Low-Damping Composite Golf Club Head for Sound and Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golf club heads made from composite materials face challenges in reducing weight while maintaining acoustic sound quality due to high vibration damping, which often requires additional materials or stiffeners that negate weight advantages.
Innovation Solution
The use of a low-damping composite material with a damping loss factor of less than 0.02 for at least one portion of the golf club head, such as the striking face, crown, or sole, combined with a high Young's Modulus and low density, to reduce weight without compromising sound quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If composite materials are used to reduce weight, then weight reduction is achieved, but sound quality deteriorates due to high vibration damping
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting composite materials with specific damping loss factors (η < 0.02) and density values to achieve the desired balance between weight reduction and sound quality maintenance. This involves changing the material parameters to meet both requirements simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent directly applies composite materials (specifically carbon fiber reinforced plastics) with engineered damping characteristics to construct the golf club head, combining the benefits of lightweight properties with controlled vibration damping to maintain acoustic quality.
2Weight of moving object
If traditional composite materials are used, then weight reduction is achieved, but additional materials or stiffeners are required to maintain sound quality, negating weight advantages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by changing the material parameters to use composites with inherently low damping loss factors, eliminating the need for additional stiffeners or complex structural modifications while maintaining both weight reduction and sound quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the unnecessary additional materials and stiffeners from the design by using composite materials that inherently provide the required vibration characteristics, simplifying the overall structure while maintaining performance.
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
This approach allows for significant weight reduction while preserving the acoustic sound characteristics of the golf club head, as evidenced by signal power diagrams showing improved sound power output comparable to metallic golf club heads, with a performance factor of greater than 1,100 GPa*cc/g.
Implementation Method 1
the nature of fiber reinforced plastic tends to provide a significant amount of vibration dampening, which could also adversely affect the overall sound signature attenuation of the golf club itself via vibration
Data Source
AI summary
A composite golf club head with improved sound characteristics is disclosed herein. More specifically, the present invention relates to a golf club head that utilizes a unique composite type material having a low damping coefficient; creating more discretionary weight to optimize performance without comprising the sound of the golf club head. Depending on the amount of discretionary weight desired, the present invention could replace parts of the crown, the sole, the striking face, or even all three of the above referenced components with a low-damping composite material to improve the performance. The low-damping composite material used in accordance with the current invention may generally have a damping loss factor (η) of less than about 0.02.