Additive Golf Club Head Lattice Weight Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional golf club manufacturing processes restrict the ability to create custom golf club heads that leverage performance advantages from various club head types in a single club head, lacking the flexibility to customize key parameters such as Center of Gravity location, Moment of Inertia, and material distribution.
Innovation Solution
The use of additive manufacturing techniques to create golf club heads with lattice structures, allowing for customizable design and material distribution, including the integration of weights and lattice portions within the club head, enabling precise control over weight distribution and performance characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional manufacturing processes (forging, casting, machining) are used to create golf club heads, then manufacturing precision and structural integrity are maintained, but customization flexibility and design freedom are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the manufacturing process parameter from conventional subtractive/formative methods (forging, casting, machining) to additive manufacturing (3D printing). This parameter change enables complex lattice structures and custom geometries to be created directly with high precision, resolving the contradiction between customization flexibility and manufacturing precision by allowing both to coexist through digital modeling and layer-by-layer fabrication
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates lattice structures within the club head body, creating a composite construction that combines solid material regions with open lattice frameworks. This composite approach enables customized material distribution to achieve specific performance characteristics (such as weight distribution and moment of inertia) while maintaining structural integrity, thus improving adaptability without sacrificing manufacturing precision
2Adaptability or versatility
If lattice structures are integrated into golf club heads via additive manufacturing, then material distribution and weight customization are improved, but manufacturing complexity and process difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes additive manufacturing technology, which fundamentally changes the manufacturing approach from conventional methods. This parameter change allows complex lattice structures to be built layer-by-layer from digital models, enabling precise material distribution control and weight customization without proportionally increasing manufacturing complexity, as the process is automated and programmable
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the club head into different regions with varying lattice structures (different densities, patterns, and orientations) to optimize performance characteristics in specific areas. This segmentation allows customized material distribution throughout the club head while the additive manufacturing process handles the complexity of creating multiple lattice variations in a single integrated build
3Adaptability or versatility
If custom lattice structures are printed layer by layer, then design freedom and performance optimization are enhanced, but manufacturing time and production efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs additive manufacturing with programmable layer-by-layer fabrication, which changes the manufacturing paradigm to enable complex custom designs. While additive manufacturing inherently takes longer than conventional methods, the digital nature of the process allows for optimization through parameter adjustment (such as lattice density and pattern complexity) to balance design freedom with acceptable manufacturing lead times
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
Enables the creation of golf club heads with tailored performance characteristics, such as optimized weight distribution and reduced material volume, enhancing playability and customization options beyond traditional manufacturing limitations.
Implementation Method 1
printing, layer by layer using an additive manufacturing device, the golf club including a lattice structure within an internal volume of a body
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing a golf club includes receiving user information and selecting at least one parameter of the golf club by a user that is selected from a plurality of parameters. Additional steps include generating a design model of the golf club based on user information or at least one parameter of the golf club in a design space, generating a 3D lattice environment, inlaying the lattice environment into the design model of the golf club, reorienting a first lattice array of the lattice environment according to the user information, adjusting, based on the user interface, at least a thickness, a shape, or a density of a lattice beam of the first lattice array, customizing the at least one parameter based on at least a swing characteristic or a location of center of gravity of the golf club, and printing using an additive manufacturing device.