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US 11,685,329 B2Granted
Occupant protection system and method including seatback
AssigneeZoox, Inc.
InventorsNirmal Muralidharan, Markus Jost, David Maurice Libeaut, Samantha Lynne Schoell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A seat for a vehicle may include a seatback including one or more inflatable bladders that may be configured to deploy in response to a triggering signal indicative of a change of velocity, collision, or predicted collision event. As at least a portion of the back of an occupant of the seat pushes against a front surface of the seatback due to the event, the one or more inflatable bladders compress at least partially the comfortable foam or comfort material in the seatback and expedite engagement of the energy absorbing material.
Claims20
A seat configured to be coupled to a vehicle, comprising:
- a seat base configured to support at least a portion of weight of an occupant of the seat;
- a seatback associated with the seat base and configured to provide support to a back of the occupant, the seatback comprising:
- a first portion facing the back of the occupant, the first portion comprising a compressible material;
- a second portion opposite the first portion, the second portion comprising a first energy absorbing material configured to crush in plastic deformation under a threshold load;
- an expandable portion comprising an inflatable bladder positioned between the first portion and the second portion;
- and
- an enclosure configured to constrain the first portion;
- a seat actuator configured to compress the first portion within the enclosure of the seatback;
- and
- an actuator controller in communication with the seat actuator and configured to:
- receive a triggering signal indicative of a change in velocity of the vehicle, a predicted change in velocity of the vehicle, a collision, or a predicted collision;
- and
- cause, based on the triggering signal, the seat actuator to compress the first portion within the enclosure of the seatback, wherein compressing the first portion within the enclosure causes the first portion to be a second energy absorbing material.
10 more elements
An occupant protection system for a vehicle, the occupant protection system comprising:
- a seat configured to be coupled to a vehicle, the seat comprising:
- a seat base configured to support at least a portion of weight of an occupant of the seat;
- a seatback associated with the seat base and configured to provide support to a back of the occupant, the seatback comprising:
- a first portion facing the back of the occupant, the first portion comprising a compressible material;
- a second portion opposite the first portion, the second portion comprising a first energy absorbing material configured to crush in plastic deformation under a threshold load;
- an expandable portion comprising an inflatable bladder positioned between the first portion and the second portion;
- and an enclosure configured to constrain the first portion;
- a seat actuator configured to compress the first portion within the enclosure of the seatback;
- and
- an actuator controller in communication with the seat actuator and configured to:
- receive a triggering signal indicative of a change in velocity of the vehicle, a predicted change in velocity of the vehicle, a collision, or a predicted collision;
- and cause, based on the triggering signal, the seat actuator to compress the first portion within the enclosure of the seatback, wherein compressing the first portion within the enclosure causes the first portion to be a second energy absorbing material.
9 more elements
A method for protecting an occupant of a vehicle, the method comprising:
- causing the vehicle to traverse an environment, the vehicle comprising:
- a seat coupled to the vehicle, the seat including a seat base configured to support at least a portion of weight of the occupant of the seat;
- a seatback associated with the seat base and configured to provide support to a back of the occupant;
- and
- a seat actuator configured to receive a triggering signal indicative of a change in velocity of the vehicle, a predicted change in velocity of the vehicle, a collision, or a predicted collision;
- receiving the triggering signal;
- and
- causing, based on the triggering signal, the seat actuator to compress a first portion of compressible material within an enclosure of the seatback, the first portion overlaying a second portion comprising a first energy absorbing material configured to crush in plastic deformation under a threshold load, wherein compressing the first portion within the enclosure causes the first portion to be a second energy absorbing material.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.