Smart Golf Balls
A golf ball is a sophisticated physical system that must endure ever-changing player preferences and conditions. Sometimes the player prefers increased distance and less spin, sometimes increased spin and less distance, etc. Course conditions may be hot and dry, or cold and wet, etc. All things considered, it remains a challenging task for golf ball manufacturers to engineer the design parameters for optimal playability at all times. A smart golf ball consists of ferromagnetic layers between an inner core and outer cover. Another approach is a ferrofluid core consisting of a suspension of nanometer-sized, magnetic particles in a carrier liquid. Playability can differ markedly, depending on magnetic conditions at tee-off.
VanDelden, US Patent 7,682,265, 3/23/2010
Recent US Patents
3/23/2010
7,682,265
Adaptive Golf Ball
VanDelden has developed a smart ball based on a ferrofluid ferrofluid, a magnetorheological fluid, an inverse magnetorheological fluid and a magnetorheological elastomer