Therapeutic Wrap Assembly With Pivoting Spreaders for Curved Skin Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Therapeutic garments, straps, and wraps with curvature struggle to maintain contact with the user's skin, leading to ineffective heat transfer.
Innovation Solution
A temperature controllable wrap assembly with pivotable finger spreaders and embedded vibration devices, integrated into a wearable garment, ensuring consistent contact and thermal energy distribution across curved body parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a wrap with curvature is used to cool body parts, then the wrap can adapt to body contours, but it fails to maintain consistent contact with the user's skin
Solution Approach 1:
The wrap is divided into multiple segments including a body portion and multiple finger spreaders that can independently pivot. This segmentation allows each component to adapt to different contours while maintaining reliable skin contact through the pivotable connection mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The finger spreaders are designed with pivotable joints that allow dynamic adjustment of their positions. This dynamic capability enables the wrap to maintain consistent contact with curved body surfaces by automatically adapting to changes in body contours during movement or positioning.
2Reliability
If a rigid spreader member is used for heat transfer, then thermal energy can be effectively conducted, but it cannot adapt to curved body surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid spreader member is segmented into multiple finger spreaders connected by pivotable joints. Each segment maintains the thermal conduction properties of the rigid material while the segmented structure allows adaptation to curved surfaces through relative movement of the segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The pivotable joints in the finger spreaders enable dynamic adjustment of the spreader configuration. This allows the rigid thermal conduction paths to be repositioned to conform to curved body surfaces while maintaining effective heat transfer through the rigid materials.
3Reliability
If temperature control modules are fixed in position, then thermal energy transfer is stable, but the wrap cannot be flexibly positioned on different body parts
Solution Approach 1:
The temperature control modules are designed to be universally applicable to different body parts through the pivotable finger spreaders. The same module configuration can be positioned on various body contours by adjusting the spreader angles, providing both stable thermal transfer and positioning flexibility.
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 wrap assembly provides effective heat transfer and vibration therapy, enhancing blood flow and comfort by adapting to body contours and allowing flexible positioning of temperature control modules.
Implementation Method 1
The controllable temperature element is configured to transfer thermal energy to an upper surface of the spreader member and the spreader member is configured to conduct thermal energy to the first finger spreader
Implementation Method 2
embedded vibration devices, integrated into a wearable garment, ensuring consistent contact and thermal energy distribution across curved body parts
Data Source
AI summary
A temperature controllable wrap assembly that includes a wrap portion configured to be worn around a user’s body part, and at least a first temperature control module positioned on the wrap portion. The first temperature control module includes a housing, a controllable temperature element, a spreader member and at least a first finger spreader pivotably attached to the spreader member. The lower surface of the spreader member is positioned to contact the user’s body part. The controllable temperature element is configured to transfer thermal energy to an upper surface of the spreader member, and the spreader member is configured to conduct thermal energy to the first finger spreader.