Elastic Protective Pad With Perpendicular Elongated Holes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing articulation protective solutions fail to balance elasticity with energy absorption, leading to misalignment, restricted movement, and compromised impact protection.
Innovation Solution
A protective pad with a body made of elastic material featuring a plurality of elongated holes that pass through from the outer side to the inner side, arranged in a specific pattern to maximize deformation without thickness reduction, allowing for efficient energy absorption and movement flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the elasticity of the elastic component is high, then the component is able to follow the movement of the articulation, but the capacity of absorbing an impact strongly decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The protective pad employs a porous foam material with a specific cellular structure that provides both elasticity for movement following and energy absorption for impact protection. The porous structure allows the material to deform while maintaining both properties simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite structure combining foam material with textile garments and elastic straps. This composite approach integrates the energy absorption properties of foam with the flexibility and movement-following capabilities of elastic components, resolving the contradiction between elasticity and impact absorption.
2Loss of energy
If the elasticity is low, then the component becomes more rigid and can maintain impact absorption, but it does not follow the movement of the articulation or unseats thus exposing the articulation to injuries
Solution Approach 1:
The porous foam material provides a balance where the cellular structure maintains rigidity for impact absorption while the material itself remains flexible enough to follow articulation movement. The voids in the porous structure allow for deformation without compromising either property.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite design combines rigid foam for impact absorption with flexible elastic straps and textile garments that can accommodate movement. This layered composite structure ensures the pad remains seated during movement while maintaining impact protection.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a pad is made to elongate significantly in an in-plane direction to improve flexibility, then movement compatibility is enhanced, but the thickness is reduced compromising impact protection
Solution Approach 1:
The porous foam structure allows the pad to elongate in-plane through deformation of the cellular structure without significantly reducing thickness. The porous voids provide compliance that enables stretching while maintaining the foam's protective thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The pad is designed to be dynamically deformable, allowing it to change shape and elongate during movement while maintaining its protective thickness through the elastic recovery of the foam material. The material returns to its original configuration after deformation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The pad effectively absorbs impact loads by deforming its sidewalls, while maintaining flexibility and movement compatibility, thus providing enhanced protection without limiting articulation movement.
Implementation Method 1
The elastic component is traditionally a pad of a soft polymeric foam which deforms under the impact load by absorbing part of the load and by spreading it on a wider surface of the human body involved
Implementation Method 2
the elastic component... deforms under the impact load by absorbing part of the load
Implementation Method 3
Protective pads for articulations that are known follow the movement of the articulation through an elastic deformation of the material
Implementation Method 4
the impact load is absorbed by deformation of the sidewalls which buckle under the load
Data Source
Figure 1~5
Figure 6~10
AI summary
Protective pad (1) for an articulation (300) comprising a body (2) made on an elastic material having a plurality of elongated holes (3) that pass-through the body (2) from an outer side to an inner side, wherein the plurality of elongated holes (3) comprises a first plurality of holes (3) in which each hole (3) elongates in a first direction (D1) and a second plurality of holes (3) in which each hole (3) elongates in a second direction (D2) that is perpendicular, or substantially perpendicular, to the first direction (D1), and wherein, at least in a portion (C) of the protective pad (1), each hole (3) of the first plurality of holes (3) is surrounded by holes (3) of the second plurality of holes (3).