NL2004914C2 - ASSEMBLY OF SEPARATE LINE STRIPES IN AN ARTIFICIAL GRASS MAT OF A SPORTS FIELD. - Google Patents

Description

Title: Installation of separate lines in an artificial turf of a sports field.

This invention relates to a sports field with an artificial turf with lines of separate strips.

As is known, an artificial grass mat with lines is made by placing wide strips of artificial grass next to each other and placing the narrow line of lines between them. With a separate mounting strip, wider than the line of marking, below the artificial turf, the line of marking is secured by gluing to the edges on either side of the wide artificial grass strips. This is a difficult job that has to be done on location and so you have to wait for nice weather. Existing lines can only be replaced / repaired with great difficulty. A separate mounting strip is difficult.

It is proposed with the invention to mount the separate strips with the help of Velcro. The one part of the Velcro tape can be mounted in advance in a screened-off area, for example glued, on the underside of the line marking strip or on the edge of the wide artificial grass strips between which the line marking strip is mounted. The part of the Velcro on the line of lines or at the edges of the wide artificial grass strips is allowed to protrude beyond the line (at the line of lines on both sides). During assembly, the edge of the broad artificial grass strip or the edge of the line of lines is placed on the protruding part, so that the two parts of the Velcro strip come to lie on top of each other and thereby stick to each other, so that the whole is mounted together. .

It has been found that only the embodiment in which the hook part is attached to the line of alignment and protrudes below the line of alignment on both sides, that is, so that the edge areas of the wide artificial grass strips are equipped with the loop part that does not protrude outside the wide artificial grass strips, works well in practice 35 . The other alternatives to Velcro installation do not seem to yield any advantage compared to the existing solution. Compared with the other alternatives of Velcro mounting and also the existing solution, it has been found to be surprising that a considerably cleaner finish is also achieved. The strips connect more neatly to each other, which benefits the flatness of the playing field. The field can be created and removed faster. Fewer parts are needed. The parts can be handled and stored more easily. An outdoor field can be installed under all weather conditions. The durability of the joint is better.

An example is as follows: The line of lines is 5 centimeters wide and white in color. A strip of hook parts of the Velcro mounting is attached under the line 10, with a width of 15 centimeters, the hooking surface facing upwards, whereby a hooking surface of the Velcro tape mounting strip protrudes 5 centimeters outside the line marking strip on either side. Two artificial grass strips are 4 15 meters wide and green in color. Below the edge areas of these artificial grass strips, a strip of loop portions of the Velcro mounting is attached, with a width of 5 centimeters, with the loop surface facing downwards. The artificial grass strips are laid next to each other so that a gap of 5 centimeters remains between them. The edge areas on either side of the gap are opened, so that the gap width increases to a minimum of 15 centimeters. The line of alignment is placed in its place in the gap. The edge areas are slammed shut, so that the loop surfaces come to lie on the hook surfaces 25 and anchor to each other, whereby a permanently cohesive assembly of two broad artificial grass strips is formed side by side with a narrow line of alignment closely between them.

With the invention, the assembly is less dependent on the weather, disassembly is fairly simple, replacement / repair of the line marking strip is fairly simple and a separate mounting strip can be omitted.

Herein a second subject is also disclosed, for which a split-off patent application will possibly be filed: a temporary or permanent artificial turf consisting of individual artificial turf strips which are attached to each other by Velcro so that they form a whole 3 so that they can be played safely. , sports and / or recreated. Incidentally, the invention can also be applied to carpet that has been laid as temporary or permanent floor upholstery in, for example, an office, living room, event hall or exhibition space and over which one walks.

Such an artificial grass mat is offered under the designation Limonta Portable Artificial Turf System. This system consists of individual shock-absorbing plates with a size of 1.22 by 2.44 meters. A piece of artificial turf is attached to this rectangular plate of EVA foam by an adhesive layer covering the entire surface of the plate. The size of the piece of artificial turf is larger than that of the slab, so that the artificial turf protrudes four centimeters beyond the slab on all four sides. The underside of these overhanging grass strips is equipped with one part of a Velcro assembly. There are furthermore coupling strips of the same material as the plate and having a width of eight centimeters and a length slightly longer or shorter than the long or short side of the plate. These connecting strips are provided on their top side over their entire surface with the other part of a Velcro assembly. By now placing the plates in a rectangular pattern at a distance of eight centimeters from each other on a substrate, such as a concrete floor, the edges of the projecting grass strips of the adjacent plates adjoin each other exactly. By subsequently folding back the overhanging grass strips on the associated plate, the eight centimeters wide gap between the plates is made accessible from above. Thus, a coupling strip can be placed therein to fit snugly with one part of the Velcro mounting on the top. By subsequently folding back the protruding grass strips on the intermediate coupling strip, these grass strips are attached to the coupling strip via the Velcro mounting, so that a whole is created, with a dimension of, for example, 30 by 15 meters.

