Patent Application
20240278096
The present invention relates to a ball detection device which is configured to sense a ball hitting position and a ball pitching speed of the ball detection device accurately.
A conventional pitching practice device contains a fixed metal rack and a sensing module, wherein the fixed metal rack includes nine grids formed on a tic-tac-toe shape (i.e., three columns×three rows), and a respective one grid has a lid. When pitching a ball to one of the nine grids, the ball hits a lid of the one grid, and the lid is moved or drops to be sensed by the sensing module, thus sensing a ball hitting position. Then, a sensed signal is sent to a control module from the sensing module so that a display of the control module displays the ball hitting position.
However, a ball pitching speed cannot be sensed, thus limiting practice effect. Moreover, the lid has to be fixed on the one grip to cause using inconvenience.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.
The primary aspect of the present invention is to provide a ball detection device which is configured to practice pitching a ball, and a ball hitting position and a ball pitching speed of the ball detection device are sensed accurately and are recorded to enhance a practice effect.
To obtain above-mentioned aspect, a ball detection device provided by the present invention contains a support rack, a target plate, a sensing module, and a control unit. The support rack includes a fixing portion. The target plate is fixed in front of the support rack and is spaced from the fixing portion. The target plate includes nine marking zones formed on a front segment of the target plate, and a respective one marking zone has a passing orifice defined therein. The sensing module includes multiple ultrasonic sensors corresponding to the nine marking zones of the target plate, and a respective one ultrasonic sensor is received in the fixing portion and corresponds to the passing orifice of the respective one marking zone, such that when the respective one ultrasonic sensor emits ultrasounds to the respective one marking zone, the ultrasounds emit out of the target plate via the passing orifice, thus sensing a ball hitting position and a ball pitching speed by using the respective one ultrasonic sensor. The control unit is electrically connected with the sensing module and is configured to record and display the ball hitting position and the ball pitching speed.
The support rack includes a connection frame in which the fixing portion is disposed, and the fixing portion has multiple through-orifices. The multiple ultrasonic sensors are received in the fixing portion and correspond to a rear side of one of the multiple marking zones. The respective one ultrasonic sensor corresponds to one of the multiple through-orifices so that the ultrasounds of the respective one ultrasonic sensor emit out of the one through-orifice.
The connection frame includes a stop net mounted thereon and located in front of the target plate. The stop net has multiple meshes so that the ultrasounds of the respective one ultrasonic sensor emit out of the multiple meshes.
The control unit has a circuit board which is connected with a hitting display and a speed display. The hitting display is configured to display a ball hitting position sensed by the sensing module, and the speed display is configured to display a ball pitching speed sensed by the sensing module.
The circuit board further includes a temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature so as to compensate a response time of the ultrasounds
With reference to
The target plate 12 is fixed in front of the support rack 10 and is spaced from the fixing portion 20. The target plate 12 includes multiple marking zones 30 formed on a front segment 28 thereof, wherein a respective one marking zone 30 has at least one passing orifice 31 defined proximate to a center of the respective one marking zone 30, such that a ball is pitched to the respective one marking zone 30 of the target plate 12. In this embodiment, the front segment 28 of the target plate 12 is formed in a tic-tac-toe shape (i.e., three columns×three rows) to define nine marking zones 30 in the front segment 28 and to print Number 1 to Number 9 in the nine marking zones 30. One of the at least one passing orifice 31 of the respective one marking zone 30 corresponds to one of the three through-orifices 24 of the respective one post 22. In this embodiment, the connection frame 18 includes a stop net 32 mounted thereon and located in front of the target plate 12, wherein the stop net 32 has multiple meshes 33 corresponding to the at least one passing orifice 31 of the respective one marking zone 30. The stop net 32 of the connection frame 18 is separated a predetermined distance (such as 5 cm to 15 cm) from the target plate 12 so that a ball is stopped by the stop net 32 when being pitched close to the target plate 12, thus avoiding the ball hitting the target plate 12. In another embodiment, a ball collection bag (not shown) is arranged on a bottom of the stop net 32.
The sensing module 14 is secured on the support rack 10 and includes multiple ultrasonic sensors 34 corresponding to the multiple marking zones 30 of the target plate 12. The sensing module 14 may include nine or eighteen ultrasonic sensors 34. In this embodiment, the fixing portion 20 of the support rack 10 has nine ultrasonic sensors 34, and a respective one ultrasonic sensor 34 is received in the respective one post 22 and corresponds to a rear side of one of the multiple marking zones 30 so that the respective one ultrasonic sensor 34 corresponds to one of the three through-orifices 24, the at least one passing orifice 31, and the multiple meshes 33. Thereby, when the respective one ultrasonic sensor 34 emits ultrasounds to the respective one marking zone 30, the ultrasounds emit out of the one mesh 33 via the one through-orifice 24 and the one passing orifice 31, thus detecting whether sensed data is sent and has a feedback. The multiple ultrasonic sensors 34 are connected to a host computer 38 via a wire 36, and the host computer 38 is electrically connected with the control unit 16 so that the multiple ultrasonic sensors 34 send the sensed data to the control unit 16.
The control unit 16 has a circuit board 40 on which a coupling port 42 is defined so that the sensing module 14 is connected with the coupling port 42, and the control unit 16 receives and records the sensed data of the multiple ultrasonic sensors 34. The circuit board 40 is connected with a hitting display 44 and a speed display 46, wherein the hitting display 44 is configured to display a ball hitting position sensed by the sensing module 14, and the speed display 46 is configured to display a ball pitching speed sensed by the sensing module 14. The circuit board 40 is connected with a chronograph display 48 configured to display a countdown before the user pitches the ball. Furthermore, the hitting display 44, the speed display 46, and the chronograph display 48 has at least one LED (light-emitting diode) lamp configured to display at least one number.
In this embodiment, the circuit board 40 further includes a temperature sensor 50 configured to sense a temperature so as to compensate a response time of the ultrasounds, thus obtaining the ball pitching speed accurately. In addition, the circuit board 40 further includes multiple touch buttons 52, 54, 56, 58 configured to inquire records of the ball hitting position and the ball pitching speed, query stop buttons 60, 62, and restart buttons 64, 66. The touch buttons 52, 54, the query stop button 60, and the restart buttons 64 are configured to control the ball detection device mainly, and the touch buttons 56, 58, the query stop button 62, and the restart button 66 are configured to control the ball detection device remotely. The circuit board 40 includes a power hole 68 configured to input a power supply, two coupling ports 70, 72 configured to connect with a wired control box (not shown) remotely and to correct or update the ball detection device, and a dual in-line package (DIP) switch 74 configured to switch working modes of the ball detection device.
In operation of the ball detection device, the multiple ultrasonic sensors 34 are started. The user stands ahead of the target plate 12 in a predetermined distance and pitches the ball to the one of the multiple marking zones 30. When the ball is pitched to close to the one marking zone 30, the one ultrasonic sensor 34 senses the ball hitting position, the control unit 16 records the ball hitting position, and the hitting display 44 displays the ball hitting position. Then, the sensing module 14 calculates a correlation between a sending time and a receiving time of the ultrasounds and the speed of the ultrasounds, thus sensing the ball pitching speed. Thereafter, the control unit 16 records the ball pitching speed, and the speed display 46 displays the ball pitching speed.
Before the ball hits the target plate 12 after being pitched to the one marking zone 30, the ball is stopped by the stop net 32, thus avoiding the target plate 12 to be hit by the ball.
While the first embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. The scope of the claims should not be limited by the first embodiments set forth in the examples, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with the description as a whole.
