The automotive seat challenges engineering design to produce a seat that every driver,
regardless of size or personal preferences, sits in to operate the vehicle.   To meet
this challenge, the industry developed a seat design optimization process that involves
various drivers operating a vehicle "mule" through multiple physical seat design
iterations.   Theoretically, this process should solve the optimization problem with
great success.   As all of us know, seldom has this optimization process worked to
perfection.
ERL, LLC on the other hand, has developed a computer-based optimization process that
develops the seat through the use of seat patches (patent pending).   These patches are
located on the undeflected seating surface (i.e., STO) and are defined by the location
of specific anatomical landmarks representing loads on the seat, versus contact with the
seat.   By making the landmarks the same on each human body model, the patches are
constructed by the area defined by these comparable landmarks to represent how the
population of occupants load and contact the seat.
Nine patches on each seat define the seat shape from the nose of the cushion to the top
of the seatback, including the head restraint.   These patches define the shape and size
of the seat surface that meets manufacturability requirements at the supplier and
meat-to-metal requirements for the occupant.   As a result, the seat patches become an
integral part of the process that the stylist depends upon to construct a STO that meets
market approval, and that the supplier depends upon to develop a seat with appropriate
stiffness that dampens vibration and provides a comfortable deflection suitable for all
drivers and passengers.
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