Infill for artificial turf system
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current artificial turf systems face issues with excessive heat, chemical concerns, safety, maintenance, and disposal due to the use of rubber granules as infill materials, which also fail to mimic the impact and performance characteristics of natural turf.
Innovation Solution
An artificial turf assembly using a combination of sand and wood particles as infill material, where the wood particles are oriented with a length dimension greater than the width or thickness and have a water absorptive property to disperse heat and provide improved traction and impact absorption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If rubber granules are used as infill material, then impact absorption and player safety are improved, but surface temperature becomes excessively high and chemical safety deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters by replacing rubber granules with wood particles that have different thermal properties. Wood particles have lower solar radiant energy absorption and higher water absorptivity, fundamentally altering the thermal characteristics of the infill material to reduce surface temperatures while maintaining impact absorption capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite infill material consisting of wood particles combined with sand. This composite structure leverages the impact absorption properties of wood particles while using sand as a stable base material, achieving both safety and thermal performance requirements
2Reliability
If rubber granules are used as infill material, then impact absorption is improved, but maintenance and disposal difficulties increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs wood particles that are naturally biodegradable and compostable, replacing durable but non-biodegradable rubber granules. This allows the infill material to be easily disposed of through composting processes at the end of its service life, eliminating the disposal difficulties associated with rubber granules while maintaining impact absorption performance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables recovery and composting of wood particle infill material after its useful life. The organic nature of wood particles allows them to be decomposed and returned to the environment, creating a sustainable lifecycle that contrasts with the permanent landfill disposal required for rubber granules
3Strength
If sand is used as infill material, then firmness and stability are improved, but impact absorption and natural turf mimicry deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite infill system where sand provides firmness and stability while wood particles provide impact absorption. The combination of these two materials with different properties achieves both firmness for player stability and cushioning for impact protection, overcoming the limitations of using either material alone
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 sand-wood infill material reduces surface temperatures, enhances player safety by mimicking natural turf's impact absorption, and is compostable, reducing maintenance and disposal challenges while maintaining performance over time.
Implementation Method 1
Each particle maintains a water absorptive property that permits water to be retained by the particle and released over time to disperse heat from the infill material
Implementation Method 2
water to be retained by the particle and released over time to disperse heat from the infill material
Implementation Method 3
Each particle defines a length dimension greater than a width or a thickness dimension, and each particle length dimension is oriented generally parallel to a grain structure of each particle
Data Source
AI summary
An artificial turf system includes a turf assembly having a turf backing and stands of artificial grass blades extending from the turf backing to form an artificial turf layer. Infill material is placed in between the blades of artificial grass and on top of the turf backing. The infill material has a composition of sand and organic particles. The infill material organic particles includes a plurality of wood particles where at least a portion of the wood particles define a length dimension oriented generally parallel to a grain structure of the wood particles. The length dimension is greater than a width or a thickness dimension and, in one example, may be in a range of about 0.5 mm to about 10 mm. The length dimension and one of the width or thickness dimensions may, in another example, define an aspect ratio within a range of 1:2 to 10:1.