U.S. patent application number 12/520569 was filed with the patent office on 2009-12-24 for artificial turf and method for producing a turf of this type.
This patent application is currently assigned to NV MICHEL VAN DE WIELE. Invention is credited to Johny Debaes, Marc Delepierre.
Application Number | 20090317569 12/520569 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38308752 |
Filed Date | 2009-12-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090317569 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Debaes; Johny ; et
al. |
December 24, 2009 |
Artificial turf and method for producing a turf of this type
Abstract
The present invention relates to an artificial turf (1) and a
method for producing an artificial turf (1) comprising a ground
fabric made from synthetic ground warp yarns and synthetic weft
yarns and a number of plastic blades of grass (2) protruding from
the ground fabric in the shape of pile burls which succeed one
another in the warp direction and which each comprise two pile legs
(2a), in which at least three and at most nine weft yarns (3) are
inserted between two successive pile legs (2a). In particular, each
pile leg (2a) is tied up around a different weft yarn (3) which are
both situated between the two pile legs. As the distance between
the two pile legs of a pile burl is only half that of the distance
between the pile legs during tufting, the material consumption in
terms of plastic grass blade yarn will be greatly reduced. In
addition, artificial turf (1) of this type has the advantage that
the pile burls and in particular the plastic blades of grass are
evenly distributed across the fabric.
Inventors: |
Debaes; Johny; (Moorslede,
BE) ; Delepierre; Marc; (Zingem, BE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HYRA IP, PLC
12120 Sunset Hills Road, Suite 600
Reston
VA
20190
US
|
Assignee: |
NV MICHEL VAN DE WIELE
|
Family ID: |
38308752 |
Appl. No.: |
12/520569 |
Filed: |
December 19, 2007 |
PCT Filed: |
December 19, 2007 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2007/011149 |
371 Date: |
June 23, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
428/17 ;
139/1R |
Current CPC
Class: |
D06N 7/0065 20130101;
D10B 2505/202 20130101; A41G 1/009 20130101; D03D 27/10 20130101;
D06N 7/0068 20130101; E01C 13/08 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
428/17 ;
139/1.R |
International
Class: |
A41G 1/00 20060101
A41G001/00; D03D 11/00 20060101 D03D011/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 22, 2006 |
BE |
2006/0644 |
Claims
1. An artificial turf (1) comprising a ground fabric made from
synthetic ground warp yarns and synthetic weft yarns and a number
of plastic blades of grass (2) protruding from the ground fabric in
the shape of pile burls which succeed one another in the warp
direction (K) and which each comprise two pile legs (2a), wherein
at least three and at most nine weft yarns (3) are inserted between
two successive pile legs (2a).
2. The artificial turf (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in
that the plastic blades of grass (2) protruding from the ground
fabric are tied up into the ground fabric by means of a W
weave.
3. The artificial turf (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in
that, for each pile burl, the plastic blade of grass (2) is tied up
over at least two weft yarns (3) which are situated between the
pile legs (2a) of this pile burl on the side of the artificial turf
of the fabric.
4. The artificial turf (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in
that, for each pile burl, the plastic blade of grass (2) is tied up
over three weft yarns (3) which are situated between the pile legs
(2a) of this pile burl on the side of the artificial turf of the
fabric.
5. The artificial turf (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in
that the pile legs (2a) of adjacent rows of piles are offset with
respect to one another.
6. The artificial turf (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in
that said turf (1) is woven according to a face-to-face weaving
method.
7. A method for producing an artificial turf (1) comprising a
ground fabric and a number of plastic blades of grass (2)
protruding from the ground fabric, characterized in that a bottom
and a top fabric are woven according to a face-to-face weaving
method, in which the fabrics are made from synthetic weft yarns
(3), synthetic ground warp yarns and grass blade-forming pile warp
yarns (2) by means of which pile burls with in each case two pile
legs (2a) are formed alternately in both fabrics, in which, in each
fabric, each pile leg in a row in the warp direction (K) is
separated by at least three and at most nine weft yarns (3) from
the next pile leg of a plastic blade of grass (2) in this row.
