Golf ball dimple plan shape
AssigneeAcushnet Company
InventorsNicholas M. Nardacci, Michael R. Madson
Life of this patent
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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.
Claims19
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 mapped along a circular simple closed path resulting in the following function:
- Q(x)=Fpath(l,scl,x)*Fperiodic(s,a,p,x)
- where Fpath is a circular function of length l, with scale factor scl, defined along the vertices x;
- and Fperiodic is selected from a periodic square wave function defined by the equation:
- f
-
- (
- x
- )
- =
- s
- +
- a
- π
-
- (
- sin
-
- (
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- +
- 1
- 3
-
- sin
-
- (
- 3
-
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- +
- 1
- 5
-
- sin
-
- (
- 5
-
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- +
- 1
- 7
-
- sin
-
- (
- 7
-
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- )
- and a periodic sawtooth function defined by the equation:
- f
-
- (
- x
- )
- =
- s
- -
- a
- π
-
- (
- sin
-
- (
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- +
- 1
- 2
-
- sin
-
- (
- 2
-
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- +
- 1
- 3
-
- sin
-
- (
- 3
-
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- +
- 1
- 4
-
- sin
-
- (
- 4
-
- π
-
-
- px
- )
- )
- ,
- with sharpness factor s, amplitude a, and period p defined at the vertices x, and period p is about 15 or less and amplitude a is about 1 or less;
- and
- wherein each one of the dimples having a non-circular plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function mapped along a circular simple closed path comprises a first dimple profile and a second dimple profile, the first dimple profile having a first edge angle (ΦEDGE1) and a second edge angle (ΦEDGE2) and the second dimple profile having a third edge angle (ΦEDGE3) and a fourth edge angle (ΦEDGE4), wherein at least two of ΦEDGE1, ΦEDGE2, ΦEDGE3 and ΦEDGE4 have different values.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.