Articulated Cushioning Bladder With Tethered Tensile Layers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cushioning articles lack a mechanism to effectively combine cushioning and flexibility, particularly in footwear soles, while maintaining structural integrity under dynamic loads.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a tensile component with inwardly-protruding bonds and tethers within a bladder cavity, allowing for articulation and flexibility by narrowing the cavity at these bonds, which are aligned with flexion axes to mimic natural foot movements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a tensile component is disposed in the interior cavity to limit outward expansion, then cushioning performance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a tensile component comprising a tensile membrane made of flexible material that can stretch and deform. This flexible membrane provides the necessary cushioning function by limiting outward expansion while maintaining simplicity in structure, avoiding complex rigid mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The cushioning article utilizes a fluid-filled interior cavity where fluid pressure provides the cushioning effect. The tensile component works in conjunction with the pressurized fluid to limit expansion, leveraging pneumatic principles to achieve reliable cushioning without adding mechanical complexity.
2Strength
If inwardly-protruding bonds are used to join the bladder to the tensile component, then structural integrity is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The bonding structure is divided into multiple inwardly-protruding bonds distributed across the bladder surface. This segmentation allows each individual bond to be simpler in design while collectively providing strong structural integrity, reducing the precision required for each specific bond location.
Solution Approach 2:
The inwardly-protruding bonds are designed to allow some degree of movement and deformation under load. This dynamic bonding approach accommodates manufacturing variations and enables the bonds to adjust to stress distributions, maintaining structural integrity without requiring extremely precise manufacturing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the tensile component includes tethers spanning the interior cavity, then flexibility and articulation are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical articulation mechanisms with a tensile component system using membranes and tethers. The flexibility and articulation are achieved through the elastic deformation and geometric reconfiguration of these tensile elements, substituting simple mechanical systems for complex articulated mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The tensile component is constructed as a composite structure combining tensile membranes and tethers made from materials with specific elastic properties. This composite design provides the necessary flexibility and articulation through material behavior rather than complex mechanical joints, reducing overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A cushioning article includes a bladder enclosing an interior cavity and retaining a gas in the interior cavity. A tensile component is disposed in the interior cavity and includes tensile layers and a plurality of tethers connecting the tensile layers. The tensile layers are connected to an inner surface of the bladder such that the tethers span across the interior cavity. The bladder has an inwardly-protruding bond that joins an inner surface of the bladder to the tensile component, protrudes inward into the interior cavity, and partially traverses the plurality of tethers such that the bladder is narrowed at the inwardly protruding bond and the gas in the interior cavity fluidly communicates across the inwardly-protruding bond. A method of manufacturing a cushioning article is disclosed.