JP5886010B2 - Golf club head - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a hollow golf club head.

  In hollow golf club heads, the volume of the head has been increasing year by year, and the area of the crown portion and the sole portion has been reduced and the area has also increased. For this reason, there is a tendency that the hitting sound at the time of hitting the golf ball tends to be low, and a golf club head that emits a higher hitting sound is desired from a golfer who likes high hitting sound.

  As a method for improving the hitting sound, Patent Document 1 discloses a golf club head provided with ribs straddling a sole portion, a side portion, and a crown portion. Patent Document 2 discloses a golf club head in which a concave portion is provided in a crown portion.

JP 2009-233266 A JP 2010-35915 A

  In recent golf club heads, the design feature is often formed by the shape of the sole portion. For this reason, the structure for improving the hitting sound has a higher degree of freedom in the crown portion than in the sole portion. However, the crown portion generally has a shape that bulges upward and has a relatively large curvature. For this reason, the sound of the hitting sound tends to deteriorate.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a golf club head having a higher sound hitting sound and better sound.

According to the present invention, in a hollow golf club head including a face portion, a crown portion bulging upward, and a sole portion, the crown portion includes a vibration promoting region and the vibration promoting portion. anda peripheral region surrounding the region, the vibration promoting region is a circular or elliptical, and the Ri flat region der than the surrounding area, the vibration promoting region is a central portion of the crown portion The golf club head is provided , wherein the vibration promoting region includes an antinode position of a primary vibration mode of the crown portion .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a golf club head with a higher sound and a better sound.

1 is a perspective view of a golf club head according to an embodiment of the present invention. The top view of the golf club head of FIG. Sectional drawing which follows the line II of FIG. The exploded perspective view of the golf club head concerning other embodiments of the present invention. The top view of the golf club head of FIG. Sectional drawing and the elements on larger scale which follow line II-II of FIG. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows a joining example. The figure which shows the other form of a vibration promotion area | region.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf club head 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the golf club head 10, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II in FIG. In the figure, the arrow d1 indicates the face-back direction, and the arrow d2 indicates the toe heel direction. Note that the face-back direction means a horizontal direction that becomes a flying ball direction when grounded so as to have a specified lie angle defined for the golf club head 10, and is usually a central portion of the face portion 11. Is the plane direction of the plane orthogonal to The toe-heel direction is a horizontal direction orthogonal to the face-back direction when the golf club head 10 is grounded according to a specified lie angle.

  The golf club head 10 has a hollow body, and its peripheral wall constitutes a face part 11, a crown part 12, a sole part 13 and a side part 14. The face portion 11 forms a face surface (striking surface). The crown portion 12 forms the upper portion of the golf club head 10. The sole portion 13 forms the bottom portion of the golf club head 10. The side portion 14 forms a side portion of the golf club head 10. The side portion 14 has respective portions on the toe side, the back side, and the heel side. The golf club head 10 includes a hosel portion 15 to which a shaft is attached.

  The golf club head 10 is a golf club head for a driver, but the present invention is a wood type golf club head including a fairway wood other than a driver, a utility type (hybrid type) golf club head, and other hollow golf clubs. Applicable to club head. The golf club head 10 can be made of a metal material. Examples of such a metal material include titanium-based metals (for example, 6Al-4V-Ti titanium alloy), stainless steel, and copper alloys such as beryllium copper. It is done.

  The crown portion 12 has a shape that bulges upward as a whole. In the case of the present embodiment, the crown portion 12 includes a vibration promoting region S1 and a surrounding region S2 surrounding the vibration promoting region S1. In the case of the present embodiment, the entire area of the crown portion 12 other than the vibration promoting area S1 is the surrounding area S2.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the vibration promotion region S1 is a flat region, and the surface thereof is the same plane as a virtual plane L3 passing through the boundary between the vibration promotion region S1 and the surrounding region S2. However, the vibration promotion region S1 is not necessarily flat and may be a region that is flatter than the surrounding region S2. That is, the vibration promotion area S1 only needs to have a smaller curvature than the surrounding area S2. Therefore, for example, like the vibration promotion region S1 shown in FIG. 8, it may bulge upward from the plane L3.

