Air bladder with stacked cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10059239-B2
Application number	US-201615270149-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2016
Priority date	Sep 20, 2016
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

A seat includes a seat portion with an air bladder having an outer casing. Multiple fluidly interconnected cells are disposed within a cavity of the outer casing and are configured to inflate the outer casing from a deflated condition to an inflated condition. The cells may be arranged within the air bladder so as to provide a directional inflation of the air bladder from a first portion of the air bladder towards a second portion. First and second support substrates may be disposed within the seat portion, wherein the air bladder is positioned between the first and second substrates. The air bladder may be configured to inflate and displace the first and second substrates relative to one another from an at-rest position to an actuated position. A biasing mechanism may be coupled to at least one of the first and second substrates for biasing the substrates towards the at-rest position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seat, comprising:
an air bladder having first and second support surfaces and a plurality of interconnected cells enclosed within a cavity defined by an outer casing of the air bladder;
first and second support substrates supported respectively on the first and second support surfaces of the air bladder, wherein the first and second support substrates are hingedly connected to one another at first ends thereof and operable between at-rest and actuated positions as the air bladder inflates and deflates; and
a biasing mechanism biasing the first and second support substrates towards the at-rest position, wherein the biasing mechanism interconnects the first and second support substrates at second ends thereof.

2. The seat of claim 1 , wherein the biasing mechanism includes a spring member having first and second ends, wherein the first end of the spring member is coupled to the second end of the first support substrate, and further wherein the second end of the spring member is coupled to the second end of the second support substrate.

3. The seat of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of interconnected cells includes individual cells which inflate in series to provide a directional inflation of the air bladder from a first end thereof, to a second end thereof.

4. The seat of claim 1 , wherein the first support substrate moves to the actuated position as the air bladder inflates to an inflated condition, wherein the actuated position of the first support substrate is an angled position relative to a substantially horizontal position of the first support substrate in the at-rest position.

5. The seat of claim 4 , wherein the biasing mechanism biases the first support substrate towards the substantially horizontal position from the angled position as the air bladder deflates to a deflated condition.

6. A seat, comprising:
a seat portion;
an air bladder disposed within the seat portion and a having a plurality of cells defining an intercellular structure arranged within a cavity of the air bladder to provide a directional inflation of the air bladder from a first portion of the air bladder to a second portion of the air bladder, wherein the cells of the plurality of cells are arranged within the air bladder on a plurality of interconnected sheets configured in a stack configuration, each sheet of the plurality of sheets having individual cells interconnected with one another within body portions of each sheet of the plurality of sheets; and
one or more directional pressure valves interconnecting the plurality of cells within the air bladder.

7. The seat of claim 6 , wherein the air bladder includes an outer casing defining parameters of the cavity and an outer contour defined by an outer surface of the outer casing.

8. The seat of claim 6 , wherein the directional inflation of the air bladder from the first portion of the air bladder to the second portion of the air bladder includes an upward inflation direction.

9. The seat of claim 6 , wherein the directional inflation of the air bladder from the first portion of the air bladder to the second portion of the air bladder includes an upward and outward inflation direction.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Jaranson John Wayne
• Nandam Tejaswi
• Lem Jeroen
• Compton Grant A

Classifications

• B60N2/06

  slidable (B60N2/12 {, B60N2/2209} take precedence) · CPC title

• B60N2/914 Primary

  Hydro-pneumatic adjustments of the shape · CPC title

• B60N2/4415

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B60N2/64

  Back-rests {or cushions (B60N2/2222 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B60N2/665

  using inflatable bladders · CPC title