CN106880129B

CN106880129B - Correcting insole capable of being shaped in vacuum and preparation method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN106880129B
Application number: CN201611169709.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 钟炳中; 林汭衡
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-12-16
Filing date: 2016-12-16
Publication date: 2021-11-19
Anticipated expiration: 2036-12-16
Also published as: WO2018108146A1; CN106880129A

Abstract

The invention relates to a vacuum shaping correcting insole and a preparation method thereof, wherein a plurality of particles are filled in an airtight outer layer, the outer layer is provided with an air passage, the plane configuration of the air passage is matched with the plane configuration of a sole, when the sole is treaded on the outer layer in a correct posture, the particles can move along with the three-dimensional configuration of the sole in the outer layer, air in the outer layer can be discharged out of the outer layer through the air passage due to the weight applied by the sole, then the air passage is vacuumized, the air passage is sealed after the particles are shaped in a state of being tightly attached to each other and incapable of moving continuously, and the correcting insole capable of correcting the sole in the correct posture is shaped quickly and customized.

Description

Correcting insole capable of being shaped in vacuum and preparation method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to a correcting insole and a preparation method thereof, in particular to a correcting insole which can be shaped in vacuum and can quickly and clearly manufacture a correcting insole capable of correcting a sole to keep a correct posture so as to effectively support the arch of a flat foot patient, avoid the problem that the arch of the foot collapses and is continuously worsened and effectively guide the problem that the calcaneus of the foot-everted patient turns outwards.

Background

The flat foot is not a disease, but refers to that the arch of the foot is lower, the arch of the foot is a concave arc part on the inner side of the foot, when people use the foot to perform activities such as standing, walking, running or jumping, the arch of the foot can assist in maintaining the balance and support of the body and provide good shock absorption and buffer capacity to relieve various pressures born by the foot during the activities and the reaction force from the ground, the arch of the foot is lacked, people are easy to have the phenomena of soreness of the foot, fatigue or falling, and the like, even the bearing axis is changed, and the problem of wearing of knee joints and hip joints is caused in the future. Clinically, the "flat feet" can be classified into two types, most patients with the "flat feet" have the "arch" when the feet are suspended, which is the "soft flat feet", on the contrary, if the feet are suspended without the "arch", the "structural flat feet" are obtained, and most of the abnormal feet in the morning are the "structural flat feet".

Generally, during the period from the birth to the first two years of age, most of the bones of the soles of the infants are cartilage, the inner sides of the feet are provided with a layer of fat pad, and ligaments are loose, so the arch of the feet is not obvious, according to statistics, the arches of the feet are almost flat feet because the muscles and ligaments are not developed and mature, but from the second year of age, as the infants slowly learn to walk, the forces of the toes, the heels and the soles are gradually applied, the muscles and ligaments of the arch gradually develop and complete, and the arch of the feet is gradually formed, and when the infants reach the fourth year of age, the activity of the arches is increased, so that the period of the arch of the feet is the period of rapid growth. According to the extensive screening and investigation of international well-known medical journal (Pediatrics) on preschool children of 3-6 years old, the average incidence rate of the children of 3-6 years old is 44%, although the incidence rate of the 'flat feet' is reduced with the age, the high incidence rate is worth paying attention to parents.

However, what is said to be "flat foot"? What is also said to be "valgus? Referring to fig. 1, in which fig. 1(a) shows "Flat Foot", commonly known as "duck hoof", which refers to the phenomenon of "longitudinal arch" of the sole of Foot (as shown by dotted line), and "transverse arch" of Foot, which is also known as "open Foot", ninety percent of children are caused by weight load during development; fig. 1(b) shows "valgus" (native Foot), i.e. the "calcaneus" is valgus (as shown by valgus dotted line on the left Foot), which causes the gravity line of the body not to be uniformly conducted to the Foot, thus indirectly causing the burden of knee joint and spine, and often combining the phenomena of valgus of knee joint (X-leg) and lower back pain.