  In the present embodiment, the vibration promoting region S1 is circular. However, the vibration promoting region S1 may be elliptical. The vibration promoting region S1 can be provided at any position in the crown portion 12, but the center portion of the crown portion 12 is preferable in that the amplitude at the time of hitting tends to increase. In the case of the present embodiment, the vibration promoting region S1 has a circular shape centered on the intersection of the lines L1 and L2 shown in FIG. The line L1 is a virtual line that passes through the center of the face portion 10 and is parallel to the face-back direction. The line L2 is an imaginary line that is orthogonal to the line L1 and passes through the center of the crown portion 10 in the face-back direction. The position of the vibration promoting region S1 of the present embodiment is approximately the center of the crown portion 12.

  In general, when the head volume is increased, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the peripheral wall of the head while ensuring the necessary strength. For example, the thickness of the crown portion 12 is preferably 0.3 mm or greater and 1.0 mm or less. In addition, when making thickness of the crown part 12 comparatively thick, 1.2 mm or more and 2.5 mm or less are preferable.

  As the head volume increases, the area of each part also increases, so that the natural value of the entire head decreases, and the natural value (natural frequency) of the primary vibration mode of the crown 12 also decreases. For this reason, the hitting sound at the time of hitting the golf ball tends to be low.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the curvature increases rapidly at the periphery of the vibration promoting region S1. Thereby, the crown part 12 is restrained as a whole, and the eigenvalue of the primary vibration mode increases. The vibration promoting area S1 has a smaller curvature than that of the surrounding area S2, and thus is likely to vibrate. FIG. 3 schematically shows the vibration mode of the vibration promotion region S1 in an exaggerated manner. The vibration promotion region S1 vibrates in the direction of the arrow d3 as indicated by a broken line S1 '. As a result, the hitting sound can be made with a higher hitting sound and better reverberation. Further, since the vibration promotion region S1 is only flatter than the surrounding region S2, the vibration promotion region S1 is not so conspicuous when the golf club head 10 is viewed in plan. Therefore, it can suppress giving a golfer a visual discomfort at the time of an address.

  In addition, it is preferable that vibration promotion area | region S1 contains the position of the antinode of the primary vibration mode of the crown part 12. FIG. As a result, the amplitude of the vibration promotion region S1 is increased and the sound is further improved. The position of the antinode of the primary vibration mode of the crown portion 12 can be obtained by performing modal analysis by a computer or eigenvalue analysis by FEM.

  Further, the vibration promoting region S1 may be thinner than the surrounding region S2. As a result, the vibration promotion region S1 can be further vibrated.

If the area of the vibration promotion region S1 is reduced, the hitting sound becomes higher, but the sound may be worsened. Therefore, the area of the vibration promoting region S1 is preferably 700 to 8000 mm ² , for example.

Second Embodiment
The crown portion 12 may be provided with a rib in a region excluding the vibration promotion region S1. By providing the rib, the eigenvalue of the primary vibration mode of the crown portion 12 can be further increased, and the sound can be increased.

  The rib is preferably provided on the inner peripheral surface of the crown portion 12. Thereby, a rib can be made invisible from the outside. The rib can be a separate member from the parts constituting the crown portion 12 and can be formed in the crown portion 12 by welding. However, by forming the rib integrally with the component parts of the crown portion 12, the number of parts can be reduced and the assembly can be facilitated. Hereinafter, the example which formed the rib integrally with the component of the crown part 12 is demonstrated.

  4 is an exploded perspective view of a golf club head 100 according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the golf club head 100, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view and a partially enlarged view taken along line II-II in FIG. It is. Among the configurations of the golf club head 100, the same configurations as those of the above-described golf club head 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  The golf club head 100 of this embodiment is formed by joining a plurality of shell members 1 to 3. Examples of a method for joining the shell members 1 to 3 include welding, adhesion, and the like, but welding is preferable in terms of joining strength. In the case of this embodiment, the shell member 1 forms a part of the crown portion 12. The shell member 2 forms a part of the crown portion 12, a sole portion 13, a side portion 14, and a hosel portion 15. The shell member 3 forms a face portion 11.

  The crown portion 12 is formed by joining the shell member 1 and the shell member 2. The shell member 1 includes the entire vibration promoting region S1. By dividing the parts in this way, the vibration promotion region S1 can be easily formed, and in particular, it can be easily formed by forging.

  The shell member 1 has a front edge portion 1a on the face portion 11 side, side edge portions 1b and 1b on the toe side and heel side, and a rear edge portion 1c on the back side. The front edge portion 1 a is joined to the shell member 14 constituting the face portion 11. The side edge portions 1 b and 1 b and the rear edge portion 1 c are joined to the shell member 2.

