Gabled Keyboard Frame and Elevated Wrist Pad to Reduce Wrist Strain
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional keyboard designs often lead to wrist strain due to prolonged use, causing issues like wrist deviation, forearm pronation, and wrist extension, which can result in discomfort and potential long-term injuries.
Innovation Solution
An ergonomic keyboard system with a gabled portion and a contoured wrist pad that includes adjustable slopes and a detachable kickstand, allowing the wrist pad to be elevated to match the height of the keys, reducing strain by promoting a neutral wrist position and providing adjustable support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional keyboard designs are used, then simplicity and ease of manufacture are maintained, but wrist strain and ergonomic issues occur during prolonged use
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard is divided into multiple sections with different slopes and elevations. The gabled portion creates distinct first and second slopes on either side of a central peak, allowing each section to serve specific ergonomic functions for different finger positions and wrist orientations
Solution Approach 2:
The keyboard frame and wrist pad incorporate contoured surfaces with curved profiles rather than flat planes. The gabled portion forms a peaked contour that follows the natural arc of fingers, while the wrist pad surface contour matches this curvature to provide continuous ergonomic support
2Ease of operation
If the wrist pad is elevated to match key height, then wrist extension is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wrist pad incorporates an adjustable kickstand mechanism that allows dynamic height adjustment. The kickstand can be positioned at different angles to elevate the wrist pad to various heights, enabling users to adapt the wrist support position to their specific ergonomic needs and keyboard configuration
Solution Approach 2:
The kickstand mechanism changes the physical parameters of the wrist pad by adjusting its height and angle. This parameter adjustment allows the wrist pad surface to be elevated to match key height or positioned at other optimal angles, transforming a static component into an adaptable ergonomic solution
3Reliability
If the gabled portion with contoured peak is implemented, then wrist deviation and forearm pronation are reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gabled portion creates an asymmetric peaked structure with different slopes on either side. This asymmetric contour is specifically designed to counteract the symmetric strain patterns of typical typing, providing corrective angles that reduce wrist deviation and forearm pronation by guiding wrists into proper alignment
Solution Approach 2:
The contoured peak and sloped surfaces are implemented specifically in the gabled portion where wrist contact occurs, rather than uniformly across the entire keyboard. This localized ergonomic feature concentrates manufacturing complexity only where it provides ergonomic benefit, while the rest of the keyboard maintains simpler construction
Data Source
AI summary
An ergonomic keyboard apparatus comprising a keyboard frame including an ergonomic contour defined in part by a gabled portion of the keyboard frame that is pitched into a contoured peak that forms a first slope and a second slope on either side of the keyboard frame. A plurality of keys are disposed within the keyboard frame such that key tops of each of the plurality of keys follow the ergonomic contour of the keyboard frame. A wrist pad coupled to the keyboard frame has a gabled center portion and a surface contour that corresponds to the ergonomic contour of the keyboard frame defined by its gabled portion, first slope, and second slope. Each location along at least a portion of the surface contour of the wrist pad is elevated to at least a height of corresponding key tops of the plurality of keys.