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EP-4560278-B1 - IMPACT GLOVE WITH PRESSURE SENSOR

EP4560278B1EP 4560278 B1EP4560278 B1EP 4560278B1EP-4560278-B1

Inventors

  • HÖLBLING, Dominik
  • SEITER, Johannes
  • GRECHENIG, Thomas

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20231124

Claims (14)

  1. A boxing glove (1) comprising a cushioning body (8), a fluid-filled body (2) and a pressure sensor (3) for measuring the hydrostatic pressure in the fluid-filled body (2), wherein at least a portion of the damping body (8) is situated between an impact surface (9) of the impact glove (1) and the fluid-filled body (2), wherein the impact glove (1) further comprises a computing unit (3') or is connectable to a computing unit (3') which is designed to assign force values to the pressure readings measured by the pressure sensor (3), characterised in that the impact glove (1) is designed such that the two sides of the fluid-filled body (2) opposite one another lie contact-free in the direction of impact when the impact glove (1) strikes, with its impact surface (9), a lateral surface of a substantially non-deformable cylinder (104) with a diameter of 7 cm.
  2. Impact glove (1) according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined force is substantially 2.5 kN, substantially 3 kN, substantially 4 kN or substantially 5 kN.
  3. Impact glove (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the impact glove (1) is configured such that the two sides of the fluid-filled body (2) opposite one another in the direction of impact come into contact when the impact glove (1) strikes the outer surface of said cylinder (104) with the impact surface (9) with a further predetermined force which is greater than the first-mentioned predetermined force and amounts, for example, to at least 6 kN.
  4. Impact glove (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a support structure (20) is present within the fluid-filled body (2).
  5. Impact glove (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the damping coefficient of the impact glove (1) is at least 20%, preferably at least 30%, when a force corresponding to the predetermined force impacts the impact surface (9).
  6. Impact glove (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the expansion coefficient of the fluid-filled body is up to 5%, preferably up to 3% or more preferably up to 1%.
  7. Impact glove (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the impact glove (1) is designed such that the two sides of the fluid-filled body (2) opposite one another in the direction of impact are spaced apart by at least 1 mm or at least 3 mm when the impact glove (1) strikes the said cylinder (104) with the impact surface (9) with the predetermined force.
  8. Impact glove (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the impact glove (1) comprises a high-acceleration sensor (4') capable of measuring acceleration values of at least 64 g.
  9. Impact glove (1) according to claim 8, wherein the said computing unit (3') or a further computing unit is configured to determine a reference value from measured values of the high-acceleration sensor (4') during an impact, together with an estimated effective mass, and wherein said computing unit (3') or the further computing unit is preferably further configured to output the force value determined via the pressure sensor (3) as an impact force (Fs) if the reference value determined via the high-acceleration sensor (4') lies within a tolerance of 10%, 20% or 30% of the force value determined via the pressure sensor (3), and to output the reference value as an impact force (Fs) if the reference value lies outside the said tolerance.
  10. A method for validating an impact glove (1) according to one of the preceding claims, comprising a damping body (8), a fluid-filled body (2) and a pressure sensor (3) for measuring the hydrostatic pressure in the fluid-filled body (2), comprising the steps of: - numerically or empirically determining an expected pressure that is expected in the fluid-filled body (2) when the impact glove (1) strikes a lateral surface of a substantially non-deformable cylinder (104) with a diameter of 7 cm with a predetermined force of at least 2.5 kN, - impacting the impact glove (1) against said cylinder (104) with said force and measuring the pressure in the fluid-filled body (2) by means of the pressure sensor (3), and - comparing whether the measured pressure substantially corresponds to the expected pressure.
  11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the step of numerically determining the expected pressure comprises the following steps: - Estimating a damping coefficient (c) of the impact glove (1), the expected impact area of the cylinder (104) on the fluid-filled body (102) and, optionally, also an expansion coefficient (β) of the fluid-filled body (2), - determining the expected pressure, preferably using the formula p = F(1-c+β)/A, where F is the predetermined force, c is the damping coefficient, β is the expansion coefficient, and A is the expected impact area of the cylinder (104) on the fluid-filled body (2).
  12. A method according to claim 10, wherein the step of empirically determining the expected pressure comprises the following steps: - striking a flat surface (103) with the impact glove (1) using said force and measuring the pressure within the fluid-filled body (2) to obtain the expected pressure.
  13. A method according to claim 10, wherein the step of empirically determining the expected pressure comprises the following steps: - striking the impact glove (1) with a test force against said cylinder (104), wherein the test force is less than the predetermined force, preferably less than 4 kN or less than 3 kN, and measuring the pressure in the fluid-filled body (2) to obtain a test pressure reading, - determining the expected pressure on the basis of the test pressure measurement value.
  14. A method according to claim 10, wherein the impact glove (1) comprises a high-acceleration sensor (4') capable of measuring acceleration values of at least 64 g per axis, and a reference value is determined from measurement values of the high-acceleration sensor (4') during an impact together with an estimated effective mass, wherein the step of empirically determining the expected pressure comprises determining the reference value during the step of striking said cylinder (104) with said force.

