Enhanced safety dasher board assembly
First Claim
1. A dasher board assembly providing enhanced safety, comprising:
- a frame and at least one substantially rigid dasher board operatively attached to said frame and having a top area and bottom area;
said frame constructed, and said dasher board operatively attached to said frame, so that when said top area of said board is impacted said assembly will absorb the force of impact primarily in a first mode of absorption, and so that when said bottom area of said board is impacted said assembly will absorb the force of impact primarily in a second mode of absorption, wherein said frame comprises cantilevered substantially vertical frame elements, wherein said first mode of absorption comprises deflection of said cantilevered substantially vertical frame elements, and wherein said cantilevered substantially vertical frame elements comprise polygonal cross-section aluminum tubes.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A dasher board assembly provides enhanced safety, such as for ice hockey rinks. The assembly is constructed so that on low height impacts a dampening material with at least one of a damping coefficient of about 1.7-3.2×104 N-s/m, a spring constant of about 1.5-3.0×106 N/m, and a loss coefficient greater than 0.15, absorbs the impact. On high height impacts both the dampening material and deflection of cantilevered generally vertical polygonal aluminum tubes absorb the impact. The assembly results in a Head Injury Criteria of less than 250 for all realistic scenarios, and a reduction of HIC values of at least 30% compared to an equivalent assembly with a rigid frame.
15 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. A dasher board assembly providing enhanced safety, comprising:
-
a frame and at least one substantially rigid dasher board operatively attached to said frame and having a top area and bottom area; said frame constructed, and said dasher board operatively attached to said frame, so that when said top area of said board is impacted said assembly will absorb the force of impact primarily in a first mode of absorption, and so that when said bottom area of said board is impacted said assembly will absorb the force of impact primarily in a second mode of absorption, wherein said frame comprises cantilevered substantially vertical frame elements, wherein said first mode of absorption comprises deflection of said cantilevered substantially vertical frame elements, and wherein said cantilevered substantially vertical frame elements comprise polygonal cross-section aluminum tubes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A dasher board assembly comprising:
-
a frame including a plurality of substantially vertical frame elements and a plurality of substantially horizontal frame elements; at least one substantially rigid dasher board operatively connected to said substantially vertical and horizontal frame elements; and a dampening material operatively provided between said dasher board and a plurality of said vertical and horizontal frame elements, said dampening material having at least one of a damping coefficient between about 1.7×
104 N-s/m and about 3.2×
104 N-s/m, a spring constant between about 1.5×
106 N/m and about [H]3.0×
106 N/m, and an η
value >
0.15. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A dasher board assembly comprising:
-
a frame including a plurality of substantially vertical frame elements having top and bottom areas, and a plurality of substantially horizontal frame elements; at least one substantially rigid dasher board operatively connected to said substantially vertical and horizontal frame elements; and wherein said substantially vertical frame elements comprise cantilevers constructed and positioned so that upon an impact force at said top area of said frame elements said vertical frame elements will deflect a maximum of about two-four inches to dampen the force of the impact, and wherein said substantially vertical frame elements comprise cantilevered aluminum tubes polygonal in cross-section, and wherein said assembly reduces HIC-14 values by at least 30% compared to a like assembly wherein the frame is of rigid.
-
Specification