Stretchable Knit Light Seal for Head-Mounted Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional head-mounted devices are uncomfortable and cumbersome due to insufficient stretch in the fabric used for the light seal, leading to buckling and wrinkling when pressed against the user's face.
Innovation Solution
A seamless tube of knit fabric with a modified bird's eye pattern incorporating tuck stitches and miss stitches is used for the outer fabric layer, providing additional lengthwise stretch and preventing buckling, while boiling the fabric further enhances shrinkage and mobility, improving user comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional fabric is used for the light seal, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the fabric buckles and wrinkles when pressed against the user's face
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the fabric structure by incorporating tuck stitches into the knit pattern, changing the physical parameters of the fabric to provide controlled stretch in the lengthwise direction. This allows the fabric to deform smoothly under pressure without buckling, resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and user comfort.
Solution Approach 2:
The fabric is designed with dynamic stretch properties through tuck stitches, enabling it to adapt and deform smoothly when pressed against the user's face. This dynamic capability prevents buckling while maintaining ease of manufacture through standard knitting processes.
2Ease of operation
If the fabric has insufficient stretch, then it maintains structural stability, but it causes buckling and wrinkling when pressed against the user's face
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully controls the stretch parameter by using tuck stitches at specific intervals in the knit pattern. This provides just enough stretch to prevent buckling and improve frame mobility while maintaining fabric smoothness and structural stability through the controlled deformation capability.
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 modified fabric design significantly increases user comfort by preventing buckling and wrinkling, allowing for greater frame mobility and deflection, thus enhancing the overall wearability of head-mounted devices.
Implementation Method 1
The tuck stitches provide the outer fabric layer with stretch in the lengthwise direction of the fabric
Implementation Method 2
The post-processing step of boiling the seamless tube of knit fabric may cause additional shrinkage in the length direction of the fabric
Data Source
AI summary
A head-mounted device may include a main housing portion with displays that display images and optical modules through which the images are viewable from eye boxes. A light seal may be coupled to the main housing portion and may surround the eye boxes to prevent outside light from reaching the viewing area of the head-mounted device. The light seal may include inner and outer fabric layers. The outer fabric layer may be a seamless tube of knit fabric. The inner fabric layer may be an opaque fabric that lines the inner surface of the outer fabric layer. The outer fabric layer may have a modified bird's eye pattern that incorporates alternating knit stitches and tuck stitches. The tuck stitches allow the outer fabric layer to stretch in the lengthwise direction of the fabric to prevent buckling when the light seal is pressed against the user's face.