4

In practice, this Limonta system appears to be susceptible to damage.

The (second) invention proposes an improvement that is less susceptible to damage, offers good playing characteristics over the entire playing surface and can also be mounted and dismantled more easily. In addition, the invention is based, inter alia, on the surprising insight that an artificial turf mat with a surface of at least 25 square meters used as a playing field for football, for example, can also be laid loose for a temporary use on a coherent, rather smooth surface, for example sheets of foam, pavement tiles, asphalted square, without any danger of shifting, so that, contrary to what the craftsman had believed so far, there is no increased risk of injury in comparison with a fully glued artificial grass surface.

To this end, the artificial turf at the location is built up from separate, preferably rectangular, artificial turf strips that can be rolled into a roll and wherein each strip on the underside of both edges is provided with one or the other part over substantially the entire length. of a Velcro assembly (the part with the large number and closely spaced hook parts or the part with the large number and closely spaced loop parts, such as from felt) so that two adjacent strips, via the parts of the Velcro assembly, have a Velcro connection with entering into each other, possibly with the intervention of a separate connecting strip that is equipped with one and / or the other part of a Velcro assembly, while the edges of the strips connect to each other end to end or with minimal or no overlap or with narrow or no gap. .

Both edges can be equipped with the same part or with the different parts of the Velcro assembly, in which case one edge carries the hook parts and the other edge carries the loop parts.

35 The following applies in most cases to all of the topics disclosed herein: 5

When assembling on site, the strips are usually supplied rolled up and rolled out on the substrate on site. After the strips are attached to each other, the artificial turf is usually pulled tight by pulling on the outer edges 5 to smooth out folds.

The temporary or permanent playing field can thus be built up from two or more artificial grass strip strips to be attached to each other by Velcro strips.

Initially, the inventors had envisaged equipping the underside of one edge of each artificial grass strip over substantially the entire length with the one part of the Velcro assembly (for example, the part with the large number and closely placed hook parts) and on the equip the opposite edge over substantially the entire length with the other part of the Velcro assembly (for example, the part with the large number and closely spaced loop parts, such as felt) which protrudes outwardly outside the strip so that two strips side by side to lay the two parts of the Velcro assembly come to lie on top of each other and enter into a Velcro connection with each other while the edges of the strips are end-to-end or bumped or with minimal or no overlap or with close or no gaps. This embodiment variant, which does not require a separate connecting strip, was later no longer considered the most favorable, because it was subsequently conceived to equip both edges with one part of the Velcro assembly and to use a separate connecting strip with the other part. of the Velcro mounting, which separate strip overlapping the edges of two artificial grass mat strips which are placed side by side with each other and is placed directly underneath the artificial grass mat so that the two Velcro mounting parts make their attachment and thus the edges are detachably attached to each other by a lap seam connection.

In connection with a permanent playing field, in particular in the open air, the invention is based inter alia on the surprising insight that, contrary to expectations, a field laid out using Velcro mounting is at least as good as 6 and lasts as long as a playing field laid out with traditional line assembly.

The playing field can be assembled from only adjacent strips and also from adjacent strips and in line with each other. For strips that are laid next to each other, the start and end edges of each strip do not have to be fitted with the Velcro parts. With strips laid both adjacent to and in line with each other, the strips can be kept limited in length so that the weight of a roll can be limited.

All strips can preferably be rolled into a roll.

With the invention one or more of the following can be provided: the strips connect more neatly to each other, which benefits the flatness of the playing field; the field can be installed and removed faster; fewer parts are needed; the parts can be handled and stored more easily, construction of an outer field can be carried out under all weather conditions, the durability of the connecting seam is better.

The pile of the artificial grass consists, for example, of a mixture of straight and curled fibrillated and / or monofilament fibers that protrude from a basic mat.