Description

The invention relates to a striking glove with a damping element, a fluid-filled body and a preferably hydrostatic pressure sensor for measuring the pressure in the fluid-filled body, wherein the damping element is located between an impact surface of the striking glove and the fluid-filled body, wherein the striking glove further comprises a computing unit or is connectable to a computing unit which is configured to assign force values to the pressure measurements taken by the pressure sensor. In combat sports, two or more athletes typically compete against each other in a ring, attempting to land blows, kicks, or other forms of physical contact. Examples of such combat sports, which are the subject of this description, include boxing, karate, kickboxing, taekwondo, kung fu, etc. For competition purposes, as well as for training and other tests, it is desirable to classify a punch or kick, for example, by assigning it a stroke rate, acceleration, force, a value derived from acceleration or force, or a combined variable such as striking technique. Various methods are known for measuring acceleration, for example, by video analysis of the athletes' movements or by using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) built into a striking glove. The following publications are cited as examples: US 2017/134712 , the US 2018/001141 , the US 2012/144414 and the WO 2019/106672 However, it has been shown that the measured kinematic acceleration is insufficient to detect a hit on the opponent's body, as the striking athlete can, for example, deliberately decelerate their hand before impact, resulting in little or no force being transmitted. Therefore, a direct force measurement would be advantageous. For example, the study " Walilko, TJ, Viano, DC, & Bir, CA (2005). Biomechanics of the head for Olympic boxer punches to the face. British journal of sports medicine, 39(10), 710-719 "The forces of blows to the head of a dummy were measured. It would be advantageous to obtain measurements occurring in practice in order to determine correlations with injuries or the performance of the athletes." However, direct force measurement is hardly possible, as no methods for doing so are known. (From the text) WO 2020/041806 However, they include batting gloves. The fluid bodies inside are known. When a hit is landed on an opponent with these striking gloves, the fluid body is compressed or pressurized. According to Boyle's Law, when an air-filled body is compressed, the internal pressure increases inversely proportional to the volume. According to the information in the WO 2020/041806 For each measured pressure value, the corresponding force for the respective target area can be calculated. The calibration of such a striking glove can be achieved using the method described in the Austrian patent application. A 50128/2023 The described method is used. Here, the striking glove is accelerated onto a force plate, and the pressure measurements of the glove and the force measurements recorded by the force plate are correlated. This allows a correlation function between the measured pressure and the striking force to be created. The described punching gloves with a fluid-filled body and pressure sensor function very well to a certain extent, especially in training situations with punching bags. However, in actual use, i.e., when an athlete equipped with the boxing gloves trains or fights with another athlete, extremely implausible readings occasionally occur, which have so far been inexplicable. Furthermore, the state of the art includes the US 2011159939A1 The system reveals which accelerometers with a measuring range up to 8 g are used. The measured values of the accelerometer are evaluated to calculate an impact force. The invention therefore aims to create a striking glove with a pressure sensor that provides more reliable measurement values. This problem is solved by a striking glove comprising a damping element, a fluid-filled body, and a pressure sensor for measuring the pressure in the fluid-filled body, wherein the damping element is located between an impact surface of the striking glove and the fluid-filled body, wherein the striking glove further comprises, or is connectable to, a computing unit configured to assign force values to the pressure measurements taken by the pressure sensor, wherein the striking glove is configured such that the two sides of the fluid-filled body opposite each other in the direction of impact are in contact without contact when the striking glove, with its impact surface, strikes a substantially indeformable cylinder with a diameter with a predetermined force of at least 2.5 kN. from the 7 cm (which represents an average forearm or the cover of an athlete). Surprisingly, it has been found that force is transmitted "through" the fluid-filled body of the punching glove when it strikes certain objects, such as another athlete's forearm. A finding of the invention is that prior art punching gloves function e