Patent Application
20210346785
The present disclosure generally relates to floor tiles and modular ground coverings, and more particularly to modular floor systems with high friction for ball sports such as tennis and pickleball.
Floor tiles have traditionally been used for many different purposes, including both aesthetic and utilitarian purposes. For example, floor tiles of a particular color may be used to accentuate an object displayed on top of the tiles. Alternatively, floor tiles may be used to simply protect the surface beneath the tiles from various forms of damage. Floor tiles typically comprise individual panels that are placed on the ground either permanently or temporarily depending on the application. A permanent application may involve adhering the tiles to the floor in some way, whereas a temporary application would simply involve setting the tiles on the floor. Some floor tiles can be interconnected to one another to cover large floor areas such as a garage, an office, a sports court, or a show floor.
Various interconnection systems have been utilized to connect floor tiles horizontally with one another to maintain structural integrity and provide a desirable, unified appearance. In addition, floor tiles can be manufactured in many shapes, colors, and patterns. Some floor tiles contain holes such that fluid and small debris is able to pass through the floor tiles and onto a surface below. Tiles can also be equipped with special surface patterns or structures to provide various superficial or useful characteristics.
One method of making plastic floor tiles utilizes an injection molding process. Injection molding involves injecting heated liquid plastic into a mold. The mold is shaped to provide an enclosed space to form the desired shaped floor tile. The liquid plastic is allowed to cool and solidify, and the plastic floor tile is removed from the mold.
When floor tiles are used in sports playing areas and courts for sports such as tennis, pickleball, and other racquet sports where the ball frequently comes into contact with the court, the highly rigid and smooth floor tiles can have a significant effect on the restitution of the ball, thereby causing the ball to bounce with unexpected speed or height. Thus, the floor tiles do not effectively reproduce the game experience provided by a conventional court made of asphalt, concrete, and other non-plastic materials.
For this and other reasons, there is a constant need for improvements in the field of modular flooring, particularly in the field of flooring for sports playing areas.
One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a sports system comprising a rigid support surface, a rigid floor tile positioned on the rigid support surface, and a game piece configured to come into contact with the rigid floor tile while playing a game with the sport system. The game piece or the rigid floor tile can comprise a material composition causing a first coefficient of friction between a game piece and the rigid floor tile to be greater than a second coefficient of friction between the game piece and the rigid support surface.
In some embodiments the sport system can further comprise a plurality of additional rigid floor tiles having the material composition and being arranged in the shape of a pickleball court or a playing area for a variety of other sports. The sports system can also include a set of visual indicators defining boundaries of the court on the plurality of rigid floor tiles. In an example embodiment of the sport system, the game piece can comprise a pickleball, the first coefficient of friction can be at least 0.47 under European Standard EN 13865, the rigid floor tile can be attached to the plurality of additional rigid floor tiles, and the rigid floor tile can comprise a plurality of support legs in contact with the rigid support surface.
Additionally, the floor tile and the game piece can both comprise the material composition. The game piece can be substantially rigid and substantially spherical. The sport system can have a material composition that comprises copolymer propylene, a silica material, and a grip-enhancing material. The first coefficient of friction between the game piece and the rigid floor tile can be at least 0.47 under European Standard EN 13865.
Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a modular floor tile comprising a tile body. The tile body may include a plurality of openings extending through the tile body, an outer perimeter, a plurality of interlockable edge features positioned around the outer perimeter, a substantially planar upward-facing surface, a plurality of support legs extending downward relative to the upward-facing surface to contact a planar support service beneath the tile body, and a partially rubberized or elastomeric material composition at the upward facing surface.
In some cases, the material composition comprises copolymer polypropylene, a silica material (e.g., glass-oxide), and a grip-enhancing material. The material composition can include about 45 to about 65 percent copolymer polypropylene, about 15 to about 35 percent silica material, and about 5 to about 25 percent of the grip-enhancing material. In some embodiments, the material composition comprises about 50 percent to about 60 percent polypropylene, about 20 percent to about 40 percent silica material, and about 10 percent to about 20 percent of the grip-enhancing material. The coefficient of friction of the material composition of the modular floor tile can be at least 0.47 under European Standard EN 13865. The coefficient of restitution at the upward facing surface can be about 0.8 under European Standard EN 13865. The angle out measurement at the upward facing surface can be about 15.9 under European Standard EN 13865. Furthermore, the court pace rating of the tile body can be less than about 62, and the material composition can reduce bounce force by at least 5 percent.
