Golf ball dimple plan shapes and methods of generating same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017136307-A1
Application number	US-201514941841-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 16, 2015
Priority date	Nov 16, 2015
Publication date	May 18, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention is directed to golf balls having improved aerodynamic performance due, at least in part, to the selection of the plan shapes of the dimples thereon. In particular, the present invention is directed to a golf ball that includes at least a portion of its dimples having a plan shape defined by low frequency periodic functions along a closed simple path. In addition, the present invention provides methods for designing dimples having a plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function along a closed simple path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A golf ball having a generally spherical surface and comprising a plurality of dimples on the spherical surface, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of dimples have a non-circular plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function along a simple closed path.

2 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion comprises about 50 percent or more of the dimples on the golf ball.

3 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion comprises about 80 percent or more of the dimples on the golf ball.

4 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the periodic function is selected from a sine, cosine, saw tooth wave, triangle wave, or square wave function.

5 . The golf ball of claim 4 , wherein the periodic function is a combination of two or more periodic functions.

6 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the periodic function is an arbitrary periodic function.

7 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the simple closed path is selected from a circle, ellipse, or square.

8 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the simple closed path is an arbitrary closed curve.

9 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the low frequency periodic function has a period of about 15 or less.

10 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the plan shape is defined according to the following function:
Q ( x )= F path ( l,scl,x )* F periodic ( s,a,p,x )
where F path is a path function of length l, with scale factor scl, defined along the vertices x; and F periodic is a periodic function with sharpness factor s, amplitude a, and period p defined at the vertices x.

11 . A golf ball having a generally spherical surface and comprising a plurality of dimples on the surface, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of dimples have a plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function along a simple closed path according to the following function:
Q ( x )= F path ( l,scl,x )* F periodic ( s,a,p,x )
where F path is a path function of length l, with scale factor scl, defined along the vertices x; and F periodic is a periodic function with sharpness factors, amplitude a, and period p defined at the vertices x.

12 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein at least a portion comprises about 50 percent or more of the dimples on the golf ball.

13 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein at least a portion comprises about 80 percent or more of the dimples on the golf ball.

14 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein the periodic function is selected from a sine, cosine, sawtooth wave, triangle wave, square wave, or arbitrary function.

15 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein the path function is any simple closed path that is symmetrical about two orthogonal axes.

16 . The golf ball of claim 15 , wherein the path function is selected from a circle, ellipse, or square.

17 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein the period, p, is about 15 or less.

18 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein the period, p, is about 9 or less.

19 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein the amplitude, a, is about 1 or less.

20 . The golf ball of claim 11 , wherein the plan shape has an amplitude A of less than about 0.500.

21 . A golf ball having a surface with a plurality of recessed dimples thereon, wherein at least one of the dimples has a plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function along a simple closed path symmetrical about two orthogonal axes according to the following function:
Q ( x )= F path ( l,scl,x )* F periodic ( s,a,p,x )
where F path is a path function of length l, with scale factor scl, defined along the vertices x; and F periodic is a periodic function with sharpness factor s, amplitude a, and period p defined at the vertices x, wherein the periodic function is selected from a sine, cosine, sawtooth wave, triangle wave, square wave, or arbitrary function.

22 . The golf ball of claim 21 , wherein the periodic function is a sawtooth wave form.

23 . The golf ball of claim 21 , wherein the periodic function is a square wave form.

24 . The golf ball of claim 21 , wherein the periodic function is a cosine wave form.

25 . The golf ball of claim 21 , wherein the periodic function is a triangle wave form.

26 . The golf ball of claim 21 , wherein the plan shape has an amplitude A of about 0.0005 inches to about 0.100 inches.

Assignees

• Acushnet Co

Inventors

• Nardacci Nicholas M
• Madson Michael R
• Hixenbaugh Chris

Classifications

• A63B37/0012 Primary

  Dimple profile, i.e. cross-sectional view · CPC title

• A63B37/0021

  Occupation ratio, i.e. percentage surface occupied by dimples · CPC title

• A63B37/0004 Primary

  Surface depressions or protrusions · CPC title

• A63B37/0007

  Non-circular dimples · CPC title

• A63B37/0009

  Polygonal · CPC title