WO2012004101A1 - Wearing rig for a floor covering, in particular an artificial lawn, combining compacting and abrasion effects - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a wearing rig for a floor covering, in particular an artificial lawn, comprising a carriage that can move translationally in a to-and-fro movement on top of a floor covering specimen, said carriage supporting a compacting tool and an abrading tool taking the form of a vibrating plate, for compacting and abrading said specimen.

Description

 Bench of wear of a floor covering, in particular synthetic grass, combining effects of compaction and abrasion.

The field of the invention is that of the design and manufacture of equipment for testing and testing sports floors. More specifically, the invention relates to a wear bench of a floor covering intended in particular, and not exclusively, to simulate wear of a synthetic turf.

 As a reminder, a synthetic turf consists of a synthetic carpet which may or may not be "filled" with aggregates of variable nature deposited between the pile of the carpet.

 In the field of the invention, the wear benches are intended to simulate in the laboratory the accelerated wear of floor coverings (and in particular synthetic turf) in order to obtain, in a short period of time, a state representative of their wear. over a period of several years.

 The results of these simulations are used by designers and manufacturers of floor coverings, in order to optimize the characteristics of these coatings, in particular with regard to their resistance over time.

 Initially, for the practice of sport on synthetic terrain, and in particular for football, the shoes used had soles using crampons having a substantially cylindrical shape.

 The wear benches that attempt to reproduce the reality of the ground, were designed accordingly. Generally, these wear benches implemented one or two rollers provided with cylindrical spikes, rotated against the flooring, and which had the objective of reproducing two effects:

 - a settlement of the floor covering;

 - A forced skid, exerting a disturbing effect of the product to a certain thickness corresponding to the height of the crampons.

Over the years, the practice of synthetic field sports has evolved. Especially for the practice of football, the shoes used now have soles:

 flat, especially in school use;

 are provided with bar-type crampons, in particular in the context of competitive sport.

 The wear observed in the field no longer corresponds to the wear observed with the shoes initially used on synthetic sports grounds.

 As a result, the wear benches are no longer suitable, in that they do not reproduce the wear close to reality.

 There is therefore a need for improving the performance of wear benches for sports flooring.

 The invention is part of this approach.

 More specifically, the object of the invention is to provide a wear bench for a floor covering, in particular artificial turf, which simulates wear as close as possible to the effects of actual actual practice.

 The invention also aims to provide an optimized operating method for such a wear bench.

 These objectives, as well as others which will appear later, are achieved thanks to the invention which relates to a wear bench of a floor covering, in particular synthetic turf, comprising a carriage movable in translation according to a reciprocating movement over a flooring sample, said carriage carrying a compacting tool and an abrading tool of said sample in the form of a vibrating plate.

 Thus, a wear bench according to the invention combines the effects of two principles of wear that are related to the two types of shoes currently used (flat soles or soles provided with bar-type crampons), namely:

trampling (without skidding), generating compacting action and punching of the test material; - an abrasion, which ensures a uniform friction wear of the tested material, this at the surface interface of the material (and not in depth, as is the case with the previous crampons).

 The two principles of wear are thus obtained by the implementation of two separate tools, integrally installed on a carriage that performs back and forth movements on the sample to be tested.

 These movements back and forth involve uniform wear of the test material.

 According to an advantageous solution, said compaction tool takes the form of a roller mounted free to rotate about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the back and forth movement.

 The rotation of the roller, and the corresponding compacting effect on the floor covering, are therefore obtained by the simple translation of the carriage (the roller being in contact with the floor covering attested). It is therefore the movement of the carriage that causes the rotation of the roller; in other words, it is not necessary to provide motorization means specific to the compaction roller.

 Preferably, said roller is slidably mounted vertically on said carriage.

 In this way, the compacting effect of the roller can be kept constant regardless of the compacted state of the floor covering, in particular with respect to a synthetic grass whose thickness will decrease as it is compacted. .

 Advantageously, said roll is coated with crampons, preferably having a frustoconical cross-section and longitudinal section.

It reproduces faithfully the effect of compacting, surface and depth, bar-type crampons which are provided with the soles of the shoes currently used for the practice of football on synthetic grass. The effect obtained consists essentially of a punctual settlement of the tested coating. In the case of filled artificial turf, the filling material undergoes a significantly higher settlement than with the prior art cylindrical crampons.

 In addition, the grass fibers are constantly disturbed in depth.

According to a preferred solution, said spikes extend from the surface of a cylinder and comprise a base having a longitudinal axis, said spikes being regularly distributed in an arrangement in which said longitudinal axis is aligned in four directions:

 parallel to the generatrices of the cylinder;

 - perpendicular to the generatrices of the cylinder;

 at + 60 ° of the generatrices of the cylinder;

 at - 60 ° of the generatrices of the cylinder.

