Shoe Insole with Segmented Hard-Soft Zones for Balance and Shock Absorption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shoe insoles, whether made of sponge or plastic materials, face challenges in providing both balance adjustability and shock absorbability while maintaining comfort and fitting to the foot, with plastic materials being too rigid or too thin, and sponge materials lacking flexibility and resilience.
Innovation Solution
A shoe insole design featuring a body part made of hard material with a shock absorbing member made of soft material, where the body part supports the arch and heel with a specific thickness and shape to maintain a standard foot shape, providing balance adjustability and shock absorbability, and includes features like thinner peripheral edges for bending and ribbed arch support for weight distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If plastic material is used for shoe insole, then balance support and structural strength are improved, but flexibility and shock absorbability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe insole is divided into multiple functional zones with different thicknesses and material properties. The arch support area has greater thickness for structural support, while the heel area has reduced thickness for flexibility. This segmentation allows each region to perform its specific function optimally without compromising overall performance.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the shoe insole are designed with locally optimized properties. The arch area uses thicker plastic material for rigidity and balance support, while the heel area uses thinner material for flexibility and comfort. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction between overall strength and flexibility requirements.
2Strength
If plastic material is made thicker, then structural strength is improved, but flexibility and natural movement deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The insole thickness is segmented into different zones: thicker sections under the arch for structural support, and thinner sections at the heel and edges for flexibility. This allows the insole to maintain structural integrity where needed while permitting natural foot movement in other areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The insole design incorporates dynamic characteristics by varying thickness to create areas of different stiffness. Thinner regions allow greater deformation and adaptability during natural foot movement, while thicker regions maintain structural support. This dynamic design enables the insole to adapt to varying mechanical demands during use.
3Adaptability or versatility
If plastic material is made thinner, then flexibility is improved, but sufficient strength and control deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The insole employs local quality optimization by concentrating thickness in specific areas where structural support is critical (arch region) while maintaining thinner sections in areas where flexibility is prioritized (heel region). This ensures sufficient strength is provided exactly where needed without unnecessarily compromising flexibility elsewhere.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If sponge material is used for body part, then shock absorbability is improved, but flexibility and resilience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses composite material construction combining plastic and sponge materials in different regions. The plastic material provides structural strength, flexibility, and resilience, while the sponge material provides shock absorbability. This composite approach allows both materials to contribute their advantageous properties without suffering from their respective disadvantages.
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 shoe insole effectively maintains foot balance and comfort, reduces fatigue and injury risk, and accommodates various foot shapes by combining hard and soft materials, providing instant balance adjustment and impact absorption.
Implementation Method 1
a shock absorbing member made of soft material... having a function to absorb impact
Data Source
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AI summary
A shoe insole is provided, which can achieve both a balance adjustability and a shock absorbability, can maintain a balance with a standard foot shape without uncomfortableness, and improves a wearing feel and comfortableness by fitting to user's feet. A shoe insole 10 to be used by being inserted into an inner bottom part of a shoe includes a part of a body part 20 of the shoe insole, that supports an arch of a foot, the part having a function to recover the balance of a foot to standard values, a part of the body part 20, that supports a heel of an underside of the foot, the part having a function to improve stability and fitting feel of the foot. A shock absorbing member 30 is attached by pressure at least to the back side of the part of the body part 20 that supports the heel of the underside of the foot, the body part 20 is made of hard material, and the shock absorbing member 30 is made of soft material.