Pacifier Shield with Arc Frame and Aperture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pacifiers often cause skin irritation and imprints due to prolonged use, especially with saliva accumulation, as the existing designs do not adequately ventilate the skin area beneath the shield and can lead to incomplete saliva drainage.
Innovation Solution
A pacifier design featuring a shield with an arcuate frame that extends around the outer edge, connected only at the top, with a large opening between the frame and the attachment section, reducing contact surface area and enhancing ventilation and saliva drainage, while maintaining structural stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the shield has a large contact surface area, then structural stability is improved, but skin irritation and imprints worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is segmented into multiple regions with different wall thicknesses: a first region with reduced wall thickness and a second region with normal wall thickness. This segmentation allows the shield to have both stable support areas and low-pressure contact areas, resolving the contradiction between structural stability and skin irritation prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the frame are given different local properties: the first region has reduced wall thickness to minimize contact pressure on the skin, while the second region maintains normal wall thickness to provide structural stability. This local differentiation allows the same component to simultaneously achieve both goals.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the opening between frame and attachment section is enlarged, then ventilation and saliva drainage are improved, but structural support is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The frame's wall thickness is segmented into two distinct regions, allowing the structure to be optimized for different functions in different locations. The reduced thickness region maximizes opening effectiveness for drainage while the normal thickness region maintains overall structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame exhibits local quality variations where the first region has reduced wall thickness to enhance opening functionality for ventilation and drainage, while the second region maintains sufficient wall thickness to provide necessary structural support, thus resolving the contradiction locally.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the frame wall thickness is reduced, then skin contact pressure is reduced, but frame strength decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is designed with local quality differentiation where the first region has reduced wall thickness specifically in areas that contact the skin to minimize pressure, while the second region maintains normal wall thickness in areas requiring structural strength, thus achieving both reduced contact pressure and maintained frame strength simultaneously.
Data Source
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AI summary
The soother (1) has a shield (2) including a fastening section, an arc-shaped frame (11) and an aperture (14) formed between the fastening section and the frame. The frame runs around an outer rim of the fastening section, and is connected to the outer rim of the fastening section over two ends (12, 13). The aperture engages to a distance region between the frame and the fastening section and with a flexible extraction part that projects from the fastening section. The ends of the frame are connected with an outer edge of the fastening section above the extraction part.