Extruded Footwear Soles with Segmented Geometric Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional footwear soles often compromise on protection and comfort due to their thickness and weight, leading to increased soreness, fatigue, and potential injuries, as they fail to adequately absorb impact forces during daily activities.
Innovation Solution
The use of extruded members to form customizable footwear soles with controlled geometric patterns and varying layers, materials, and properties, allowing for enhanced cushioning, support, and flexibility, particularly in areas like the heel and forefoot, while minimizing weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional footwear soles are made thick to provide adequate cushioning and protection from impact forces, then cushioning and protection are improved, but weight increases leading to soreness and fatigue
Solution Approach 1:
The sole is divided into multiple discrete elements rather than a single solid mass. Each element can be independently sized, shaped, and positioned to provide cushioning where needed while minimizing overall weight. The elements are distributed across the sole structure to create zones of varying density and support.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the sole have different densities and configurations of elements. High-impact areas receive more substantial cushioning elements, while lower-stress areas use fewer or lighter elements. This localized optimization provides adequate protection where required without uniformly increasing weight across the entire sole.
2Reliability
If conventional footwear soles are made thick to absorb impact forces, then impact absorption is improved, but the sole becomes heavy and less flexible
Solution Approach 1:
The segmented element structure allows each component to move and deform independently during impact events. This segmentation enables the sole to absorb impact forces through the compression and rearrangement of individual elements while maintaining overall flexibility and adaptability to the foot's natural movements.
Solution Approach 2:
The sole elements are designed to dynamically respond to applied forces, changing their configuration and density distribution based on impact conditions. During normal flexion, the elements remain flexible and adaptable, but during impact events, they can compress and redistribute forces, providing both protection and flexibility.
3Adaptability or versatility
If extruded members are used to form customizable sole patterns, then manufacturing flexibility and customization are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The extrusion process inherently creates the desired element patterns through the geometry of the extrusion die and the properties of the material being extruded. The process self-organizes into repeating patterns of elements as the material is pushed through the die, eliminating the need for complex post-processing or assembly operations to create the element structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Customization is achieved by changing parameters of the extrusion process such as die geometry, extrusion speed, material composition, and temperature. These parameter adjustments allow the same basic extrusion process to produce a variety of different sole patterns and element configurations without requiring fundamentally different manufacturing equipment or complex assembly procedures.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed embodiments relate to portions of an article of footwear formed from an extruded member. In certain embodiments, a sole or portion of a sole can be formed from one or more extruded members. In certain embodiments, the extruded member can be a single, continuous piece of solid material. In certain embodiments, a sole for an article of footwear can be fashioned from an extruded member formed in a controlled geometric pattern. In certain embodiments, the sole can include one or more layers.