Patent Application
20130164507
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent No. 201110460726.X, filed Dec. 22, 2011, the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The invention relates to a sports board for sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding, waterskiing, surfing, body-boarding, and so on, and a manufacturing method thereof.
Sports boards made from thermoplastic materials that may be used for various recreational activities such as surfing, body-boarding, skateboarding, snowboarding, waterskiing, and snow-sledding generally include a layer of plastic material on the top and bottom surfaces of the board. These layers of plastic surface material are typically laminated to a core made from foamed material. However, due to challenges faced in laminating such a high-density, non-foamed, solid sheet of plastic surface material to the bottom of a foamed core, the surface material is typically first laminated to an intermediate layer of plastic material before the surface material can be laminated to the foam core. Although this step avoids distortions caused by heating the surface material to bonding temperatures, inclusion of the additional layer can compromise the stiffness and strength of the bonds between the layers of the sports board, thereby increasing the possibility of damage during use.
In one embodiment, a sports board includes a rough blank, an upper surface panel, and a lower surface panel. The rough blank has an inner foam core and an outer cured fiberglass layer. The upper and lower surface panels are bonded to the inner foam core via a bonding composition, without an intermediate plastic layer. Bonding compositions that may be used in accordance with the embodiments described herein include epoxy resins and adhesives.
In other embodiments, methods for manufacturing a sports board, such as the boards described above, are provided. Such methods may include a series of steps to form a rough blank that has an inner foam core and an outer cured fiberglass layer, including filling a foam mold with a foamed material; heating the foamed material to a predetermined foaming temperature to form the inner foam core; cooling the inner foam core; drying the inner foam core at a predetermined drying temperature; wrapping a layer of fiberglass cloth around the inner foam core; coating the fiberglass cloth with an epoxy resin to form the outer cured fiberglass layer to form a core board; and sanding the core board to form the rough blank having a top surface and a bottom surface.
In some embodiments, the methods of manufacturing may also include steps of applying a bonding composition, which includes a second fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin. Additionally, before the epoxy resin has been cured, the upper surface panel and the lower surface panel may be placed on the top and bottom surfaces of the rough blank coated with the bonding composition to form a molded sports board. The methods also include heating the molded sports board in a compression mold at a predetermined compression mold temperature; and trimming the molded sports board to form the finished sports board.
Other features and advantages will appear hereinafter. The features described above can be used separately or together, or in various combinations of one or more of them.
In the drawings, wherein the same reference number indicates the same element throughout the views:
Various embodiments of the invention will now be described. The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding and enabling description of these embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand, however, that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions may not be shown or described in detail so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description of the various embodiments.
The terminology used in the description presented below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the invention. Certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this detailed description section.
Where the context permits, singular or plural terms may also include the plural or singular term, respectively. Moreover, unless the word “or” is expressly limited to mean only a single item exclusive from the other items in a list of two or more items, then the use of “or” in such a list is to be interpreted as including (a) any single item in the list, (b) all of the items in the list, or (c) any combination of items in the list.
Turning now in detail to the drawings, as shown in
The upper and lower surface panels 2, 3 each have an inner side that faces the rough blank 1 and an outer side that faces away from the rough blank 1 in a finished sports board 100. In some embodiments, the top surface of the rough blank 1 is bonded to the inner side of the upper surface panel 2 without including an intermediate plastic layer between the rough blank 1 and the upper surface panel 2. Similarly, the bottom surface of the rough blank 1 is bonded to the inner side of the lower surface panel 3 without including an intermediate plastic layer between the rough blank 1 and the upper surface panel 2. The upper surface panel 2 and the lower surface panel 3 may be bonded to the rough blank via a bonding composition that may include one or more suitable bonding agents including, but not limited to, glue, hot adhesives, and epoxy resins (e.g., bisphenol A epoxy resin, bisphenol F epoxy resin, novolac epoxy resin, aliphatic epoxy resin, and glycidylamine epoxy resin).
The upper surface panel 2 and the lower surface panel 3 may be formed from a high-density plastic sheet of a suitable thermoplastic polymer to provide enhanced stiffness including, but not limited to, polyethylene polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, polycarbonate resin, or polyethylene terephthalate.
