Massage system for a vehicle seat

Abstract

The present invention provides a massage system for a vehicle seat comprising a plurality of inflatable air cells arranged in a series of subsequent air cells (1, 2, 3), a supply line structure (10, 12; 10a, 12a) from and to each of the plurality of air cells, a pump (14) for supplying air under pressure to the supply line structure, a control or switch unit for controlling the operation of the pump, venting means for venting the supply line structure, means for controlling air flow to and from the air cells to provide a sequential inflation / deflation along said series of air cells, characterized in that said means for controlling air flow are provided by a plurality of flow restrictors (R1, R2, R3) having reduced flow cross-sections, said flow restrictors are arranged in such a manner that between each pair of subsequent air cells (1, 2, 3) in said series of air cells (1, 2, 3) a flow restrictor is disposed in the supply line structure such that the flow resistance from the pump and the venting means to any air cell in said series of air cells (1, 2, 3) is increasing along said series of air cells such that the air cells are inflated in sequence along said series of air cells upon the pump supplying air under pressure to the supply line structure, wherein the flow restrictors are dimensioned such that the delay time between a cell reaching 80% of its volume fill capacity to the next subsequent cell in the series of air cells reaching 80% of its volume fill capacity is between 0,5 s to 30 s, and are deflated in sequence along said series of air cells when venting said supply line structure by said venting means.

Description

Technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a massage system for a vehicle seat, which includes a plurality of inflatable air units arranged in a successive series of air units, and has an air unit for fluid communication with each of the series of air units The connected supply line structure, the pump for supplying air to the supply line structure under pressure, the control unit or switching unit for controlling the operation of the pump, the exhaust device for exhausting the supply line structure, the Control the flow of air into and out of the air unit to provide a device to inflate / deflate sequentially along the series of air units. Background technique [0002] Drivers and passengers of motor vehicles, especially when traveling for long distances, often experience discomfort, which is caused by prolonged static posture when sitting in the vehicle seat. This not only feels uncomfortable and causes back pain, for example, but also causes permanent damage to heal...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] This massage system for vehicle seats is very complex due to the very large number of controllable valves, i.e. 2n+2 valves for a series of n air cells

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