Adaptable Light Seal for Head-Mountable Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Head-mountable devices require adjustments to accommodate different facial features, leading to discomfort and inefficiency in light sealing, as existing devices often fail to provide a customizable and aesthetically pleasing fit that maximizes comfort and ventilation.
Innovation Solution
A head-mountable device with a light seal featuring discrete portions that bend and pivot to conform to individual facial contours, incorporating a flexible flange and body structure with adjustable joints and bridge connectors to ensure optimal contact and ventilation, while maintaining structural integrity and aesthetic appeal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a fixed light seal structure is used, then manufacturing is simple, but adaptability to different facial features deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The light seal is divided into multiple discrete portions (first portion, second portion, third portion, fourth portion) that can independently pivot and bend. Each portion can be adjusted to conform to different facial contours, enabling customization without requiring entirely different seal structures for each user.
Solution Approach 2:
The light seal incorporates movable joints and pivot points that allow the discrete portions to dynamically adjust their positions and orientations. This dynamic structure enables the seal to adapt to various facial shapes while maintaining a unified design, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural simplicity.
2Ease of operation
If the light seal is made rigid for structural integrity, then strength is improved, but comfort and ventilation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the light seal into multiple portions connected by joints, the structure gains flexibility for comfort and ventilation while each segment maintains sufficient structural integrity. The segmented design allows force distribution across multiple points rather than concentrating stress, preserving overall strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The light seal uses flexible connections and joints between rigid portions, creating a structure that combines the strength of rigid components with the adaptability of flexible linkages. This allows the seal to conform to facial contours for comfort while maintaining structural rigidity where needed for strength.
3Adaptability or versatility
If discrete movable portions are added for adaptability, then fit customization is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functional features (light sealing, ventilation, force distribution, and fit customization) are merged into a single integrated light seal structure. The discrete portions serve multiple purposes simultaneously: they seal light, allow ventilation through their arrangement, distribute forces across the face, and enable fit customization, thereby reducing overall device complexity despite the presence of multiple components.
Solution Approach 2:
Each discrete portion of the light seal is designed to perform multiple functions: light blocking, structural support, force distribution, and adjustable positioning. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components for each function, offsetting the complexity increase from having movable discrete portions.
Data Source
AI summary
A head-mountable device can include adaptable components, which move to comfortably engage the face of the user and to exclude light from an external environment. A head-mountable device can include a light seal that includes discrete portions that bend and/or pivot as needed to conform to a face of the user. Such mobility allows the portions to be oriented with respect to corresponding regions of the face, so that an engagement surface of each portion directly engages the corresponding region of the face to maximize the surface area of contact. Such a configuration can be provided while also providing an aesthetically pleasing appearance by providing one or more covers that form continuous, breathable surfaces with the desired opacity.