8. The method as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the
purpose of said method is to produce an artificial turf (1) as
claimed in claim 1.
Description
[0001] The present invention firstly relates to an artificial turf
comprising a ground fabric made from synthetic ground warp yarns
and synthetic weft yarns and a number of plastic blades of grass
protruding from the ground fabric in the shape of pile burls which
succeed one another in the warp direction and which each comprise
two pile legs. Secondly, the present invention relates to a method
for producing artificial turf of this type.
[0002] Artificial turf is being used increasingly often as a
replacement for natural turf because: [0003] the climatic
conditions are not always suitable for natural turf; [0004] the
load to which the natural turf is subjected (during sports events)
damages the playing field, which makes it necessary to leave
considerable intervals before using the playing field again; [0005]
natural turf requires a lot of care and attention.
[0006] It is well known to produce artificial turf in which plastic
fibers (blades of grass) are connected to a carrier material in
which the plastic blades of grass preferably protrude from the
carrier material at right angles. The plastic blades of grass are
generally hard and smooth plastic fibers, such as polyolefins
(polyethylene, polypropylene and mixtures) or polyamides.
[0007] Usually, the carrier material is a textile cloth through
which the plastic blades of grass are tufted. This means that a
plastic blade of grass is pushed through the cloth by means of a
needle to form a loop. On the other side of the textile cloth, a
hook takes over the loop which has been produced and takes this
loop to the desired level.
[0008] The loop is then usually cut through, resulting in the
formation of two upright blades of grass.
[0009] When producing artificial turf in accordance with the
above-described manner, the yarns, and particularly those which
form the blades of grass, constitute the main costs of the product.
Solutions which result in artificial turf with the same performance
while using less yarn will considerably reduce the cost price and
are therefore interesting from an economic point of view.
[0010] International patent application WO 2004057111 describes the
refinement of distributing the plastic blades of grass uniformly
across the carrier material by selecting the distance between the
rows of piles and the distance between the piles in the same row to
be approximately equal and, in addition, to select this distance to
be at least 10 mm. This means that only a limited number of yarns
have to be used to achieve an optimum distribution. Artificial turf
of this type has the drawback that, in order to keep the distance
between the rows of blades of grass at at least 10 mm, the plastic
blades of grass themselves have to be made from relatively thick
filaments or from a considerable number of filaments (e.g.
8.times.1500 dtex or 8.times.2000 dtex), which are thus inserted
into the artificial turf in the same position. This even
distribution of large numbers of filaments ultimately results in a
distribution of the plastic blades of grass in the artificial turf
which is not really uniform on a monofilament level. The limit on
the number of blades of grass in the artificial turf by means of
the abovementioned large intermediate distance, in combination with
the relatively large blades (e.g. determined by the number of
filaments), results in a considerable consumption of grass blade
material in order to achieve certain playing properties, such as
for example a maximum roll of the ball. This means that a ball on a
field which is rolled onto the turf from a height of 1 meter at an
angle of 45.degree. has to come to a standstill within a certain
distance, e.g. 8 meters or 10 meters, in order to approach the
characteristics of natural turf.
[0011] Furthermore, it should be noted that the process of tufting
the plastic blades of grass currently has the limitation that not
less than 120 tufts per meter can be produced in the tuft cloth
direction so that there are sufficient loops on the hook and so
that, when the subsequent tufts are produced, the pile of the
previous loops is not pulled back resulting in very irregular pile
or no pile at all. This makes it impossible to produce artificial
turf with tuft densities below 10 000 tufts/m.sup.2 having an even
spacing between the various tuft rows.
[0012] It is an object of the invention to provide an artificial
turf which uses fewer plastic blades of grass and has properties,
such as for example regarding roll of the ball, which are similar
to the known artificial turf.
