Golf club distributed impact sensor system for detecting impact of a golf ball with a club face
First Claim
1. A golf club distributed impact sensor system configured to detect impact of a golf ball with a club face, the system including:
- a non-conducting monolith within the club face of the golf club;
a plurality of piezoelectric elements within the non-conducting monolith, including at least first and second piezoelectric elements under static pressure; and
pressure sampling circuitry coupled to the plurality of piezoelectric elements that captures positive and negative pressure values output from the first and second piezoelectric elements, wherein the positive and negative pressure values are simultaneously captured over a plurality of sample points in time during impact of the golf ball with the club face, and wherein the positive and negative pressure values are used to build a time-varying impact pressure profile of the impact to the golf ball.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A golf club head may include a face with an embedded monolith having first and second sensors for measuring impact with a golf ball. The first and second sensors may output positive and negative pressure signals at the same time, caused by the impact, with the negative pressure indicating an outward bowing of the monolith whereas the positive pressure indicates an inward compression. These positive and negative values may be captured over the duration of impact and used to create a time-varying impact pressure profile with increased accuracy. The club head may also include a mechanism for placing a static pressure on the monolith, increasing negative pressure sensitivity and adjusting the ability to measure negative impact pressures away from the contact point on the club face.
119 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A golf club distributed impact sensor system configured to detect impact of a golf ball with a club face, the system including:
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a non-conducting monolith within the club face of the golf club; a plurality of piezoelectric elements within the non-conducting monolith, including at least first and second piezoelectric elements under static pressure; and pressure sampling circuitry coupled to the plurality of piezoelectric elements that captures positive and negative pressure values output from the first and second piezoelectric elements, wherein the positive and negative pressure values are simultaneously captured over a plurality of sample points in time during impact of the golf ball with the club face, and wherein the positive and negative pressure values are used to build a time-varying impact pressure profile of the impact to the golf ball. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A golf club distributed impact sensor system configured to detect impact of a golf ball with a club face, the system including:
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a non-conducting monolith within the club face of the golf club; at least one piezoelectric element within the non-conducting monolith, the at least one piezoelectric element being placed under static pressure; and pressure measurement circuitry coupled to the at least one piezoelectric element that simultaneously measures positive and negative impact pressures on the at least one piezoelectric element over a plurality of sample points in time during impact of the golf ball with the club face, wherein the positive and negative pressure values are used to build a time-varying impact profile of the impact to the golf ball. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A golf club distributed impact sensor system configured to detect impact of a golf ball with a club face, the system including:
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a non-conducting monolith within the club face of the golf club; a first sensor embedded in a left half of the non-conducting monolith; a second sensor embedded in a right half of the non-conducting monolith; a mechanism that adds static pressure to the monolith, causing the first and second sensors to be subject to the static pressure; and sampling circuitry coupled to the first and second sensors for sampling positive and negative impact pressure values output from the first and second sensors, wherein the first sensor simultaneously outputs a negative value at the same time the second sensor outputs a positive value over a plurality of sample points in time during impact of the golf ball with the club face, and wherein the positive and negative values are used to build a time-varying impact pressure profile of the impact to the golf ball. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification