Golf Club Face Plate Lattice Structure for Weight Without Strength Loss
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current golf club head technologies face challenges in enhancing playability characteristics while managing weight and mass distribution, particularly in redistributing mass at high stress locations without compromising structural resilience.
Innovation Solution
A golf club face plate design featuring an inner and outer skin with a midsection containing a cell lattice, where the cell lattice is fully encapsulated between the skins, allowing for weight reduction through diffusion bonding without compromising strength, achieved by forming lattice patterns in midsection layers and aligning them for seamless integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If mass is removed from high stress locations to reduce weight, then weight reduction is achieved, but structural resilience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies porous materials by incorporating a cell lattice structure within the face plate's midsection. This lattice structure creates a controlled porous architecture that reduces overall density and weight while maintaining structural integrity through the geometric configuration of the cells, directly resolving the contradiction between weight reduction and strength preservation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite materials by combining solid material regions with lattice structures in a hybrid configuration. The face plate integrates both solid and porous phases, allowing the solid regions to provide structural strength while the lattice regions contribute to weight reduction, effectively balancing the competing requirements of strength and weight
Solution Approach 3:
The patent applies local quality by strategically positioning cell lattices in specific regions of the face plate where stress distribution allows for mass removal. The lattice structure is configured to provide adequate structural support in high-stress areas while enabling greater weight reduction in lower-stress regions, optimizing the balance between strength and weight locally across different face plate zones
2Weight of moving object
If cell lattice is exposed on face plate surface, then weight reduction is achieved, but stress concentration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the nesting principle by placing the cell lattice structure entirely within the confines of the face plate, nested between the front and rear surfaces. This internal positioning allows the lattice to reduce weight while being enclosed by solid material that acts as a protective shell, preventing stress concentration at the surface and distributing loads more evenly through the structure
3Weight of moving object
If face plate thickness is reduced to remove mass, then weight reduction is achieved, but structural integrity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies porous materials by replacing solid material with a cell lattice structure within the face plate thickness. This allows significant mass removal while maintaining structural integrity through the lattice's geometric configuration, which provides strength-to-weight advantages over solid material of equivalent thickness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies dimensionality change by transitioning from a two-dimensional thickness reduction approach to a three-dimensional lattice architecture. Instead of simply thinning the face plate, the invention creates a volumetric lattice structure that spans the thickness dimension, providing structural integrity through spatial configuration rather than relying solely on increased material thickness
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 solution results in a weight reduction of 8% to 25% of the face plate without compromising durability, allowing for improved playability characteristics and redistribution of discretionary mass for better club head performance.
Implementation Method 1
Bounding the midsection can comprise diffusion bonding the inner skin, the midsection, and the outer skin together, including the first and second midsection layers, into a single integral piece of material
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of golf club face plates with internal cell lattices are presented herein. Other examples and related methods are also disclosed herein.