Since the musculoskeletal system of children aged 1-6 years is a positive stage for rapid development and integration, but not all the self-balance mechanisms of the musculoskeletal system of children can work well, if the deviation of the musculoskeletal system exceeds a reasonable range, correction should be sought as quickly as possible to avoid missing the golden correction period. In the case of children with severe "foot-everted" combined "flat feet", the plantar ligaments and muscles are naturally less developed, so that the "flat feet" are generated, and at the moment, if the "foot-everted" is beyond a reasonable range, the balance of the biomechanics of the lower limbs is seriously damaged, so that each step of the children is not stepped on, and the body weight cannot be uniformly dispersed and conducted downwards, so that the body weight force line is deviated in the future.

The meaning of customized volume order of "correcting shoes" or "correcting insoles" is to help children to guide the development of bones and muscles as soon as possible, and avoid irretrievable deformity in the future, after all, when the bones and muscles of children's feet are inclined like the roots of saplings, if the children can be real-time supported, the roots of the trees can naturally guide back to the correct positions along with the growth of years, however, the customized volume order of "correcting shoes" or "correcting insoles" not only needs to wait for weeks and is not expensive, often needs to be varied in tens of thousands of elements, but children in positive developmental stage need to be regularly replaced and have correcting effect, therefore, the burden of thousands of parts of families can undoubtedly cause heavy economic burden.

Therefore, how to design a correction insole, which is an important problem to be solved by the invention, is to design a correction insole, not only to rapidly and immediately shape the correction insole so that a patient can immediately obtain a customized correction insole at a low price after ordering, but also to enable a three-dimensional correction configuration shaped on the correction insole to have moderate elasticity and be completely matched with the whole or local configuration of the sole of the patient to perform correction so as to effectively correct the problems of the flat foot and the everted foot.

Disclosure of Invention

The first object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum-formable corrective insole which can be placed in a shoe for a user's sole to step on, comprising an outer covering made of a flexible or elastic air-impermeable material and having its periphery hermetically sealed, the outer covering being provided with an air passage communicating with the inside and outside of the outer covering, and a plurality of beads which can be packed in the outer covering to give the outer covering a predetermined thickness and which can move within the outer covering, and the planar configuration of the outer covering being matched to the planar configuration of the sole in whole or part thereof, and which can displace with the three-dimensional configuration of the sole in whole or part thereof when the sole is stepped on the outer covering in a correct posture, and the air in the outer covering being applied by the weight of the sole in whole or part thereof, the particles are shaped in a state of being tightly attached to each other and incapable of continuously moving, and then the air channel is sealed in an airtight way, namely the elastic correcting insole is shaped.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved corrective insole, wherein the granules can be first filled into an inner covering layer made of a flexible or elastic breathable material and sealed at its periphery, and then the inner covering layer is inserted into the outer covering layer to finally form the corrective insole.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for preparing a vacuum moldable orthotic insole which can be placed in a shoe for a user to step on, comprising a filling operation, a step molding operation and a vacuuming operation, wherein the filling operation is to fill the granules in an outer coating layer so that the outer coating layer has a predetermined thickness and the granules can move in the outer coating layer, the outer coating layer is made of a flexible or elastic non-air permeable material and has an air passage hermetically sealed at its periphery and communicating the inside and outside of the outer coating layer; the shaping operation of the foot pedal is to enable the whole or part of the sole to step on the outer coating layer in a correct posture, so that the particles can be displaced along with the whole or part of the three-dimensional configuration of the sole, and the air in the outer coating layer can be discharged out of the outer coating layer through the air channel due to the weight applied to the whole or part of the sole; the vacuum-pumping operation is to make an air-pumping device perform vacuum-pumping operation on the air channel, so that the particles are shaped in a state of being tightly attached to each other and incapable of continuously moving, thereby shaping the elastic correction insole.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide the corrective insole, wherein the corrective insole is heated to fuse the adjacent particles together to form the corrective insole.

