Variable Spring Rate Floor System for Gymnast Weight Adaptability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spring floor systems fail to provide adjustability for varying gymnast weights, leading to competitive disadvantages and increased injury risk due to uneven compression and rebound, particularly causing the 'double knee bend' phenomenon during tumbling take-offs.
Innovation Solution
A spring floor system incorporating coil springs with varying spring rates, designed to accommodate different weights by using regions with distinct spring rates, allowing for customizable compressibility and reducing the intensity of the 'double knee bend' through a bell-shaped configuration of mean diameters, coil quantities, and spacings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a uniform spring floor system is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but it fails to provide adjustability for varying gymnast weights, causing heavier gymnasts to get more rebound while lighter gymnasts experience insufficient compression and higher injury risk
Solution Approach 1:
The spring floor system incorporates regions with different spring rates (softer regions and harder regions) to provide localized adaptability. Softer regions are positioned to accommodate lighter gymnasts while harder regions serve heavier gymnasts, allowing a single uniform floor structure to adapt to varying weight requirements without increasing overall system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent varies the spring rate parameter across different regions of the floor system. By changing the physical parameter (spring rate) of the support elements, the system achieves adaptability for different gymnast weights while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure that doesn't require complex adjustable mechanisms
2Strength
If a hard spring floor is used to support heavier gymnasts, then heavier gymnasts get adequate rebound, but lighter gymnasts experience insufficient compression and are at greater risk of injury
Solution Approach 1:
The floor system incorporates softer regions with lower spring rates in areas where lighter gymnasts are likely to land, while harder regions with higher spring rates support heavier gymnasts. This local differentiation of material properties ensures that each gymnast experiences appropriate compression and rebound without injury risk
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer or region with intermediate spring rate properties between the hard support structure and the lighter gymnast. This intermediary softer region acts as a buffer that reduces impact forces for lighter gymnasts while still providing adequate support, thereby mediating between the hard floor structure and the vulnerable user
3Device complexity
If the spring floor compresses unevenly under athletes, then the structure remains simple, but it causes cupping motion that concentrates force on the medial aspect of the foot, leading to injuries in feet, legs, and knees
Solution Approach 1:
The spring floor system uses regions with different spring rates distributed in a pattern that prevents localized cupping motion. By having varying spring rates across the floor surface, the system distributes compression more evenly under the athlete's footprint, preventing force concentration on specific body parts while maintaining overall structural simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a dynamically adaptive spring floor system where the varying spring rates allow different parts of the floor to compress independently based on local load conditions. This dynamic response prevents the propagation of cupping motions that would concentrate forces, as each region adapts to the specific pressure applied to it rather than forcing uniform compression across the entire floor
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 spring rate system provides a more equitable and cushioning effect for athletes of different weights, reducing the incidence and intensity of injuries such as ruptured Achilles tendons and anterior talotibial impingement by synchronizing the floor's rebound with the gymnast's movements.
Implementation Method 1
A spring floor system incorporating coil springs with varying spring rates, designed to accommodate different weights by using regions with distinct spring rates
Implementation Method 2
The variable spring rate system provides a more equitable and cushioning effect for athletes of different weights, reducing the incidence and intensity of injuries
Data Source
AI summary
A floor system (20) includes a plurality of cushioning devices (22) attached to a lower side (40) of a wood floor (32). Each cushioning device (22) includes a spring (46) that may be attached at each of its ends to first and second caps (48, 50). The spring (46) includes longitudinally aligned regions (58, 60) interposed between the caps (48, 50). The region (58) exhibits a lower spring rate (64) than a spring rate (66) of the other region 60. In response to an imposed force, the first region (58) of spring (46) first compresses. When the imposed force is great enough, due to a user's weight, the second region (60) of spring (46) will then compress.