U.S. patent application number 12/843895 was filed with the patent office on 2011-11-17 for seat.
This patent application is currently assigned to National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Invention is credited to Chung-Hsien Kuo, Wei-Chen Lee, Jyun-An Yao.
Application Number | 20110278418 12/843895 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44910902 |
Filed Date | 2011-11-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110278418 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kuo; Chung-Hsien ; et
al. |
November 17, 2011 |
SEAT
Abstract
A seat is disclosed, which includes a first body, a second body,
a bearing and at least one rolling part. The bearing is connected
between the first body and the second body, and the bearing has a
plurality of degrees of freedom so that the first body is able to
move relatively to the second body. The rolling part is disposed
between the first body and the second body so that the second body
is able to rotate around a rotation center implemented by the
bearing relatively to the first body through the rolling part. When
the second body rotates relatively to the first body, the first
body converts the status thereof relatively to the first body
between a tilting status and a parallel status.
Inventors: |
Kuo; Chung-Hsien; (Taipei
County, TW) ; Lee; Wei-Chen; (Taipei City, TW)
; Yao; Jyun-An; (Pingtung County, TW) |
Assignee: |
National Taiwan University of
Science and Technology
Taipei
TW
|
Family ID: |
44910902 |
Appl. No.: |
12/843895 |
Filed: |
July 27, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
248/425 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C 3/18 20130101; A47C
9/002 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
248/425 |
International
Class: |
A47C 3/18 20060101
A47C003/18 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 14, 2010 |
TW |
99115513 |
Claims
1. A seat, comprising: a first body; a second body; a bearing,
connected between the first body and the second body and having a
plurality of degrees of freedom so that the first body is able to
move relatively to the second body; and at least one rolling part,
disposed between the first body and the second body so that the
second body is able to rotate around a rotation center implemented
by the bearing relatively to the first body through the rolling
part, wherein when the second body rotates relatively to the first
body, the first body converts the status thereof relatively to the
first body between a tilting status and a parallel status.
2. The seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rolling part is
disposed on one of the first body and the second body, the rest one
of the first body and the second body has at least one dent, and
when the rolling part rolls on the first body or the second body,
the dent is located on the rolling path of the rolling part.
3. The seat as claimed in claim 2, wherein when the rolling part is
located at the dent, the first body takes the parallel status
relatively to the second body; when the rolling part moves out of
the dent, the first body takes the tilting status relatively to the
second body.
4. The seat as claimed in claim 2, wherein when the rolling part is
located at the dent, the first body takes the tilting status
relatively to the second body; when the rolling part moves out of
the dent, the first body takes the parallel status relatively to
the second body.
5. The seat as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a base,
making the second body connected between the base and the first
body; and a driving force source, disposed on the base and
connected to the second body so as to drive the second body to
rotate relatively to the first body.
6. The seat as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second body is
substantially a worm gear and the driving force source is a worm
engaged with the worm gear.
7. The seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bearing is
substantially a ball bearing.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan
application serial no. 99115513, filed on May 14, 2010. The
entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby
incorporated by reference herein and made a part of
specification.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention generally relates to a seat, and more
particularly, to a seat able to adjust the posture of a user.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] Currently, due to aging population and accidental events,
many mobility-impaired disabilities often use wheel chairs to meet
the motion requirement thereof. However, when a patient has a
long-time seat on a wheel chair, it is easy to cause osteoporosis
and pressure sores, as well muscle atrophy or cardiopulmonary
function declined as. A lighter patient may live a quite bad living
quality due to secretion at sore opening, and a heavier patient
often accompanies tissue necrosis or infection which further causes
massive skin ulcers and osteomyelitis, even threads the life safety
thereof.
[0006] The most available seat on the market is an aired cushion,
which is able to adjust the cushion pressure distribution of a
wheel chair user, but the aired cushion is unable to change the
pressure applied by the upper body of a patient on the pelvis and
the coccygeal vertebra thereof. With the above-mentioned aired
cushion, when a patient has a long-time seat to feel uncomfortably,
it is needed to change the position of the upper body of a patient
by applying force by the patient his/her self, which adds a body
burden to the patient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a seat
able to adjust the sitting posture of a user.
