Case Studies
A Dynamic Pressure-Sensitive Scanner... For Feet
Used by Olympic athletes, EeonTex™ helps runners analyze their stride and avoid injury.
MoreA Better Way to Stay Warm
EeonTex™ forms the core of innovative new warming blankets for operating rooms.
MoreWelding... with a Microwave?
EeonTex™ is adapted for microwave welding of plastics, something that wasn’t possible—until now.
More
A dynamic, pressure-sensitive scanner... for feet
| Client | RSscan |
|---|---|
| Innovation | Pressure-sensitive scanner |
Jempi Wilssens is a runner first and foremost. His record-breaking athletic career was oft hampered by a troublesome Achilles tendon—in 1980, he set out to do something about it.
He started a company called Runners Service, aimed at getting the best picture possible of the actual physiology of a particular runner’s feet, then fitting them with the shoes that would be best matched to them individually. The importance of this goal was underscored by a 1986 Adidas study that found that 44 percent of runner injuries could be traced back to ill-fitting footwear.
Jempi started scanning feet on a modified photocopier to get a static image and videotaping the runner on a treadmill to get a dynamic picture. As technology improved, RSscan began to use pressure-sensitive scanning materials that the athlete could run on to get a sense of gait dynamics and weight distribution.
This dynamic scanning represented a major step forward, but all was not well. The scanners were sensitive to heat and humidity, had a relatively short lifespan, and could stand to be faster.
RSscan then came to Eeonyx to develop an EeonTex™ fabric that would address these issues. The bottom line was that they needed a more durable fabric with better electrical uniformity.
Eeonyx developed a new type of conductive coating known, fittingly, as Stable Layer (or SL) that improved the lifespan of the sensors by 400 percent and dramatically improved response in varying heat and humidity. The fabric can be scanned 500 times per second, allowing for a very accurate dynamic scan and better diagnostics.
RSscan was thrilled with the overhaul of the product and implemented it right away—now everyone is running smooth.
Up Next: A Warm Green Patient Blanket