Split Midsole Waveform Assembly for Footwear Lateral Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing footwear designs, particularly those with tall midsole stacks for enhanced energy return and cushioning, often provide insufficient lateral support during sharp lateral motions, exacerbating issues like foot eversion and inversion.
Innovation Solution
A bipartite midsole structure with vertically extending peripheral walls and interlocking waveform geometries, combined with a flexible textile sheet, provides increased lateral stability and reinforcement, enhancing the midsole's ability to maintain foot alignment during dynamic movements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If the midsole height is increased to enhance energy return and cushioning, then cushioning performance is improved, but lateral stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces vertically extending peripheral walls that rise from the midsole surface, adding a vertical dimension to the lateral support structure. This dimensional addition provides lateral stability without increasing the horizontal footprint or compromising the tall midsole stack height needed for energy return.
Solution Approach 2:
The midsole is divided into a base portion and vertically extending peripheral wall portions, creating segmented structural elements. This segmentation allows the base to maintain height for cushioning while the peripheral walls provide lateral support, resolving the contradiction between height and stability.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the midsole height is increased to enhance energy return and cushioning, then cushioning performance is improved, but foot alignment control worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The vertically extending peripheral walls add vertical support elements that prevent foot eversion and inversion, ensuring proper foot alignment during dynamic movements while maintaining the tall midsole stack for energy return.
Solution Approach 2:
The peripheral walls are positioned to preemptively counteract harmful foot motions such as eversion and inversion before they occur, providing preliminary stability support that maintains alignment during the tall midsole's compression and rebound cycle.
3Use of energy by moving object
If conventional midsole designs are used with tall stacks, then cushioning is enhanced, but lateral support becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The midsole is segmented into a base portion for cushioning and vertically extending peripheral wall portions for lateral support. This segmentation allows each element to specialize in its function while working together as an integrated structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the midsole are given different structural qualities - the base portion is optimized for compression and energy return, while the peripheral walls are structured to provide lateral rigidity and support, creating local quality differentiation to resolve the contradiction.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Presented are footwear sole structures with split midsole designs having peripheral walls for lateral stability, footwear fabricated with such sole structures, and methods for making/using such footwear and/or sole structures. A sole structure for an article of footwear includes mating first and second midsole sections each having a respective midsole sidewall that extends between and adjoins respective upper and lower midsole surfaces. The first midsole section's lower surface has a first waveform geometry, such as an anteroposterior-undulating curviform wave, and the second midsole section's upper surface has a complementary, mirrored waveform geometry that seats therein and intermeshes with the first waveform geometry. The second midsole section includes one or more peripheral walls that extend upward from the second sidewall; inboard surfaces of the peripheral wall(s) abut outboard surfaces the first sidewall. An outsole, which defines the footwear's ground-contacting surface, is attached to the lower surface of the second midsole section.