PITCHER TRAINING APPARATUS AND METHOD USING A BALL WITH AN EMBEDDED INERTIAL MEASUREMENT UNIT

• US 20140045630A1
• Filed: 08/09/2012
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Board of Regents of the University of Michigan (University of Michigan)
• Original Assignee: Noel Perkins, Ryan Mcginnis
• Inventors: PERKINS, Noel, McGINNIS, Ryan
• Granted Patent: US 9,032,794 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/570
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2069/0006 for pitching
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2102/18 Baseball, rounders or similar games
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2102/182 Softball
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2102/20 Cricket
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 43/00 Balls with special arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/00 Training appliances or apparatus for special sports training of parachutists B64D23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/0015 for cricket
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/42 for indicating rate of turn; for integrating rate of turn
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 1/02 Housings

Abstract

A measurement system having a miniature, wireless inertial measurement unit (IMU) disposed within or on a moving object, such as a ball or other member, to calculate the kinematics of the moving object.

Claims

1. A measurement system for transmitting select kinematic variables of a moving body, said measurement system comprising:

an inertial measurement unit connectable with the moving body, said inertial measurement unit measuring an acceleration of the moving body and outputting acceleration data, said inertial measurement unit further measuring angular velocity of the moving body in a first, second, and third coordinate direction and outputting angular velocity data relative to said first, second, and third coordinate directions;

a processing unit receiving said acceleration data and said angular velocity data for said first, second, and third coordinate directions and computing at least one kinematic variable result that describes the motion of the moving body.

2. The measurement system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display device displaying said at least one kinematic variable result of the moving body.

3. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said inertial measurement unit comprises:

a substrate;

a multi-axis accelerometer coupled to said substrate, said multi-axis accelerometer measuring said acceleration of the moving body and outputting said acceleration data.

4. The measurement system according to claim 3 wherein said multi-axis accelerometer comprises a three-axis accelerometer.

5. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said inertial measurement unit comprises a three-axis angular rate gyro.

6. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said inertial measurement unit comprises a single MEMS device having a three-axis accelerometer and a three-axis angular rate gyro.

7. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said inertial measurement unit comprises:

a substrate;

a dual-axis angular rate gyro coupled to said substrate, said dual-axis angular rate gyro measuring said angular velocity of the moving body in said first and said second coordinate direction and outputting said angular velocity data relative to said first and said second coordinate directions; and

a single-axis angular rate gyro coupled to said substrate, said single-axis angular rate gyro measuring said angular velocity of the moving body in said third coordinate direction and outputting said angular velocity data relative to said third coordinate direction.

8. The measurement system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output device outputting said acceleration data and said angular velocity data for said first, second, and third coordinate directions from said inertial measurement unit to said processing unit.

9. The measurement system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output device outputting said kinematic variable.

10. The measurement system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output device wirelessly connected between said inertial measurement unit and said processing unit.

11. The measurement system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output device wirelessly connected to said said processing unit.

12. The measurement system according to claim 11 wherein said output device comprises an RF transceiver wirelessly connected with said processing unit.

13. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said inertial measurement unit is mountable within an interior of the moving body.

14. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said inertial measurement unit further comprises a memory device storing at least one of said acceleration data, said angular velocity data, and said kinematic variable result for delayed transmission.

15. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said processing unit computing kinematic variables that describe the motion of the moving body comprises computing a velocity of the moving body and angular velocity of the moving body in each of said first, second, and third coordinate directions.

16. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said inertial measurement unit further comprises:

a power source;

a microprocessor sampling at least one of said multi-axis accelerometer, said dual-axis angular rate gyro, and said single-axis angular rate gyro at a predetermined interval; and

an antenna.

17. The measurement system according to claim 16 wherein said power source is an inductive power source.

18. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said processing unit computes at least two kinematic variable results that describe the motion of the moving body, a first of said two kinematic variable results being computed in each of said first, second, and third coordinate directions relative to a moving body-fixed reference frame, a second of said two kinematic variable results being computed relative to a field-fixed reference frame, said field-fixed reference frame be external to said moving body-fixed reference frame.

19. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said processing unit determines said velocity of the moving body and angular velocity of the moving body using numerical integration methods of acceleration data and said angular velocity data.

20. The measurement system according to claim 1 wherein said processing unit computes said at least one kinematic variable result with reference to known kinematic states of the moving body at selected times during the motion.