Drawings

FIG. 1(a) is a schematic view of a "flat foot";

FIG. 1(b) is a schematic diagram of the "valgus" of the left foot;

FIG. 2 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the orthotic insole of the present invention prior to being shaped;

FIG. 3 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the orthotic insole of the present invention after it has been shaped;

FIG. 4 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention before it is shaped;

FIG. 5 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the orthotic insole of the present invention after a "heat-up" operation;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method of making the present invention; and

fig. 7 is a schematic view of mixing of particles and bonding material.

[ description of reference ]

Corrective insole

10, 30

Inner cladding layer 11

Particles

12, 32

Outer cladding

13, 33

Air channel

131, 331

Supporting jig 20

Shaped recess 21

Ventilation assembly 34

Bonding material 37

Adhesive material 371

Adsorbing material 373

Steps 401 to 404

Detailed Description

In order that the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent, the present invention will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with the following specific embodiments.

The present invention relates to a vacuum-formable rectification insole and a method for manufacturing the same, in one embodiment, referring to fig. 2, the rectification insole 10 can be placed in a shoe (not shown) for a user to step on, the rectification insole 10 comprises an inner cladding layer 11, a plurality of particles 12 and an outer cladding layer 13, wherein the inner cladding layer 11 is made of a flexible or elastic air-permeable material, and the periphery thereof is sealed to form a first containing space therein; it is specifically mentioned that the "breathable material" of the present invention refers to a material having a structure with air-permeable pores, so that the "breathable material" can be a breathable fabric, a breathable plasticized film, a breathable plasticized layer or other materials with air-permeable pores, and can be partially or completely breathable according to the needs of the manufacturer, for example: the "breathable material" can be composed of more than two materials (e.g., Polypropylene (PP) for one part and Polyurethane foam (PU) for the other part). In addition, the particles 12 are made of an elastic material and are filled in the first accommodating space of the inner cladding layer 11, so that the inner cladding layer 11 can present a predetermined thickness and maintain a soft state, and the particle size of each particle 12 is larger than the air-permeable pore size of the inner cladding layer 11, so that the particles 12 can only move in the first accommodating space of the inner cladding layer 11 without moving to the outside of the inner cladding layer 11; the outer coating 13 is made of a flexible or elastic air-impermeable material (such as an air-impermeable plasticized film or an air-impermeable plasticized layer), or made of two or more materials, and the periphery of the outer coating is hermetically sealed to form a second accommodating space therein, the second accommodating space is used for accommodating the inner coating 11, so that the outer coating 13 covers the outer surface of the inner coating 11, the outer coating 13 is provided with an air passage 131, and the air passage 131 is communicated with the inside and the outside of the outer coating 13.

Referring to fig. 2, the plane configuration of the inner and

outer coatings

11 and 13 matches with the plane configuration of the whole or part of the sole (e.g. corresponding to the phalanges, the middle phalanges or the part of the heel bone), so that when the whole or part of the sole is stepped on the outer coating 13 in a correct posture, the particles 12 can be displaced with the whole or part of the sole in a three-dimensional configuration, and at the same time, the outer coating 13 together with the air in the inner coating 11 is discharged out of the outer coating 13 through the air passage 131 by the weight applied by the sole, and then, when an air pumping device (not shown) is used to pump the second and first accommodating spaces through the air passage 131, the outer coating 13 is deformed inwards, thereby pressing the inner coating 11 and the particles 12 filled therein, the particles 12 are tightly attached to each other until the particles 12 are shaped in a state incapable of further displacement, and the air channel 131 is hermetically sealed, so that a hard but elastic rectification insole 10 (as shown in fig. 3) can be rapidly and customizably shaped, and thus the rectification insole 10 can always keep the three-dimensional configuration of the sole in the right posture.

In addition, as shown in fig. 2, in order to reduce the overall weight of the rectification insole 10 and effectively reduce the burden of the rectification insole 10 on the sole, the particles 12 may be selected from porous particles made of a plastic foaming material, so that when the particles 12 are closely attached to each other such that the top surface of the rectification insole 10 is shaped into a three-dimensional configuration along the contour of the sole to keep the rectification sole in a correct posture, the three-dimensional configuration of the top surface of the rectification insole 10 will have a stable rectification and support effect on the sole, and further, since the rectification insole 10 has elasticity (the elasticity depends on the material and density of the particles 12), the impact of ground on the foot can be absorbed and alleviated.

