The present invention relates to an apparatus for launching a ball, such as for example, a soccer ball. Embodiments of the present invention may be used as a sports or skill training aid, such as may be required, for example, in soccer training, to eject a ball towards a user to enable them to practice a particular skill.
In some ball sports, such as soccer, the ability to control a ball both on the ground and in the air is an essential skill for every player of the game. In training, a soccer player may practice skills such as, for example, dribbling the ball, first touch and control, passing, heading and trapping. A goalkeeper may also practice saving a ball struck towards the goals.
To improve a particular skill, a player repeats the skill many times. Practice of many of the above mentioned skills by a player may require a training partner or coach to serve or deliver the ball to the player in an accurate and repeatable manner. This type of delivery can be difficult to effectively achieve in practice, and furthermore a training partner may not always be available or willing to be involved for an entire training session.
In order to overcome these problems, machines for automatically launching or projecting a ball, such as a soccer ball, towards a player have been developed.
One example of a ball throwing machine is described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0104869 to Lewis et al. Lewis et al discloses a ball delivery device that ejects balls through an opening formed in a housing of the device. The disclosed ball delivery device includes a pair of wheels for accelerating a soccer ball. The wheels are coupled to a bracket which is mounted to a frame. An adjustable length actuator is provided to vary an angle of the bracket and wheels relative to the frame to thereby change the trajectory of the ball when it is ejected by adjusting the length of the actuator to thereby vary a launch angle of the ball. This device permits only a limited degree of adjustment of the launch angle and is constrained, at least to some extent, by the operation of the actuator and the positional relationship between the ball delivery device and the opening of the housing through which the ball is ejected.
An alternative mechanism for controlling the launch angle in a soccer ball delivery device is described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0032828 to Alger. Alger discloses a wheel assembly that is capable of adjusting the launch angle from approximately −5 degrees (ball is directed slightly downward) to approximately +30 degrees (ball is directed upward). The disclosed wheel assembly is rotatably mounted on top of a post and is rotatably adjustable relative to the post about an elevation axis using an elevation assembly which varies the angular relationship between the wheel assembly and the main post. The launch angle control mechanism disclosed in Alger is complex and expensive to manufacture and assemble. Furthermore, the Alger device also only permits a limited degree of adjustment of the launch angle, in this case limited to a range of 35 degrees.
Another drawback of Alger is that because the wheel assembly is rotatably mounted on top of a post, as the wheel assembly rotates back and forth to vary the launch angle, the weight of the wheel assembly exerts a moment force on the post mounting structure. This may induce stress in the post mounting structure which may, over time, lead to mechanical failure of the launcher. Also, as the elevation axis is located below the wheels, when a ball is launched from the device, a kickback or recoil force from the launch will induce a moment about the elevation axis. This moment will tend to cause the wheel assembly to want to pivot about the elevation axis. The post mounting structure must therefore react this force which will induce further stress in the mounting structure.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved apparatus for launching a ball which overcomes some of the above mentioned difficulties or at least provides the public with a useful choice.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for launching a ball, including:
In an embodiment, the ball launching unit includes an upper wheel and a lower wheel that cooperate to eject the ball. The upper wheel and the lower wheel may be driven by motors, for example DC motors. The wheels apply a force to the ball resulting in an acceleration of the ball as it is ejected from the port.
It is preferred that the upper and lower wheels at least partially protrude into the port.
In an embodiment, the horizontal axis of rotation extends between the upper wheel and the lower wheel. The horizontal axis of rotation may extend centrally through the port.
In some embodiments, the wheels may have a tread pattern to assist in ejecting a wet or damp ball.
A support according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a pair of support members wherein the ball launching unit is supported between the support members. Each support member may comprise one or more legs for contacting the ground.
In one embodiment, the apparatus may further include a hopper for storing one or more balls for feeding to the ball launching unit and wherein during rotation of the ball launching unit about the horizontal axis of rotation, the orientation of the hopper relative to the ball launching unit remains fixed.
In embodiments, the hopper is fixed to the ball launching unit. In other words, the ball launching unit may have an integrated hopper.
In order to controllably release balls from the hopper into the port, the ball launching unit may include a solenoid controllable to allow a ball to be fed from the hopper into the port. It is preferred that the solenoid includes a shaft that extends into the hopper.