In yet another aspect of the disclosure, a sports court is provided with a plurality of interlocking tiles, wherein each interlocking tile can include an upward-facing surface comprising a plurality of through hole openings, the upward facing surface having a coefficient of friction of at least about 0.47 under European standard EN 13865. A system of marked regions can extend across the upward facing surface to indicate game boundaries for at least one sports game.
In some cases, the plurality of interlocking tiles can comprise outer dimensions defining a pickleball or tennis court (or another paddle sport), and the system of marked regions can define boundaries for pickleball or tennis (or the other paddle sport). The sports court can also include a second plurality of tiles connected to the plurality of interlocking tiles external to game boundaries for the at least one sports game, and the second plurality of tiles can have a lesser coefficient of friction under European Standard EN 13865 as compared to the plurality of interlocking tiles. The plurality of interlocking tiles can comprise a set of male portions configured to be received by a set of female portions to attach the tiles to each other. At least some male portions of the set of male portions can be vertically elongated and received vertically by respective female portions of the set of female portions. The plurality of interlocking tiles can have a court pace rating of less than about 62.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The Figures and the detailed description that follow more particularly exemplify one or more preferred embodiments.
The accompanying drawings and figures illustrate a number of exemplary embodiments and are part of the specification. Together with the present description, these drawings demonstrate and explain various principles of this disclosure. A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label.
While the embodiments described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. However, the exemplary embodiments described herein are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the instant disclosure covers all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the appended claims.
Typical modular flooring is not well-suited for reproducing a sports playing area surface used for some sports such as tennis and pickleball. The conventional floor tiles are made of hard plastic, and when they come into contact with the hard plastic ball, such as a pickleball, the bouncing behavior of the ball is unexpected because of sliding that occurs between the ball and the tile when they come into contact with each other. As a result, the speed of the ball may be undesirably too fast when it rebounds from those types of tiles when they are arranged and used as a sports playing area. By comparison, with a conventional sports playing area for pickle balls, the asphalt (or other more resilient and/or higher-friction surfaces) more forcefully grips the ball when it contacts the court, thereby slowing down the ball speed on rebound and allowing for greater angle of return.
The present disclosure describes apparatuses, systems, and methods that provide a sports system that helps to reproduce bouncing behavior of a game ball on a conventional sports court while simultaneously providing the many advantages that come with deployable, interlocking, modular floor tiles. Accordingly, the systems, methods, and apparatuses described herein can be used to reversibly modify play surfaces, to add new play surface characteristics to other types of sports playing area and support surfaces, to improve the look and feel of existing play surfaces, to improve acoustics, aesthetics, and safety features of existing play surfaces, and more.
To this end, aspects of the present disclosure relate to a sports system including a rigid support surface, such as a generally flat concrete slab, asphalt, court, or floor material. A rigid floor tile (e.g., a modular floor panel) can be positioned on the rigid support surface, and a game piece can be configured to come into contact with the rigid floor tile while playing a game with the sports system. The game piece can comprise a ball such as a pickleball, a tennis ball, a wiffleball, a golf ball, a ping pong ball, or other game piece used to play a game or sport with the sports system. The game piece can therefore in some cases be substantially spherical and/or substantially rigid. The game piece and/or the rigid floor tile can have a material composition that causes a first coefficient of friction (measured between the game piece and the rigid floor tile) to be greater than a second coefficient of friction (measured between the game piece and the rigid support surface). For example, a game ball can have increased friction when bouncing against the floor tile than when it bounces similarly against a traditional support surface such as asphalt or concrete. The increased friction between the game piece and the tile can affect the bounce characteristics of the game piece in ways that would not be possible if the game piece simply bounced on the support surface.
In some embodiments, the material composition of the game piece and/or the rigid floor tile can comprise, at least in part, an elastomeric or rubberized material that increases the grip of the game piece to the floor tile as compared to the support surface. Thus, in some cases, the material composition can be used in a top or upward-facing surface of the floor tile and/or in the body and other structures of the floor tile. In some embodiments, the material composition can comprise a polymer component, a ceramic component, and a rubber component. For example, the material composition can include copolymer propylene, a silica material, and a grip-enhancing material. The grip enhancing material can comprise a thermoplastic vulcanizate (e.g., SANTOPRENE™), an olefinic-based rubber, a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomer, or a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) material. In one case, the material composition can comprise between about 50% to about 60% copolymer polypropylene, about 20% to about 30% glass fiber, bubbles, or powder, and about 10% to about 20% grip-enhancing material. Other minor components can also be included about 1% to about 3% of the composition.