[0013] The object of the invention is achieved by providing an
artificial turf consisting of a ground fabric made from synthetic
ground warp yarns and synthetic weft yarns and a number of plastic
blades of grass protruding from the ground fabric in the shape of
pile burls which succeed one another in the warp direction and
which each comprise two pile legs, in which at least three and at
most nine weft yarns are inserted between two successive pile legs.
In particular, the two pile legs of a pile burl are tied up around
a different weft yarn which are both situated between these two
pile legs.
[0014] The main difference to the prior art is the fact that,
during tufting, the pile legs of a tuft burl (the two legs of a cut
tuft loop) lean against one another and are thus situated at
virtually the same spot in the cloth. On the back of the tuft
cloth, the pile leg of a tuft loop is connected to a pile leg of a
subsequent tuft burl, the second pile leg of which also leans
against said leg. In this manner, pile warp yarn runs along the
back of the fabric in the tuft direction over virtually the entire
length of the tufted cloth. With the artificial turf according to
the invention, the distance on the back over which pile yarn
extends is virtually half the total length. This leads to a
significant saving in raw material for the pile warp yarns because
there is both less material on the back and also because fewer
blades of grass are required to achieve the same performance of the
artificial turf due to the improved distribution of the plastic
blades of grass.
[0015] With a preferred artificial turf according to the invention,
the plastic blades of grass protruding from the ground fabric are
tied up into the ground fabric by means of a W weave. In this case,
the part of the plastic blade of grass which runs on the back of
the fabric does not run from one pile leg to the other pile leg on
the back of the fabric, but is tied up over one or more weft yarns
on the side of the artificial turf pile. This has the advantage
that the plastic blades of grass are fastened well in the ground
fabric.
[0016] With a more preferred artificial turf, for each pile burl,
the plastic blade of grass is tied up over at least two weft yarns
which are situated between the pile legs of this pile burl on the
side of the artificial turf of the fabric. This is in particular
achieved by means of a 5/12 W weave in which there are 5 weft yarns
between the two pile legs of a pile burl.
[0017] According to another preferred embodiment of the artificial
turf according to the invention, for each pile burl, the plastic
blade of grass is tied up over three weft yarns which are situated
between the pile legs of this pile burl on the side of the
artificial turf of the fabric. This is in particular achieved by
means of a 7/16 W weave in which there are 7 weft yarns between the
two pile legs of a pile burl.
[0018] In a particular embodiment of the artificial turf, the pile
legs of adjacent rows of piles are offset with respect to one
another. This is preferably achieved by means of a satin weave,
thus resulting in a further improvement of the distribution of the
pile burls. Examples thereof are: 5/12 W weave in satin 6; 7/16 W
weave in satin 4; 7/16 W weave in satin 8. This method makes it
possible to produce the artificial turf in a more efficient manner
for an even distribution than without this offset.
[0019] In the case of an artificial turf with 6400 blades of
grass/m.sup.2 and with equidistant rows in both directions, 80 rows
of piles/m will be distributed in the weft direction (determined by
the weaving reed) and 40 pile burls/m (being 80 pile legs/m) will
be used in the warp direction with the method without offset.
[0020] By using an offset, it is possible to produce the same 6400
blades of grass/m.sup.2 using 160 rows of piles/m in the weft
direction and only 20 pile burls/m, being 40 pile legs/m, if the
pile legs of the adjacent row are offset by half the distance
between two pile legs. As a result of the offset, there are only 80
pile legs per row in the warp direction. In the next row, over half
a distance between two pile legs, are again 80 pile legs per row.
Only half as many weft yarns are required in order to achieve these
20 pile tufts/m and consequently the fabric is produced twice as
fast. By applying the same method using 113 rows of piles/m and
28.25 pile burls/m, resulting in 56.5 pile legs/m, an even better
uniform distribution is achieved in the two directions with in each
case 56.5 artificial turf blades/m. Compared to the method using 80
rows of piles/m without offset, this method still uses a
significantly smaller number of weft yarns per running meter and
the artificial turf can still be produced more quickly for an even
distribution.