In addition, in order to make the top surface of the correcting insole 10 be more precisely shaped into a three-dimensional configuration capable of correcting the sole of a foot to maintain a correct posture, please refer to fig. 2, the invention further comprises a supporting jig 20, the bottom surface of the supporting jig 20 can be flatly placed on a plane, the top surface of the supporting jig 20 is concavely provided with a shaping groove 21, the bottom surface of the shaping groove 21 is matched with the inner sole surface of the shoe, the plane configuration of the shaping groove 21 is matched with the plane configuration of the outer covering layer 13, the depth of the shaping groove 21 is at least equal to the predetermined thickness of the inner covering layer 11, so that the outer covering layer 13 and the inner covering layer 11 can be accommodated in the shaping groove 21, and as shown in fig. 3, when the whole or part of the sole of a foot is pressed on the outer covering layer 13 in a correct posture, the particles 12 will follow the whole or part of the sole of a foot in a correct posture, displacement in the inner coating layer 11, wherein the outer coating layer 13 and the air in the inner coating layer 11 will be exhausted out of the outer coating layer 13 through the air channel 131 due to the reaction force generated by the support and restriction of the shaping groove 21, after the vacuuming operation and the sealing of the air channel 131 are completed, the particles 12 will make the top surface of the rectification insole 10 be more precisely adjusted to form a three-dimensional configuration capable of keeping the rectification sole in a correct posture, and in addition, due to the support and restriction of the shaping groove 21, the other configurations of the rectification insole 10 except the top surface can be more precisely matched with the configuration of the inner sole of the shoe, so that the rectification insole 10 can be smoothly installed on the inner sole of the shoe; in other embodiments of the present invention, the outer cladding layer 13 and the inner cladding layer 11 can also be placed on a vibration device to accelerate the displacement of the particles 12 by the vibration effect of the vibration device, or the vibration device can be combined with the supporting fixture 20.

In another embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 4, the corrective insole 30 comprises an outer covering 33 and a plurality of granules 32, wherein the outer covering 33 is made of a flexible or elastic air-impermeable material, and the periphery thereof is hermetically sealed, the outer covering 33 is provided with an air passage 331, and the air passage 331 is communicated with the inside and the outside of the outer covering 33; the particles 32 are packed inside the outer cladding 33 so that the outer cladding 33 exhibits a predetermined thickness and can move inside the outer cladding 33; since the plane configuration of the outer covering 33 matches the plane configuration of the entire or partial sole, in the case that the entire or partial sole is stepped on the outer covering 33 in a correct posture, the particles 32 can be displaced with the entire or partial three-dimensional configuration of the sole, and the air in the outer covering 33 can be discharged out of the outer covering 33 through the air passage 331 due to the weight applied to the entire or partial sole, and then, the air passage 331 is vacuumized to shape the particles 32 in a state of being closely attached to each other and being incapable of further displacement, and then the air passage 331 is sealed, i.e., the elastic orthotic insole 30 is shaped. With continued reference to FIG. 4, in the embodiment, in order to avoid the potential extraction of the granules 32 during the evacuation process, the orthotic insole 30 further comprises an air-permeable member 34, wherein the air-permeable member 34 is an air-permeable fabric or an air-permeable plastic film and is disposed on the outer covering 33 at a position corresponding to the air passage 331, and the air-permeable member 34 has an air-permeable pore size smaller than the particle size of each of the granules 32. Thus, when the sole of a foot is wholly or partially pressed on the outer covering layer 33 in a correct posture, the air in the outer covering layer 33 will be sequentially discharged out of the outer covering layer 33 through the air permeable member 34 and the air channel 331 due to the weight applied to the whole or part of the sole of the foot, and after the vacuuming procedure is completed, the particles 32 are shaped and the air channel 331 is sealed, the elastic rectification insole 30 is formed.

