Hands-free assembly for a passenger vehicle
AssigneeSafran Seats USA LLC
InventorNguyen Tien Foek Le
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described a passenger vehicle having a hands-free door assembly, the hands-free door assembly includes a stationary wall portion; a door portion moveable along at least one linear translation track; at least one actuator operable to move the door portion along the at least one linear translation track; and at least one sensor positioned on at least one of the stationary wall portion or the door portion, wherein the sensor receives a hands-free input and transmits an activation signal to the at least one actuator, and wherein the at least one actuator moves the door portion along the at least one linear translation track based on receiving the activation signal.
Claims16
A passenger vehicle comprising a hands-free door assembly, the hands-free door assembly comprising:
- a stationary wall portion, wherein the stationary wall portion comprises at least a portion of a seat shell surrounding a passenger seat compartment;
- a door portion moveable along at least one linear translation track;
- at least one actuator operable to move the door portion along the at least one linear translation track;
- and
- at least one sensor positioned on at least one of the stationary wall portion or the door portion,
- wherein the sensor receives a hands-free input and transmits an activation signal to the at least one actuator,
- wherein the at least one actuator moves the door portion along the at least one linear translation track based on receiving the activation signal to provide access to an interior of the passenger seat compartment;
- and
- wherein the at least one actuator includes a series of motors and gears located within an interior cavity of the stationary wall portion and at least partially along an upper edge and a lower edge of the door portion, the series of motors and gears functioning as the linear translation track and being coupled to a power source so that actuation of the series of motors and gears upon receiving power generated by the power source causes the door portion to slide into and out of the interior cavity of the stationary wall portion due to a rotational motion of the gears.
A method for activating a hands-free door of a passenger vehicle, the method comprising:
- receiving a hands-free input from at least one sensor positioned on at least one of a stationary wall portion or a door portion, wherein the stationary wall portion comprises at least a portion of a seat shell surrounding a passenger seat compartment;
- transmitting an activation signal to at least one actuator, wherein the at least one actuator is operable to move the door portion along at least one linear translation track;
- and
- activating the at least one actuator based on the activation signal to move the door portion along the at least one linear translation track to provide access to an interior of the passenger seat compartment;
- wherein the at least one actuator includes a series of motors and gears located within an interior cavity of the stationary wall portion and at least partially along an upper edge and a lower edge of the door portion, the series of motors and gears functioning as the linear translation track and being coupled to a power source so that actuation of the series of motors and gears upon receiving power generated by the power source causes the door portion to slide into and out of the interior cavity of the stationary wall portion due to a rotational motion of the gears.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.