Cycling Glove Palm with Interconnected Ball Padding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cycling gloves suffer from soft padding that compresses easily, leading to numbness and potential nerve damage in the hands due to inadequate support against bicycle handlebars, as the current cushioning solutions fail to distribute pressure effectively.
Innovation Solution
A cycling glove design featuring a palm portion with a matrix pattern of interconnected ball-shaped elements, providing a pliable support element between two layers, which distributes pressure over a larger surface area and reduces discomfort by allowing flexible bending.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If soft foam or gel padding is used in cycling gloves, then the padding provides initial comfort, but it becomes easily compressed between the user's hands and handlebars, offering no support and causing numbness
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous padding layer is segmented into discrete ball-shaped elements that are spaced apart from each other. This segmentation allows each ball to independently support pressure while maintaining overall cushioning, preventing the padding from becoming uniformly compressed and losing support capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical state and structural parameters of the padding material from a continuous soft foam or gel to discrete ball-shaped elements with specific size, shape, and spacing parameters. This parameter change enables the padding to maintain both comfort and support under sustained pressure.
2Strength
If cushioning is added to the handlebars or glove, then the hardness is reduced, but the small contact area of the handlebar on the glove causes compression and deformation of the padding
Solution Approach 1:
The padding is divided into discrete ball-shaped elements that can individually deform and redistribute pressure. This segmentation prevents the uniform compression and deformation that occurs with continuous padding, as each ball can independently adjust to the applied pressure while maintaining the overall shape of the palm area.
Solution Approach 2:
The use of ball-shaped (spherical) elements provides curved surfaces that naturally distribute pressure more evenly compared to flat or planar padding surfaces. The spherical geometry allows for better pressure distribution and reduces localized deformation when the handlebar contacts the glove.
3Quantity of substance
If continuous padding layer is used, then the palm area provides uniform cushioning, but it compresses easily and offers inadequate support against handlebars
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous padding layer is replaced with multiple discrete ball-shaped elements distributed across the palm area. This segmentation maintains the quantity of padding material while improving pressure distribution, as the spaced-apart balls create a structure that resists compression better than a continuous layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The arrangement of spaced-apart ball-shaped elements creates a porous or open structure within the padding system. This porous configuration allows the padding to maintain its volume and support properties while still providing cushioning, as the spaces between balls prevent uniform compression.
Data Source
AI summary
A support element including a padding structure constructed of a plurality of interconnected spherical shaped structures together defining a pliable support element. The spherical shaped structures are interconnected to one another with a connection defining flexible interconnectors for enabling the padding structure to be flexibly bent.