Furthermore, in order to keep the shape of the insole 10 after shaping for a long time, a manufacturer can perform a heating operation in the manufacturing process of the insole 10, as described later, with reference to fig. 2, 5 and 6, when the inner coating layer 11 together with the particles 12 is packed into the outer coating layer 13 (i.e., the packing operation in step (401) of fig. 6), since the plane configurations of the inner coating layer 11 and the outer coating layer 13 are matched with the plane configuration of the whole or part of the sole (e.g., the part corresponding to the phalanges, midfoot or heel bone), when the whole or part of the sole is pressed on the outer coating layer 13 in a correct posture, the particles 12 are displaced with the whole or part of the sole in a three-dimensional configuration, and at the same time, the air in the outer coating layer 13 and the inner coating layer 11 is discharged out of the outer coating layer 13 through the air passage 131 due to the weight applied by the sole (i.e., step (402) "foot moulding" of fig. 6), then, an air extracting device is connected to the air channel 131 to extract air from the second and first receiving spaces through the air channel 131 (i.e., "vacuum extracting" in step (403) "of fig. 6), at this time, as the air is exhausted to the outer coating layer 13, the outer coating layer 13 is also deformed inward, and the inner coating layer 11 and the particles 12 filled therein are pressed to make the particles 12 tightly attached to each other, until the particles 12 are shaped in a state incapable of further displacement, the air channel 131 is sealed air tightly to form an initial insole (i.e., the state of fig. 3).

In summary, with continued reference to fig. 2, 5 and 6, the initial insole can be placed in a heating device (not shown) to heat the initial insole (i.e., step (404) "heating" of fig. 6), wherein the particles are made of thermoplastic elastomer material (e.g., TPU, TPEE, SEBS …, etc.) and have a melting point lower than that of both the inner and outer covering

layers

11 and 13, or at least lower than that of the outer covering layer 13, i.e., when the particles 12 are in a molten state, at least the outer covering layer 13 can maintain its integrity without being in a molten state. The heating temperature of the heating device is higher than or equal to the melting point of the particles 12, but lower than the melting point of the inner coating layer 11 and the outer coating layer 13, or at least lower than the melting point of the outer coating layer 13, so that the particles 12 are melted and bonded together (as shown in fig. 5) to form the elastic rectification insole 10, so that the rectification insole 10 can not only always maintain the three-dimensional configuration of the correct posture, but also can be in a hard but elastic state, and in case of a long-term use, if the outer coating layer 13 or the inner coating layer 11 is broken, the particles 12 are bonded together, so that the rectification insole 10 can still maintain the original three-dimensional configuration of the correct posture, thereby effectively prolonging the service life of the rectification insole 10. It should be noted that the heat source of the heating device of the present invention may be infrared rays, hot gas, microwaves, ultrasonic waves, high frequency waves, ultraviolet rays …, etc., and the heating device of the present invention is the heating device as long as the heating device can melt the surfaces or the entire particles 12 at a high temperature to bond them together.

In particular, referring to fig. 2, 5 and 6, in the step 403 of "vacuuming", when the particles 12 are shaped in a state that they cannot be displaced further (as shown in fig. 3), the worker can hermetically close the air channel 131, but the applicant finds that in the subsequent step 404 of "heating", the fusion of the particles 12 will cause the fusion quality of the particles 12 to be poor, which will affect the quality of the corrective insole 10, so that, in other embodiments of the present invention, after the "vacuuming" is performed, the worker directly performs the heating operation on the initial insole, and at the same time, the "vacuuming" is continuously performed until the adjacent particles 12 are fused and bonded together, and the air channel 131 is hermetically closed, so that, the quality of the correcting insole 10 can be effectively guaranteed; in addition, since the particles 12 are welded together after heating and cannot fall out of the air channel 131, the manufacturer can omit the step of sealing the air channel 131.

