Automated Harness Tightener

 描述(由申请人提供)：明尼苏达州医疗解决方案公司(MHS)建议为机动车儿童安全座椅开发一种改进的线束张紧系统，旨在降低线束松弛的风险。车祸是导致美国儿童死亡的主要原因。从2007年到2009年，共有2412名8岁或8岁以下的儿童死于非故意的机动车交通事故，另有数十万人受伤。儿童安全座椅是保护发生车祸的幼儿免受重伤或死亡的最有效方式。正确使用儿童安全座椅已被证明在碰撞中有效地控制儿童的身体；然而，当儿童安全带松动时，儿童的身体相对于座椅过度移动，导致头部加速增加，头部与车辆内表面接触的可能性增加。碰撞开始时，儿童躯干上安全带的紧固性与头部偏移量直接相关，而安全带上的任何松弛都会导致头部偏移量增加。尽管正确拉紧安全带很重要，但它往往拉得不够紧。多项研究发现，大约60%的儿童安全座椅的安全带不够紧，导致儿童在发生碰撞时受伤或死亡的风险大大增加。拟议的安全带拉紧系统旨在通过向儿童座椅使用者提供更好的指示的技术干预和一种新的机制来保持旅行期间的安全带张力，从而防止紧张的儿童安全座椅安全带的危险状况。减少儿童在汽车撞车事故中的受伤，特别是头部创伤，将通过减少安全带张力不足的发生率来减少。第一阶段计划将设计、建造和台架测试带有改进的线束系统的原型座椅，并与潜在用户进行重点小组讨论。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Minnesota HealthSolutions (MHS) proposes to develop an improved harness tensioning system for motor vehicle child safety seats that aims to reduce the risk that the harness is slack. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American children. A total of 2,412 children aged 8 years or younger died as a result of unintentional motor vehicle traffic crashes from 2007-09 and hundreds of thousands more were injured. Child safety seats are the most effective way to protect young children involved in motor vehicle crashes from serious injury or death. Correctly used child safety seats have proven effective at controlling the child's body in collisions; however, when the child harness is loose, the child's body moves excessively relative to the seat resulting in increased head accelerations and an increased likelihood of head contact with the vehicle's interior surfaces. The tightness of the harness on the child's torso at the onset of the crash is directly related to the amount of head excursion and any slack in the harness results in increased head excursion. Despite the importance of correctly tensioning the harness, it is often under-tensioned. Multiple studies have observed that approximately 60% of child safety seats' harnesses are not tight enough, leaving the child at substantially increased risk of injury or death in the event of a crash. The proposed harness tensioning system aims to prevent the risky condition of under tensioned child safety seat harnesses via a technology intervention that provides better indications to the child seat user and a novel mechanism to maintain harness tension during the trip. Injuries in children, in particular head trauma, during motor vehicle crashes will be reduced by reducing the prevalence of harness under-tensioning. The phase I program will design, build, and bench test a prototype seat with the improved harness system and conduct focus groups with potential users.