Inflatables with Flat Segments and Bend Maintaining Components
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional inflatable technologies, such as drop stitch construction, limit inflatables to a single flat configuration when inflated, restricting their versatility and functionality.
Innovation Solution
The development of inflatables with one or more flat segments that can be configured to form bends using various techniques, including drop stitch, and the use of bend maintaining components like straps, angle bars, and wedges to maintain these bends, allowing the inflatable to transition between a mat and a slide configuration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If conventional drop stitch construction is used to form flat surfaces in inflatables, then the inflatable can maintain a flat configuration when inflated to high pressures, but the inflatable is limited to a single flat configuration and cannot form bends or multiple configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The inflatable incorporates bend maintaining components that can be selectively engaged or disengaged to transition between flat and bent configurations. The flat segment is designed to be dynamically reconfigurable, allowing users to switch between mat and slide configurations by adjusting the bend maintaining components, thereby achieving multiple configurations while maintaining stability in each state
Solution Approach 2:
The inflatable is divided into distinct functional segments including a flat segment, a bend segment, and a rounded segment. The flat segment can be independently configured to be either flat or bent by using bend maintaining components, allowing different portions of the inflatable to serve different functions simultaneously or alternatively
2Adaptability or versatility
If bend maintaining components are added to enable configuration transitions, then the inflatable can be converted between mat and slide configurations, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bend maintaining components utilize flexible straps and thin film elements that can be easily attached and detached from the inflatable surface. These flexible components maintain bends through tension and geometry rather than rigid mechanical structures, reducing overall device complexity while enabling configuration transitions
Solution Approach 2:
Bend maintaining components act as intermediary elements between the flat segment and the rest of the inflatable structure. These components include straps, bars, or rigid elements that temporarily maintain the bent configuration during use but can be easily removed or adjusted, serving as mediators that enable configuration change without permanently complicating the structure
Data Source
AI summary
Inflatables can have one or more flat segments that are configured to form one or more bends. The flat segments of the inflatables could be formed using any technique such as drop stitch. One or more bends may be maintained in one or more flat segments of an inflatable such as to create a ladder and a slide. A variety of bend maintaining components can be used to maintain the one or more bends.