Child restraint with energy management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10046676-B2
Application number	US-201615217400-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2016
Priority date	Jul 23, 2015
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A child restraint includes a juvenile vehicle seat including a seat bottom and a seat back. The child restraint also includes an energy dissipater coupled to the seat back.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A child restraint comprising
a juvenile vehicle seat including a seat bottom and a seat back, the seat back including a backrest arranged to extend upwardly from the seat bottom and a headrest arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the seat bottom to locate portions of the backrest therebetween, and adapted to support a head of a child seated on the seat bottom, and
energy-dissipation means coupled to the headrest for dissipating energy associated with movement of the head of a child seated on the seat bottom relative to the headrest following application of external impact forces to the juvenile vehicle seat, wherein the energy-dissipation means includes a first energy-dissipation finger having a first root end coupled to the headrest and a first tip arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the headrest, a second energy-dissipation finger having a second root end coupled to the headrest and a second tip arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the headrest, a third energy-dissipation finger having a third root end coupled to the headrest and a third tip arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the headrest, and a fourth energy-dissipation finger having a fourth root end coupled to the headrest and a fourth tip arranged to lie in spaced-apart relation to the headrest, the first and second energy-dissipation fingers are arranged to extend upwardly away from the seat bottom to lie in laterally spaced-apart relation to one another and flex rearwardly away from the seat bottom in response to application of a rearwardly directed force to the first and second energy-dissipation fingers during movement of the head of the child seated on the seat bottom, and the third and fourth energy-dissipation fingers are arranged to extend downwardly toward the seat bottom to lie in laterally spaced-apart relation to one another and flex rearwardly away from the seat bottom in response to application of a rearwardly directed forces to the third and fourth energy-dissipation fingers during movement of the head of the child seated on the seat bottom.

2. The child restraint of claim 1 , wherein the first and third tips are arranged to lie in vertically spaced-apart relation to one another to define a first horizontal slot therebetween.

3. The child restraint of claim 2 , wherein the second and fourth tips are arranged to lie in vertically spaced-apart relation to one another to define a second horizontal slot therebetween.

4. The child restraint of claim 3 , wherein the first and third energy-dissipation fingers are aligned in tip-to-tip spaced-apart alignment to one another and the second and fourth energy-dissipation fingers are aligned in tip-to-tip spaced-apart alignment to one another and arranged to cooperate with the first and third energy-dissipation fingers to define a vertical center slot therebetween and in communication with each of the first and second horizontal slots.

5. The child restraint of claim 4 , wherein the headrest and the first and third energy-dissipation fingers cooperate to define a vertical first side slot located therebetween and arranged to communicate with the first horizontal slot and the headrest and the second and fourth energy-dissipation fingers cooperate to define a vertical second side slot located therebetween and arranged to communicate with the second horizontal slot and lie in spaced-apart relation to the vertical first side slot to locate the vertical center slot therebetween.

6. The child restraint of claim 2 , wherein laterally inwardly facing inner side edges of each of the first, second, third and fourth energy-dissipation fingers cooperate to define a vertical center slot therebetween and laterally outwardly facing outer side edges of each of the first and third energy-dissipation fingers cooperate with a first portion of the headrest to define a vertical first side slot therebetween.

7. The child restraint of claim 6 , wherein laterally outward facing outer side edges of each of the second and fourth energy-dissipation fingers cooperate with a second portion of the headrest to define a vertical second side slot therebetween and the vertical second side slot is formed to lie in spaced-apart location to the vertical first side slot to locate the vertical center slot therebetween.

8. The child restraint of claim 7 , wherein each of the vertical first and second side slots has a first length and the vertical center slot has a relatively longer second length than the first length.

9. The child restraint of claim 8 , wherein each of the vertical first, second, third, and fourth energy-dissipation fingers has a length that is generally the same.

10. The child restraint of claim 7 , wherein each of the first and second horizontal slots has a width and each of the center and side slots has a relatively wider width than the first and second horizontal slots.

11. The child restraint of claim 10 , wherein each of the first, second, third, and fourth energy-dissipation fingers has a width that is wider than the width of the center slot and side slots.

12. A child restraint comprising
a juvenile vehicle seat including a seat bottom and a seat back, the seat back including a panel, and
an energy-dissipation system including first, second, third, and fourth energy-dissipation fingers coupled to the panel and arranged to flex independently of one another when exposed to an external impact force, the first cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to extend upwardly away from the base, the second cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to lie laterally spaced-apart by a vertical slot, in side-by-side relation to the first cantilevered energy-dissipation finger, the fourth cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to extend downwardly toward the first cantilevered energy-dissipation finger to form a first horizontal slot therebetween, and the third cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to extend downwardly toward the second cantilevered energy-dissipation finger to form a second horizontal slot therebetween and to lie in laterally spaced-apart, side-by-side relation to the fourth cantilevered energy-dissipation finger.

13. The child restraint of claim 12 , wherein the panel and the first, second, third, and fourth cantilevered energy-dissipation fingers cooperate to define a monolithic component.

14. The child restraint of claim 12 , A child restraint comprising
a juvenile vehicle seat including a seat bottom and a seat back, the seat back including a panel, and
an energy-dissipation system including first, second, third, and fourth energy-dissipation fingers coupled to the panel and arranged to flex independently of one another when exposed to an external impact force, the first cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to extend upwardly away from the base, the second cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to lie in laterally spaced-apart, side-by-side relation to the first cantilevered energy-dissipation finger, the fourth cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to extend downwardly toward the first cantilevered energy-dissipation finger to form a first horizontal slot therebetween, and the third cantilevered energy-dissipation finger is arranged to extend downwardly toward the second cantilevered energy-dissipation finger to form a second horizontal slot therebetween and to lie in laterally spaced-apart, side-by-side relation to the fourth cantilevered energy-dissipation finger,
wherein the seat back includes a backrest arranged to extend upwardly from the seat bottom and a headrest coupled to the backrest and formed to includ

Assignees

• Dorel Juvenile Group Inc

Inventors

• Oswald Kevin C
• Clayburn Kelley L

Classifications

• B60N2/42

  the seat constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats (for protecting children B60N2/26; arm-rests B60N2/75; head-rests B60N2/888) · CPC title

• B60N2/888

  with arrangements for protecting against abnormal g-forces, e.g. by displacement of the head-rest · CPC title

• B60N2/2851

  provided with head-rests · CPC title

• B60N2/2884 Primary

  with protection systems against abnormal g-forces · CPC title