[0021] In a most preferred embodiment of the artificial turf
according to the invention, said turf is woven according to a
face-to-face weaving method.
[0022] It is another object of the present patent application to
provide a method for producing an artificial turf comprising a
ground fabric and a number of plastic blades of grass protruding
from the ground fabric, in which a bottom and a top fabric are
woven according to a face-to-face weaving method, in which the
fabrics are made from synthetic weft yarns, synthetic ground warp
yarns and grass blade-forming pile warp yarns by means of which
pile burls with in each case two pile legs are formed alternately
in both fabrics, in which, in each fabric, each pile leg in a row
in the warp direction is separated by at least three and at most
nine weft yarns from the next pile leg of a plastic blade of grass
in this row.
[0023] After a pile burl has been formed in the one fabric, a pile
burl is formed in the other fabric using the face-to-face weaving
technique before the plastic grass blade yarn again forms pile in
the one fabric. If the two pile legs of the pile burl in the other
fabric are also separated by at least three weft yarns from one
another, there are also at least three weft yarns between the pile
legs of successive pile burls in the same fabric. (With 5/12 W
weave, there are seven weft yarns inbetween; with 7/16 W weave,
there are nine weft yarns inbetween).
[0024] Compared to the known techniques for producing artificial
turf, the method according to the invention offers the following
advantages: [0025] When using, both during weaving and during
tufting, plastic blades of grass of the same thickness and the same
pile burl density, the plastic blades of grass (the consumption of
which is nearly identical in both situations) in the artificial
turf according to the invention are distributed over twice as many
evenly distributed physical points, as a result of which the
performance of the artificial turf improves for the same amount of
material (this means that in order to achieve the same performance
of the artificial turf, the pile burl density can be reduced which
results in a lower consumption of plastic grass blade material);
[0026] When using, both during weaving and during tufting, plastic
blades of grass of the same thickness and the same pile burl
density, the method according to the invention uses less material
as the distance between the two pile legs of a pile burl is only
half that of the distance between the pile legs during tufting, as
a result of which the material consumption on the back is reduced;
[0027] When using relatively thick yarns with a relatively low pile
burl density and if weaving is carried out at a consumption of pile
material which corresponds to the consumption of pile material of
tufted artificial turf, said relatively thick integrally formed
yarns will result in a better stiffness, a better resilience and a
better roll of the ball than is the case when the pile legs of the
tufts are placed next to one another. The improved properties and
equal consumption again result in less raw material being required
in order to achieve the same performance of the artificial turf;
[0028] The plastic blades of grass used are usually composed of
several filaments which are bundled. The relatively thick plastic
grass yarn may be composed of relatively thick filaments of which
fewer are ultimately required. This further increases the
resilience and playing properties, as a result of which the
material consumption can be reduced further while retaining the
same playing properties.
[0029] According to a preferred method according to the invention,
the purpose of the method is to produce an artificial turf as
described above.
[0030] In the detailed description given below, the abovementioned
characteristics and advantages of an artificial turf and the method
for producing it according to the invention are explained in more
detail. The purpose of this description is only to explain the
general principles of the present invention in more detail and
therefore nothing in this description should be interpreted as
limiting the area of application of the invention or of the patent
rights claimed in the claims.
[0031] Reference numerals are used in this description to refer to
the attached FIGS. 1 to 3, in which:
[0032] FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic representation of an artificial
turf with tufted blades of artificial grass according to the prior
art;
[0033] FIG. 2 shows a cross section through the artificial turf
represented in FIG. 1;
[0034] FIG. 3 shows a diagrammatic representation of an artificial
turf according to the invention.
[0035] Due to their high durability, artificial turfs are being
used increasingly often in sports these days. In addition, heavily
used artificial turfs do not suffer from a loss of quality due to
weather conditions or due to being played on, so that such fields
can be played on virtually without restriction.