In embodiments, the hopper includes a sloped upper portion and a lower guiding portion. Preferably the shaft of the solenoid extends into the hopper between the sloped upper portion and the lower guiding portion. The shaft of the solenoid is retractable which releases or drops a ball from the sloped upper portion to the lower guiding portion which guides the ball into the port.
It is preferred that at least part of the sloped upper portion is disposed above the ball launching unit.
In an embodiment, the ball launching unit includes control electronics for enabling remote control of at least one function of the ball launching unit.
Preferably, at least one function of the ball launching unit includes angular adjustment of the ball launching unit about the horizontal axis, actuation of the solenoid and wheel speed.
In embodiments, the apparatus further includes one or more batteries to power the ball launching unit.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for launching a ball, including:
In an embodiment, the apparatus further includes an integrated hopper for feeding one or more balls to the ball launching unit.
In an embodiment, the ball launching unit further includes a first wheel located in an upper portion of the housing and a second wheel located in a lower portion of the housing and wherein rotation of the first and second wheels applies a force to the ball as it passes through the port to eject the ball from the housing.
It is preferred that the first wheel is coupled to a first shaft of a first motor and the second wheel is coupled to a second shaft of a second motor and wherein the first and second shafts are parallel to the horizontal axis of rotation.
In an embodiment, the horizontal axis of rotation is disposed midway between the first wheel and the second wheel.
Embodiments of the present invention may provide improved control and adjustability of the launch angle of a ball. A particular advantage of the present invention is that it may provide a compact and stable apparatus for launching a ball that may provide a user with improved control and adjustability of the launch angle.
Embodiments of the present invention will be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
In the following description, like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the figures.
Referring now to
As shown, the illustrated apparatus 10 includes a ball launching unit 100 rotatably coupled to a support assembly 20 which supports the ball launching unit 100 above the ground. The ball launching unit 100 includes a housing or chassis 110 having a body 112 with an opening therethrough forming a port 114 for ejecting a ball. The housing 110 may be manufactured from any suitable material. One example of a suitable material is ultra-violet (UV) light stabilised linear low density polyethylene. The apparatus 10 also includes a hopper or chute 30 for storing one or more balls for controllable release to the port 114. In the illustrated embodiment, the hopper 30 is integrated with the ball launching unit 100.
The port 114 includes an inlet 116 for receiving a ball from the hopper 30 and an outlet 118 through which the ball is ejected. In use, the port 114 receives a ball from the hopper 30. The received ball is then accelerated from the ball launching unit 100 by first and second wheel assemblies 140, 150 that cooperate to accelerate the ball and eject it from the port 114.
The support assembly 20 depicted in
In the illustrated embodiment, each opposite pair of support legs 24 has an associated ground contacting member 23 which extends laterally so as to bridge the opposite support legs 24 of the support members 22. In embodiments, the bridging of the opposite support legs 24 is expected to improve the rigidity of support assembly 20. Although in the present case separate ground contacting members 23 are shown, it will be appreciated that ground contacting members 23 could be replaced with a single piece arrangement, such as a plate like structure that connects all of the legs 24 together.
As shown, the ground contacting members 23 may include teeth or other suitably shaped portions to assist in engaging, or gripping, the ground contacting members 23 with the ground and thus assist with reducing or preventing undesired slipping type movement of the ball launching unit 100 relative to the ground in use. Alternatively, in some embodiments, pegs or other suitable securing means, may be used to secure the ground contacting members 23 to the ground.
Turning now to the ball launching unit 100, in the present case the ball launching unit 100 is rotatably coupled to the support assembly 20. In the present case, and as will be described in more detail below, a rotatable coupling arrangement is provided using the leg plates 25 and axle bolts 27. However, it will be appreciated that other arrangements may be used. In the present case, each leg plate 25 includes an aperture for receiving an axle bolt 27 that is fastened to the body 112 of the housing 110 to permit rotation of the body 112 (with respect to the support assembly 20) about a horizontal axis of rotation 5 (ref.
