Seat assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11679706-B2
Application number	US-202017109652-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 2, 2020
Priority date	Dec 2, 2020
Publication date	Jun 20, 2023
Grant date	Jun 20, 2023

Abstract

A seat assembly may include a seat, a seat actuator, a sensor assembly, and an electrical control unit (ECU). The seat actuator may be configured to adjust the seat. The sensor assembly may be connected to the seat and may be configured to detect a pressure applied to the seat. The ECU may be operatively connected to the seat actuator and the sensor assembly. The ECU may be configured to reduce soft tissue stress in soft tissue of a user via adjusting the seat with the seat actuator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a seat assembly including a seat having a plurality of regions, a seat actuator connected to the seat, a sensor assembly connected to the seat, and an electrical control unit (ECU) operatively connected to the seat actuator and the sensor assembly, the sensor assembly including a pressure sensor array connected to the seat, the method comprising:
obtaining information about a user via an occupant sensor of the sensor assembly;
generating a model for at least one portion of a body of said user based on the obtained information;
determining, via the ECU, an expected composition of soft tissue of said at least one portion of said body that is associated with the plurality of regions of the seat based on the model;
detecting a pressure applied to the seat by said user via the sensor assembly;
comparing the detected pressure to a pressure threshold via the ECU; and
if the detected pressure exceeds the pressure threshold, reducing soft tissue stress in said soft tissue of said user via adjusting the seat via the seat actuator;
wherein the plurality of regions are subjected to a respective localized pressure by the pressure applied to the seat by said user; and
detecting the pressure applied to the seat includes detecting the respective localized pressures of the plurality of regions of the seat via the pressure sensor array.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure threshold corresponds to a pressure level at which a reduction of blood flow in the soft tissue is expected to occur.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein reducing the soft tissue stress includes reducing lateral bulging of the soft tissue.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
reducing the lateral bulging of the soft tissue includes adjusting an amount of lateral force applied to said user by a first bolster and a second bolster;
adjusting the seat with the seat actuator includes adjusting a position of at least one of the first bolster and the second bolster;
the first bolster and the second bolster are disposed at opposite sides of the seat;
the seat actuator includes a bladder assembly;
the bladder assembly includes a first bolster bladder associated with the first bolster and a second bolster bladder associated with the second bolster; and
adjusting the position of at least one of the first bolster and the second bolster includes adjusting a respective inflation level of at least one of the first bolster bladder and the second bolster bladder.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the model for the at least one portion of the body of said user includes:
utilizing an Ogden model for the soft tissue; and
determining at least one of a second-Piola-Kirchoff stress and/or a Green Lagrange strain.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, via the ECU, a pressure distribution map of the respective localized pressures of the plurality of regions at a certain point in time; and
detecting a peak pressure area in the pressure distribution map via comparing the detected pressure to the pressure threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the pressure threshold includes a plurality of localized pressure thresholds corresponding to a respective region of the plurality of regions;
comparing the detected pressure to the pressure threshold includes comparing the respective localized pressure of the plurality of regions to a respective localized pressure threshold of the plurality of localized pressure thresholds; and
reducing the soft tissue stress includes reducing the respective localized pressure of at least one of the plurality of regions in which the respective localized pressure exceeds the respective localized pressure threshold.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
generating, via the ECU, a plurality of pressure distribution maps of the respective localized pressures of the plurality of regions at different points in time;
assembling the pressure distribution map and the plurality of pressure distribution maps into a pressure distribution stack; and
tracking the detected peak pressure area over the pressure distribution stack via the ECU.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the ECU utilizing the model and the expected composition to identify one or more capillaries of said user that are at least partially closed;
wherein adjusting the seat via the seat actuator includes adjusting the seat to facilitate opening of the one or more capillaries.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the model includes information or data pertaining to bone, muscle, fat, and skin tissue of said user.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure threshold includes a first localized pressure threshold corresponding to a first region of the plurality of regions and a second localized pressure threshold corresponding to a second region of the plurality of regions; and further comprising:
determining the first localized pressure threshold based on the expected composition of the soft tissue associated with the first region; and
determining the second localized pressure threshold based on the expected composition of the soft tissue associated with the second region;
wherein comparing the detected pressure to the pressure threshold includes (i) comparing the respective localized pressure of the first region to the first localized pressure threshold, and (ii) comparing the respective localized pressure of the second region to the second localized pressure threshold.

Assignees

• Lear Corp

Inventors

• Migneco Francesco
• Arabnejad Sajad

Classifications

• B60N2/99

  adjustable · CPC title

• B60N2/914 Primary

  Hydro-pneumatic adjustments of the shape · CPC title

• B60N2/0244

  with logic circuits · CPC title

• B60N2210/44

  using fluids · CPC title

• B60N2220/20

  using a deterministic algorithm · CPC title