As shown in fig. 2, 5 and 6, after the correction insole 10 is finished, the manufacturer can paste a buffer layer, an anti-slip layer or other components on the correction insole 10, so that the correction insole 10 can provide a better user experience after being put into a shoe, or the manufacturer can remove the outer coating layer 13 and the inner coating layer 11 of the correction insole 10 in advance, or simply remove the outer coating layer 13 and then paste the buffer layer, the anti-slip layer or other components, so as to reduce the overall thickness of the correction insole 10, i.e. the simplest form of the correction insole formed by the preparation method of the correction insole of the present invention can be formed by only the particles 12. In addition, in other embodiments of the present invention, the outer covering layer 13 can also be formed by combining a partially rigid structure (e.g., PP) with an airtight plastic film, so that the airtight plastic film can deform with air suction, and the rigid structure can be used as an anti-slip layer or a support layer, i.e., in use, the sole of a user steps on the airtight plastic film, and the rigid structure is in contact with the bottom surface of the shoe. In addition, although the configuration of the correction insole 10 is shown in the drawings as the whole sole, in other embodiments of the present invention, if the sole to be corrected belongs to a partial part, the practitioner can adjust the configuration of the inner coating layer 11 and the outer coating layer 13 according to the above requirement, so that the configuration of the finally formed correction insole 10 matches the planar configuration of the partial part of the sole (e.g. the partial part corresponding to phalanges, midfoot bone or heel bone).

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned aspect of the corrective insole 30 of fig. 4 can also be applied to the manufacturing method of fig. 6, and further, the manufacturer can adjust the structure of the corrective insole 30. please refer to fig. 4, 6 and 7, in the step (401) "filling operation", a plurality of granules 32 and a bonding material 37 can be uniformly mixed first, so that the bonding material 37 can be uniformly attached to the surface of each of the granules 32, wherein the bonding material 37 can be in the form of powder, liquid paste …, etc. and comprises an adhesive material (Binder) (e.g. TPU, EVA hot melt adhesive …, etc.) 371 and/or an Absorbent material (adsorbent) (e.g. infrared absorbing material, electromagnetic wave absorbing material …, etc.) 373, the adhesive material 371 and the Absorbent material 373 can be attached to the surface of the granules 32 as shown in fig. 7 or completely cover the surface of the granules 32, the melting point of the bonding material 37 is lower than or equal to the melting point of the particles 32, and then the particles 32 with the bonding material 37 thereon are directly packed into the outer cladding 33, so that the outer cladding 33 has a predetermined thickness and is maintained in a soft state, the melting point of the outer cladding 33 is higher than the melting point of the bonding material 37, and the air-permeable pore diameter of the air-permeable member 34 is smaller than the particle diameter of each of the particles 32 and the bonding material 37, so that the particles 32 and the bonding material 37 can only be displaced within the outer cladding 33.

As shown in fig. 4, 6 and 7, in step (402), when the user steps on the outer coating 33 in a correct posture, the particles 32 and the bonding material 37 are displaced along with the whole or part of the foot sole, and the air in the outer coating 33 is discharged out of the outer coating 33 through the air permeable member 34 and the air passage 331 in sequence due to the weight of the foot sole, and the outer coating 33 is placed in the shaping groove 21 recessed in the supporting fixture 20 to be precisely shaped into a three-dimensional configuration capable of correcting the proper posture of the foot sole, and then, in step (403), the air is drawn from the outer coating 33 by the air-drawing device, and the particles 32 and the bonding material 37 are blocked by the air permeable member 34, without moving beyond the outer coating 33 until the grains 32 and the joining material 37 are shaped in close contact with each other and cannot be displaced further, the air passage 331 is closed air-tightly to form an initial insole, which is then heated by heating means at a temperature that only melts the joining material 37 to bond the adjacent grains 32 to each other, thereby shaping the resilient corrective insole 30 in step (404).

