Colored Golf Ball Layered Design for Visibility and Quality
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing golf balls fail to combine high-quality feel, psychological calming effect, and excellent color change resistance with visibility and performance attributes, particularly in three-piece constructions with fluorescent colors.
Innovation Solution
A golf ball design featuring a core, a cover with dimples, and an intermediate layer where the intermediate layer has low light transmittance and the cover has high light transmittance, allowing for a transparent feel and resistance to color change, with specific conditions for color difference, lightness, transparency, and haze to achieve a reassuring and visually appealing appearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a large amount of fluorescent pigment is added to the cover to enhance visibility, then the ball achieves bright coloring and high visibility, but the ball loses transparency and develops an excessively strong color tone that deprives it of a high-quality feel, and the ball exhibits poor resistance to color change
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the golf ball into three distinct layers: a core, an inside layer, and a cover. This segmentation allows each layer to serve a specific function - the cover provides visibility with fluorescent pigment, the inside layer acts as a buffer with white pigment to moderate color intensity, and the core provides structural support. By separating the visibility function from the quality control function across different layers, the patent resolves the contradiction between bright coloring and high-quality feel.
Solution Approach 2:
The inside layer serves as an intermediary between the core and the cover. It contains white pigment that moderates the intense fluorescent color from the cover, creating a buffer zone that reduces color intensity while maintaining visibility. This intermediary layer prevents the excessive strong color tone from directly affecting the overall appearance, thereby preserving both visibility and high-quality feel simultaneously.
2Illumination intensity
If fluorescent pigment is added to achieve bright coloring, then visibility is enhanced, but the ball lacks a high-quality feel and has poor resistance to color change
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies different pigment concentrations and types to different layers. The cover contains fluorescent pigment for brightness, while the inside layer contains white pigment to locally moderate the color intensity. This local quality differentiation allows the ball to exhibit bright coloring where needed (cover) while maintaining color stability overall through the buffering effect of the inside layer.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the ball is made with three or more pieces to satisfy performance requirements, then performance attributes are improved, but the sensory impression varies depending on differences in thickness and color of each layer, making it difficult to achieve a reassuring and psychologically calming effect
Solution Approach 1:
The invention specifies precise parameter ranges for each layer to ensure consistent sensory impression. The inside layer's white pigment content is controlled at 0.01-5.0 parts by weight, and its thickness is controlled at 0.5-3.0 mm. These parameter controls ensure that despite the multi-piece construction, the ball maintains a consistent translucent appearance and psychologically calming effect.
4Reliability
If the cover is made highly transparent to achieve a high-quality feel, then the ball conveys a sense of quality, but the visibility and color intensity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses composite material composition across three layers, where each layer has specific material properties. The cover uses material with appropriate transparency for high-quality feel, the inside layer uses material with white pigment for color moderation, and the core provides structural properties. This composite approach allows the ball to simultaneously achieve transparency for quality feel and color intensity for visibility through the combined effect of all layers.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The golf ball provides a high-quality feel, excellent weather resistance, and a calming psychological effect while maintaining visibility and performance, with a suitable look and feel that prevents color change.
Implementation Method 1
the intermediate layer has low light transmittance and the cover has high light transmittance, allowing for a transparent feel
Implementation Method 2
A colored golf ball comprising a core, a cover having a plurality of dimples formed on an outside surface thereof, and an inside layer in contact with the cover
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a colored golf ball composed of a core, a cover having a plurality of dimples formed on an outside surface thereof, and an inside layer in contact with the cover. The ball satisfies the following conditions:(i) a color difference ΔE* between the inside layer and the ball of at least 30;(ii) the inside layer has a lightness L* value, expressed in the L*a*b* color system based on JIS Z8729, of at least 82;(iii) the ball has a lightness L* value of at least 50;(iv) the lightness L* value of the ball≦the lightness value of the inside layer;(v) the inside layer has a transparency which is up to 10% in terms of total transmittance and up to 1.0% in terms of parallel transmittance;(vi) the cover has a transparency which is at least 50% in terms of total transmittance and at least 1.0% in terms of parallel transmittance; and(vii) the inside layer has a haze (H), mentioned in JIS K7105 (1981), of at least 90.The colored golf ball of the invention is a fluorescent ball, yet retains a sense of transparency and thus confers a sense of quality. The ball also has weather resistance and is able to prevent changes in color. Moreover, the golf ball of the invention has a reassuring and psychologically calming effect on the golfer during play, and has a suitable look and feel.