Golf Club Head Variable Thickness Profile for CT Consistency
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current golf club designs exhibit inconsistent characteristic time (CT) performance across the club face, leading to variable ball speed and diminished feel and playability.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a club face with a variable thickness profile, featuring strategically positioned thickened and thinned regions to adjust stiffness and CT. This includes shifting and angling the thickness profile from the face center, varying the toe and heel side widths, and incorporating perimeter regions with thickened and thinned portions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a conventional uniform thickness club face is used, then manufacturing is simple, but characteristic time performance is inconsistent across the club face
Solution Approach 1:
The club face employs a variable thickness profile where different regions (toe, heel, center) have different thicknesses optimized for their specific performance requirements. The toe area has greater thickness for stiffness and ball speed, while the heel area has lesser thickness for flexibility and CT performance, creating local quality variations that achieve consistent overall CT performance
Solution Approach 2:
The club face is segmented into multiple regions with distinct thickness characteristics - a toe area with greater thickness, a heel area with lesser thickness, and a center area with intermediate thickness. This segmentation allows each region to be independently optimized for its specific functional requirements while contributing to overall CT consistency
2Speed
If the club face thickness is increased to improve stiffness and ball speed, then ball speed increases, but characteristic time performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The thickness profile is locally optimized at different positions: the toe area has greater thickness to maximize ball speed and stiffness for off-center hits, while the heel area has lesser thickness to maintain flexibility and characteristic time performance. This local quality differentiation allows simultaneous optimization of both ball speed and CT consistency
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameter of thickness is varied across different regions of the club face to achieve different mechanical properties. By changing the thickness parameter from the toe to heel area, the design creates a gradient of stiffness that balances ball speed generation with characteristic time requirements
3Speed
If the club face is designed with greater toe stiffness to improve ball speed, then ball speed on off-center hits improves, but characteristic time gaps between regions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The design implements local quality variations where the toe area has greater thickness and stiffness for ball speed, while the heel area has lesser thickness and flexibility to compensate. This creates a balanced characteristic time profile across the face, reducing CT gaps between regions while maintaining high ball speed performance on off-center hits
Solution Approach 2:
The thickness profile is asymmetric, with the toe area being thicker than the heel area. This asymmetric design reflects the different performance requirements of each region - the toe needs more stiffness for ball speed, while the heel needs more flexibility for CT performance - thereby achieving both goals simultaneously
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of golf club heads comprising a club face with a variable thickness profile to adjust stiffness and characteristic time (CT) are described herein. The variable thickness profile comprises strategically positioned thickened and thinned regions. In many embodiments, variable thickness profile can taper from a thickened region to a thinned region. The thickened region can comprise a maximum thickness of the club face, and the thinned region can comprise a minimum thickness of the club face. The variable thickness profiles described in this disclosure increase stiffness in a high toe area of the club face and decrease stiffness in a heel area of the club face.