Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
  • E01C—CONSTRUCTION OF, OR SURFACES FOR, ROADS, SPORTS GROUNDS, OR THE LIKE; MACHINES OR AUXILIARY TOOLS FOR CONSTRUCTION OR REPAIR
  • E01C13/00—Pavings or foundations specially adapted for playgrounds or sports grounds; Drainage, irrigation or heating of sports grounds
  • E01C13/08—Surfaces simulating grass ; Grass-grown sports grounds
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D01—NATURAL OR MAN-MADE THREADS OR FIBRES; SPINNING
  • D01F—CHEMICAL FEATURES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS, THREADS, FIBRES, BRISTLES OR RIBBONS; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBON FILAMENTS
  • D01F1/00—General methods for the manufacture of artificial filaments or the like
  • D01F1/02—Addition of substances to the spinning solution or to the melt
  • D01F1/04—Pigments
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/49826—Assembling or joining
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/29—Coated or structually defined flake, particle, cell, strand, strand portion, rod, filament, macroscopic fiber or mass thereof
  • Y10T428/2913—Rod, strand, filament or fiber
  • Y10T428/2933—Coated or with bond, impregnation or core
  • Y10T428/2938—Coating on discrete and individual rods, strands or filaments

Definitions

• the present invention pertains to artificial turfs, in particular to artificial turf surfaces.
• the first artificial turfs developed and installed already in the early 60ies were a far harder surface than grass, and soon became known as an unforgiving playing surface, which was prone to cause more injuries.
• the most common type uses polyethylene "grass" about 5 centimeters long, which is lubricated and tufted into a woven backing fabric the rear of which is coated with a polyurethane or latex backing medium to lock the tufts in to place. The whole thing is then infilled to the client's specification with sand and rubber granules, which keeps the fibers upright and provides the right level of shock absorbency and deformability.
• the majority of the 15 or so turf manufacturers approved by FIFA use this technology.
• the other sort has a base of expanded polypropylene, a foamy material originally developed as a shock absorber for the car industry.
• the grass is also made of lubricated polyethylene fibers, but they are shorter and more densely packed than on an infilled pitch, and are also interspersed with short, curly, spring-like fibers that keep the blades upright.
• the finishing touch is an 8-millimeter filling of rubber granules.
• artificial turfs are mostly applied in sport arenas, in the context of this invention the meaning of "artificial turf” is used in a broader sense, encompassing any applications and modification that comprise synthetic grass, i.e. grass that is made of a synthetic material, usually a polymer such as polyethylene, polypropylene and the like.
• additional applications comprise but are not limited to landscape applications and to green roofs on buildings.
• the components used for artificial turf surfaces comprise - as mentioned above - fibers, filaments and tapes, and if applicable infill materials.
• an artificial turf surface that comprises fibrous materials, such as fibers, filaments and/or tapes, and if applicable infill materials, wherein the artificial turf surface additionally comprises one or more additive(s) and/or pigment(s) rendering an increased light reflectance to the artificial turf surface.
• the light reflectance obtained by the addition of the additives and/or pigments is at least 10 % higher compared to artificial turf surfaces without these additives and/or pigments.
• the term "light” is used in its physical meaning and encompasses a wavelength range from about 380 nm to about 1 mm, i.e. the spectrum of both the visible light (from about 380 nm to about 780 nm) and the infrared light (from about 700 nm to about 1 mm). Particularly preferred is the reflectance of the infrared (IR) light, the so-called infrared light or heat radiation. Even more preferred are additives and/or pigments with an increased reflectance in the wavelength range from about 700 nm to about 3000 nm, the so-called near infrared (NIR) range.
• IR infrared
• NIR near infrared
• the additives and/or pigments in such a way that the reflectance is increased in the electromagnetic wavelength range of the near infrared light.
• the light reflectance is at least as high as that of a natural grass turf surface, preferably 10 %, even more preferred 20 %, higher than that of a natural grass turf surface.
• the additives or pigments thus have the property to reflect heat generated by sunlight and other light or heat sources in at least the same order of magnitude as Chlorophyll - the green pigment in natural turf does - whilst pigments currently used in artificial turf have a higher IR absorption.
• the additive(s) or pigment(s) is or are incorporated in the fibrous material, even more preferably it is or are located at or near the surface of the fibrous material.
• any pigment that is capable to reflect infra red light can be used as additive. It is, however, preferred to apply as additives those pigments that are selected from a group containing metal oxides, mixed metal oxides, cobalt compounds and chromium compounds.
• the fibrous material is made of a polymer, even more preferred if the polymer is selected from a group containing polyethylene, polypropylene, plastomer blends, nylon and copolymers and/or blends thereof.
• the pigments are added in an amount that ranges from about 0.5% to about 4% wt.-% in relation to the polymer.
• Artificial turfs having a surface according to the invention exhibit a considerably reduced surface temperature. A temperature decrease by 15 °C can easily be achieved.
• This invention is especially an advantage for sport fields and landscape applications to increase the player's and users comfort and safety aspects.
• Another important claim for this invention is energy savings. Where artificial turf is used as a kind of insulation material to prevent - heat build up - of that what has been covered by it. For example green roofs on buildings etc. to reduce energy cost for climate control systems.
• this invention pertains also to the use of the artificial turf surface for sport fields and landscape applications and to the use of the artificial turf as heat insulation in green roofs on buildings.
• the invention is further elucidated by the following non-limiting example(s).
• Hemispherical spectral reflectance measurements were performed in accordance with ASTM Standard Test Method E903 (1996). The measurements were performed with a Perkin-Elmer Lambda 950 Spectrophotometer utilizing an integrating sphere (Fig A1.3 of E903 [1996]). Total reflectance measurements were obtained in the solar spectrum from 2500 nm to 300 nm at an incident angle of 8°. The measurements employ a detector-baffled, wall-mounted-integrating sphere that precludes the necessity of employing a reference standard except to define the instrument's 100% line. The measurements are properly denoted as being 'hemispherical spectral reflectance'.
• Total solar ⁇ reflectance was obtained by integrating the spectral data against Air Mass 1.5 (ASTM G159-98) direct solar spectrum utilizing 105 weighted ordinates.
• the NIR region from 724nm to 2494nm was obtained by integrating the spectral data against Air Mass 1.5 (ASTM G159-98) direct solar spectrum utilizing 66 weighted ordinates.
• the measured artificial grass specimens were cut from larger specimens that were used for a temperature study.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Road Paving Structures (AREA)

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Citations (5)

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• 2007
  • 2007-09-22 EP EP07018670A patent/EP2039830A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2008
  • 2008-09-18 US US12/675,495 patent/US20110117297A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2008-09-18 CN CN200880108243XA patent/CN101802310B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2008-09-18 EP EP08804374A patent/EP2203596B1/de not_active Not-in-force
  • 2008-09-18 PT PT88043740T patent/PT2203596E/pt unknown
  • 2008-09-18 BR BRPI0816957 patent/BRPI0816957A2/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2008-09-18 ES ES08804374T patent/ES2401044T3/es active Active
  • 2008-09-18 JP JP2010525347A patent/JP5101699B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2008-09-18 AU AU2008300528A patent/AU2008300528B2/en not_active Withdrawn - After Issue
  • 2008-09-18 EP EP12182941A patent/EP2546416A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2008-09-18 WO PCT/EP2008/062434 patent/WO2009037309A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (5)

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