Laser-Patterned Footwear Surfaces for Custom Structural Features
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Solution Overview
Problem
The incorporation of complex structural features and decorative designs into articles of footwear often requires expensive manufacturing processes and materials, making it difficult to customize footwear for individual athletic needs without significant cost or complexity.
Innovation Solution
The use of lasers to create precisely located and shaped structural features and decorative designs on footwear surfaces, combined with selective coloring, allows for the production of customized, personalized, and individualized footwear elements with optimized performance and aesthetic characteristics using efficient, cost-effective methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If complex multi-component molds and manual processing steps are used to create structural features and decorative designs, then manufacturing precision and aesthetic quality are improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical molding processes with laser technology. The laser system directly writes structural features and decorative designs onto the footwear surface through optical energy, eliminating the need for complex multi-component molds and manual processing steps while maintaining high precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a masking layer as an intermediary between the laser and the footwear surface. This masking layer selectively protects certain areas from laser treatment, enabling precise control over where structural features and decorative designs are created without requiring complex mechanical masking or positioning systems.
2Manufacturing precision
If complex multi-component molds and manual processing steps are used to create structural features and decorative designs, then manufacturing precision and aesthetic quality are improved, but manufacturing time and labor costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The laser-based system performs both structural feature creation and decorative design application in a single automated process, eliminating multiple sequential manual steps including molding, assembly, and post-processing. This integration dramatically reduces total manufacturing time while maintaining precision through computer-controlled laser positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The masking layer is applied in advance to protect areas that should not be treated by the laser. This preliminary action allows the laser process to directly create the final structural features and decorative designs without requiring subsequent manual refinement or post-processing steps.
3Stability of the object's composition
If traditional manufacturing processes are used to create structural features, then structural integrity is maintained, but adaptability for customization is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The laser system provides dynamic adaptability by allowing different structural features and decorative designs to be created on the same footwear component without changing physical tools or molds. The laser parameters and patterns can be dynamically adjusted through software to customize footwear for different athletic needs while maintaining structural integrity through controlled material modification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes in the laser process (wavelength, power, pulse duration, scanning speed) to create various structural features and decorative designs on the footwear surface. By changing laser parameters rather than physical tooling, the system achieves both structural integrity and customization adaptability.
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
This approach enables the creation of footwear with superior performance and decorative features without adding complexity or cost, allowing for customization based on individual athletic needs and preferences.
Implementation Method 1
directing a beam from a laser onto the sidewall to create one or more structural features and/or one or more decorative designs on the sidewall
Implementation Method 2
The laser defined in the claims may, for example, be a UV laser or a CO2 laser
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2A~2D
Figure 3A~3D
AI summary
The invention relates to footwear and portions thereof having structural features and decorative designs thereon, and related systems and methods for manufacturing same. An exemplary method for providing a feature on a surface of an object includes positioning a laser (20) proximate the surface of the object, directing a laser beam (25) from the laser (20) to the surface of the object to mark or engrave at least a portion of the surface of the object, and moving at least one of the laser (20) and the object to create a pattern on the surface of the object, the pattern providing at least one of an aesthetic and a structural feature on the surface of the object.