Seat with Shell Structure
Year: 2025
Project
Seats built from a single basic shape can be used in various fields. They can often be seen as seats for various types of vehicles, office chairs, stadium seats, simulators, and gaming cockpits; these types of shell structures can even be seen in the form of furniture, which are made from bent wood, with shallower shapes, or assembled modules. This project is focused on several types of seats with a specific purpose, and will go through several conceptual developments of different variants. A specific design of a shell structure for a seat is in a more advanced phase, which is being refined and modified in several variants. The specific seat has a deeper shell shape, which as a final version was made with composite materials, before the changes were made. The new structure is being prepared for production.
Variant of Seat – Pre-Production Prototype
Conceptual Variants of Seats with Shell Structure – Product Sketches
Development
The current development will undergo changes, going through a redesign process, in specific zones of the main structure of the seat; for this purpose, specific changes are made to the composite mold of the product. Another development is used as a basis, on which the current one is built – “Desk chair – “Seat” Type”. After completing the design modification, several variants will be developed in order to adapt the main structure of the respective seat and its use in different zones. Ergonomics in the shell structure is also a top priority, which refers to its internal seating zone, and for this purpose a specific relief will be built. Variants for supporting parts and adapters for assembling in the lower part of the shell will also be developed; as well as development in the rear zone of the seat of a mechanism for folding and changing the angle of the backrest, which will cause its main structure to be divided into several parts. A product variant is also planned in this direction. The seat and its variations, which will be developed as final products, are mainly aimed at: a chair for sitting; a seat for vehicles; a seat for a reserve bench at a stadium, as well as two or three more variants of a product intended for different fields.
Despite the fact that there is a ready-made pre-production prototype and a ready-made mold, there will be another stage of production test parts and prototypes. There will also be a procedure of scanning the already completed mold and a production product in it, after the changes made, which will be a form of reengineering and creating variants of the structure. This will also be an occasion to use one of the 3D printing technologies – FDM – to produce test parts, specifying functional and technological specifics. After passing these stages of development, going through adaptation of manufacturing and directing to implementation for manufacturing, three main options for production technologies can be used. For the production of such shell structures, various types of plastics are used, mainly in injection molding and vacuum molding technologies; composite materials are also used to make this type of seats, by manual or machine laying, with the help of spraying the composite mixture composed of resin and fibers. For the inner zone of the seat, the adaptation of reliefs of polyurethane materials is foreseen, which will adapt to the main shape of the shell and will be joined to the form. Variants with additional volumes are also planned if it is necessary to use such in specific variants of the seats. For the upholstery of the relief structures, different types of fabrics, natural and synthetic leather will be used. Several more variants of a new design of seats with a shell structure are in the process of being designed, which will gradually go through all stages of the “Product Design & Development” process.
“Seat Shell” is part of the products of Rotactio Design – a sub-brand of Solo Form.
The project is part of the direction for investing in brand and products – https://solo-form.com/en/investing/brand-and-products-rotactio-design/
