Pickleballs
A ball may include a spherical shell, and apertures defined in the spherical shell. The apertures may be formed in the spherical shell based at least in part on a N-frequency tessellation of the spherical shell. A method of forming a ball may include molding a first hemisphere, molding a second hemisphere, and coupling the first hemisphere to the second hemisphere to form a spherical shell. The spherical shell may include apertures defined in the spherical shell based at least in part on a N-frequency tessellation of the spherical shell.
1. A ball comprising:
a spherical shell; and
apertures defined in the spherical shell,
wherein the apertures are formed in the spherical shell based at least in part on a 3-frequency tessellation of the spherical shell.
2. The ball of claim 1 , wherein the apertures comprise between 26 and 92 apertures.
3. The ball of claim 1 , wherein the apertures comprise apertures having a same diameter of approximately 7.5 mm.
4. The ball of claim 1 , wherein the apertures comprise at least:
first apertures having a first diameter; and
second apertures having a second diameter different than the first diameter.
5. The ball of claim 4 , wherein:
the first diameter is 8.8 mm; and
the second diameter is 7.2 mm.
6. The ball of claim 5 , wherein the apertures comprise third apertures having a third diameter between 7.9 mm and 8.1 mm.
7. The ball of claim 4 , wherein the apertures further comprise third apertures having a third diameter different than the second diameter.
8. The ball of claim 1 , wherein the apertures are formed along a surface of the ball in a geodesic pattern.
9. The ball of claim 1 , wherein the apertures include pairs of apertures, wherein a first aperture of a first pair of apertures is axially aligned with a second aperture of the first pair of apertures through a center of the ball.
10. The ball of claim 1 , wherein:
the spherical shell includes a first half and a second half; and
the first half and the second half are identical.
11. A method of forming a ball, comprising:
molding a first hemisphere;
molding a second hemisphere; and
coupling the first hemisphere to the second hemisphere to form a spherical shell,
wherein the spherical shell comprises apertures defined in the spherical shell based at least in part on a N-frequency tessellation of the spherical shell, and the apertures are disposed at an intersection of line segments that form the N-frequency tessellation, and the line segments include a least a first line segment having a first length and a second line segment having a second length that is different than the first length.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein coupling of the first hemisphere to the second hemisphere is performed via welding.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the apertures comprise between 26 and 92 apertures.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the apertures comprise apertures having a same diameter of approximately 7.5 mm.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the apertures comprise at least two different classes of apertures having at least two different diameters.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least two different diameters of apertures include at least:
a first aperture diameter having a diameter of 8.8 mm;
a second aperture diameter having a diameter of 7.2 mm; and
a third aperture diameter having a diameter between 7.9 mm and 8.1 mm.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the apertures have equal spacing between edges of neighboring apertures.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the apertures include pairs of apertures wherein a first aperture of a first pair of apertures is axially aligned with a second aperture of the first pair of apertures through a center of the ball.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the N-frequency tessellation of the spherical shell comprises a 3-frequency tessellation of the spherical shell.
20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the spherical shell comprises at least one of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), or combinations thereof.