As shown in
Rotation of the ball launching unit 100 about the support assembly 20 provides means to vary a launch angle of an ejected ball. Each leg plate 25 further includes a slot 28 for receiving an adjustment and locking element 29, shown here as a knob, that is also fastened into the body 112 of the housing 110 by suitable means. When the locking element 29 is fastened tightly, the ball launching unit 100 is locked in position with respect to the support assembly 20. As the locking element 29 is loosened, the ball launching unit 100 is able to rotate with respect to the support assembly 20 about the horizontal axis of rotation 5 in order to set the desired launch angle. As the unit 100 is rotated, a shaft of the adjustment element 29 traverses along the slot 28. The slot 28 thus controls the degree of rotation or angular adjustment that is permitted. When the unit 100 is in a desired angular position, the locking element 29 is re-tightened to fix the position of the unit 100 with respect to the support assembly 20.
Referring now to
The first wheel assembly 140 includes a first wheel 141 coupled to a first shaft 144 of a first motor 143. In an embodiment, the first motor 143 is a brushless braked DC motor having a power of between 60 W and 110 W, however other suitable electric motors may be used. In embodiments including one or more braked motors, the brakes may have an inactive or released state when the motors 143, 153 are operational for ejecting a ball, or be activated once a ball is ejected, or after the apparatus has completed a cycle of multiple ball ejections, to thereby apply a braking force to the motors and stop rotation of wheels 141, 151 substantially immediately. The motor brakes may include, for example, a 24 volt electromagnet that attaches to the rear of a respective motor. The first wheel 141 further includes outer circumferential surface, shown here as a tyre 142, that provides a tread pattern to assist in ejecting a wet or damp ball from the unit 100.
The first wheel 141 is located so as to at least partially protrude into the port 114. The first motor 143 is mounted to a front face of a mounting plate 145 and the motor shaft 144 is support by a bearing plate 146. The wheel 141 is located between the support plate 145 and bearing plate 146. The support plate 145 and bearing plate 146 are joined to mounting plates 147 that are fastened to the body 12 of the housing 110. The mounting plates 147 may also be used to mount a battery support, shown here as battery support plates 172, to accommodate the mounting of a battery 170 as shown.
The second wheel assembly 150 is located in a lower portion of the housing 110. The second wheel assembly 150 includes a second wheel 151 coupled to a second shaft 154 of a second motor 153 (ref.
As the motors 143, 153 are disposed horizontally, the respective shafts 144, 154 of each motor 143, 153 are parallel to the horizontal axis of rotation 5. Furthermore, the horizontal axis of rotation 5 extends between the upper wheel 141 and the lower wheel 151. As most clearly in
As shown in
As shown in
The hopper or chute 30 will now be described in further detail. In the illustrated embodiment (refer
The hopper 30 is preferably shaped in a manner which allows the weight of balls stored in the hopper 30 to be evenly distributed to portions of the inner and outer tubes 37, 38. In one embodiment, this is achieved by providing a sloped upper portion 33 above the solenoid 160. The sloped upper portion 33 may form a ramp for holding balls in preparation for release. The portion of the hopper 30 below the solenoid 160 may provide a lower guiding portion 34 for guiding a ball once released into the inlet 116 of the port 114. In an embodiment, the shaft or plunger 162 of the solenoid 160 extends into the hopper 30 between the sloped upper portion 33 and the lower guiding portion 34. As previously explained, the shaft 162 of the solenoid 160 may be retracted to release or drop a ball from the sloped upper portion 33 to the lower guiding portion 34 which guides the ball into the port 114. In an embodiment, the sloped upper portion 33 is disposed above the ball launching unit 100. Such an arrangement may assist in balancing the apparatus 10 with the hopper 30 mounted to the ball launching unit 100.
It is also to be noted that the apparatus 10 depicted in
Referring now to
Now referring to
A block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an electronic control system that may be used to control the apparatus 10 is shown in
In embodiments, a user may activate a control of the user operable device, such as a push button or a graphically represented control on a touch activated device, in order to control a function of the apparatus 10 such as ‘single fire’, ‘continuous ball release’, ‘wheel speed’, ‘launch angle’, ‘training program’ etc. It will also be appreciated that the transmitter 202 may be activated by other types of user control, such as by voice activation or by gesture activation. Voice activation may involve, for example, a user providing a verbal command such as “launch” to an audio signal processor (not shown) operatively associated with the transmitter 202. Gesture activation may involve video processing a video signal (such as from a camera) operatively associated with the transmitter 202, or detecting a predetermined type of movement of the user operable device, such as a “swish” movement, a hand gesture, a head movement, or the like. In this respect, different types of gestures may be associated with different types of user command.