Omission of an intermediate plastic layer, and, consequently, bonding of the upper and/or lower surface panel 2, 3 to the rough blank 1, as described further below, is one way to enhance overall stiffness of the sports board 100. Enhanced stiffness increases performance of the sports board 100 by allowing a user to go faster, to make better turns, and to have more control. In some embodiments, the upper surface panel 2 and the lower surface panel 3 each have an outer edge that meet each other to form a seam or a joint 6 along the lateral circumference of the rough blank 1. The position of the seam or joint 6 along the lateral circumference of the rough blank 1 is at a slight upward curve, or cambered, as compared to the center of the lower and upper surface panels 2, 3. This cambered design reduces the resistance of water or snow against the sports board 100, resulting in a more smooth and controlled sliding action. In some aspects, the upper surface panel 2 may be texturized to prevent a user from slipping off the sports board 100 while riding.
In some embodiments, the upper surface panel 2 (as shown in
In some embodiments, one or more reinforcing ribs 11 may be embedded in the inner foam core of the rough blank 1. The reinforcing ribs 11 may be formed from any suitable material to provide increased strength to the sports board 100. As shown in
According to certain embodiments, methods for manufacturing a sports board 100, such as the boards described above, are provided herein. As illustrated in
The foaming-mold process 900 may be accomplished by filling a foaming mold with a thermoplastic foamed material 800 such as PS, granular PS, PP, granular PP, EPS, XPS, PU, PE or any other suitable foamed material. The foamed material in the foaming mold is heated in a mold at a temperature of approximately 100° C. to 180° C. for approximately 2 to 5 minutes to form the inner foam core 810 of the rough blank 850. In some embodiments, the foamed material 800 is placed in the foaming mold that is at a temperature of approximately 100° C., 140° C., or 180° C. for approximately 5, 3, or 2 minutes, respectively, to form the inner foam core 810 of the rough blank 850. After cooling 910 for approximately 2 to 5 minutes in the foaming mold using cooled water, the inner foam core is cooled to room temperature and then dried 910 in an oven or in the presence of another suitable heat source at a drying temperature of approximately 45° C. to 65° C. In some embodiments, the inner foam core may be dried 910 at a drying temperature of approximately 45° C., 55° C., or 65° C. when the foaming material 800 is placed in the steam foaming mold at a foaming temperature of approximately 100° C., 140° C. or 180° C., respectively.
After forming the inner foam core 810, a layer of fiberglass cloth 820a or other fibrous material is wrapped around the inner foam core 810 such that the surface area of the wrapped inner foam core is covered by the fiberglass cloth 820a. The fiberglass cloth 820a is then sprayed or coated with an epoxy resin 830a and cured 920 at room temperature to form the outer cured fiberglass layer of the resulting core board 840. The core board 840 is then sanded 930, forming a rough blank 850 having a top surface and a bottom surface.
According to some embodiments, the methods described herein may include applying a bonding composition to the rough blank. As illustrated in
The heat-molding process may be any suitable process including, but not limited to, a compression-molding process or a vacuum-molding process. In one embodiment, the molded sports board is formed by a compression-molding process 940, which may include steps of placing the rough blank 850 bonded to upper and lower surface panels 860 in a mold, and compressing 940 the materials in a molding press at a temperature of 50° C. to 130° C. for approximately 5 to 30 minutes to form the molded sports board 870. In some embodiments, the molded sports board 870 may be formed by compressing 940 the materials in a molding press at a temperature of 50° C., 90° C., or 130° C. when the rough blank 850 and the upper and lower surface panels 860 are compressed 940 in the mold for approximately 30, 15, or 5 minutes, respectively, to form the molded sports board 870. After cooling, the surface panel is removed from the mold, trimmed, and sanded 960 to form the finished sports board 880.
In other embodiments, as shown in
The upper and lower surface panels 2, 3 are then sealed 950 to each other at their outer edges to form a seam or a joint 6 along the lateral circumference of the rough blank 850 to form the molded sports board 870. In some embodiments, the upper and lower surface panels 860 are sealed 950 to each other by a heat-sealing process, an ultrasonic or high-frequency-sealing process, or any other suitable sealing process. In one embodiment, a high-frequency sealer, which uses high frequency or ultrasonic vibrations to join thermoplastic materials, is used to seal the upper and lower surface panels 860. The molded sports board 870 is then trimmed and sanded 960 to form the finished sports board 880.
Sports boards manufactured without an intermediate plastic layer, as described herein, are generally firmer and stiffer than conventional sports boards while also being lightweight and durable. Further, the sports boards are relatively easy to manufacture, do not require complicated equipment to manufacture the sports boards, and may be efficiently produced in high yield.
Any of the above-described embodiments may be used alone or in combination with one another. Furthermore, the sports board and methods of manufacturing may include additional features not described herein. While several embodiments have been shown and described, various changes and substitutions may of course be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention, therefore, should not be limited, except by the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201110460726.X | Dec 2011 | CN | national |
