This application claims priority from Chinese Application CN202321196752.0, filed May 17, 2023 in China, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Example embodiments relate to an inflatable product.
Inflatable products in the market include products such as rafting boats, rubber boats, canoes, assault boats, and inflatable stand-up paddle boards. Existing inflatable products often have an independent inflatable keel, as a water dividing structure, which is arranged on an outer side or inner side of a bottom of the inflatable product. However, this form of water dividing structure has the following disadvantages: 1. an inflatable keel needs to be inflated separately from other inflatable elements, which requires an additional operation step; 2. once an inflatable keel is inflated, an outer surface of the inflatable keel is an arc surface, which provides a poor water dividing effect, thus hindering a running speed of the inflatable product; 3. an inflatable product including an inflatable keel requires increased dimensions in order to improve stability of the inflatable product itself.
Example embodiments may address at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, example embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and may not overcome any of the problems described above.
According to an aspect of an example embodiment, an inflatable product is provided comprising: an inflatable body comprising a bottom sheet extending in a longitudinal direction; a connection sheet connected to the bottom sheet, such that a containing chamber is formed between the connection sheet and the bottom sheet; and a support component disposed within the containing chamber; wherein a protrusion protruding outwards at a bottom of the inflatable body is formed by the support component within the containing chamber.
A first notch may be formed in a first longitudinal end of the bottom sheet, the first notch comprising: a first edge and a second edge symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of a longitudinal central axis. A second notch may be formed in a first longitudinal end of the connection sheet, wherein the second notch is disposed above the first notch, the second notch comprising a third edge and a fourth edge symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of the longitudinal central axis. The third edge may be connected to the first edge and the fourth edge may be connected to the second edge; and the first edge may be connected to the second edge, thereby forming the protrusion.
The containing chamber may comprise: a first chamber section and a second chamber section symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of the longitudinal central axis.
The support component may comprise: a first support component element disposed in the first chamber section; and a second support component element disposed in the second chamber section.
The support component may be a single, integral element.
The connection sheet may further comprise: a fifth edge and a sixth edge disposed on opposite sides of the connection sheet in a transverse direction, wherein both the fifth edge and the sixth edge are connected to the bottom sheet along edges of the containing chamber.
The connection sheet may further comprise: a seventh edge disposed opposite a first end of the connection sheet and connected to the bottom sheet along an end of the containing chamber.
The protrusion may be substantially V-shaped in a transverse direction of the inflatable body.
The support component may be made of plastic.
An edge of the support component adjacent to the fifth edge and an edge of the support component adjacent to the sixth edge may be one of straight, curved, and wavy.
The inflatable product may further comprise a reinforcing component connected to the first edge and the second edge.
The protrusion may extend along the longitudinal central axis and may be disposed at one of a first end of the inflatable body, a second end of the inflatable body, and a middle position between the first end of the inflatable body and the second end of the inflatable body.
The inflatable body may be an inflatable boat further comprising a first inflatable tube and a second inflatable tube, wherein the bottom sheet is connected to a bottom of the first inflatable tube and a bottom of the second inflatable tube.
The inflatable body may be an inflatable stand-up paddle board.
The above and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of example embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to example embodiments which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. In this regard, the example embodiments may have different forms and may not be construed as being limited to the descriptions set forth herein.
It will be understood that the terms “include,” “including”, “comprise, and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It will be further understood that, although the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections may not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section.
As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.
Various terms are used to refer to particular system components. Different companies may refer to a component by different names—this document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function.
Matters of these example embodiments that are obvious to those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which these example embodiments pertain may not be described here in detail.
As used herein, orientations or positional relationships indicated by terms such as “upper,” “lower,” “inner,” and “bottom” are based on orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings or the orientations or positional relationships in which a product is customarily placed in use, which is only for convenience and does not indicate or imply that devices or elements referred to must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in the specific orientation.
As used herein, the terms “arrange,” “connected,” and “connection” should be understood in a broad sense, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited. For example, a connection may be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; or can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; and may be directly connected, or indirectly connected by means of an intermediate medium, or communication between interiors of two elements.
