Ankle Brace Flexible Shell Guiding Slots
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ankle braces lack precise tightness control, leading to insufficient protection if too loose or discomfort and poor blood circulation if too tight, while also compromising air permeability, resulting in user discomfort.
Innovation Solution
An ankle brace design featuring a main body with guiding slots and a deformable structure that fits snugly around the ankle, ensuring air permeability and comfort, using materials like PVC, TPE, or silicone, with adjustable slots for secure fitting and easy fluid exchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ankle brace is wrapped tightly to provide sufficient protection, then the protection effect is improved, but blood circulation of the shank becomes unsmooth
Solution Approach 1:
The ankle brace employs a shell body made of flexible material that can deform to match the ankle's contours. This flexible shell provides necessary protection while adapting to the user's anatomy, preventing excessive tightness that would obstruct blood circulation. The shell's flexibility allows it to maintain protective function without creating harmful pressure points.
Solution Approach 2:
The guiding slots in the shell body enable dynamic adjustment and deformation of the ankle brace. These slots allow the shell to adapt its shape and tightness dynamically, providing sufficient protection when needed while permitting blood circulation by avoiding rigid constriction. The dynamic structure responds to movement and deformation requirements.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the ankle brace is wrapped loosely to ensure comfort and air permeability, then air permeability is improved, but the protection effect becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible shell body maintains a balance between protection and air permeability. Its flexible nature allows it to conform to the ankle without creating a tight seal that would block air flow, while still providing structural support for protection. The shell's design inherently permits air circulation while maintaining protective function.
Solution Approach 2:
The guiding slots enable the shell to deform and adapt dynamically, creating spaces that facilitate air permeability while maintaining protective integrity. The dynamic structure allows the shell to adjust its tightness, ensuring sufficient protection without compromising air flow through rigid constriction.
3Reliability
If the ankle brace uses a rigid shell body to provide strong protection, then the protection effect is improved, but skin comfort deteriorates due to poor air permeability
Solution Approach 1:
The shell body is constructed from flexible material rather than rigid material, providing protection through smart conformation to the ankle's shape rather than through rigid resistance. This flexible shell maintains protective function while allowing air permeability, thereby preventing skin discomfort caused by poor ventilation.
Solution Approach 2:
The guiding slots create a dynamic structure that allows the shell to deform and adapt to movement and anatomical variations. This dynamic flexibility ensures the shell provides protection without creating rigid pressure points that would cause skin discomfort, while maintaining air permeability for comfort during extended wear.
Data Source
AI summary
An ankle brace is provided, including a main body. The main body has a base portion and an abutting portion for abutting against an ankle, the base portion has at least one first guiding slot, the at least one first guiding slot is arranged next to the abutting portion, the abutting portion has a bottom portion, a circumferential side portion which surrounds and is connected to and between the bottom portion and the base portion and at least one second guiding slot, the bottom portion has a receiving space for receiving a part of the ankle, the circumferential side portion projects above a slot bottom of the first guiding slot, and the at least one second guiding slot is arranged on the bottom portion and penetrates the circumferential side portion and communicated with the at least one of the first guiding slots.