Golf Club Head Compression Channel Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golf club heads and ball striking devices lack effective features to enhance impact properties such as increased coefficient of restitution (COR) and the size of the 'hot zone' on the face, which affects the performance and efficiency of ball striking.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a compression channel on the sole of the golf club head that extends across at least a portion of the sole, with a recessed design and varying edge distances and widths, and optionally featuring a stiffening rib to increase stiffness, which allows for flexing and reactive force generation during impact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If a compression channel is added to the golf club head, then impact efficiency and energy transfer are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The compression channel is segmented into different regions (heel portion, center portion, toe portion) with varying depths and configurations. This segmentation allows each region to independently influence specific areas of the face, optimizing impact efficiency across the entire face while maintaining a manageable structural complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression channel extends in the heel-toe direction (lateral dimension) rather than only in the vertical or longitudinal directions. This dimensional approach allows the channel to influence a broader area of the face, improving overall impact efficiency and energy transfer across multiple zones simultaneously.
2Area of stationary object
If the channel rear edge is spaced differently at center versus heel/toe portions, then the hot zone size is increased, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The channel rear edge spacing is optimized locally for different portions of the club head. The center portion has a greater spacing to maximize the hot zone area, while the heel and toe portions have different spacing to extend the effective impact area to the edges. This local quality approach increases the overall hot zone size while allowing each region to be manufactured within feasible precision tolerances.
3Stability of the object's composition
If a stiffening rib is added to the sole, then face stability and controlled flexing are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stiffening rib is extracted as a separate, distinct feature from the main club head body. This allows the rib to be added independently to provide the necessary face stability and controlled flexing without fundamentally redesigning the entire club head structure, thereby minimizing the increase in overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The stiffening rib acts as an intermediary element between the sole and the face. It mediates the flexing behavior by providing a controlled structural support that allows the face to flex appropriately during impact while maintaining overall stability, thus improving face stability without requiring complex structural modifications.
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 compression channel design enhances impact efficiency by reducing ball deformation, increasing energy and velocity transfer, and improving performance across the face, including areas away from the traditional sweet spot, while the stiffening rib further stabilizes the sole for controlled flexing.
Implementation Method 1
The channel may be configured to influence an impact of a ball on the striking surface by exerting a reaction force on the face in response to the impact
Data Source
AI summary
A ball striking device has a face with a striking surface and a body extending rearwardly from the outer periphery of the face. A channel extends across at least a portion of the sole, and includes a trough defined between front and rear edges and extending in a heel-toe direction. The body further includes a spacing portion that forms a generally flattened surface extending from the front edge to proximate the outer periphery of the face. The rear edge of the channel is spaced rearwardly a different distance from the outer periphery of the face at the center portion of the channel as compared to the heel portion and/or the toe portion. One or more stiffening ribs may also be provided rearwardly of the channel, to increase the stiffness of the sole.