It is particularly noted that, with continued reference to fig. 4, 6 and 7, in other embodiments, the ventilation assembly 34 can be disposed on a suction device such that when the suction device sucks air from the outer covering 33, the particles 32 and the bonding material 37 can remain in the outer covering 33 and cannot be sucked into the suction device, and in yet another embodiment, the ventilation assembly 34 is sealed into the outer covering 33 at last, so that the melting point thereof can be higher or lower than the bonding material 37 or the particles 32, and in yet another embodiment, the outer covering 33 can be removed after the elastic corrective insole 30 is shaped, for example: the outer coating 33 is in the form of a vacuum bag and serves primarily only to shape the inner pellets 32 into a predetermined shape, so that the manufacturer can remove the outer coating 33 at the end, i.e., the final form of the corrective insole formed by the method of preparing the corrective insole of the present invention can be formed only from the pellets 32 and the bonding material 37.

Furthermore, in other embodiments of the present invention, when the outer covering layer is in the form of a vacuum bag and is to be removed at last, the practitioner can fill the inner covering layer with particles, and the inner covering layer can be formed by combining a part of the rigid structure with the air permeable material, so that the rigid structure can be used as an anti-slip layer or a support layer in the form of the finished orthotic insole.

The above-mentioned embodiments are intended to illustrate the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention in further detail, and it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An orthotic insole capable of being vacuum formed, the orthotic insole capable of being placed into a shoe for a user's foot to step on, comprising:

an outer cladding layer made of a flexible or elastic air-impermeable material and hermetically sealed at its periphery, the outer cladding layer being provided with an air passage communicating the inside and outside of the outer cladding layer; and

a plurality of particles filled in the outer cladding layer to make the outer cladding layer present a predetermined thickness and capable of moving in the outer cladding layer;

the plane configuration of the outer coating layer is matched with the whole or local plane configuration of the sole, under the condition that the whole or local part of the sole is stepped on the outer coating layer in a correct posture, the particles can move along with the whole or local three-dimensional configuration of the sole, air in the outer coating layer can be discharged out of the outer coating layer through the air channel due to the weight applied to the whole or local part of the sole, then the air channel is vacuumized, after the particles are shaped in a state of being tightly attached to each other and incapable of moving continuously, and under the condition that the air channel is sealed in an airtight manner, heating operation is carried out, so that the adjacent particles are directly or indirectly welded into a whole, namely the elastic correcting insole is formed.

2. The orthotic insole of claim 1, wherein the air impermeable material is an air impermeable plasticized layer.

3. An orthotic insole as claimed in claim 2, wherein the particles are made of an elastomeric material.

4. The orthotic insole of claim 3, further comprising an air permeable member mounted on the outer cover at a location corresponding to the air channel, the air permeable member having an air permeable pore size smaller than the particle size of each of the plurality of particles.

5. An orthotic insole as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a plurality of bonding materials which are homogeneously mixed with the plurality of particles, wherein when the plurality of particles are shaped in close proximity to each other and are unable to move further, the plurality of particles are heated to melt the bonding materials and indirectly fuse adjacent ones of the plurality of particles together to form the orthotic insole.

6. An orthotic insole capable of being vacuum formed, the orthotic insole capable of being placed into a shoe for a user's foot to step on, comprising:

an inner coating layer made of a flexible or elastic air-permeable material, the periphery of which is sealed;

a plurality of particles filled in the inner cladding layer, wherein the inner cladding layer has a predetermined thickness and can move in the inner cladding layer, and the particle diameter of each particle is larger than the air-permeable pore diameter of the inner cladding layer; and

an outer cladding layer made of flexible or elastic air-proof material, wrapping the outside of the inner cladding layer, and airtightly sealing the periphery of the inner cladding layer, wherein the outer cladding layer is provided with an air channel which is communicated with the inside and the outside of the outer cladding layer;

the plane configuration of the inner cladding layer and the plane configuration of the outer cladding layer are matched with the whole or local plane configuration of the sole, under the condition that the whole or local part of the sole is treaded on the outer cladding layer in a correct posture, the particles can move along with the whole or local three-dimensional configuration of the sole, the air in the outer cladding layer and the inner cladding layer can be discharged out of the outer cladding layer through the air channel due to the weight applied to the whole or local part of the sole, then the air channel is vacuumized, after the particles are shaped in a state of being tightly attached to each other and incapable of moving continuously, and under the condition that the air channel is sealed in an airtight mode, heating operation is carried out, so that the adjacent particles are directly or indirectly welded into a whole, namely the elastic correcting insole is formed.