[0008] An embodiment of the present invention provides a seat,
which includes a first body, a second body, a bearing and at least
one rolling part. The bearing is connected between the first body
and the second body, and the bearing has a plurality of degrees of
freedom so that the first body is able to move relatively to the
second body. The rolling part is disposed between the first body
and the second body so that the second body is able to rotate
around a rotation center implemented by the bearing relatively to
the first body through the rolling part. When the second body
rotates relatively to the first body, the first body converts the
status thereof relatively to the first body between a tilting
status and a parallel status.
[0009] In an embodiment of the present invention, the
above-mentioned rolling part is disposed on one of the first body
and the second body, and the rest one of the first body and the
second body has at least one dent. When the rolling part rolls on
the first body or the second body, the dent is located on the
rolling path of the rolling part.
[0010] In an embodiment of the present invention, when the
above-mentioned rolling part is located at the dent, the first body
takes the above-mentioned parallel status relatively to the second
body; when the rolling part moves out of the dent, the first body
takes the above-mentioned tilting status relatively to the second
body.
[0011] In an embodiment of the present invention, when the
above-mentioned rolling part is located at the dent, the first body
takes the above-mentioned tilting status relatively to the second
body; when the rolling part moves out of the dent, the first body
takes the above-mentioned parallel status relatively to the second
body.
[0012] In an embodiment of the present invention, the
above-mentioned seat further includes a base and a driving force
source, and the base makes the second body connected between the
base and the first body. The driving force source is disposed on
the base, and connected to the second body so as to drive the
second body to rotate relatively to the first body.
[0013] In an embodiment of the present invention, the
above-mentioned second body is substantially a worm gear and the
driving force source is a worm engaged with the worm gear.
[0014] In an embodiment of the present invention, the
above-mentioned bearing is substantially a ball bearing (rod end
& spherical bearing).
[0015] Based on the depiction above, in the above-mentioned
embodiment of the present invention, the seat makes the two bodies
rotate relatively to each other by means of the two bodies and the
rolling part disposed between the two bodies, which further
realizes conversions of the two bodies between a parallel status to
each other and a tilting status to each other. In this way, the
disclosed seat can change the sitting posture of the user so as to
lighten the uncomfort and harm caused by having a long-time seat of
the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further
understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate
embodiments of the invention and, together with the description,
serve to explain the principles of the invention.
[0017] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a seat according to an embodiment of
the present invention.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the seat of FIG. 1 where the first
body is omitted.
[0019] FIGS. 3A and 3B are respectively a diagram of the relative
moving of the first body and the second body.
[0020] FIGS. 4A and 4B are respectively a diagram of the relative
moving of the first body and the second body of a seat according to
another embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0021] Reference will now be made in detail to the present
preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are
illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the
same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description
to refer to the same or like parts.
[0022] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a seat according to an embodiment of
the present invention and FIG. 2 is a diagram of the seat of FIG. 1
where the first body is omitted. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in the
embodiment, a seat 100 includes a first body 110, a second body
120, a bearing 130 and two rolling parts 142 and 144. The bearing
130 is connected between the first body 110 and the second body
120, and the bearing 130 has a plurality of degrees of freedom so
that the first body 110 and the second body 120 connected at both
sides of the bearing 130 are able to move relatively to each
other.
[0023] In the embodiment, the bearing 130 is substantially a ball
bearing, so that the second body 120 can move relatively to the
first body 110 simultaneously around the X axis, the Y axis and the
Z axis. For example, the first body 110 and the second body 120 can
rotate relatively to each other around the Z axis through the
bearing 130. Meanwhile, the first body 110 can also rotate
relatively to the second body 120 around the X axis and the Y axis
so that the first body 110 and the second body 120 take a parallel
status or a tilting status. The embodiment does not limit the form
of the bearing 130. In fact, any connection structure to make the
second body 120 move relatively to the first body 110 is suitable
to be connected between the first body 110 and the second body 120
of the embodiment.
[0024] The rolling parts 142 and 144 are disposed between the first
body 110 and the second body 120, so that the second body 120 can
rotate relatively to the first body 110 around the Z axis through
the rolling part 142. In the embodiment, the rolling parts 142 and
144 are, for example, rollers disposed on the second body 120 so as
to make the second body 120 rotate on the first body 110.
[0025] FIGS. 3A and 3B are respectively a diagram of the relative
moving of the first body and the second body. It should be noted
that FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate one of a plurality of embodiments
of the seat 100 of FIG. 1 only. In order to more clear understand
the moving relationship between the first body 110 and the second
body 120, a part of the parts herein are omitted and the interested
parts are drawn in an appropriate enlarged scale.
