Wearable Adult Device With Flexible Drive Shaft
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing adult devices are typically designed for manual operation, limiting hands-free use and compatibility with extended wear, as they integrate motive means and mechanical actuators within a single housing, which restricts design flexibility and user mobility.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising a motor, vibratory actuator, and flexible drive shaft that separates the motive means from the mechanical actuators, allowing for wearable designs and operation during normal activities by providing motive power to the actuator through a flexible drive shaft.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the motive means and mechanical actuators are integrated within a single housing, then the device structure is simplified and manufacturing is easier, but the design flexibility and hands-free wearability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separate functional modules: a motor unit and an actuator unit connected by a flexible drive shaft. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each module and enables hands-free wearability by separating the heavy motor from the insertion portion, while maintaining manufacturability through modular assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
A flexible drive shaft is introduced as an intermediary element to transmit rotational motion from the motor to the actuator. This mediator enables the separation of the motor and actuator into different locations, providing design flexibility and hands-free wearability while maintaining functional integration.
2Device complexity
If the motive means and mechanical actuators are integrated within a single housing, then the device complexity is reduced, but the hands-free operation and user mobility are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The device structure is segmented into a motor unit and an actuator unit connected by a flexible drive shaft. This segmentation enables hands-free operation by allowing the motor to be positioned outside the insertion portion, reducing the size and weight of the wearable component while maintaining functional integration through the flexible drive connection.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the motive means and mechanical actuators are separated and connected via flexible drive shaft, then the design flexibility and hands-free wearability are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A flexible drive shaft serves as an intermediary to connect the motor and actuator, enabling design flexibility and hands-free wearability. The flexible drive shaft accommodates relative movement and positioning variations, simplifying the overall system integration despite the physical separation of components.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible drive shaft performs multiple functions: transmitting rotational motion, accommodating relative positioning between motor and actuator, and enabling hands-free wearability. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional complex mechanisms, balancing the increased component separation with functional efficiency.
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
Enables hands-free operation and extended wearability, enhancing design flexibility and user mobility by decoupling the motive means from the mechanical actuators, allowing for varied and ergonomic designs that accommodate different anatomical regions.
Implementation Method 1
a motor, a vibratory actuator
Implementation Method 2
flexible drive shaft connected to an output of the motor and providing motive power to the vibratory actuator
Implementation Method 3
vibratory actuator... providing motive power to the vibratory actuator
Data Source
AI summary
The majority of adult devices have been designed for an individual to hold. However, it would be beneficial to provide users with a range of adult devices that support their use either in a hands free manner and/or are compatible with being worn by the user for varying periods of time from intermittent/occasional short durations through to extended wearing such as all day for example. In order to provide such wearable devices being able to separate the drive means from the stimulation means provides increased design flexibility as well as allowing different designs of adult device to be implemented as the design flexibility within the appropriate regions of the user's anatomy increases when the large vibratory motors are removed and connected to the stimulation means via flexible drive shaft. Further, beneficially, flexible drive shafts allow operation as the user moves during normal activities, such as sitting, standing, walking, etc.