  Of each edge part of the shell member 1, ribs are formed on edge parts other than the front edge part 1a. That is, the rear edge portion 1c is provided with a rib RB1, and the side edge portions 1b and 1b are provided with ribs RB2 and RB2. The front edge portion 1a is not provided with a rib. This is because the front edge portion 1 a is joined to the shell member 3 that forms the face portion 11, and the shell member 3 can secure a restraining force. However, it is also possible to provide a rib on the front edge portion 1a. As described above, in the present embodiment, the ribs (RB1, RB2) are formed over the entire area of the joint portion between the shell member 1 and the shell member 2.

  The shell member 1 can be formed by forging a metal plate. In that case, rib RB1, RB2 can be formed by bending the edge part of a board | plate material. Therefore, it is possible to form the ribs more easily than when the ribs RB1 and RB2 are separate members.

  Forming the shell members 1 to 3 by forging has a great merit in that they can be easily made thin. As the head volume increases, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the peripheral wall of the head. When attempting to reduce the thickness of the crown portion 12 and the ribs RB1 and RB2, if casting is adopted as a manufacturing method, there are many cases where it is difficult in terms of molten metal flow and occurrence of a cast hole.

  Even when forging is employed, it takes time to join the crown portion 12 and the ribs RB1 and RB2 as separate bodies. In the present embodiment, the crown portion 12 and the ribs RB1 and RB2 can be formed more easily and thinner.

  In this way, the shell members 1 to 3 are preferably all forged products, but may be combined with a cast product. Even in the case of a combination with a cast product, it is preferable that the shell member 1 that forms the most part of the crown portion 12 is at least a forged product in that the accuracy of the molded product is required.

  In this embodiment, the golf club head 100 is composed of the three shell members 1 to 3, but the number of divisions is not limited to this. In the case of the present embodiment, for example, it is possible to configure at least two shell members. The parts of the head 100 are preferably divided using the ribs RB1 and RB2 as boundaries. By dividing in this way, the rib can be formed integrally with the shell member.

  In the present embodiment, by providing the ribs RB1 and RB2, the eigenvalue of the primary vibration mode of the crown portion 12 can be further increased, and high sounding can be achieved. In particular, since the vibration promotion region S1 is surrounded by the ribs RB1, RB2 and the face portion 11, the degree of restraint around the vibration promotion region S1 is high. Therefore, the vibration in the vibration promoting region S1 becomes a higher frequency vibration, and a high sound hitting can be achieved.

  In addition, the restraining effect of the crown part 12 increases when the height H (FIG. 6) of the rib RB1 from the crown part 12 is higher to some extent. Further, the height H of the rib RB1 may be uniform over the entire rib RB1, or may be different. In any case, the maximum height is preferably 2.0 mm or more. The same applies to the rib RB2.

<Third Embodiment>
In the second embodiment, the shell member 1 includes the ribs RB1 and RB2. However, the shell member 2 may include at least one of the ribs RB1 and RB2. FIG. 7A shows an example in which the shell member 2 has the rib RB1, and the shell member 1 has the rib RB2.

  Moreover, the shell member 1 and the shell member 2 may have a part which each forms a rib. In FIG. 7B, both the shell member 1 and the shell member 2 each have a part forming the rib RB1, and as a result, the rib RB1 has a two-layer structure joined to each other.

Claims (8)

In a hollow golf club head including a face portion, a crown portion having a shape bulging upward, and a sole portion,
The crown portion is
A vibration promoting region and a surrounding region surrounding the vibration promoting region,
The vibration promoting region is
A circular or elliptical, and Ri flat regions der than the surrounding region,
The vibration promoting region is located at a central portion of the crown portion,
The vibration promotion region includes an antinode position of a primary vibration mode of the crown portion.
A golf club head characterized by that. The crown portion is formed by joining the first member and the second member;
The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the first member includes the vibration promoting region.   The golf club head according to claim 2, wherein a rib is provided at a joint portion between the first member and the second member. The peripheral portion of the first member is
Including a leading edge portion and a remaining portion other than the leading edge portion, and the leading edge portion is joined to the face portion,
The remaining portion is joined to the second member;
4. The golf club head according to claim 3, wherein the rib is provided over the entire joint portion between the remaining portion and the second member. 5.   4. The golf club head according to claim 3, wherein the rib is formed by a part of at least one of the first member and the second member.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the vibration promoting region is flat.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the vibration promoting region is thinner than the surrounding region. 2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the vibration promoting region is coplanar with a virtual plane passing through a boundary between the vibration promoting region and the surrounding region .

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