Referring to
Referring to
The protrusion 20 may be arranged at a bottom 101 of the inflatable body 10 to form a water dividing structure that does not require inflation separate from that of the inflatable product. The protrusion 20 comprises the containing chamber 23, formed by connecting the connection sheet 21 and the bottom sheet 11, and the support component 22 disposed within the containing chamber 23. As an example, the support component 22 may be made of plastic, but is not limited thereto; it may alternately be any of a variety of other materials that are sufficiently hard and dense, as would be understood by one of skill in the art.
Defining the shape of the bottom 101 of the inflatable body 10, the support component 22 disposed in the containing chamber 23 may be bent, so that the protrusion 20 forms a V-shaped structure at the bottom 101 of the inflatable body 10, wherein the V-shaped structure protrudes in a direction away from the inflatable body 10. Therefore, during movement of the inflatable product in water, the protrusion 20 is disposed in the water and is therefore conducive to controlling a direction of the inflatable product, reducing water resistance, improving a water breaking capacity of the inflatable product, and increasing a running speed of the inflatable product. Thus, the protrusion 20 may achieve the purposes purpose of water dividing and direction control, and may aid in improving a handling performance of the inflatable product.
There are no specific limitations on the structure of an inflatable product according to example embodiments described herein. For example, the inflatable product of a first example embodiment may be an inflatable boat, and the inflatable product of a second example embodiment may be an inflatable stand-up paddle board.
Referring to
Referring to
With continued reference to
The third edge 2121 and the fourth edge 2122 of the second notch 212 are symmetrically arranged about the longitudinal central axis of the inflatable body 10. The third edge 2121 and the fourth edge 2122 of the second notch are respectively connected to the first edge 121 and the second edge 122 of the first notch, such that the connection sheet 21, including the second notch, and the bottom sheet 11, including the first notch, form a containing chamber 23 extending in the longitudinal direction as shown in
Referring to
According to one or more example aspects, referring to
In the transverse direction (shown as direction Y in
According to one or more example aspects, with continued reference to
That is, the third edge 2121 and the fourth edge 2122 of the connection sheet 21, as well as the seventh edge 2125 of the connection sheet 21, are all connected to the bottom sheet 11 to form opposite longitudinal ends of the containing chamber 23, defining a longitudinal length of the containing chamber 23 on the bottom sheet 11, and thereby restricting the support component 22 from moving within the containing chamber 23 in a longitudinal direction.
There are no specific limitations on a manner of connecting the seventh edge 2125 to the bottom sheet 11 according to example embodiments described herein. The seventh edge 2125 may be hermetically connected to the bottom sheet 11 by means of high-frequency ironing. Alternately, the seventh edge 2125 may be detachably connected to the bottom sheet 11 by any of a variety of suitable connection components, including, but not limited to a zipper, a hook-and-loop fastener, and a snap fastener, in order to achieve a detachable connection of the support component 22. According to any of the example embodiments described herein, portions of the connection sheet may be attached to portions of the bottom sheet 11 in any manner and using any connection components which restrict a movement of the support component 22 within the containing chamber 23.
According to one or more example embodiments a process of forming an inflatable body may comprise: cutting, or otherwise forming at least one end 111 of the bottom sheet 11 into a V-shaped notch (i.e., the-first notch 12 mentioned above); cutting or otherwise forming a connection sheet 21 with a second V-shaped notch (i.e., the second notch 212 mentioned above) in a position corresponding to the position of the first V-shaped notch; and connecting edges and/or other portions of the connection sheet 21 to edges and/or other portions of the bottom sheet 11 to form a containing chamber 23 therebetween. Specifically, the third edge 2121 of the connection sheet 21 may be connected to the first edge 121 of the bottom sheet 11; the fourth edge 2122 of the connection sheet 21 may be connected to the second edge 122 of the bottom sheet 11; and the fifth edge 2123 and the sixth edge 2124 of the connection sheet 21 may be connected to the bottom sheet 11 to thereby form the containing chamber 23 between the connection sheet 21 and the bottom sheet 11. When the support component 22 is disposed within the containing chamber 23, the seventh edge 2125 of the connection sheet 21 may be connected to the bottom sheet 11 to close the containing chamber 23.
