Wind Tolerant Ball with Venturi Apertures and Interior Core
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pickleballs are susceptible to adverse wind effects during outdoor play, leading to unpredictable flight trajectories and making the game unplayable in strong winds.
Innovation Solution
A wind-tolerant pickleball design featuring a heavier construction with exterior and interior surfaces optimized for aerodynamic airflow, including dimples on the exterior and protuberances on the interior, along with angled aperture sidewalls to enhance airflow through the ball.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the ball is made lighter for easier play, then ease of operation improves, but susceptibility to wind increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the weight parameter of the ball by providing an interior core that increases overall ball weight. This allows the ball to maintain ease of play while reducing susceptibility to wind effects, as the heavier ball is less influenced by aerodynamic forces during flight.
2Stability of the object's composition
If aerodynamic features are added to manage airflow, then flight stability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing dimples at specific locations on the exterior surface and protuberances at specific locations on the interior surface. These localized aerodynamic features manage airflow without requiring complex overall structural changes, thus improving flight stability while minimizing increases in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs nesting by placing an interior core within the hollow sphere structure. This nested configuration allows the core to contribute to ball weight and structural integrity while the exterior and interior surfaces provide aerodynamic features, achieving flight stability without excessive complexity.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the ball weight is increased to reduce wind susceptibility, then resistance to wind improves, but bounce and compression characteristics worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials by combining a hollow sphere shell with an interior core of different material properties. This composite structure allows the ball to achieve increased weight for wind resistance while the hollow structure and core configuration maintain appropriate bounce and compression characteristics for playability.
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 design minimizes the impact of wind on the ball's flight, ensuring a true and consistent trajectory while maintaining the ball's bounce, compression, and hardness, making outdoor play more feasible.
Implementation Method 1
exterior and interior surfaces that are designed to manage and promote aerodynamic airflow around and through the ball
Implementation Method 2
designs themselves are not holistic and generally focus on either airflow around a solid ball or through a hollow ball
Implementation Method 3
Sara Mateos Fernández discusses the aerodynamics of floorballs in her thesis titled Development of the Floorball published by the Department of Materials and Manufacturing Technology at Chalmers University of Technology and particularly discusses the use of a 'venturi' shaped hole-wall design which produces a strangulation of airflow into and out of the ball
Implementation Method 4
The relatively light weight of balls for pickleball and similar balls with a hollow construction further amplifies the effect of windy conditions when the balls are used therein. There is therefore another desire for a ball for pickleball that is marginally heavier and less susceptible to wind conditions
Data Source
AI summary
The ball is a thin-walled hollow sphere that includes an array of apertures with dimples in a pattern that are concentric to the aperture array. Dimples are provided on the exterior surface of the ball between the apertures with the pattern and dimensions of the dimples varying based on proximity to the apertures. Internal protuberances are provided on the interior surface of the hollow ball such that the interior surface also manages aerodynamic airflow through the ball. Channels are also provided around each of the apertures within the ball which may intersect proximate dimples or be spaced therefrom. The ball also includes apertures having converging and diverging sidewalls that form a venturi shape to increase inflow air into the apertures and outflow air out of the apertures. Finally, the ball also maintains a weight:diameter ratio within a fixed range.