EP4015052A1

EP4015052A1 - Smart climbing sensor and signal processing system's lighting arrangement assembly complementing climbing holds used on artificial climbing walls

Info

Publication number: EP4015052A1
Application number: EP20214554.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kókai András
Original assignee: Perfect Informatika Kft
Current assignee: Perfect Informatika Kft
Priority date: 2020-12-16
Filing date: 2020-12-16
Publication date: 2022-06-22
Also published as: EP4263008B1; US20240050828A1; WO2022129962A1; EP4263008A1; EP4263008C0

Abstract

The present invention relates lighting arrangement assembly that complements climbing holds used on artificial climbing walls. Based on Fig. 1, the arrangement consists of the following structural and fastening components, in the order of assembly, a climbing wall panel (1), installed on the back side of it, a threaded fastener (2), a climbing hold (3), a threaded bolt with a through hole in it (4), mounted on the back of the climbing wall panel a lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5), a light source (6), a threaded nut that fixes the electronic board (7), a lighting wiring (8) that is guided through the hole inside the bolt, and a light reflective, protective cap (9) that is mounted from the front, on top of the bolt's head.

Description

The subject of the patent application is a lighting arrangement assembly that complements climbing holds, used on artificial climbing walls, that is part of a smart climbing sensor and signal processing system.
Based on the isometric, section drawing on Fig. 1, the lighting arrangement assembly that complements climbing holds used on artificial climbing walls, following the order of assembly, consists of a climbing wall panel (1), installed on the back side of it, a threaded fastener (2), a climbing hold (3), a threaded bolt with a through hole in it (4), mounted on the back of the climbing wall panel a lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5), a light source (6), a threaded nut that fixes the PCB (7), a lighting wiring (8) that is guided through the hole inside the bolt, and a light reflective, protective cap (9) that is mounted from the front, on top of the bolt's head.
The widespread development and construction of artificial, indoor wall climbing halls, started at the beginning of the 2000s. Originally based on rock climbing and climbing outdoors on natural formations, indoor climbing since has become an independent and popular sport. For climbers, the goal of the sport is to ascend to the top of the wall, by grabbing the climbing holds fixed on the climbing wall panels in the shortest time possible, while following a pre-defined and marked climbing route.
According to the current state of technology, climbing routes built on artificial climbing walls are marked and differentiated by coloring, painting methods and graphical markings with adhesive stickers, by most climbing halls. The goal of these markings is to distinguish the climbing holds from each other, so that the climbers can see, which climbing hold is part of the climbing route or not.
Based on the feedback of athletes, these type of marking solutions are difficult to interpret. Climbing hold markings can easily wear off and get destroyed over time, which results in the misunderstanding of climbing routes, especially for novice climbers.
A clearer and dynamically changeable solution for marking the climbing routes is to use a lighting system that complements climbing holds, on artificial climbing walls. According to the current state of technology, a number of possible lighting arrangement solutions are known to compliment climbing holds.
Lighting solutions supplementing climbing holds are described in the US 20100004098 A1 , as well as in the US 8668626 B1 and the CH 704064 A1 documents. The disadvantages of the described solutions are their technical layouts, that can only be utilized by damaging and mechanically modifying the climbing holds. The application of the mentioned solutions is only possible if the climbing wall panels or climbing holds are modified.
For both arrangements shown in the US 20100004098 A1 and in the US 8668626 B1 documents the installation requires internal and structural modifications of the climbing holds, which means that these solutions cannot be applied to any standard climbing hold. The described arrangements can only be used for individually manufactured climbing holds and climbing wall panels.
The lighting system built into a fastener, shown in the patent document CH 704064 A1 cannot be fitted inside the counterbored bolt holes, found and used widely on standard climbing holds. Assembling the described arrangement cannot be done from the side of the climbing hold, as the solution does not include any fastening method that can be used on the back side of the climbing wall panel.
The arrangement shown in patent US 8808145 B1 document has disadvantages both in the placement of the lighting source as well with the mountability of the assembly. The shortcoming of the design, presented in the document, is that the arrangement cannot be assembled from the front of the climbing hold, as the light source and the light controlling electronics are both fixed to the fastener that holds the climbing hold in place. In case the climbing hold needs to be replaced or cleaned, the entire assembly unit needs to be removed from the back of the climbing wall panel. This is not possible to be done in case of ten-meter-high or taller climbing walls, as in these circumstances the back side of the wall panels are not accessible after the installation. As the lighting source is placed on the bottom of the socket head bolt so it does not extend out from the top of the climbing hold, which means that climbers on the walls cannot see it properly.
The goal with our lighting arrangement invention, is to address the deficiencies and problems that generally occur with the usage of lighting solutions for climbing holds. The resulted invention is easier to install, maintain, and assemble with any standard climbing hold.
A number of discoveries and realizations have led to the design of the present invention. Which included the requirement that the illumination of the climbing holds need to be visible for athletes both on the climbing walls and on the ground as well. The location of the illumination should exactly indicate which hold it belongs to. Based on the feedback of climbing hall operators and owners, the lighting arrangement needs to be compatible with their currently used standard climbing wall panels and holds. Installation must take place in the absence of damage to the climbing wall panels and the climbing holds. Post-installation repairs, such as the cleaning of the climbing holds, maintenance of them, have to be done from the side of the climbing hold, the front of the climbing wall, as in these situations the back side of the wall panels are not accessible.
The advantages of the lighting arrangement, based on our invention, which complements the climbing holds, are that bolt with the through hole inside of it can be installed to any standard climbing hold, without damaging or modifying it in any ways. The light reflective, protective cap placed on the head of the bolt makes the light source to illuminate on the front of the climbing hold, which makes it clear and visible for climbers on the walls and on the ground as well.
The lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board is fixed on the back of the climbing wall panel, and it also remains in its fixed position after post-installation repairs. These repairs can be executed from the front of the climbing holds and panels.
Based on the above-mentioned objectives, the invention describes the lighting arrangement assembly complementing climbing holds used on artificial climbing walls in the claim 1. Further, preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the subclaims, where

