Variable Thickness Golf Club Head Face with Stiffening Ribs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current metalwood golf club designs face challenges in minimizing face material while maintaining USGA compliance and maximizing energy transfer efficiency, with existing designs being costly and complex to manufacture.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a golf club head with a variable face thickness profile and strategically positioned stiffening members, such as contoured masses or ribs, at the junctions between the striking face and the sole, crown, and skirt, which reduces material usage while maintaining structural integrity and achieving optimal energy transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If the face thickness is reduced to minimize material usage, then cost and mass are improved, but the coefficient of restitution (COR) exceeds the USGA limit
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing a variable face thickness profile where different regions of the striking face have different thicknesses. The center portion has reduced thickness to minimize material usage, while the peripheral regions maintain greater thickness to control COR and ensure USGA compliance. This localized variation in thickness allows the design to meet both material minimization and regulatory requirements simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by systematically varying the face thickness parameter across different locations on the striking face. By changing the thickness parameter from a constant value to a spatially varying function, the design achieves optimal balance between material reduction and COR control, allowing thinner faces in high-performance zones while maintaining compliance in regulated zones.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the face thickness is reduced to maximize energy transfer efficiency, then ball speed is improved, but structural integrity and manufacturing feasibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The variable thickness profile applies local quality by providing reduced thickness only in specific high-performance zones where energy transfer is most beneficial, while maintaining adequate thickness in structural and peripheral zones. This ensures that structural integrity is preserved in critical areas while maximizing energy transfer efficiency in the striking zones where it matters most for ball speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite construction by combining the variable thickness face with integrated support structures and stiffening elements. This composite approach allows the thin face portions to achieve high energy transfer efficiency while the integrated support system provides the necessary structural reinforcement, creating a unified structure that optimizes both performance and strength.
3Loss of substance
If variable face thickness profiles are implemented to meet USGA limits and minimize mass, then material usage is reduced, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies merging by integrating the variable thickness face design with support structures and stiffening elements into a single unified component. This integration reduces the number of separate parts and assembly steps, thereby lowering manufacturing complexity despite the variable geometry. The combined structure can be manufactured as one piece using advanced forming techniques, offsetting the complexity of the variable thickness profile.
Solution Approach 2:
The variable thickness face structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it minimizes material usage for cost savings, controls COR to meet USGA limits, maintains structural integrity, and provides optimized energy transfer. This multi-functionality justifies the manufacturing complexity by delivering multiple benefits from a single design feature, making the added complexity worthwhile.
4Strength
If thin faces with support structures are added to maintain structural integrity, then strength is improved, but manufacturing cost and design complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the support structures with the face itself, creating an integrated variable thickness design where the support elements are seamlessly incorporated into the face geometry. This merging reduces design complexity by eliminating the need for separate support components and simplifies manufacturing by reducing assembly steps, while still providing the necessary structural reinforcement for thin face designs.
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 design allows for a reduction in face thickness while maintaining a maximum coefficient of restitution (COR) of 0.830, enhancing ball speed and COR values across the striking face, and potentially repositioning the point of maximum COR for improved performance.
Implementation Method 1
strategically positioned stiffening members, such as contoured masses or ribs, at the junctions between the striking face and the sole, crown, and skirt
Implementation Method 2
reducing its thickness to introduce a 'trampoline' effect, club head designers have increased the efficiency of energy transfer from a metalwood club to a golf ball
Implementation Method 3
maintaining a maximum coefficient of restitution (COR) of 0.830, enhancing ball speed and COR values across the striking face
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club head includes: a sole; a crown; a toe; a heel opposite the toe; a strike face generally bounded by a face perimeter edge, the strike face comprising a geometric center; a rear portion; and a substantially enclosed interior cavity at least partially delimited by the sole, the crown, the strike face, and the rear portion. The golf club head also includes at least one rib having a first portion secured to the strike face, having a second portion secured to the crown, and being positioned such that a location on the strike face laterally spaced toe-ward from the geometric center by no less than 0.4 in is associated with a COR value no less than 0.825.