7. An orthotic insole as claimed in claim 6, wherein the breathable material is a breathable fabric or a breathable plasticised layer.

8. The corrective insole of claim 7, wherein the air impermeable material is an air impermeable plasticized film.

9. An orthotic insole as claimed in claim 8, wherein the particles are made of an elastomeric material.

10. An orthotic insole as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 9, further comprising a plurality of bonding materials which are intimately mixed with the plurality of particles, wherein when the plurality of particles are shaped in close proximity to each other and are unable to move further, heating is applied to melt the bonding materials and indirectly fuse together adjacent ones of the plurality of particles to form the orthotic insole.

11. A method of making a vacuum formable orthotic insole that can be placed into a shoe for a user's foot to step on, the method comprising the steps of:

filling the granules in an outer cladding layer to make the outer cladding layer present a predetermined thickness and make the granules move in the outer cladding layer, wherein the outer cladding layer is made of a flexible or elastic air-impermeable material and is hermetically sealed at the periphery, and the outer cladding layer is provided with an air passage which is communicated with the inside and the outside of the outer cladding layer;

under the state that the whole or part of the sole is treaded on the outer coating layer in a correct posture, the particles can be displaced along with the whole or part of the three-dimensional configuration of the sole, and the air in the outer coating layer can be discharged out of the outer coating layer through the air channel due to the weight applied to the whole or part of the sole;

vacuumizing the air channel to make the particles shaped in a state of being tightly attached to each other and incapable of continuously moving so as to form an initial insole; and

heating the initial insole to fuse the adjacent particles directly or indirectly into a whole to shape the elastic corrective insole.

12. The method for preparing a corrective insole according to claim 11, wherein the air passage is hermetically closed after the vacuuming operation is performed on the air passage to form the corrective insole.

13. The method for preparing an orthotic insole according to claim 11, further comprising an inner coating layer which is coated inside the outer coating layer and made of a flexible or elastic air permeable material, whose periphery is sealed, and which is filled with the particles having a particle size larger than the air permeable pore size of the inner coating layer, the inner coating layer being matched with the overall or partial planar configuration of the sole of the foot, and the outer coating layer together with the air inside the inner coating layer being discharged outside the outer coating layer through the air passage by the weight applied to the overall or partial sole of the foot in a correct posture in a state where the overall or partial sole of the foot is stepped on the outer coating layer.

14. The method of manufacturing a corrective insole of claim 11, further comprising an air-permeable member installed on the outer cover at a position corresponding to the air passage, and having an air-permeable pore size smaller than the particle size of each of the particles.

15. The method for preparing an orthotic insole according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the particles have a melting point lower than that of the outer covering layer, and after the evacuation of the air channel to form an initial insole,

heating the initial insole to directly fuse the adjacent particles into a whole so as to shape the corrective insole.

16. The method for preparing an orthotic insole according to any one of claims 11 to 14, further comprising a plurality of bonding materials, the bonding materials being homogeneously mixed with the particles and having a melting point lower than that of the outer covering layer, wherein after the air channel is vacuumed to form an initial insole,

heating the initial insole to melt the bonding material and indirectly fuse the adjacent particles into a whole to form the corrective insole.

17. The method for preparing a corrective insole of claim 15, wherein the vacuuming operation is continued while the air in the initial insole is heated until the adjacent particles are directly welded together to form the corrective insole.

18. The method for preparing a corrective insole of claim 16, wherein the vacuuming operation is continued while the air in the initial insole is heated until the adjacent particles are indirectly welded together to form the corrective insole.

19. The method of making a corrective insole of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

after forming the orthotic insole, the outer covering is removed.

20. The method of making a corrective insole of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

after forming the orthotic insole, the outer covering is removed.