Adjustable Shoulder Pad Front Panel for Variable Chest Fit
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing protective shoulder pads for ice hockey players, particularly those designed for female athletes, often fail to accommodate varying chest sizes, leading to inadequate fit, discomfort, or increased risk of injury due to loose or tight areas.
Innovation Solution
The shoulder pads feature a central panel, side panels, and a movable panel that can adjust in width and depth to accommodate different torso sizes, allowing for customizable fit and enhanced protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If standard shoulder pads are designed to accommodate average body sizes, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but fit and comfort deteriorate for players with varying chest sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The shoulder pad incorporates a movable panel that can shift position vertically along the front panel assembly, allowing the padding depth and distribution to be dynamically adjusted. This enables the same shoulder pad to adapt to different chest sizes and player physiologies without requiring multiple size variants, thus improving fit accommodation while maintaining reasonable structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The front panel assembly is segmented into multiple independent components including a central panel, side panels, and a movable panel that can be independently positioned. This segmentation allows each panel to be optimized for its specific function while collectively providing adjustable coverage, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural simplicity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If shoulder pads are made with fixed panel positions, then structural simplicity is maintained, but coverage and protection deteriorate for players with different torso dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The movable panel is designed to slide vertically along guide channels or tracks within the front panel assembly, providing a simple yet effective mechanism for adjusting coverage depth. This dynamic adjustment capability allows players with different torso dimensions to achieve proper coverage without complex mechanical systems, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and mechanism complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If shoulder pads use multiple adjustable components, then fit customization is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment mechanism utilizes simple vertical sliding motion of the movable panel along predetermined guides, avoiding complex mechanical systems. This dynamic but straightforward mechanism provides effective size accommodation while keeping the adjustment system relatively simple, thus resolving the contradiction between adaptability and mechanism complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Protective shoulder pads, having: a neck portion defining a neck opening; shoulder portions attached to the neck portion; and a front panel assembly extending from the neck portion. The front panel assembly includes: a central panel secured to the neck portion in a fixed position and extending downwardly from the neck portion along a centerline of the protective shoulder pad, side panels disposed on opposite sides of the centerline, and a movable panel overlapping the side panels, the movable panel extending transversely relative to the centerline and being movable relative to the central panel and along the centerline, the movable panel being positionable at a plurality of positions relative to the central panel, the plurality of positions including an upper-most position and a lower-most position, an overlapping area between the movable panel and the side panels greater in the upper-most position than in the lower-most positions.