[0036] The prior-art artificial turf pitches are composed of tufted
artificial turf. This known artificial turf, as illustrated in
FIGS. 1 and 2, comprises a base fabric and a number of plastic
blades of grass (5) protruding from this base fabric. The plastic
blades of grass (5) are connected to the base fabric (for example a
textile cloth) by means of reciprocating tuft needles and hooks,
onto which the tuft burls are transferred from the needles.
However, this known technique has the drawback that in each case
two tuft legs (5) of a plastic blade of grass are positioned right
next to one another, which indeed do not act a single blade of
grass of double thickness due to the limited distance between them.
This can be seen in FIG. 2.
[0037] The artificial turf (1) according to the present invention
and as illustrated in FIG. 3 consists of a ground fabric and a
number of plastic blades of grass (2) protruding out of the ground
fabric in the shape of pile burls which succeed one another in the
warp direction and which each comprise two pile legs. The ground
fabric consists of synthetic, moisture-resistant ground warp yarns
and weft yarns (3). In addition to the plastic blades of grass and
the weft yarns, it is also possible to provide tension warp yarns
(4) in the ground fabric, which ensure that the weft yarns are
layered, as well as binding warp yarns (not illustrated in the
figure) which regularly intersect with each other, the weft yarns
being situated between the intersecting binding warp yarns.
[0038] The invention is characterized by the fact that at least
three and at most nine weft yarns (3) are inserted between two
successive pile legs (2a). In the case of the artificial turf
illustrated in FIG. 3, five weft yarns (3) are inserted between two
successive pile legs. This is preferably achieved by means of the
technique of the W weave in face-to-face weaving: this means that
the plastic blades of grass consist of pile burls which each
consist of two pile legs, with at least three weft yarns (3) and at
most nine weft yarns being present between the pile legs and there
also being at least five weft yarns and at most eleven weft yarns
between the pile legs of successive pile burls. Each pile leg (2a)
is tied up around a different weft yarn (3a) which are both
situated between the two pile legs. Furthermore, the plastic grass
blade section (2b) which connects the two pile legs to one another
is tied up in the ground fabric over at least one additional weft
yarn (3b) between the two pile legs.
[0039] When artificial turf is woven in accordance with the method
according to the invention and according to the face-to-face
weaving technique in a W weave, the two pile legs (2a) of a tuft
are separated from one another over a number weft yarns and
therefore over a certain distance. The pile yarn (the plastic blade
of grass) then moves to the other fabric in order to also insert
two pile legs (2a) in a W weave as a plastic blade of grass (2) and
to return to the first fabric in order to insert two pile legs (2a)
at a distance from one another as a plastic blade of grass (2),
again in W weave.
[0040] Where the two pile legs together form one tuft (one blade of
grass) in one location during tufting, according to the method of
the present invention, the same amount of pile is produced in two
locations which are a distance apart. With the same material
consumption as in the prior art and with the same distance between
the rows in the warp direction for weaving as between the needles
during tufting, in accordance with the method according to the
invention there will be blades of grass in twice as many locations
in the warp direction compared to the tufted turf where the blades
of grass are situated in the direction in which the tuft cloth
moves.
[0041] When turf is woven according to the current 1/2V technique,
the two pile legs are also next to one another separated by one
weft yarn, as a result of which the two pile legs are virtually
next to one another and appear as a single blade of grass. Compared
to this prior art, the method of the invention offers the same
advantages as the prior art with respect to tufting, especially if
the 1/2V technique is used for intermediate distances between the
pile legs of more than 10 mm.
[0042] Furthermore, only that part of the plastic blade of grass
which runs between two upright plastic blades of grass of the same
pile burl runs on the back of the fabric, while there is no
material on the back between two upright plastic blades of grass
from a different pile burl, thus resulting in a further reduction
in the consumption of material.
* * * * *