TENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON SOUND AND VIBRATION , ICSV 10 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A PARALLEL MECHANISM FOR THE GOLF INDUSTRY
Previous work done in the study of golf club dynamics professes dissatisfaction with robotic testing used to evaluate and compare golf equipment. The main complaint is that the club dynamics measured during a robot swing do not correlate with the same data in a human swing. This paper presents the design and analysis of an alternative to the current robotic testing systems. The viability of a parallel kinematic (two-arm) concept as a robotic testing machine for golf clubs and balls is demonstrated. Human biometric data was used as the basis for determining link geometry as well as motion planning for the swing. Models, simulations, and correlations with human test data were used for validating the design. A demonstration prototype was built to show the interactions and motions of the various components.
The dynamics of a golf club
Generating the appropriate model of a dynamic system is strongly dependent on the boundary conditions assumed for the model. In the case of golf clubs, conventional wisdom has been to assume a clamped boundary condition at the grip, the rational being that the hands hold the club firmly. This research presents evidence that suggests a more appropriate boundary condition for the modeling of golf clubs would be a free condition or a pinned boundary appropriately located on the grip. Experimental modal results and finite element results are presented to support these conclusions. A steel shafted club and a graphite shafted club were tested.
Mass and Inertia
DR. LODGE (NATURE, January 17, p. 270) seems to have misunderstood the bearing of my letter on mass and inertia (January 10, p. 248).