 Advantageously, the crampons are arranged on the surface of the roller cylinder in a precise arrangement: the arrangement of the crampons is carried out in such a way that their successive imprints on the floor covering to be tested never overlap with those of the crampons which precede them. .

 According to another characteristic of the invention, said vibrating plate is able to be driven by a circular translational movement.

 First of all, it is noted that the use of an abrasion tool in the form of a vibrating plate has the effect, in the case of synthetic grass, of producing a friction and an abrasion effect on the upper part of the grass fibers which is free to lie down.

 In addition, the successive circular translation movements of the vibrating plate have the effect that each point of the tested floor covering is rubbed in all directions, with a magnitude and an equal speed.

 Advantageously, said vibrating plate is slidably mounted vertically on said carriage.

In a similar way to the compacting tool, the vibrating plate produces a constant friction force whatever the height (in this case the thickness) flooring, the thickness of which can decrease as the effect of compaction and abrasion increases.

 According to a preferred embodiment, said roller and said vibrating plate are free to slide vertically on said carriage.

 In this way, both tools adapt to the thickness of the flooring, this simply by the effect of their weight.

 The invention also aims at providing a use of a wear bench as described above, in which the bench comprises a roller mounted free to rotate about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the reciprocating movement and in which the vibrating plate is able to be driven by a circular translational movement, with the following operating parameters:

 - speed of carriage back and forth: 0.15 m / s + 0.05 m / s;

 - speed of rotation of the vibrating plate: 9 tr / s to ± 1 tr / s;

 number of circular translations of the vibrating plate at each passage of the carriage: 4.5 ± 0.5.

 Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, given by way of illustrative and nonlimiting example, and the appended drawings among which:

 Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wear bench according to the invention;

 Figure 2 is a bottom view of the carriage of a wear bench according to the invention;

 Figure 3 is a view of a compaction tool of a wear bench according to the invention;

Figures 4 to 7 are views of a crampon of a compaction tool of a wear bench according to the invention, respectively viewed in perspective, front, side and top; Figure 8 is a schematic representation of a stud implantation on a compaction tool of a wear bench according to the invention.

 As indicated above, the principle of the invention lies in the fact of providing a wear bench associating the effect of two tools: one of compaction and the other of abrasion.

 With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a wear bench of a floor covering, in particular synthetic grass, comprises:

 - A carriage 1 provided with four wheels 10, including at least one set of motor wheels so as to make the carriage movable in translation in a reciprocating movement as indicated by the arrows Fl and F2; a compaction tool 2 carried by the carriage 1;

 an abrasion tool in the form of a vibrating plate carried by the carriage 1.

 The wear bench comprises a space for receiving a sample E of floor covering, in the form of a strip, along which the carriage 1 comes and goes.

 Preferably, the wear bench is directly placed on the ground and will also be equipped with a filling trolley, intended to "fill", in the case of a flooring sample formed by synthetic grass, the surface of grass, by depositing several layers of fluent material inside the synthetic turf. This material may, for example, be a layer of sand of about 10 mm deposited at the bottom of the carpet, then a layer of rubber granules deposited over the bed of sand. These material deposition operations are performed so as to deposit the layers evenly while retaining the fiber of the right synthetic carpet.

It should be noted that, once the filling is completed, only a few millimeters of fibers exceed the surface (for example between 10 mm and 15 mm) as for simulating a freshly cut turf. The compaction tool takes the form of a roller mounted free to rotate about a horizontal axis 20, perpendicular to the translation direction reciprocating illustrated by arrows F1 and F2.

 The axis 20 of the roller is mounted on the carriage 1 so as to slide vertically. More specifically, the axis 20 of the roller is mounted, by any appropriate means, free to slide vertically on the carriage.

 Thus, under the effect of its own weight, the roller comes into contact with the flooring sample (the diameter of the roller being of course adapted accordingly), the support of the roller on the coating being sufficient for the translation of the carriage 1 causes the roll to rotate on the coating.

 As an indication, the linear weight of the compaction tool is 100kg / m + 10kg / m.

 The roller is thus driven in a simple bearing, without skidding. With reference to FIGS. 3 to 7, the compacting tool is a roller comprising a cylindrical body 200 from which a plurality of studs 21 extend.

 As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the crampons 21 have the following characteristics:

 they have a frustoconical cross section 211;

 they have a longitudinal frustoconical section 210.

 In addition, they have a form representative of the crampons encountered on modern football shoes, with the following dimensional characteristics:

 - section at the rectangular base of 25 mm x 10 mm;

 height: 1 mm;

 rectangular end section of 10 mm x 5 mm.

In addition, each of the edges 212, 213 of the truncated cones is provided with leaves, with radii of 2 mm. Moreover, the roller is coated with the cleats 21 with a particular arrangement of the crampons. Indeed, the crampons extend from the surface of the cylinder 200 regularly distributed so that the longitudinal axis X of the base of the crampons is alternately oriented:

 parallel to the direction G of the generatrices of the cylinder; in a direction D1 perpendicular to the direction G of the generatrices of the cylinder;

 in a direction D2 forming an angle of -60 ° with the direction G of the generatrices of the cylinder;

 in a direction D3 forming an angle of + 60 ° with the direction G of the generatrices of the cylinder.

