Movable Heel Element for Secure, Adjustable Shoe Fit
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shoes, particularly sports shoes, often fail to provide a snug fit for the heel due to limited size, width, and shape options, leading to discomfort and potential blisters from heel slippage, despite fastening mechanisms that primarily target the instep portion.
Innovation Solution
A shoe design featuring a movable heel element that overlaps with the upper, allowing adjustment by pulling on the lace, which can envelop the heel and adapt to individual foot shapes and sizes, providing enhanced support and security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fastening mechanisms (laces, straps, hook-and-loop fasteners) are used to tighten the upper, then the instep portion can be secured, but the heel remains insufficiently secured and continues to slip
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe upper is divided into distinct functional zones: a movable heel cup that can independently adjust to envelop the heel, and a separate instep portion with fastening mechanisms. This segmentation allows the heel cup to provide dedicated heel security while the instep fasteners handle upper tightening, resolving the contradiction by assigning specific functions to separate components.
Solution Approach 2:
The heel cup is designed to be movable relative to the upper, allowing it to dynamically adjust and adapt to the wearer's heel shape and size. This dynamic capability enables the heel cup to provide reliable heel security while accommodating individual variations, whereas traditional static uppers cannot effectively secure the heel.
2Reliability
If industrially manufactured shoes are produced in limited sizes, widths, and shapes, then manufacturing efficiency is maintained, but the fit for individual feet is insufficient leading to heel slippage
Solution Approach 1:
The movable heel cup provides dynamic adaptability to accommodate different heel shapes and sizes without requiring multiple shoe sizes. The heel cup can move and adjust to envelop various heel geometries, enabling a single shoe design to reliably support diverse foot types while maintaining industrial manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The heel cup's position and configuration can be adjusted to change the fit parameters of the shoe. This allows the same shoe to adapt to different heel sizes and shapes by modifying the heel cup's envelopment characteristics, providing reliable heel support across a range of foot dimensions without producing multiple shoe variants.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the heel element is made movable to allow fit adjustment, then individual foot shapes and sizes can be accommodated, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complexity of providing customizable heel fit is isolated to a separate, movable heel cup component rather than requiring complex mechanisms throughout the entire shoe. This segmentation allows the heel cup to be the only movable element, simplifying the overall device while still achieving adaptability for individual foot shapes and sizes.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 1C~1D
Figure 2A~2B
AI summary
Shoes, in particular sports shoes, that comprise an upper and a heel element arranged to at least partially overlap with at least a part of the upper. The heel element is configured to envelop at least a part of a heel of a wearer of the shoe and is movable with respect to the upper. The movable arrangement between the heel element and the upper allows the wearer to adjust the fit of the shoe.