“Shock Pad For Synthetic Turf And Methods For Making Same” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20190301107)

2019 OCT 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application by the inventors Aldahir, Philipe (Chattanooga, TN); Odum, Tom (Tunnel Hill, GA); Burns, Jim (Rocky Face, GA), filed on April 2, 2019, was made available online on October 3, 2019, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application is assigned to Columbia Insurance Company (Omaha, Nebraska, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Synthetic turf has been used for years in athletic playing surfaces such as football, baseball, and soccer fields, and has more recently been used in other applications where an alternative to natural grass is desired. These applications include, for example, playgrounds, residential and commercial lawns and other landscaping, jogging paths, paintball fields, tennis courts, putting greens, and dog runs. Typically, synthetic turf includes a pile fabric having a primary backing and a plurality of upstanding ribbons, also called face fibers or filiform formations, resembling grass. When installed, the turf can also overly an underneath shock pad. Many synthetic turf products also include an infill material dispersed among the upstanding ribbons, which may consist of sand, tire rubber crumb, or other particulates, either singularly or in combination with each other. The infill material simulates the soil in natural turf, acts as a ballast, and/or contributes to the physical properties of the turf, such as resiliency, that make the turf suitable for a particular use.

“Conventional shock pads are manufactured from virgin or recycled materials. The use of reclaimed or recycled materials has, until now, first required a pre-sorting or separation of the reclaimed material to ensure the reclaimed material has chemical properties similar to or compatible with the virgin materials. In many cases, it requires separation of carpet or turf carcass due to material dissimilarities. However, such manufacturing is not cost effective, is very time intensive as it requires multiple steps, and it does not provide a desirable cradle-to-cradle product life cycle.

“Furthermore, the synthetic turf itself has a limited useful life, the length of which depends on the construction of the turf, the application for which it is used, and how the turf is maintained. As an example, a typical synthetic turf for use as an athletic field may have a useful life of from about 8 to 15 years. To avoid sending these used and worn out turfs and shock pads to landfills at the end of its useful life, there is a need for a method of recycling and reusing all or portions of the synthetic turf. There is also a need in the art for improved shock absorbing pads that can efficiently be constructed of recyclable material and that are themselves readily recyclable.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The present disclosure is generally directed to shock absorbing pads that can be used as under padding for artificial turf installations. The shock absorbing pad generally comprises a composite nonwoven pad having a face surface and an opposed back surface. The composite nonwoven pad is comprised of a nonwoven blend of at least one reclaimed artificial turf material and a heat set binder material. The at least one reclaimed artificial turf material comprises at least one of face fibers, primary backing fibers, adhesive backing material, or any combination thereof.

“In further aspects, also disclosed herein is a method of making a shock absorbing pad. The method generally comprises the steps of forming a composite blend of at least one reclaimed artificial turf material and a binder material; forming the composite blend into a composite web; and treating the composite web under conditions effective to set the binder material and to provide a composite nonwoven pad. The at least one reclaimed artificial turf material comprises at least one of face fibers, primary backing fibers, adhesive backing, or any combination thereof.

“Still further, also disclosed herein is an artificial turf system comprising the disclosed shock pads. The artificial turf system generally comprises an artificial turf component comprising a primary backing layer having a face side and a back side and a plurality of turf fibers extending through the backing layer such that a face side portion of the turf fibers extends from the face side of the backing layer. The backside of the artificial turf component overlies a face surface of a shock absorbing pad as disclosed herein.

“Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth, in part, in the detailed description, figures, and claims, which follow, and in part will be derived from the detailed description, or can be learned by practice of the invention. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as disclosed.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A shock absorbing pad, comprising: a composite nonwoven pad having a face surface and an opposed back surface and comprising a nonwoven blend of at least one reclaimed artificial turf material and a heat set binder material, wherein the at least one reclaimed artificial turf material comprises face fibers, primary backing fibers, adhesive backing, or any combination thereof.

“2. (canceled)

“3. The shock absorbing pad of claim 1, further comprising an artificial turf infill material embedded within the composite nonwoven pad, and wherein the artificial turf infill material comprises at least one of silica sand, rubber crumb granules, organic component, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber, thermoplastic elastomers, polyurethane or any combination thereof.

“4. (canceled)

“5. The shock pad of claim 1, further comprising at least one performance additive embedded within the nonwoven blend.

“6. The shock pad of claim 5, wherein the at least one performance additive comprises a virgin polymeric material, high denier fibers, a low melt fibers, a resilient material, foam chips, rubber chips, cork, wood chips, silica sand, adhesive material, binder fibers, or any combination thereof.