A manner in which portions of the connection sheet 21 are connected to portions of the bottom sheet 11 is not limited and may include one or more of high-frequency ironing, heat bonding or gluing, and/or any of a variety of manners in which the connection sheet 21 and the bottom sheet 11 may be hermetically connected. Alternately, the portions of the connection sheet 21 and of the bottom sheet 11 may be connected in a way that is not hermetic. The bottom sheet 11 and the connection sheet 21 may be each made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or a PVC sandwich mesh composite material, but are not limited thereto. Either or both of the connection sheet 21 and the bottom sheet 11 may be made of any of a variety of materials including, but not limited to high-strength fabric-containing materials.
According to one or more example aspects, referring to
For example, when a single protrusion 20 is formed, as shown in
According to one or more example aspects, referring to
Specifically, the first support component element 221 and the second support component element 222 may be symmetrically arranged about the longitudinal central axis of the inflatable body 10. Each of the first support component element 221 and the second support component element 222 may have a tip 223 with a width in the transverse direction which decreases in the longitudinal direction. Thus, the tip 223 of the first support component element and the tip 223 of the second support component element may be cut according to the shape of the containing chamber 23, so as to facilitate positioning of the support component 22 within the containing chamber 23 (as shown in
With continued reference to
The containing chamber 23 may be defined by a shape of the bottom 101 of the inflatable body 10 to form a V-shaped chamber, and the first chamber section 231 and the second chamber 232 section may be symmetrically arranged about the longitudinal central axis of the inflatable body 10. The first support component element 221 and the second support component element 222 of the support component 22 may be disposed within the first chamber 231 and the second chamber 232, respectively, to form the protrusion 20, as shown in
According to one or more example aspects, referring to
According to one or more alternate example aspects, each of the fifth edge 2123 and the sixth edge 2124 of the second notch 212 of the support component 22 may be any of straight, curved and wavy, either along their length or only in portions thereof away from the tips 223 of the second notch 212. As an example, with reference to
According to one or more example aspects, with continued reference to
According to one or more example aspects, referring to
According to a second example embodiment, referring to
The structure of one or more protrusions 20 according to an example aspect of this example embodiment may be substantially the same as the structure of the one or more protrusions 20 described with respect to the first example embodiment. For example, the inflatable product of this example embodiment may comprise a connection sheet 21 and a support component 22 as described above.
A difference between this second example embodiment and the above-described first example embodiment may be that, at one end of the stand-up paddle board body according to this example embodiment, the connection sheet 21 may be connected to the second surface 103 of the stand-up paddle board body and may thereby form a containing chamber 23 extending in a longitudinal direction, and the support component 22 (not shown in the figure) may be disposed within the containing chamber 23 to form the protrusion 20 that protrudes in a direction away from the inflatable body 10.
As with the first example embodiment, a position of one or more protrusions of this second example embodiment is not limited. For example, one or more protrusions 20 may be disposed on one or more of two opposite longitudinal ends of the inflatable stand-up paddle board. One or more protrusions 20 may be disposed in a middle portion of the inflatable stand-up paddle board in the longitudinal direction; and one or more protrusions 20 may be disposed at a head of the inflatable stand-up paddle board.
As described herein, a protrusion 20, that protrudes outward towards a water surface is disposed at a bottom 101 of the inflatable body 10, and may thereby aid in improving a water dividing capacity and a direction control of the inflatable body 10. The connection sheet 21, connected to the bottom sheet 11, may be arranged on the bottom sheet 11, and may, with the bottom sheet 11, form a containing chamber 23, so that the support component 22 may be disposed within the containing chamber 23. When the containing chamber 23 is defined by the shape of the bottom 101 of the inflatable body 10 to form a V-shaped chamber, the support component 22 and the containing chamber 23 may form a protrusion 20 that protrudes in a direction away from the inflatable body 10. The protrusion may act as a water dividing structure during movement of the inflatable body in the water, and may thereby play a role in controlling a direction of the inflatable body, reducing water resistance, improving a water breaking capacity, increasing a running speed, and improving a handling performance of the inflatable body.
It may be understood that the example embodiments described herein may be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each example embodiment may be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other example embodiments.
While example embodiments have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202321196752.0 | May 2023 | CN | national |