GB2220749A

GB2220749A - Punch-measuring device

Info

Publication number: GB2220749A
Application number: GB8816531A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Sammy Mohammed Siam
Original assignee: MEDMARK INTERNATIONAL Ltd
Current assignee: MEDMARK INTERNATIONAL Ltd
Priority date: 1988-07-12
Filing date: 1988-07-12
Publication date: 1990-01-17
Also published as: GB8816531D0

Abstract

A wall-mountable punch pad unit 1 comprises an upholstered pad structure 7 located on a fixed, rigid framework 4, four force-transducing piezo-electric crystals (10, figure 2) being sandwiched between the rigid framework 4 and a flat board carried by the back of the pad structure 7. Electrical connections to the front and back faces of the crystals are arranged to connect the crystal outputs in parallel in order to provide a measurement of the total force of a blow applied to the pad. A monitoring unit 3 is arranged to display punch force and time between successive punches, and to store the value of the current maximum blow and the current minimum time between successive blows. <IMAGE>

Description

PUNCH-MEASURING DEVICE This invention relates to a punch-measuring device and particularly to a punch pad assembly which can be mounted on a support and which is arranged to monitor blows applied to the pad.

The support may be a wall, floor stand, or punch bag.

According to one aspect of the invention a punch-measuring device comprises a rigid base adapted to be secured to a support, and a pad substantially covering the outer face of the base, at least one piezo-electric force transducer mounted between the pad and the base to respond to blows applied to the pad, an electronic circuit responsive to the output of the transducer, and display means controlled by the circuit for displaying to the user a measurement of a blow.

Although a single centrally positioned transducer may be employed, it is preferred to provide a plurality of transducers which are spaced apart over the area of the pad, and the outputs of the transducers are combined so that the total effect of a blow on the pad is ,measured. This will also help to measure blows which are not directed at the centre of the pad.

The transducers preferably comprise piezo-electric crystals located between a pair of flexible contact plates provided with conductive contact areas which engage with the crystals.

The pad can be of any convenient shape but preferably it is rectangular, and four transducers are preferably then employed, each being adjacent to a respective corner of the pad.

The electronic circuit is preferably located remote from the pad and framework, conveniently in a wall-mountable casing.

The electronic circuit preferably comprises memory means for storing measurements on a sequence of blows, and may be arranged to display the force of ' the strongest blow at the end of the sequence.

According to a second aspect to the invention a punch-measuring device comprises a punch pad adapted to be mounted on a support, a force transducer mounted behind the pad and adapted to provide an electrical output in response to a blow on the pad, and an electronic circuit capable of measuring and indicating on a display means the time interval between successive blows applied to the pad.

The electronic circuit preferably comprises a memory means for storing said time intervals for a series of successive blows, and is preferably arranged to be capable of displaying at the end of a series of blows the smallest of said time intervals.

The electronic circuit preferably comprises a microprocessor unit, and the measurements of time and force are controlled by software.

A punch pad assembly in accordance with the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the pad assembly mounted on a wall; Figure 2 is a front elevation of the wall base; Figure 3 is a front elevation of a movable framework; and Figure 4 is a block circuit diagram of the monitoring circuits.

With reference to Figure 1, the punch pad assembly comprises a wall-mounted punch pad unit 1 connected by electrical leads 2 to a remote wall-mounted monitoring and display unit 3 in which the monitoring electronics are housed. The punch pad unit 1 is of generally oblong-rectangular shape in front view and comprises a flanged oblong-rectangular rigid base plate 4 with four mounting lugs 5 to receive fixings such as wall screws, and an overlying framework 6 which is upholstered with a suitable blow-absorbing pad structure 7. The rear of framework 6 carries a flat board 8 making contact with four piezo-electric transducer devices 10 mounted adjacent to the respective corners of the fixed frame 4.

The piezo-electric crystals 10 are sandwiched between a pair of glass fibre ,reinforced printed circuit boards, the crystal-engaging face of each board being printed with copper contact areas to make electrical contact with the respective srystals. The crystals themselves have silver plated ends to make good contact with the copper contact areas, and are located in respective apertures in a plastics sheet which is a loose fit between the circuit boards. The unit consisting of the circuit boards, crystals and locating sheet is clamped together by polyamide screws.

The framework 6 carries at each of its corners an integral projecting lug 11 which co-operates with the flange of the base 4 for maintaining the framework 6 and base 4 superimposed. A respective coiled tension spring 12 is provided to connect the adjacent corners of the frames 4,6, but any convenient fixing may be employed.

With reference to Figure 4, the piezo-electric transducers 10 (only two shown in Figure 4) are connected electrically in parallel by the contact paths of the circuit boards such that the output on leads 2 represents the total force experienced by the transducers. The remaining part of the circuit is in unit 3, and comprises a charge amplifier 13, connected to an analog to digital converter 14 by way of a calibration element 15, the output of the A/D converter being applied on bus 14' to a micro-processor unit 16 which has an associated memory programmed to cause the micro-processor to analyse the force signals and to display the maximum force of a series of successive blows on a first three digit liquid crystal display 17, and the minimum time between successive blows in the series of blows on a second three digit display 18.

It will be appreciated that a memory associated with unit 16 is caused by the software to store, at any moment during the application of a series of successive blows, the values of the current maximum force of the series of blows, and the value of the current minimum time between successive blows, and such values of maximum force and minimum time are automatically updated as necessary during the sequence of blows, and the most up-to-date figures will be displayed on displays 17,18.

The software is also arranged such that the all-time best figures for punch force and minimum time can be displaced on displays 17,18 by pressing a 'best result' button 19.

It will be appreciated that the device is suitable for use by a boxer or for practising martial arts.

Although the pad unit 1 is shown mounted on a wall, the unit 1 may instead be mounted on a floor stand or other convenient support. The pad unit 1 may be secured by straps to a conventional punch bag.

Claims

1. A punch-measuring device comprising a rigid base adapted to be secured to a support, and a pad substantially covering the outer face of the base, at least one piezo-electric force transducer mounted between the pad and the base to respond to blows applied to the pad, an electronic circuit responsive to the output of the transducer, and display means controlled by the circuit for displaying to the user a measurement of a blow.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 comprising a plurality of such transducers which are spaced apart over the area of the pad, and outputs of the transducers being combined so that the total effect of a blow on the pad is measured.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 in which the transducers comprise piezo-electric crystals located between a pair of flexible contact plates provided with conductive contact areas which engage with the crystals.

4. A device as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 in which the pad is rectangular, and four transducers are employed, each transducer being adjacent to a respective corner of the pad.

5. A device as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the electronic circuit is adapted to be located remote from the pad and framework, in a wall-mountable casing.

6. A device as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the electronic circuit comprises memory means for storing measurements on a sequence of blows.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6 in which the device is arranged to display the force of the strongest blow at the end of the sequence.

8. A punch-measuring device comprising a punch pad adapted to be mounted on a support, a force transducer mounted behind the pad and adapted to provide an electrical output in response to a blow on the pad, and an electronic circuit capable of measuring and indicating on a display means the time interval between successive blows applied to the pad.

9. A punch-measuring device substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

10. A punch-measuring device incorporating electronic circuitry substantially as described with reference to Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.