The artificial grass can be used with or without infill (granular, scatterable material of, for example, sand and / or rubber with which the artificial grass fibers are scattered in situ to be substantially embedded therein) and preferably laid directly on a leveled, shock-absorbing, pressure-resistant substrate which, for example, is also temporary and for this purpose is constructed, for example, from rigid sheets of foam. The substrate is preferably formed from a large number of plates placed side by side and behind one another in a rectangular pattern, which sides lie close to each other with their longitudinal and transverse edges and are detachably attached to each other, for instance by fitting the edges together, lie with puzzle pieces, and loose on a substrate, for example concrete subfloor. The artificial grass is laid loosely on the substrate 7, so it can always shift relative to the substrate and can be picked up again directly from the substrate.

The artificial grass mat is made of a mat with synthetic fibers protruding, resembling a long-pile carpet, and between these fibers there is preferably a granular filler material (infill) to keep the fibers substantially upright and to provide the web with resilience . For a synthetic lawn, the ends of the fibers protrude a little bit above the infill, so that the exposed fiber ends 10 mimic the appearance and playing properties of a lawn.

The mat is, for example, woven from synthetic fibers and parallel rows of synthetic fibers or ribbons are tufted therein in a division of, for example, 3/16 or 3/8 ".

When applying the invention to a permanent outdoor playing field for, for example, official competition purposes, the only necessary change from a conventional playing field, such as for football, hockey or tennis, is that the strips are attached to each other by the Velcro mounting instead of a glued assembly. The substrate on which the artificial turf is laid will as a rule not deviate from what has been customary up to now, wherein this substrate comprises, for example, a sports-technical layer, is draining and possibly contains drainage pipes.

With the permanent playing fields hitherto customary, 4-meter-wide artificial grass strips are laid next to each other and with 30-centimeter-wide mounting strips (so-called glue carrier) that are adjoined on site with 2-component adhesive, the adjacent edges of the artificial grass strips are permanently attached to each other. . This installation method can only be carried out under dry and sufficiently warm weather conditions and its quality remains strongly dependent on the skill and attention of the installer who must keep the parts dust and grease free. At the moment that the playing field has to be replaced, for example after 15 years, there is no other solution than to cut the mat into strips, making it impossible to reuse part of the mat. By using Velcro assembly according to the invention, weather conditions and local craftsmanship no longer matter, since the Velcro parts are installed in the factory under well-conditioned conditions. And 5 years later the artificial turf can be removed in the original strips by separating the Velcro parts from each other, so that reuse as artificial turf is indeed possible.

Also for the do-it-yourselfer, Velcro mounting offers many advantages when installing an artificial grass lawn in the garden.

In addition to the above, this invention can thus relate to a playing or sports field with a top layer of artificial grass, for example for football, tennis, athletics or hockey or other outdoor sports. The field has a water-permeable top layer, such as an artificial mat, of for instance plastic / polymer material. The field is, for example, founded on a package of bonded or unbound granular material poured into the work, this package preferably being frost-free and / or permeable to water. The granular material can be stony or a mixture of stony granules and granules of other types.

In particular, the invention can relate to a permanently laid-out playing field, i.e. it is only removed after one or more years, generally after 10 or 15 years or longer.

For the playing or sports field, use may be made of a so-called pressure-distributing cloth on which the top layer may or may not have been directly superimposed. The pressure-distributing fabric is a bonded or partially bonded layer of plastic fibers that have been combined into a mat. The pressure-distributing fabric is chosen to be sufficiently smooth, so that during application the top layer can easily slide over it, while the pressure-distributing fabric and the material beneath it remain lying without sliding. This is important in order to be able to tighten the top layer properly during laying and to be able to lay the field bump-free. For example, the pressure-distributing fabric fixes the so-called ones which are usually directly below.

35 sport-technical layer or other layer deposited in the work.

Below or above the pressure-distributing fabric, but below the top layer, there may be one or more other fabrics or the like woven or non-woven fiber layers or other cloth-like or foil-like cohesive layers, for example an e-layer or a foam layer or a heat-insulating layer, such as Enkaflex 20 or Enkaspacer 5025 or Enka underlay 10.

The following can be stated about the top layer in combination with which the invention is preferably applied:

The top layer, for example, covers a surface of at least 500 or 1000 square meters. The top layer is preferably based on a mat of plastic fibers (e.g. PE and / or PP), for example with a division 3/8 or 5/16 or 5/32 (8, 16 or 32 stitches on respectively 3, 5 or 5 inch mat length or width). Application for the following division margins is conceivable: between 3/4 and 3/12; between 5/12 and 5/20; between 5/28 and 5/36. The pile height can be between 10 and 100 mm, such as between 35 and 70 mm (for example for football) or between 20 and 25 mm (for example for tennis or hockey). Plastic fibers forming the pile protrude from the mat. These are, for example, fibrillated fibers, monofilament fibers or mixtures thereof (i.e. a pitch contains both fiber types). Fibrillated fibers are made by extruding a film of, for example, polypropylene (PP) and / or polyethylene (PE), cutting it into narrow strips and providing each strip with many incisions so that many very narrow strips are created side by side, two of which are adjacent strips. still attached to each other at different locations along their length.

