Medial-Foot Shoe Sole for Standing Stability and Cutting Impact Absorption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing athletic shoes face challenges in balancing stability during standing posture and impact absorption during cutting maneuvers due to high compressive rigidity on the medial foot side, which deteriorates impact performance.
Innovation Solution
A shoe sole design with a midsole and outsole configuration that includes protruding portions and reinforcing structures to enhance shock absorption and stability, featuring a midsole with foam materials and reinforcing members to facilitate deformation and improve impact absorption during cutting maneuvers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If high compressive rigidity is provided on the medial foot side of the rearfoot portion, then stability during standing posture is improved, but impact absorbing performance deteriorates during cutting maneuvers
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe sole employs different rigidity characteristics in different regions: the lateral foot side maintains high compressive rigidity for stability, while the medial foot side incorporates a groove portion that reduces rigidity to enable impact absorption during cutting maneuvers. This local differentiation allows each region to perform its specific function optimally without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The rearfoot portion is segmented into lateral and medial regions with distinct structural characteristics. The groove portion in the medial foot side acts as a separate functional element that allows independent deformation behavior, enabling the medial side to absorb impact while the lateral side provides stabilizing rigidity.
2Reliability
If the shoe sole structure is made more deformable to improve impact absorption, then impact absorbing performance is improved, but stability during standing posture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Deformability is locally applied only to the medial foot side through the groove portion, while the lateral foot side maintains high rigidity for stability. This localized approach allows the shoe to be deformable where needed for impact absorption while remaining stable where rigidity is required for standing posture.
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 design achieves compatibility between stability during standing and impact absorption during cutting maneuvers by optimizing the shoe's structure to disperse load and enhance deformability on the medial foot side.
Implementation Method 1
a material constituting the midsole has a viscoelastic property
Implementation Method 2
a material constituting the midsole includes a foam material
Data Source
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AI summary
A shoe sole (100A) includes a midsole (110), and an outsole (130) prescribing a ground contact surface (134). The midsole (110) has a first protruding portion (111) protruding toward the ground contact surface (134) side at a location on a medial foot side and a rear end side of the shoe sole (100A), and the outsole (130) has a first cover portion (131) covering the first protruding portion (111). The first cover portion (131) includes a first bottom wall portion (131a) prescribing the ground contact surface (134), and a first side wall portion (131b) erected from a peripheral edge of the first bottom wall portion (131a) on the medial foot side. A first ridgeline (RL1) that is a boundary between the first bottom wall portion (131a) and the first side wall portion (131b) is located so as to separate from a first outline (OL1) of the first cover portion (131) prescribed by the first side wall portion (131b) from a front side specific location (SP1) toward a rear side specific location (SP2), in a case when seen along a normal direction of the ground contact surface (134).