Web Flex Technology | New Athletic Cup Design

A technology inspired from the exoskeletons of insects.

Providing a hard shell protection that is strategically placed and held in position by a web of flexible rubber like material.

The understanding of this technology has enabled us to design athletic protection that offers protection with greater freedom of movement.

Spider Guard Technology used as an energy absorbing and displacing structure.

The Web Flex Technology used as an energy absorbing and displacing structure includes an inner hard rigid band that follows the curve of the area it is to protect and an outer flexible web-shaped body made of a softer rubber like material that works as a locator and supporter of the hard rigid band. Combined, the structure works like a spring keeping the inner hard rigid band in proper location and away from the user, providing what we call a crumple zone. It is this flexible spring-like property that allows for compression, absorption, and displacement of energy to take place. Without this flexible spring-like property you have just another hard shell!

The Web Flex Technology is also a proven technology. Testing has been performed in every phase of development to ensure the optimization of its design.

Starting with virtual prototyping and analysis software in the design phase, followed up with mechanical pendulum impact testing, performed on finished product

The Crumple Zone

Physics can explain why the crumple zone is necessary. Sir Isaac Newton's first law states that an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Translated to our situation, if an object is traveling at 50 mph stops abruptly into a solid wall, the object will transfer 100% of its energy into the solid wall.

We're still not out of the physics woods yet. There's another law, the second, from the same Isaac Newton saying that force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. Translated to our situation, if an object traveling at 50 mph does not stop abruptly, but is allowed to decelerate, then the energy decreases as the time for the object to stop increases.

So What Do Crumple Zones Do Anyway?

They work exactly according to the two laws. They absorb the energy developed during an impact. This is achieved by deceleration through deformation, something unheard of in the early days of protective equipment design.