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Acknowledging that the main objective for going to a golf driving range is to practice your golf swing, the time and energy required to tee up each shot could be considered a part of the training session that not only wastes time and energy, but could actually detract from the opportunity to improve your game.
The Automatic Golf Teeing Machine designed and proposed by students from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University could be an interesting technology solution to motivate golf driving ranges to modernise the service and training opportunities being made available to golfers.
Click here to download a summary of the design.
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Competing Students - Mark Geel; Sebastian Pillay; Jonathan Petrie; Dylan Townsend
Email us for more information about these entrants or the Automatic Golf Teeing Machine.
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1. Existing Solutions
Investigations by the design team revealed that some driving ranges have a small hose pipe placed on the tee spot to allow golfers to quickly tee their balls, this however is not aesthetically appealing and the height of the hose can’t be adjusted.
2. Proposed Solution
A proposed solution to the problem of having to constantly tee a golf ball at the driving range is to invent an automatic golf teeing machine that not only looks aesthetically appealing but will be easily installed, maintained and will work in a consistent manner. The device needs to be quiet so that the golfer is not distracted, but also give the golfer an exciting, relaxing and unique experience when going to a driving range which has the device.
The device will not only be appealing to golfers, but also to any driving range owners, as it will give their driving range something unique and modern, should be easy to install and contribute to the potential monthly turnover made by the range.
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Golfer's Platform
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Advantages:
• Golfer no longer has to do the mundane task of teeing the golf ball constantly
• Golfer can now focus on his/her golf game more
• Something new, interesting and possibly even exciting to attract people to the driving range
• Will reduce the number of tee’s broken and lost
• No more injuries due to golfers going to fetch tee’s and getting hit by stray golf balls
• Easy to install and maintain.
Disadvantages:
• Initial outlay for installation.
3. Design / Concept
The golfer will purchase a set number of balls to use when going to the driving range. The balls will come on a circular disk and will be stacked in cylinders. The disk with balls will then be carried to the tee spot and placed on a shaft. Once on the shaft the player simply presses a start button on a screen adjacent to the tee spot, and a golf ball will come up on a rubber tee ready to be hit. The height of the tee can be adjusted simply by pressing an up or down arrow located on the screen. Once the golf ball is hit (leaves the tee) another golf ball will come up to the same height as it was for the previous shot, ready to be hit. The process will continue until the player has hit all the balls.
4. Overview of Design
Once the disk containing the balls is placed on the shaft by the golfer and the start button is pressed, a servo motor will rotate in steps allowing 5 golf balls in one of the cylinders to fall through a hole. A single ball is sent through a pipe using a spring and tunnel mechanism.
One ball can fed through a tunnel. A gripper attached to a pneumatic cylinder will then grip the first golf ball and the cylinder will move forward until the head of the cylinder is detected by an inductive sensor.
Upon detection of the head of the first cylinder by the inductive sensor, the gripper can release the ball and the first cylinder will return to its initial position. The ball will fall onto the rubber tee attached to a second cylinder. A vacuum pump will be used in order to create suction and keep the ball on the tee. The second cylinder will then be raised to a position set the previous time it was raised, using a controller attached to the cylinder. The height to which the cylinder raises is controlled by the golfer.
Once the cylinder reaches the set height, the vacuum pump will turn off and the golf ball will be on the tee and ready for the golfer to hit. A light sensor placed inside the tee will detect when the golf ball leaves the tee and upon leaving the tee the cylinder will retract and return to a permanently set position whereby the entire process can start again until all golf balls have been hit.
5. Review of Some Components Used in the Design
The final design incorporated the following:
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5.1 Motor Selection - Rotation Of Ball Carrier
An electric servo motor coupled to a position encoder was chosen to rotate the ball carrier at regular radian intervals. The step (angular position) of the carrier would be monitored with the position encoder.
The Festo EEMS – AS 70 SRSB electrical drive motor was preferred over a pneumatic drive.
The gear unit selected to fit onto the output shaft of the motor was the Festo Planetary Gear unit (FESTO EMGA- 60-RG-70).
