Sports implement
US6485380B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 12, 2001 |
| Grant date | Nov 26, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 12, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA63C5/075
- WIPO fieldFurniture, games
- WIPO sectorOther fields
Abstract
A golf club includes an electroactive assembly attached to the club and electrically tuned to capture energy from one or more vibrational modes with high efficiency. More generally, a sports implement includes an electroactive element, such as a piezoceramic sheet attached to the implement, and a circuit attached to the electroactive element. The circuit may be a shunt, or may include processing such as amplification and phase control to apply a driving signal which may compensate for strain sensed in the implement, or may simply alter the stiffness to affect performance. The electroactive element is located in a region of high strain to apply damping, and may include plural subassemblies mounted to capture energy in different planes, or to capture an asymmetric strain distribution while maintaining structural symmetry. In a ski the element captures between about one and five percent of the strain energy of the ski. The region of high strain may be found by modeling mechanics of the sports implement, or may be located by empirically mapping the strain distribution which occurs during use of the implement. In other embodiments, the electroactive elements may remove resonances, adapt…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.