Exercise Mat Antimicrobial Spiral Roll Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Exercise mats, particularly those used for yoga and Pilates, often harbor bacteria, fungi, and viruses due to inadequate cleaning and storage practices, leading to the accumulation of harmful organisms.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a pliant substrate with oligodynamic materials having biocidal or antimicrobial effects, which is rolled with the exercise mat to contact and exert a disinfecting effect on both surfaces, forming a spiral roll that maintains contact over time, thereby reducing microbial presence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the exercise mat is used repeatedly in warm exercise rooms, then exercise functionality is maintained, but harmful organisms accumulate on the mat surface
Solution Approach 1:
The antimicrobial substrate is integrated into the exercise mat before use, enabling continuous microbial protection during storage and transport. The substrate is pre-positioned between the mat layers and activated through exposure to UV light or heat, providing preliminary disinfection before the mat is used again.
Solution Approach 2:
An antimicrobial substrate is introduced as an intermediary layer between the exercise mat and the environment. This substrate contains silver or copper particles that release antimicrobial agents, acting as a mediator to prevent microbial accumulation on the mat surface without affecting the mat's exercise functionality.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the exercise mat is cleaned regularly, then microbial presence is reduced, but cleaning time and effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The exercise mat incorporates a self-disinfecting mechanism through the antimicrobial substrate that automatically kills microbes on contact. The substrate releases antimicrobial agents continuously during storage and transport, eliminating the need for manual cleaning and reducing time loss while maintaining microbial control.
Solution Approach 2:
The antimicrobial substrate provides continuous protection against microbial accumulation throughout the mat's usage cycle. The substrate remains active during storage, transport, and between uses, ensuring uninterrupted microbial prevention without requiring periodic cleaning interruptions.
3Volume of moving object
If the exercise mat is stored in a compact form, then storage space is reduced, but contact between surfaces decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The antimicrobial substrate is nested within the exercise mat structure, positioned between the mat layers. This nested configuration allows the mat to be rolled into a compact spiral form for efficient storage while maintaining substrate-mat contact through the rolling action, ensuring continuous antimicrobial protection in compact storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The exercise mat is rolled into a spiral form, utilizing curved geometry to achieve compact storage. The spiral rolling configuration maintains continuous contact between the antimicrobial substrate and the mat surfaces throughout the rolling process, ensuring that compaction does not compromise antimicrobial effectiveness.
4Ease of operation
If the exercise mat is made pliant for rolling, then storage convenience is improved, but structural stability during use may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The exercise mat uses a composite structure combining a pliant substrate with antimicrobial particles. This composite material provides both the flexibility needed for rolling storage and the structural stability required for use, as the antimicrobial particles are embedded within the pliant matrix to maintain integrity while enabling conformability.
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 method effectively disinfects the exercise mat by maintaining contact with the antimicrobial substrate, reducing the presence of harmful organisms and providing an efficient storage solution that minimizes the need for frequent cleaning.
Implementation Method 1
providing a pliant substrate including an oligodynamic material having a biocidal or antimicrobial effect
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes providing an exercise mat having first and second ends, first and second sides, and first and second major surfaces, providing a pliant substrate including an oligodynamic material having a biocidal or antimicrobial effect, forming a prepared exercise mat by overlying the pliant substrate over the first major surface, the pliant substrate extending across the first major surface between the first side and the second side and between the first end and the second end, and rolling up the prepared exercise mat into a spiral roll including the pliant substrate spiraled between the first major surface and the second major surface, the oligodynamic material contacting, and exerting the biocidal or antimicrobial effect on organisms on or carried by, the first major surface and the second major surface over a period of time while maintaining the prepared exercise mat in the spiral roll.