The design indicates that motor will make use of the Festo CMMP-AS controller unit which allows position control with closed loop position control.
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Festo EEMS – AS 70 SRSB electrical drive motor
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5.2 Design and Selection of motor 2 – Rotation of drum mechanism
The motor is required to operate the single ball delivery system by rotating the drum like disc and compressing the ball and spring against the outer rim and being able to make a 90 degree rotation, and then rotate back to the original position. This design will rotate the drum like mechanism containing the ball, towards the release position, where the spring will force the ball outwards down the resale shoot and into the jaws of the gripper. The motor is then required to rotate back to the original position to receive another ball.
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Festo Servo Motor - EMMS AS 140-M RMB
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5.3 Horizontal Cylinder
A Festo cylinder (horizontal cylinder) was selected in order to move the ball to the tee horizontally. The ProPneu program (downloaded from the Festo website) was used to determine the engineering specifications required for the cylinder.
A gripper was attached to the piston rod. The cylinder was selected according to a specific stroke.
5.4 Festo Vertical Cylinder
A Festo Vertical Cylinder was selected in order to raise the ball and tee vertically upwards. The ProPneu program (designed to downloaded from the Festo website) can used to determine the engineering specification required for the cylinder.
A Festo piston rod attachment was chosen and mounted to facilitate the mounting of the tee and to help create a vacuum for suction of the ball onto the tee.
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Festo Standard cylinder - DNC-32-200-PPV
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5.5 Radial Gripper
A Festo radial gripper was selected to move the golf ball horizontally from the point at which the ball was dropped from the pipe to the tee on the vertical cylinder. The gripper was mounted on the horizontal piston.
Using the Festo Gripper selection program downloaded from the Festo website, a gripper was selected to cater for the required specifications of the design. A radial gripper was selected as it offered the required specifications.
5.5. Festo Pressure Sensor
A Festo Pressure Sensor was selected in order to detect when a golf ball lands after travelling through the pipe. The pressure sensor actuates the movement of the vertical cylinder. It was mounted inside the extrusion, at the point at which the ball drops from the pipe.
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Festo Radial Gripper - HGR-16-A
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5.6 Festo Inductive Sensor
A Festo Inductive Sensor was selected in order to actuate the releasing of the ball by the gripper and simultaneously the retraction of the horizontal cylinder. The sensor detects the head of the piston (not the gripper) as it is made of steel (a steel head was placed on the piston rod) which the sensor is more sensitive too than the aluminium gripper. The sensor is also mounted slightly higher than the gripper and closer to the cylinder head therefore making it detect the cylinder head and not the gripper.
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5.7 Festo Position Encoder
A Festo Position Encoder was used to determine the position of the cylinder during its motion. The encoder also actuates the motion of the horizontal cylinder and gripper. Only when the vertical cylinder is in its home position can the horizontal cylinder and gripper begin their forward motion. In addition to this it was also used to actuate a vacuum. When the cylinder is in its home position the vacuum is turned on, to create suction to keep the ball on the tee when the ball is raised, as the rapid change in acceleration of the ball when the cylinder reaches the end of its stroke, will exert forces on the ball that would cause the ball to leave the tee. At the end of the cylinders stroke the vacuum is turned off (to allow the golfer to hit the ball).
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Festo Position Transmitter - SMAT-BE-S50-IU-M8
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5.8 Holding mechanism
The holding mechanism is effectively made of 2 parts and amongst other things this mechanism needs to hold a number of golf balls. During the time interval between the user acquiring this bucket mechanism at the clubhouse and placing it onto the designated base at the playing area, no balls must fall out. Once the mechanism has been placed it must also allow for the release of these balls into the system in an orderly and controlled way.
Festo products used in the design
Electrical drive motor EEMS – AS 70 SRSB
Planetary Gear unit EMGA- 60-RG-70
Inductive sensors SEA-M12B-UI-S
Position Transmitter SMAT-BE-S50-IU-M8
Electrical Limit Switches MH-A1-1R2L
Solenoid Valve VSVA-B-M52-MH-A1-1R5L
Radial Gripper HGR-16-A
Standard cylinder DNC-32-200-PPV