 The arrangement of the crampons is furthermore made so that their successive imprints on the test material never come superimposed on those of the crampons which precede them.

 According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, this provision provides that:

 the crampons which extend parallel to the direction G of the generatrices are bordered along their length by two studs extending in a direction perpendicular to the direction G generatrices, but not aligned with each other;

 on either side of the crampons extending in a direction D1 perpendicular to the direction G of the generatrices, extends on the one hand a spike extending in the direction D2 and, on the other hand, a crampon s' extending in the direction D3;

 the spikes extending in the direction Dl are interposed between two spikes extending in the direction G generatrices;

the spikes extending in the direction D2 form a regular zig-zag with the spikes extending in the direction D3. The abrasion tool takes the form of a vibrating plate capable of being moved with a circular translational movement. To do this, the tool abrasion comprises a plate secured to an axis mounted on an eccentric system in a manner known per se.

 The vibrating plate is coated with an abrasive material removably mounted on the plate for replacement where necessary. The abrasive material rubs against the upper end of the synthetic grass fibers.

 The circular translation movement of the vibrating plate allows each point of the abrasive material to describe a circular motion. This combined with the translation of the carriage on which the abrasive tool is installed, it follows that each point of the abrasive material describes a cycloid on the surface of the test material.

 The abrasive material may for example be a sheet of hard synthetic material, textured and resistant to wear. In addition, the vibrating plate is slidably mounted vertically on the carriage, so that the plate can slide freely. Thus, the abrasive tool applies a uniform and constant pressure on the synthetic turf.

 The abrasion tool is further designed so that:

 the diameter of the rotation described by any point (thus dissociated from the translation movement of the carriage) is 20 mm;

 the pressure exerted by the abrasive tool is 30 kg / m 2 ± 5 g / cm 2 on the material to be tested.

 Such abrasion tool driven by a circular translational movement is a preferred solution. However, alternative solutions can be envisaged, by implementing a disk, a cylinder, linear vibrations

As an indication, an optimal operation of a wear bench as described above can be obtained with the following parameters:

 - speed of translation of the carriage carrying the compaction tool for abrasion tools: 0.15 m / s ± 0.05 m / s;

cylinder freely rotating on its axis and working without slipping motion; the speed of the vibration movement of the vibration tool is 9 tr / s ± 1 tr / s so as to obtain 4.5 ± 0.5 (or more generally between three and ten) circular translations during each passage of the trolley; the abrasive material generates a dynamic coefficient of friction (ratio between horizontal force of friction and vertical force) of 0.25.

 The surfaces of the roller and the vibrating plate are interchangeable so as to:

 be representative of different types of shoes;

 present constant wear conditions over time. It is apparent from the preceding description that a wear bench according to the invention is particularly suitable for testing a synthetic turf. Such a wear bench can, however, be used for different sports flooring or not, such as for example floor mats, this possibly with a different geometry compacting roller and abrasion pressure also adapted accordingly.

Claims

A wear bench for a floor covering, in particular artificial turf, comprising a carriage movable in translation back and forth over a floor covering sample, said carriage carrying a compacting tool and an abrasion tool of said sample in the form of a vibrating plate.  2. Wear bench according to claim 1, wherein said compacting tool takes the form of a roller mounted free to rotate about a horizontal axis perpendicular to said reciprocating movement.  3. Wear bench according to claim 2, wherein said roller is slidably mounted vertically on said carriage.  4. Wear bench according to one of claims 2 and 3, wherein said roll is coated with crampons.  5. Wearing bench according to claim 4, wherein said crampons have a cross section and a frustoconical longitudinal section. 6. wear bench according to one of claims 4 and 5, wherein said spikes extend from the surface of a cylinder and comprise a base having a longitudinal axis, said spikes being regularly distributed in a provision in which said longitudinal axis is aligned in four directions:  - parallel to the generatrices of the cylinder;  - perpendicular to the generatrices of the cylinder; - + 60 ° of the generatrices of the cylinder;  - to - 60 ° of the generatrices of the cylinder.  7. wear bench according to claim 1, wherein said vibrating plate is adapted to be driven by a circular translational movement.  8. Wear bench according to claim 1, wherein said vibrating plate is slidably mounted vertically on said carriage. The wear bench according to claims 3 and 8, wherein said roll and said vibrating plate are free to slide vertically on said carriage. Use of a wear bench according to claims 2 and 7, with the following operating parameters:  - speed of carriage back and forth: between 10 and 20 m s; - speed of rotation of the vibrating plate: 9 tr / s to + 1 tr / s;  - 4.5 + 0.5 circular translations of the vibrating plate at each passage of the carriage.