Figure 1 shows an isometric cross-sectional view of the lighting arrangement assembly;
Figure 2 shows another embodiment of the lighting arrangement assembly, based on Fig 1;
Figure 3A shows a further embodiment of the lighting arrangement assembly, based on Fig 1;
while Figure 3B also 3A shows a further embodiment of the lighting arrangement assembly, based on Fig 1.

Figure 1 provides an isometric, cross-sectional view of the lighting arrangement assembly complementing climbing holds, used on artificial climbing walls. The threaded bolt with a through hole in it (4) allows the lighting wiring (8) to pass through the climbing wall panel (1) and the climbing hold (3), to the front side, where it is visible to climbers. This is an advantageous arrangement because the lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5) can be fastened to the back of the climbing wall panel with a threaded fixing nut (7), which does not need to be removed during post-installation repairs. In order to protect the light source (6) inside the socket head of the threaded bolt, against external mechanical damages, a light reflective, protective cap (9) is placed on top of it. A further advantage of this cap, is that its semi-transparent material brightens the illumination, which will be visible to climbers from as many angles as possible.
Figure 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the arrangement of Figure 1. The lighting source (6) is located on the back of climbing wall panel (1) on the lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5). The light source illuminates the optical fiber (10) which is attached to the front of it. The optical fiber is capable of conducting light from the back of the climbing wall panel to the front of the climbing hold (3), through the hole inside the threaded bolt (4), where it becomes visibly bright for the climbers to see it.
Figure 3A shows a further preferred embodiment of the arrangement of Figure 1. The lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5), mounted on the back side of the climbing wall panel (1), is fixated to the wall panel with a screw (11). This arrangement makes the circuit board to be fully independent from the movement of the threaded bolt (4).
Figure 3B shows another preferred embodiment of the arrangement of Figure 1. The lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5), mounted on the back side of the climbing wall panel (1), is fixated to the wall panel with a ring-shaped magnet (12). The magnet utilizes the metal material of the threaded fastener (2), built into the back of the wall panel, and connects to it magnetically.
The features of the above described arrangement proves the industrial applicability of the invention. Based on the description it can be seen that the invention is more capable of solving the requirements of lighting arrangements for climbing holds, compared to the prior solutions.

Claims

Based on the isometric, section drawing on Fig. 1, the lighting arrangement assembly that complements climbing holds used on artificial climbing walls, following the order of assembly, consists of a climbing wall panel (1), installed on the back side of it, a threaded fastener (2), a climbing hold (3), a threaded bolt with a through hole in it (4), mounted on the back of the climbing wall panel a lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5), a light source (6), a threaded nut that fixes the PCB (7), a lighting wiring (8) that is guided through the hole inside the bolt, and a light reflective, protective cap (9) that is mounted from the front, on top of the bolt's head.
Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized by that the light source (6) is placed on the back of the climbing wall panel (1), on the lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5), where it illuminates the optical fiber (10).
Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized by that the lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5) is fastened to the back of the climbing wall panel (1) with a screw (11).
Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized by that the lighting control, and touch sensing electronic printed circuit board (5) is mounted to the back of the climbing wall panel (1) with a magnet (12).