Variable Eartip With Adjustable Length And Angle
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional eartips for kernel-type earphones often cause discomfort due to their fixed size and shape, which cannot accommodate the varied anatomy of individual ear canals, leading to poor fit, noise leakage, and resource wastage from unused eartips of different sizes.
Innovation Solution
A variable eartip design featuring a cylindrical fixing portion, a variable portion with adjustable length and angle, and a flexible contact portion made of materials like silicone, allowing for customizable fit by adjusting the eartip's length and angle to match the user's ear anatomy, using corrugated tubes and insertion-injection molding for secure attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If eartips are provided in multiple sizes, then adaptability to different ear canals is improved, but device complexity and resource waste increase
Solution Approach 1:
The eartip incorporates a variable portion with corrugated structure that can dynamically change its length and bending angle. This dynamic adaptability allows a single eartip design to accommodate different ear canal shapes and sizes, eliminating the need for multiple fixed-size eartips while maintaining high adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameters of the eartip by making the length and bending angle variable rather than fixed. The corrugated structure enables continuous parameter adjustment, allowing the same eartip to be customized for different users without requiring multiple predefined size variants.
2Ease of manufacture
If eartips have fixed size and shape, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but wearability and comfortability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The eartip is segmented into three distinct portions: fixing portion, variable portion, and contact portion. Each segment serves a specific function and can be manufactured separately using standard processes, then assembled together. This segmentation maintains manufacturing simplicity while enabling the variable portion to provide customization for improved wearability.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact portion is made of flexible material that can deform to match the user's ear canal shape. This flexibility is achieved through using elastomeric materials and creating a thin-walled structure that conforms to the anatomy, significantly improving comfortability without complicating manufacturing.
3Ease of operation
If eartips are made of flexible material, then comfortability is improved, but structural stability and noise isolation are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The eartip uses composite construction with different materials for different portions. The fixing portion uses rigid material for structural stability and secure attachment, the variable portion uses semi-flexible material for adaptability, and the contact portion uses soft flexible material for comfort. This composite approach ensures each portion optimizes its properties, maintaining both comfortability and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The eartip employs a nested structure where the inner section is surrounded by an outer section. This nested design provides structural reinforcement while maintaining flexibility, as the outer section supports the inner flexible portion, ensuring both comfortability and adequate structural stability for noise isolation.
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 variable eartip provides enhanced wearability and comfort by ensuring a precise fit, reducing noise leakage, and minimizing discomfort through adjustable length and angle, thereby improving sound quality and user experience while reducing resource wastage.
Implementation Method 1
a variable portion (20) formed to have a cylindrical shape with a bottom coupled to a top of the fixing portion and to have a length and bending which are variable
Implementation Method 2
a contact portion (30) formed of a flexible material and including an inner section having a cylindrical shape with a bottom coupled to a top of the variable portion
Implementation Method 3
The first section and the fixing portion may be coupled through insertion-injection molding
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is an eartip for an earphone. The eartip includes a fixing portion formed to have a cylindrical shape with a bottom fixedly coupled to a nozzle of an earphone, a variable portion formed to have a cylindrical shape with a bottom coupled to a top of the fixing portion and to have a length and bending which are variable, and a contact portion formed of a flexible material and including an inner section having a cylindrical shape with a bottom coupled to a top of the variable portion and an outer section extending to be rounded downward from a top end of the inner section to surround at least parts of the inner section, the variable portion, and the fixing portion and to come into contact with an external auditory meatus of a user's ear.