Monofilament fibers are individually extruded threads that may have a round or angular cross-sectional shape in addition to a flat one.

The fibers of the top layer are tufted into the (flat-woven) base mat, so that loops protruding from the base mat are formed, which are then cut open so that blades of grass are simulated. Instead of tufting, the fiber can also be incorporated into the base mat in a different way, for example knotted.

The invention is described below, without being limited thereto, on the basis of an example of a permanent playing field in the open air:

An artificial grass pitch is structured as follows: At the bottom there are drainage pipes. Immediately or at some distance above it is a buried sand package that has been dumped into the work. On top of that lies a layer poured into the work, so-called sports-technical unbound layer (for example a mixture of sand and / or rubber and steagran or lava rock). On top of that lies the pressure-distributing fabric that has been treated to absorb leaching products. The artificial grass mat is lying thereon (semi-bonded, since it is sprinkled with infill of loose rubber granulate and / or sand). The sport-technical layer is well permeable to water and provides a flat and stable surface for the turf. The sand package ensures good drainage and projects sufficiently deep to ensure frost-free construction. The sand package and / or sports technical layer can be replaced by another material layer. One or more further material layers may be added. The drainage pipes may have been omitted or replaced by another drainage system.

The sports-technical layer consists, for example, of an unbound grain mixture of stony material of large and small grains, e.g. This layer thus consists of an unbound stable mineral skeleton with load spreading and carrying capacity, the inevitable space between larger grains being occupied by smaller and even smaller grains while guaranteeing water permeability. Rubber granules may be added thereto. The sand package consists of an unbound grain mixture of stony material of small grains, for example with a diameter mainly in the area smaller than 2 or 3 mm. Layer thicknesses are preferably as follows: sport-technical layer 5 to 10 cm; sand package at least 5 or 10 cm.

The edges of the grass strips are equipped with the hooking part of the Velcro over a width of 15 cm. Symmetrically under the seam between two adjacent grass strips is a 30 cm wide connecting strip of the loop part of the Velcro tape, to which the hooking parts are hooked on the edges of the grass strips.

Alternatively, the invention is used with an 11 separate strip of artificial grass as wide as line that is mounted to the mat on both sides with Velcro mounting.

Thus, it is preferably an artificial grass mat constructed from individual strips of artificial grass that can be rolled into a roll and wherein each strip is provided on the underside of the one edge over substantially the entire length with the one part of a Velcro assembly and on the opposite edge is provided over substantially the entire length with the (a) one or (b) other part of the Velcro assembly which, in case (b), preferably protrudes to the side outside the strip so that by laying two strips of grass next to each other in case (a) by a separate connecting strip with the other part of the Velcro assembly that overlaps with both grass strips and on which both grass strips come to lie with their part of the Velcro assembly, or in case (b) the two parts of the Velcro assembly come together the two grass strips are attached to each other by Velcro mounting and the edges of the grass strips connect heads together.

Claims (1)

Permanent outdoor sports field with an artificial grass mat constructed from separate, relatively wide, strips of artificial grass that can be rolled up into a roll and wherein two adjacent artificial grass strips are provided on the underside of the facing edge areas over substantially the entire length with the loop part of a Velcro assembly, the loop surface of which loop part faces downwards, and a gap between them which is completely filled with a relatively narrow line of artificial grass in a color that contrasts with the artificial grass, which can be rolled into a roll, which line of line on the underside is provided over substantially the entire length with the hook part of a Velcro mounting, the hook surface of which hook part faces upwards and extends on either side of the line of alignment, so that the hook surface overlaps with the loop surfaces of both wide artificial grass strips and hook surface and loop surface on each side and an intimate, durable, detachable, hooked attachment has been entered so that by Velcro mounting the two wide artificial grass strips and the narrow line strip are connected to each other and the edges of the three artificial grass strips connect heads together, a permanently cohesive assembly with continuous, smooth forming a playing surface with a water-permeable top layer of artificial grass, comprising a mat and a pole of synthetic fibers protruding therefrom, for football, tennis, athletics or hockey, and based on a pressure-distributing cloth and a package of bound or unbound granular material poured into the work , this package being frost-free and permeable to water.