These rigid polyolefin compositions can have an enhanced tactile experience, high structural rigidity, improved weatherability, a soft look and feel, increased comfort, a wide range of possible colors, good chemical resistance, low odor, UV stability, and improved design characteristics. The material composition can also be injection molded to generate the modular floor panels or game pieces. In embodiments where the game piece and floor tile both comprise an increased-friction material, the speed of the game piece as it bounces from the floor tile can be significantly reduced as compared to embodiments where only one or neither component comprise the increased-friction material. Thus, embodiments with both a game piece and tile comprising increased friction can be beneficial to aged or otherwise less athletic sports players, or for use in games where movement of the game piece is generally intended to be at a slower pace.
In some embodiments, the coefficient of friction of the floor tile (or the support surface) can be measured under the testing conditions established as European Standard EN 13865 (entitled, “Surfaces for support areas-Determination of angled ball behavior-Tennis”). For example, the coefficient of friction can be measured under CSN EN 13865:2017 as published by the European Committee for Standardization; CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Avenue Marniz 17, B-1000 Brussels (2017), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and is appended to the present disclosure as Appendix 1. Under this standard, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, the coefficient of friction of the floor tile can be measured to be at least 0.47, and the coefficient of friction of the support surface can be less than 0.47. In some embodiments, the coefficient of friction can be about 0.51 or greater. In some embodiments, the coefficient of friction can be within a range of about 0.45 to about 0.70. In some embodiments, the coefficient of friction can be within a range of about 0.42 to about 0.52. Under the same European measurement standard, in some embodiments, the coefficient of restitution of the floor tile can be at least 0.76 (and, in some cases, can be at least about 0.81 or can be within a range of about 0.76 to about 0.84), the angle out measurement can be about 15.9 (and, in some cases, can be in a range of at least about 15.1 to about 16.7), the court pace rating can be less than about 62 (and in some cases less than about 50), and the bounce force can be reduced by at least 5 percent. Slip resistance of the floor panel can be about 115 when dry and 54 when wet, as determined under European Standard EN 13036-4 (i.e., DIN EN 13036-4, “Road and airfield surface characteristics—Test methods—Part 4: Method for measurement of slip/skid resistance of a surface—The pendulum test” (2011), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and appended to the present disclosure as Appendix 2).
Accordingly, by adding the floor tiles to the support surface, the sports system can modify the support surface characteristics to be much more similar to a support surface having higher friction such as a conventional tennis, pickleball, or other paddle sports court. Furthermore, because the floor tiles can be designed with interlocking edges, the size and shape of the court can be easily designed, installed, and modified. The tiles can also include indicators of game regions, such as painted lines, stripes, or similar visible features that make it easier to quickly install and play a game using the sports system, to improve aesthetic appeal or durability of the court, and to improve visibility of the game regions while viewing or playing the game.
The present description provides examples, and is not limiting of the scope, applicability, or configuration set forth in the claims. Thus, it will be understood that changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, and various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add other procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in other embodiments.
Intervening structural ribs 116 can be positioned within quadrilaterals formed by the horizontal support ribs 104, 106. The dashed-line boxes in
A plurality of openings in the top surface 102 can be formed by the lateral sides of the ribs 104, 106, 116, and the openings can be through-hole openings or apertures that extend through and provide passage of liquids and debris from above the panel 100 to a support surface underneath the panel 100. The openings can thereby help prevent the panel 100 from collecting rain, sweat, or other fluids or small debris.
Along some of the edges 110, 112, a set of female tabs 118 extend horizontally parallel to the top surface 102 and laterally away from their associated edge 110, 112. Among other edges 108, 114, a set of male tabs 120 extend vertically downward away from the top surface 102. The female and male tabs 118, 120 can be referred to as interlockable edge features that are positioned around the outer perimeter of the panel 100. Neighboring modular floor panels 100 can have male tabs 120 of one panel 110 inserted into openings 134 in the female tabs 118 of an adjacent panel 100 to join the floor panels 100 to each other, as discussed in further detail below.
The top surface 102 of the modular floor panel 100 can also include a plurality of surface protrusions 122 spaced apart across the horizontal support ribs 104, 106 and intervening structural ribs 116. The surface protrusions 122 can extend upward from the top surface 102 and increase traction and surface area of the top surface 102 when they are contacted, for example, by a game ball or a player's foot or shoe.
Additionally, as shown in
Turning again to
By interlocking and attaching a plurality of modular floor panels 100 together, the panels 100 can collectively form a sports court or other supporting surface according to desired specifications, as indicated and represented by the sports court 200 in
The sports playing area 200 can also include a plurality of lines, e.g., 212, 214, 216, 218 that indicate boundaries and game regions (e.g., 206, 208, 210) of the sports court 200 for one or more games intended to be played on the sports court 200. The lines can also have a different visual appearance relative to the game regions 206, 208, 210 or the surrounding perimeter panels 222, 224, 226, 228 of the sports court 200. In some embodiments, the game regions and lines can be painted onto the modular floor panels 100. For instance, lines can be painted with a two-component polyurethane for high visibility and durability. In some cases, the modular floor panels 100 can be formed with a material that is dyed or otherwise manufactured to have a permanent, non-painted, and different visual appearance relative to the perimeter panels.
