Wave-Shaped Wall Fastener for Foam Cushion Anchoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Incorporating hook-and-loop fasteners into foam cushions is challenging due to foam infiltration during the molding process, which inhibits the effectiveness of the fastener elements.
Innovation Solution
A fastening product with a substrate and wave-shaped walls that allow controlled foam flow, featuring a sinusoidal or triangular wave pattern with tapered edges to prevent excessive foam intrusion and ensure proper anchoring within the foam cushion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the fastener product is incorporated into the foam cushion during molding, then the fastener elements can be securely anchored in the foam cushion, but the foam material flows into and fouls the fastener elements, inhibiting their usefulness
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is divided into separate sections: a fastener-containing section and a foam-forming section. The fastener product is positioned in the fastener-containing section while foam is formed in the foam-forming section, preventing foam from contacting the fastener elements while still achieving secure anchoring through controlled foam flow to the support surface.
Solution Approach 2:
A support surface acts as an intermediary between the fastener product and the foam cushion. The support surface receives the fastener product and allows controlled foam flow to anchor it, while the barrier walls prevent direct foam contact with the fastener elements, thus mediating the interaction to achieve both anchoring and protection.
2Reliability
If barrier walls are used to prevent foam from flowing into fastener areas, then fastener elements remain clean and functional, but the bond strength between the fastening product and foam cushion is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the mold are assigned different functions with different foam flow characteristics. The fastener-containing section has barrier walls that prevent foam intrusion to maintain fastener effectiveness, while the support surface area allows controlled foam flow to achieve bond strength, creating local quality differences in foam interaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold cavity is segmented into distinct zones: a fastener-containing section with barrier walls for protection, a foam-forming section for cushion formation, and a support surface for anchoring. This segmentation allows each zone to optimize its function without compromising the others.
3Ease of manufacture
If the fastener product is positioned within the mold during foam forming, then integration into the foam cushion is achieved, but foam floods the fastener elements and inhibits their usefulness
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is segmented into a fastener-containing section and a foam-forming section, allowing the fastener product to be positioned within the mold for easy integration while preventing foam from flooding the fastener elements through barrier walls and controlled flow paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The support surface serves as an intermediary that enables integration of the fastener product into the foam cushion during molding while protecting the fastener elements from foam flooding through controlled foam flow management.
Data Source
AI summary
A touch fastener strip includes a pair of longitudinal barrier walls each extending upward from a base, a plurality of lateral barrier walls each extending upward from the base and between facing surfaces of the barrier walls, thereby defining one or more fastening cells, and a pair of wave walls each extending upward from the base and outboard the barrier walls thereby defining a relief space. Each wave wall has a wave shape having rising and falling edges, at least one of the edges having a slope in the range of 3° to 65°. In some cases, the wave shape has a duty cycle of 40% to 60%, and may include a sine wave, a triangle wave, a ramp wave, and/or a bi-modal wave having two different peak points in a given cycle of the shape. In one example application, the strip may be anchored in a foam cushion product.