Fluorescent Pigment Golf Ball Cover for Visibility and Luxury
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing colored golf balls lack excellent spin performance, durability, and luxury appearance while providing outstanding visibility and weather resistance, with previous designs often resulting in pale or overly intense colors, insufficient luminosity, and poor discoloration resistance.
Innovation Solution
A golf ball with a core and multiple layers, featuring a polyurethane outermost cover layer colored with specific ranges of fluorescent pigments to achieve a bright, stylish, and durable appearance, using organic fluorescent pigments and a polarizing pigment in the paint to enhance visibility and resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If fluorescent pigment is added to the cover material, then visibility and brightness are improved, but color intensity becomes too strong and luxury is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the fluorescent pigment concentration to a specific range (0.01-5 parts by weight per 100 parts resin) to achieve the right balance between visibility and color intensity. This parameter optimization prevents the color from being too intense while maintaining bright visibility and luxury appearance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines fluorescent pigment with specific resin materials (polyurethane, polyester, acrylic) and optional clear paint coats to create a composite cover material. This composite approach allows the fluorescent properties to enhance visibility while the resin matrix and clear coat modulate the color intensity to maintain luxury appearance.
2Device complexity
If clear paint is applied on the cover, then luxury appearance is improved, but visibility and brightness are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies clear paint in a controlled, partial manner rather than as a complete opaque coating. The clear paint is applied in specific amounts and locations to enhance luxury appearance while allowing underlying fluorescent pigment to show through, maintaining brightness and visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The clear paint is applied selectively to specific areas or layers of the cover rather than uniformly throughout. This localized application allows different regions to have different properties: areas with clear paint provide luxury appearance while areas with exposed fluorescent pigment provide brightness and visibility.
3Reliability
If multi-piece construction is used, then spin performance is improved, but durability and weather resistance are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials in the multi-piece construction, specifically using polyurethane and polyester resins with fluorescent pigment in the cover layers. These composite materials provide both the spin performance characteristics of multi-piece construction and the durability/weather resistance through the resilient polymer matrix.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes the thickness and material composition parameters of each layer in the multi-piece construction. By carefully controlling the parameters of the core, intermediate layer, and cover layer, the patent achieves both improved spin performance and enhanced durability against weathering and wear.
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 achieves excellent spin performance, durability, and a luxurious appearance with improved visibility and weather resistance, allowing golfers to differentiate themselves with a vibrant and long-lasting color.
Implementation Method 1
the cover or the coat of paint or both is colored with a fluorescent pigment
Data Source
AI summary
In a golf ball composed of a core, a cover of at least one layer encasing the core, and a coat of paint applied to a surface of an outermost layer of the cover, the outermost layer of the cover or the coat of paint is colored with a fluorescent pigment. The ball has a color tone, at a measurement area diameter of 5 mm in a method of measuring the color of a reflecting object according to JIS Z-8722, which satisfies specific conditions in the Lab color system. The ball is endowed with an excellent spin performance and durability, an appearance characterized by outstanding visibility, stylishness and luxury, and an excellent weather resistance.