In an embodiment where the sports playing area 200 includes pickleball game regions, the plurality of lines and plurality of game regions can define left and right service areas 208, 206, a non-volley zone (i.e., kitchen) 210, a centerline 216, a baseline 214, and sidelines (e.g., 212). In some embodiments, a net 220 can be positioned over the sports court 200. The net 220 can comprise posts that extend through the sports court 200 or that are positioned outside the boundaries of the sports court 200, such as in the support surface 202 or another surrounding surface. If the posts are positioned away from the sidelines of a play region (e.g., 212), the net can be suspended from a cable, rope, pole, or other support that extends over and is suspended above side non-play regions 222, 224. Additionally, the sports court 200 can include a perimeter of non-game regions including the non-play regions 222, 224 and end regions 226, 228.
The sports playing area 200 can comprise a plurality of modular floor panels 100 that all have the same material composition or that all have the same material properties. In some embodiments, the floor panels can all have the same material properties when tested under European Standard EN 13865. In other embodiments, the sports playing area 200 can comprise a first plurality of floor panels 100 that are more resilient or that have higher friction and slip resistance as compared to a second plurality of floor panels in the sports court 200. For example, a game regions 206, 208, 210 can be made with higher friction (e.g., rubberized or elastomeric) materials to desirably modify ball bounce performance while playing in the game regions 206, 208, 210, and non-play regions and end regions 222, 224, 226, 228 can comprise lower-friction panels 100. Thus, different types of floor panels 100 can be used for different regions in the sports court 200, and the panels used in each region can be tailored for desired ball performance characteristics of the region in which they are placed.
In some embodiments, the sports court 200 can be converted into sports playing area 300 by removing some of the modular floor panels 100 in sports court 200 and replacing them with panels corresponding to sports court 300. For example, modular floor panels 100 having pickleball lines shown in
Furthermore, according to some embodiments, the friction characteristics, visual characteristics, or other material composition characteristics of the modular floor panels 100 in one court can be modified by exchanging those panels with panels that have different friction, visual, or material composition characteristics. Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure can beneficially enable a user to customize various different types of court characteristics in a reversible, nondestructive, and relatively easy manner as compared to modifying a support surface (e.g., 202, 302) directly. Additionally, floor panels 100 of the present disclosure can have material compositions heretofore unknown in the art of modular flooring to enable a greater range of customizations of sports courts, including friction and bounce performance characteristic customizations.
Therefore, another aspect of the disclosure relates to a method for modifying, manufacturing, or constructing a sports playing area that includes positioning a first set of modular floor panels on a support surface and a second set of modular floor panels on the support surface, with the first and second sets of panels being interconnected with each other and with the first and second sets of panels each having different friction characteristics at their upward-facing surfaces. The different friction characteristics can be implemented by using different upper surface textures, different material compositions, different geometries, different coatings, or other friction-modifying processes for each of the sets of floor panels. The set of modular floor panels with higher friction can be positioned in gameplay regions or in regions of the court where frequent contact with the game piece is anticipated, and panels with lower friction can be positioned external to those gameplay regions or around a perimeter of the court as a whole. In some embodiments, the method can comprise changing one or more panels in the sports playing area from a lower friction panel to a higher friction panel, or vice versa. For instance, the method can include changing the size or dimensions of a higher friction area of the sports court so that a greater or lesser size or dimension high friction area is present in the sports playing area by exchanging floor tiles or panels. In some cases, the change in the area of the higher friction panels can cause the court to have higher friction areas that correspond to different standardized court sizes for different sports, such as different types of paddleball sports (e.g., tennis and pickleball). Methods can also include applying or positioning lines or other boundary indicators on the top surface of the first set of modular floor panels, such as lines defining boundaries for a game to be played on the court. Adjusting the positioning or ratio of the first and second sets of panels can also cause the lines are boundary indicators to be changed, resized, or adjusted to accommodate additional or different sports.
Various inventions have been described herein with reference to certain specific embodiments and examples. However, they will be recognized by those skilled in the art that many variations are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventions disclosed herein, in that those inventions set forth in the claims below are intended to cover all variations and modifications of the inventions disclosed without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The terms “including:” and “having” come as used in the specification and claims shall have the same meaning as the term “comprising.”
