Optimized cushioning elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cushioning elements face challenges in optimizing their thickness, weight, and density while maintaining predetermined cushioning characteristics, as they often require significant material and weight without corresponding improvements in stiffness or resilience.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates interconnected walls forming hollow columns with stiffening features and voids, utilizing elastomeric materials like gel-based block copolymers, to reduce thickness and weight while maintaining cushioning performance by strategically arranging enlarged junctions and notches in the walls.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional cushioning elements use more material to increase thickness and weight, then cushioning capacity is improved, but weight and density increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cushioning element is divided into multiple hollow columns formed by interconnected walls, creating a segmented structure that provides cushioning through the compression and expansion of individual columns rather than relying on overall mass
Solution Approach 2:
The cushioning element incorporates hollow columns with voids inside them, creating a porous structure that reduces material usage and weight while maintaining cushioning capacity through the air-filled spaces that compress and expand
2Strength
If traditional cushioning elements increase thickness to maintain cushioning characteristics, then cushioning performance is preserved, but thickness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from solid wall structures to hollow column structures, utilizing the internal void space to provide cushioning function without increasing external dimensions, effectively using three-dimensional space efficiency to reduce thickness
3Strength
If traditional cushioning elements use more material to increase density, then stiffness is improved, but density and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cushioning element combines elastomeric material with air-filled hollow columns, creating a composite structure where the elastomeric walls provide structural integrity and stiffness while the air-filled voids reduce overall density
4Strength
If traditional cushioning elements increase material usage to improve resilience, then cushioning performance is maintained, but material consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts unnecessary material from the cushioning element by replacing solid wall structures with hollow columns, removing excess material while preserving the essential cushioning function through the remaining elastomeric walls and air-filled spaces
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 allows for a thinner, lighter cushioning element with consistent cushioning characteristics across its surface, achieving reduced material usage without compromising resilience or stiffness, as demonstrated by topology studies and comparative analyses.
Implementation Method 1
The elastomeric material that forms the plurality of interconnected walls may comprise any suitable material that will readily deform when placed under a load and resiliently rebound upon removal of the load
Implementation Method 2
the gel may comprise a block copolymer that has been extended with a plasticizer
Data Source
AI summary
A cushioning element includes a plurality of interconnected walls that define hollow columns. The interconnected walls include voids. The voids have shapes, sizes, and positions that reduce an overall density and weight of the cushioning element without sacrificing its cushioning characteristics. The cushioning element may even be thinner than an existing, conventionally configured cushioning element while providing the same or improved cushioning. In some embodiments, the cushioning element may also include enlarged junctions between interconnected walls or other stiffening features. Methods for designing such cushioning elements are also disclosed.