Signals transmitted by the transmitter 202 are received by a receiver 208 on the apparatus 10. The receiver 208 decodes a received signal and sends an appropriate instruction to the microcontroller 200 to execute the desired user command. In other embodiments, the receiver 208 may be a module of a transceiver device which can communicate back to the transmitter 202. The transmitter 202 may communicate wirelessly to the receiver 208 by radio frequency (RF), infrared (IF), WiFi (IEEE 802.11x), Bluetooth, Zigbee or any other standard protocol(s).
As shown in
A user control interface 212 may be provided on the apparatus 10 to enable the user to send certain commands to the microcontroller 200. For example, an ON/OFF button or switch 40 may be provided to power on the apparatus 10 and a motor speed dial or control knob 50 may be provided to adjust the desired set point speed of the motors 143, 153. A resettable fuse 60 may also be provided to protect the circuit. An event which may for example trigger the fuse 60, is when an over inflated ball jams between the wheels and overloads the motors.
A timer 220 may communicate with the microcontroller 200 and be used to set predetermined time intervals for certain events such as activating motors 143, 153, solenoid 160 etc.
The microcontroller 200 sends command signals to a control interface 218 which controls the various output devices of the apparatus 10 including the first motor 143, the second motor 153, the solenoid 160 and other indicator 70 (which may include warning lights and other features. Of course, in embodiments of the apparatus 10 where the ball launching unit is rotated automatically (for example, by varying the launch angle or rotation about a vertical axis to change the direction of the unit), other output devices such as additional motors (not shown) may be used. The control interface 218 may include motor drivers, solenoid control circuits, lighting control circuits. Suitable motor drivers may include a potentiometer for speed variation.
The microcontroller 200, receiver 208, timer 220 and control interface 218 are powered by a power supply 210. In the depicted embodiment, the apparatus 10 is battery powered however in other embodiments the apparatus 10 may be plugged into a socket and powered by mains electricity. The apparatus 10 may also have a recharging port that accepts a recharging system that is plugged directly into a power socket.
A flow diagram of an embodiment of a control process for controlling the apparatus 10 is provided in
In an embodiment, the motor speed may be varied from about 800 RPM to about 3000 RPM. At step 304, with the actual speed controlling the launch speed of a ball. The microcontroller 200 receives a user command of ‘single fire’ or ‘continuous release’. This dual functionality may enable the apparatus 10 to launch a single ball or to continuously release balls from the hopper 30 at a predetermined time interval. For example, balls may be ejected every 5-8 seconds. The user command may be transmitted from a user device, such as the transmitter 202, and received by the receiver 208 located on the apparatus 10.
At step 306, in response to a user command, the microcontroller 200 sends a signal to the upper and lower motors 143, 153 to activate. The motors 143, 153 will begin to run and wind up to the speed set point. It may take several seconds for the motors 143, 153 to reach the desired speed. After a predetermined time interval, at step 308, the microcontroller 200 sends a signal to activate the solenoid 160 to retract the shaft or plunger 162 momentarily to release a ball. The released ball then drops into the port 114 where it is ejected from the unit 100 by the spinning wheels 141, 151. At step 312, if the user command was for a ‘single launch’ then after a predetermined time interval, power is cut to the motors 143, 153 and the motors 143, 153 are brought to rest. The apparatus 10 will then remain in stand-by mode waiting for further user commands. If the original user command was for ‘continuous release’ then after the first ball launch, the microcontroller 200 again sends a signal to activate the solenoid 160 to release a further ball to be ejected. The microcontroller 200 will continue launching balls until the hopper 30 is empty and requiring a reload. When the hopper 30 is empty, at this point, power is cut to the motors so that they can be brought to rest.
Throughout the specification and the claims that follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the words “comprise” and “include” and variations such as “comprising” and “including” will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers, but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.
The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement of any form of suggestion that such prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention is not restricted in its use to the particular application described. Neither is the present invention restricted in its preferred embodiment with regard to the particular elements and/or features described or depicted herein. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth and defined by the following claims.
This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/519,722 filed Apr. 17, 2017, which is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT/AU2015/000624 filed Oct. 16, 2015, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/065,231 filed Oct. 17, 2014. The disclosures of the prior applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62065231 | Oct 2014 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15519722 | Apr 2017 | US |
Child | 15958487 | US |