Bonded Mesh Composite Shoe Upper for Breathable Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Footwear design faces a challenge in balancing support and protection with breathability, as materials that provide good support often block air and moisture flow, while breathable materials offer little support or protection.
Innovation Solution
A shoe upper formed from a bonded mesh composite, comprising a substrate layer for support and protection, a mesh layer for ventilation and reinforcement, and a skin layer for durability and aesthetics, which allows for larger ventilation holes and eliminates seams that could tear.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If supportive/protective materials are used, then foot support and protection are improved, but breathability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining a substrate layer with support and protective qualities with a mesh layer providing breathability. This composite structure allows the shoe upper to simultaneously achieve foot support through the substrate layer and ventilation through the mesh layer with its openwork pattern, resolving the contradiction between strength and breathability.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If breathable materials are used, then air and moisture flow are improved, but support and protection deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite material structure where the mesh layer with its openwork pattern provides superior air and moisture flow, while the substrate layer maintains support and protective functions. This composite approach allows breathable materials to excel at ventilation without sacrificing the structural support provided by the substrate layer.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If separate supportive and breathable materials are used, then foot support and breathability are improved, but fabrication complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the substrate layer and mesh layer into a single bonded composite structure that functions as one integrated shoe upper component. This merging eliminates the need for separate fabrication processes for supportive and breathable sections, reducing manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining both foot support and breathability functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The bonded mesh composite material combines multiple functional layers into a unified material system that provides both support and breathability simultaneously, simplifying the fabrication process by treating it as a single component rather than requiring assembly of separate parts.
4Object-generated harmful factors
If larger ventilation holes are used, then breathability is improved, but structural integrity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials where the mesh layer with its openwork pattern provides large ventilation areas while the substrate layer maintains structural integrity. The combination of these two layers creates a structure where breathability and strength are distributed across different components, allowing large holes for ventilation without compromising overall structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the shoe upper into distinct functional layers: the substrate layer handles structural support and protection, while the mesh layer handles ventilation. This segmentation allows each layer to be optimized for its specific function, with the mesh layer featuring large ventilation holes without requiring the entire structure to sacrifice integrity.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C~2
AI summary
A bonded mesh composite panel of an upper includes a substrate layer formed from a substrate material, a mesh material layer and one or more skin material layers. The mesh composite can be fabricated by first arranging panels of substrate, mesh and skin layer material into an assembly corresponding to the locations of those panels in a completed upper. The assembly may include separate layers of hot melt bonding material interposed between the substrate, mesh and skin layers. The assembly is pressed at an elevated temperature so as to melt the bonding material and the skin layers and bond the elements together. Before the pressed assembly completely cools, it is then pressed a second time in an unheated press. A heat-conductive compressible pad can be used in the pressing process to create a surface effect in the skin layers that reveals a patterns of an underlying mesh layer.