant for one or both of egress and ingress; and for protection under vehicle acceleration conditions. 13. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle as in claim 3, comprising a plurality of chambers containing a viscous fluid and fluid paths there between, adapted to conduct predetermined controlled volumes of fluid upon compression of one or more of said chambers, and wherein said chambers are located adjoining the child at a plurality of regions of an anatomy of the child thereby pressure on a first chamber of the plurality of chambers from reaction forces from the child relocates fluid to a second chamber of the plurality of chambers that is adapted to ensconse and protect a protected region of the anatomy of the child. 14. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle as in claim 3, wherein said support mechanism comprises a base and a cradle adapted to move under said lateral accelerations, wherein the cradle is adapted to detachably attach to at least one of a forward facing support shell and a rear facing support shell that directly supports the child. 15. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle, wherein said support mechanism comprises a child support shell and a harness with a left half and a right half each pivotally attached to the child support shell, and each comprising a semi-rigid elements along the length of each of the left side and the right side of said harness thereby making the left side and the right side of the harness self supporting about each of their pivotal axes, adapted to restrain the child substantially within the child support shell, and wherein the each of the pivots of the left and the right side of the harness are located substantially behind the back of the child, and each axis inclined in a direction away from each other to enable said left half harness and right half harness to each independently of the other, swing away from the child about said axes to facilitate egress and ingress of the child and each of the left half are and the right half separately attached a point on the support mechanism between the legs of the child, such that on release of the separately attached harness, each of said harness halves, may be moved subject to the constraints imposed by their pivotal attachments away from the child as each of said harness halves rise as they rotate about their respective pivotal axes, thereby easing egress and ingress of the child from the support mechanism. 16. A support mechanism for a child in a vehicle as in claim 15, wherein the separable attachment points may be moved and locked in positions towards and away from the child to facilitate securing of children with different waist and chest measurements. 17. A support mechanism as in 15, wherein one or both of: the height of the axes for support for the left and right half harnesses; and the length of each of the left and right half harness, are adjustable to accommodate taller and shorter children. 18. A support mechanism as in claim 15, wherein each of the left half and right half harness each have a passive belly pad that provides support to the torso of the child in a frontal or oblique impact. 19. A support mechanism as in claim 15 wherein each of the left and right half harness each have a aircushion adjoining a torso of the child that supports the child in the event of a frontal or oblique impact on the vehicle. 20. A support mechanism as in claim 15, wherein both of said left half and right half of the harness have a passive support pad for the head in the event of a front impact thereby reducing the neck tensile loadings during such impact. 21. An occupant support mechanism in a vehicle, comprising a support shell which comprises: I) a substantially rigid structural shell with perforations with a first side and a second side; II) a flexible membrane with a first side and a second side with perforations staggered to the perforations of the structural shell and therefore not lined up to the perforations on the structural shell; III) a foam layer with a first side and a second side that is adapted to absorb air on expansion and release air on compression; and IV) a gas permeable membrane with a first side and a second side, wherein the second side of the rigid structural shell is adjoining the first side of the perforated membrane, the second side of the perforated membrane is adjacent to the first side of the foam, the second side of the foam is adjacent to the first side of the gas permeable membrane and the second side of the gas permeable membranes adjacent to the occupant, such that: i) during transient accelerations of a part of the occupant support mechanism in the vehicle in a direction substantially towards the occupant, the inertial mass of the occupant upon reactive contact with said part of the support shell, compresses the foam and as on its first side, the combination of the flexible membrane with perforations and the structural shell with mutually staggered perforations as a result of said reactive compressive forces of the support shell with the occupant, press the membrane with perforations against the structural shell with perforations whereby a result of the perforations of the flexible membrane with perforations being staggered with regard to the perforations on the structural shell, will not provide a path for airflow out of the foam on its first side and will therefore create a seal for airflow on the first side of the foam, resulting in the air being forced out of the foam on its second side through the gas permeable membrane to the occupant, andii) during transient accelerations of the part of the occupant support mechanism in the vehicle in a direction substantially away from the occupant there is a reduced reactive force between the occupant and the part of the support shell, thereby as the inertial mass of the occupant shifts away from the second side of the gas permeable membrane, the reduced reactive force from the occupant releases pressure on the foam in a compressed state and thereby allows the foam to suck air from both its first side and its second side, and as a result of the suction of the foam on its first side pulling the membrane with perforations towards the foam and away from the structural shell, an air path is created for air to flow through the perforations on the structural shell and the membrane with perforations into the foam, thereby filling the foam with fresh air from the first side of the structural shell, thereby creating a mechanism for fresh air to enter the support shell for enhancing the comfort of the occupant.