[0026] Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, in the embodiment, by using
the rolling parts 142 and 144 to roll on a surface S1 of the first
body 110, the second body 120 is able to rotate relatively to the
first body 110. It should be noted that the first body 110 has two
dents 112 and 114 on the surface S1. The dents 112 and 114 are
located on the rolling path of the rolling parts 142 and 144. When
both the rolling parts 142 and 144 are located in the dents 112 and
114, the first body 110 and the second body 120 take a parallel
status to each other (as shown by FIG. 3A).
[0027] Contrarily, when one of the rolling parts 142 and 144 moves
out of the dents 112 and 114, the first body 110 and the second
body 120 would take a tilting status to each other as shown by FIG.
3B. It can be seen that by associations of the rolling parts 142
and 144 with the dents 112 and 114, the first body 110 and the
second body 120 convert the status thereof between the tilting
status of FIG. 3B and the parallel status of FIG. 3A.
[0028] FIGS. 4A and 4B are respectively a diagram of the relative
moving of the first body and the second body of a seat according to
another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 4A
and 4B, in the embodiment, the difference from the above-mentioned
embodiment is that in the seat 200, when the rolling parts 242 and
244 roll on a surface S2 of the first body 210, the first body 210
and the second body 220 take a parallel status to each other (as
shown by FIG. 4A). When one of the rolling parts 242 and 244 rolls
into the dent 212, 214 or 216 of the first body 210, the first body
210 and the second body 220 take a tilting status to each other (as
shown by FIG. 4B). In this way, the first body 210 and the second
body 220 reach the same effect as the above-mentioned
embodiment.
[0029] Based on the depiction above, the present invention does not
limit the disposition and the quantity of the rolling parts and the
dents and the designer can modify the quantity, the disposition
positions of the rolling parts and the dents and the surface
profile of the rolling surface of the first body according to the
application requirement, so that the user can effectively lighten
the uncomfort and harm caused by having a long-time seat by means
of the tilting angle between the two bodies.
[0030] Taking an example, in another unshown embodiment of the
present invention, the rolling part can be disposed on the first
body, and the dents can oppositely disposed on the second body,
which can reach the same effect as the above-mentioned
embodiments.
[0031] In yet another unshown embodiment of the present invention,
the first body is used to be leant against by the rolling part, the
surface profile can be designed to be different so that during the
rolling part rolls on the surface profile, the first body and the
second body convert the status thereof between the parallel status
and the tilting status.
[0032] Continuing to FIGS. 1 and 2, in the embodiment, the seat 100
further includes a base 150 and a worm 160, wherein the second body
120 is disposed on the base 150 and the second body 120 is
connected between the base 150 and the first body 110. The worm 160
is disposed on the base 150 and located beside the second body 120.
It should be noted that the second body 120 is substantially a worm
gear engaged with the worm 160. Thereby, by using a motor (not
shown) to drive the worm 160, the worm 160 can further drive the
second body 120 so that the second body 120 can rotate around the Z
axis relatively to the first body 110.
[0033] Since the worm-worm gear structure implemented by the worm
160 and the second body 120 has the characteristic of high speed
reduction ratio, so that the motor can rotate the second body 120
in a small power. In other words, the embodiment can use a single
motor to make the second body 120 of the seat 100 rotate, and
further reach the effect of the tilting status between the first
body 110 and the second body 120. It should be noted that the
embodiment does not limit the driving structure to rotate the
second body 120. In another unshown embodiment of the present
invention, the motor can connect the second body and directly drive
the second body for rotation.
[0034] In summary, in the above-mentioned embodiments of the
present invention, the seat can use two bodies and the bearing and
rolling parts disposed therein to make the two bodies rotate
relatively to each other, wherein different dents are disposed on
the surface of the body, so that when the rolling part is at the
dent or moves out of the dent, the two bodies can convert the
status thereof between the parallel status and the tilting status,
which further changes the sitting posture of the user sitting on
the seat so as to effectively lighten the uncomfort and harm caused
by having a long-time seat.
[0035] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the
descriptions above are several preferred embodiments of the present
invention only, which does not limit the implementing range of the
present invention. Various modifications and variations can be made
to the structure of the present invention without departing from
the scope or spirit of the invention.
* * * * *