“7. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the reclaimed artificial turf material comprises a thermoset polymer, a thermoplastic polymer, or a combination thereof.

“8. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the nonwoven blend further comprises at least one reclaimed carpet material.

“9. The shock pad of claim 8, wherein the reclaimed carpet material comprises a post-consumer carpet material, a post-industrial carpet material, or a combination thereof.

“10. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the heat set binder is a low melt fiber.

“11. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the heat set binder is a bi-component fiber.

“12. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the reclaimed artificial turf material comprises a polyolefin, polyamide, polystyrene, polyurethane, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylic, or any combination thereof.

“13. (canceled)

“14. The shock pad of claim 12, wherein polyolefin comprises a polyethylene, polypropylene, or a combination thereof.

“15. (canceled)

“16. The shock pad of claim 12, wherein the polyamide is nylon 6, nylon 6,6, nylon 1,6, nylon 12, nylon 6,12, or a combination thereof.

“17. (canceled)

“18. The shock pad of claim 12, wherein the polyester comprises polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, or any combination thereof.

“19. The shock pad of claim 1, further comprising a reinforcing scrim adhered to one of the face surface or back surface.

“20. The shock pad of claim 19, wherein the scrim comprises a non-woven fiberglass, a wet-laid fiberglass, a non-woven thermoplastic fabric, a woven thermoplastic fiber, or a combination thereof.

“21. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the pad has a density from about 2 lbs/ft.sup.3 to about 30 lbs/ft.sup.3.

“22. (canceled)

“23. The shock pad of claim 1, further having a thickness extending between the face surface and the opposed back surface that is from about 0.1 in to about 5 in.

“24. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein when the shock pad is present as a component in an artificial turf system, the artificial turf system exhibits a Gmax value less than about 165 g’s as measured according to ASTM F-355.

“25. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein when the shock pad present as a component in an artificial turf system, the artificial turf system exhibits a Head Impact Criterion of less than about 1,000 as measured according to EN 1177 test.

“26. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the shock pad exhibits a compression set from about 1% to about 30% as measured according to ASTM D-3676 or ASTM D-3574.

“27. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the composite nonwoven pad defines a plurality of channels extending from the face surface to the opposed back surface.

“28. The shock pad of claim 27, wherein the plurality of channels are configured to provide a predetermined rate of horizontal drainage of moisture through the nonwoven pad from the face surface through the back surface.

“29. The shock pad of claim 28, wherein the each of the plurality of channels has a diameter in the range of from about 1 mm to about 15 mm.

“30. The shock pad of claim 27, wherein the predetermined rate of horizontal drainage is from about 10 in/h to about 7,000 in/h.

“31. (canceled)

“32. The shock pad of claim 27, wherein the plurality of channels are configured to provide a predetermined rate of vertical drainage of moisture through the nonwoven pad from the face surface through the back surface.

“33. The shock pad of claim 32, wherein the vertical drainage is greater than 100 in/h.

“34. The shock pad of claim 1, further comprising a moisture barrier film adhered to the back surface.

“35. The shock pad of claim 34, wherein the shock pad exhibits a rate of lateral drainage between about 10 to about 7,000 in/h.

“36. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the composite nonwoven pad comprises opposed first and second side edges and wherein the plurality of side edges define an edge locking structure.

“37. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the composite nonwoven pad is a roll good.

“38. The shock pad of claim 1, wherein the composite nonwoven pad is a slab or panel.

“39-78. (canceled)

“79. An artificial turf system comprising: a) an artificial turf comprising a primary backing layer having a face side and a back side and a plurality of turf fibers extending through the backing layer such that a face side portion of the turf fibers extends from the face side of the backing layer, and b) a shock absorbing pad according to claim 1, wherein the backside of the artificial turf overlies the face surface of the composite nonwoven pad.

“80. The artificial turf system of claim 79, wherein the turf system exhibits a Gmax value less than about 165 g’s as measured according to ASTM F-355.

“81. The artificial turf system of claim 79, wherein the turf system exhibits a Head Impact Criteria of less than about 1,000 as measured according to EN 1177 test.

“82. The artificial turf system of claim 79, wherein the turf system exhibits a compression set from about 1% to about 30% as measured according to ASTM D-3676 or ASTM D3574.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Aldahir, Philipe; Odum, Tom; Burns, Jim. Shock Pad For Synthetic Turf And Methods For Making Same. Filed April 2, 2019 and posted October 3, 2019. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220190301107%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20190301107&RS=DN/20190301107

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