Shoe Upper Protrusions for 360-Degree Ball Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sports shoes, particularly soccer shoes, face challenges in providing optimal foot-to-ball contact and ball control, as existing designs often limit friction and energy transfer to specific areas, restricting the athlete's ability to perform tricks and maintain ball control during games.
Innovation Solution
The shoe upper features a distribution of protrusions across multiple areas, including the medial, lateral, toe, instep, and heel, with varying dimensions, shapes, orientations, and densities to enhance ball control and energy transfer, allowing for 360° interaction with the ball, and incorporates materials like rubber, casting polyurethanes, and silicon for customized grip and cushioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If applications are distributed only over certain areas of the upper, then the friction and energy transfer are optimized for those specific areas, but the athlete's ability to perform tricks and maintain ball control is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The upper is divided into multiple distinct areas (toe area, medial area, lateral area, instep area, heel area, collar area), each with its own specific applications. This segmentation allows each zone to be optimized for different ball control functions, enabling versatile trick performance across the entire shoe surface.
Solution Approach 2:
Different types of applications are applied to different areas of the upper based on their specific functional requirements. For example, the toe area may have different application characteristics compared to the heel area, allowing each region to provide optimal friction and energy transfer for the specific ball control actions performed in that zone.
2Reliability
If protrusions are added to multiple areas of the upper, then ball control and energy transfer are improved across the shoe, but the complexity of the upper structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protrusions serve multiple functions simultaneously: they provide friction for ball control, enable energy transfer during kicking, and allow for various trick performances. By making the protrusions multi-functional, the design achieves high reliability for diverse ball control tasks without requiring separate specialized components for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The applications with protrusions are integrated directly into the upper structure across multiple areas, merging the ball control functionality with the upper itself. This combination approach provides comprehensive ball control coverage while avoiding the complexity of separate attached components.
3Adaptability or versatility
If protrusions are distributed across all areas of the upper, then 360° ball interaction is enabled, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The upper is segmented into six distinct areas, each with its own protrusion applications. This segmentation allows manufacturing processes to focus on smaller, more manageable zones with consistent protrusion patterns, reducing the overall manufacturing precision burden compared to distributing protrusions uniformly across the entire upper.
Solution Approach 2:
Each area of the upper can have protrusions with local characteristics optimized for that specific zone's ball interaction requirements. This local optimization allows standardization within each area while maintaining overall versatility, making manufacturing more precise and consistent in each localized region.
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 design improves ball control and energy transfer across the shoe, enabling more precise shots, tricks, and feints, while providing comfortable fit and secure lockdown without laces, enhancing the athlete's ability to handle the ball effectively.
Implementation Method 1
A key aspect is a customized friction between the upper for a shoe and the ball for an improved ball control
Implementation Method 2
the upper comprises at least one protrusion in each of the plurality of areas... comprise grip and damping elements
Data Source
AI summary
An upper for a sports shoe includes a plurality of areas. The areas include a medial area, a lateral area, a toe area, an instep area, a heel area, and a collar area. The upper includes at least one protrusion in at least four of the plurality of areas. The protrusions protrude from an outer surface of the upper.