Golf Swing Measurement and Analysis System

• US 20150005089A1
• Filed: 09/05/2014
• Published: 01/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Golf Impact, LLC
• Original Assignee: Golf Impact, LLC
• Inventors: Davenport, Roger
• Granted Patent: US 9,604,118 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/223
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/20 Distances or displacements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/34 Angular speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/56 Pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/833 Sensors arranged on the exercise apparatus or sports implement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/04 Heads
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0437 with special crown configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0458 with non-uniform thickness of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 57/00 Golfing accessories
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/00 Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/46 Measurement devices associated with golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like for measuring physical parameters relating to sporting activity, e.g. baseball bats with impact indicators or bracelets for measuring the golf swing
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3632 Clubs or attachments on clubs, e.g. for measuring, aligning A63B69/3614 takes precedence; clubs for swinging exercises in general A63B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0038 Sports

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.

Claims

1. A club face distributed impact sensor system, including:

a non-conducting monolith within a club face;

a plurality of piezoelectric elements within the non-conducting monolith, including at least first and second piezoelectric elements; 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 captured over a plurality of sample points during impact of a golf ball with the club face and used to build a time-varying impact pressure profile.

2. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 1, wherein the pressure sampling circuitry simultaneously captures the positive and negative pressure values of the first and second piezoelectric elements.

3. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 2, wherein the pressure capture circuitry samples a first positive pressure value from the first piezoelectric element at the same time that it samples a first negative pressure value from the second piezoelectric element.

4. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 1, wherein a static pressure is placed upon both the first and second piezoelectric elements.

5. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 4, further including a mechanism for adjusting static pressure on the non-conducting monolith, wherein the pressure adjustment places the static pressure upon the first and second piezoelectric elements.

6. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 4, wherein the system further includes circuitry that detects club swing speed and automatically adjusts the static pressure based on the detected club swing speed.

7. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 4, wherein the first piezoelectric element is calibrated to have a different sensitivity than the second piezoelectric element based on the first piezoelectric element being closer to an outer edge of the monolith than the second piezoelectric element.

8. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 7, wherein the different calibration accounts for the static pressure.

9. A club face distributed impact sensor system, including:

a non-conducting monolith within a club face;

at least one piezoelectric element within the non-conducting monolith, the at least one piezoelectric element being placed under a static pressure; and

pressure measurement circuitry coupled to the at least one piezoelectric element that measures positive and negative impact pressures on the at least one piezoelectric element.

10. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 9, wherein the at least one piezoelectric elements include first and second piezoelectric elements, and the pressure measurement circuitry simultaneously samples positive and negative pressure values on the first and second piezoelectric elements at a single moment in time,

wherein the system further includes:

a transmitter that transmits the positive and negative pressure values captured at the single moment in time; and

a receiver that receives the transmitted values and calculates an actual pressure by increasing the positive pressure value based on the negative pressure value.

11. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 9, further including a mechanism for adjusting the static pressure.

12. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 9, wherein the system further includes circuitry that detects club swing speed and automatically adjusts the static pressure based on the detected club swing speed.

13. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 10, wherein the first piezoelectric element is calibrated to have a different sensitivity than the second piezoelectric element based on the first piezoelectric element being closer to an outer edge of the monolith than the second piezoelectric element.

14. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 13, wherein the system includes a controller that changes the different calibration based on a level of static pressure present on the monolith.

15. A club face distributed impact sensor system, including:

a non-conducting monolith within a club face;

a first sensor embedded in a left half of the monolith;

a second sensor embedded in a right half of the 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 outputs a negative value at the same time the second sensor outputs a positive value.

16. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 15, wherein the sampling circuitry simultaneously captures the positive and negative values, and wherein the club face further includes a transmitter that sends the captured values to a receiver that compensates the positive value based on the negative value.

17. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 15, wherein the system further includes a controller that adjusts the static pressure is automatically based on a detected club swing speed.

18. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 15, wherein the first sensor is calibrated to have a different sensitivity than the second sensor based on the first sensor being closer to an outer edge of the monolith than the second sensor.

19. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 15, wherein the first and second sensors are identical piezoelectric elements.

20. The club face distributed impact sensor system of claim 19, wherein the system includes a controller that changes the different calibration based on a level of static pressure present on the monolith.