Ski Binding Heel Roller Reduces Sole Friction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ski boot bindings experience high friction forces between the sole and the heel jaw, making it difficult to put on and take off the shoe, especially with soles designed for better grip, leading to increased effort and potential sticking issues.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of rollers with a low coefficient of friction material, such as polyoxymethylene (POM) or polyamide, in the heel piece of the binding, allowing for a rolling contact between the sole and the jaw, reducing parasitic friction forces and facilitating easier engagement and disengagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional direct contact between the sole and the heel jaw is used, then the binding provides secure holding, but high friction forces make it difficult to put on and take off the shoe
Solution Approach 1:
A roller element is introduced as an intermediary between the shoe sole and the heel jaw. This roller rotates during engagement and disengagement, converting sliding friction into rolling friction, thereby significantly reducing the friction force and making the operation easier.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the conventional sliding contact mechanism with a rolling contact mechanism using a roller. This substitution changes the fundamental mechanical interaction from sliding friction to rolling friction, dramatically reducing the force required for engagement and disengagement.
2Reliability
If shoes with soles designed for better grip (e.g., rubber) are used, then ground grip is improved, but friction forces with the heel jaw increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The roller acts as a mediator that decouples the high-friction sole material from the jaw. The roller's low-friction contact surfaces interact with both the sole and the jaw, allowing the sole to maintain its high-grip properties for ground contact while the roller handles the binding interface with minimal friction.
3Reliability
If high friction contact between sole and jaw is present, then secure holding is maintained, but the shoe may jam when taking it off
Solution Approach 1:
The sliding contact system is replaced with a rolling contact system. The roller can rotate freely during removal, allowing the shoe to be ejected from the binding without overcoming static friction, thus preventing jamming while maintaining secure holding during skiing.
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 significantly reduces the effort required to put on the shoe and prevents sticking, enhancing the functionality and ease of use of the binding by minimizing friction-induced stress during configuration changes.
Implementation Method 1
the contact between the sole and the jaw is mainly a rolling contact which allows to greatly reduce the relative friction between these two parts
Data Source
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AI summary
Rear retention device (1) for a shoe (3) attachment on a sliding device (2), comprising: - a chassis (12) intended to be mounted on the sliding device in a sliding manner along a longitudinal axis (X) of the sliding device and/or rotating about an axis normal (Z) to a sliding surface (21) of the sliding device or fixed relative to the sliding device; - a retaining jaw (11) for a heel of the shoe, the jaw being rotatably mounted on the chassis about a first axis (Y111) transverse to the body in a plane parallel to the sliding surface of the sliding device when the chassis is mounted on the sliding device.The jaw includes at least one roller (112a, 112b) rotatably mounted about a second axis (Y112) parallel to the first axis or oriented at an angle of less than 45° with respect to the first axis, the roller being arranged so that a portion of a contact surface (1122) of the roller is able to be in contact with the boot when the boot is placed in the binding.