Sparring Pads: Head To Toe Protection (wholesale craft supplies)

September 20th, 2008 admin Posted in arts |

By Victor Epand

Personally, I am not a fan of full contact sparring. Scoff if you will, but I have personal experience with noncontact, light contact, and full contact styles, so I’m entitled to an opinion. Noncontact is, in my opinion, just rather silly. I mean, you’re studying a martial art-what’s the point of not hitting someone? Light contact is the best of both worlds because it allows the participants to (usually) walk away uninjured but with enough bruises to know what could have happened. For me, the main problem with full contact sparring is the pads. I always feel constricted by them, and that hampers my fighting style. However, my personal bias aside, sparring pads are absolutely indispensible in full contact martial arts. Enough types of pads exist so that an athlete can, if he wishes, cover his entire body. Each is specially designed to allow for maximum movement while still protecting from injury.

Starting at the top, one find the head guards. These are made of foam and resemble the helmets used by wrestlers. A head guard covers most of the head, including the back, top, forehead and jaw. It features numerous holes and slits, which help prevent the wearer from becoming overheated. Extra foam padding is placed around the ears for additional protection. A wide elastic strap fastens from one side of the guard to the other, under the chin.

Moving down the body the chest guard, the largest of the sparring pads, is next. These pads are designed to cover the entire front of the body from the collar bone to the waistline. The side are also protected, from just under the armpit to the waist. Chest guards are most commonly made of foam padding inside of a durable vinyl shell. Ironically, these pads often feature what are essentially targets on the front and sides. In sparring, these targets are used by an opponent to aim for the most vulnerable areas on the body. Chest guards with these targets are almost always reversible, featuring blue targets on one side and red on the other. In competitions, one opponent exhibits red while the other exhibits blue.

Forearm pads are usually made of padded cloth, although they can also be foam. They can cover only the forearm, but some styles include a half-glove that protects the wrist and fist as well. In sparring, the forearm is one of the areas most often bruised, and these pads can make a serious difference in the level of injury.

Shin guards can be made of either padded cloth or foam. Foam versions are strapped to the fronts of the shins with elastic bands, while padded cloth styles are slipped onto the calf like a long sock. The latter style sometimes includes a half-sock that protects top of the foot.

Finally, the groin protector is the most important piece of padding, at least for some. It is a little known fact that female groin protectors are actually used, not uncommonly in some circles. These pads protect women’s pelvic bones, which can be quite painful if struck. Men’s groin protectors, of course, are similar to those used in most male-dominated contact sports and are designed to protect the male genitalia.

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The power behind Refrigeration Compressors
By Jessica Thomson

Refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors provide air conditioning, heat pumping, and refrigeration for large-scale facilities and equipment. They compress low-pressure, low-volume gas into high-pressure and high-temperature gas. Refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors also remove vapor from the evaporator. Most refrigeration compressors (refrigerant compressors) are large, mechanical units that form the heart of industrial cooling systems or heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Air conditioning compressors are also large-scale mechanical devices; however, these compressors are designed specifically for air conditioning systems and do not provide heating or ventilation functions.

There are three main categories of Refrigeration Compressors and air conditioning compressors: screw, scroll and piston. Screw compressors pass refrigerant vapor through screw spindles which compress the gas. Although most screw compressors have two spindles, products with three or more spindles are also available. Scroll compressors are the most common type of refrigerant compressor. They have a relatively low rate of leakage and provide high efficiency. Piston compressors or reciprocating compressors are specifically designed for industrial and commercial applications. They compress gases to high pressures and are designed for continuous operation. Other types of specialized refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors are also available. But, they are used only for very specific situations and are not very effective. These types are less common in use and are used very rarely.

Selecting refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors requires an analysis of refrigerant options and nominal cooling specifications. Refrigerant choices include R12, R13, R22, R134a, R404a, R407c, R502, and R507. There are four nominal cooling specifications to consider: capacity, input power, condensing temperature, and evaporative temperature. Capacity measures the ability of a refrigerant compressor to remove heat from the refrigerant gas. Nominal ratings are based on a standard set of conditions which include condensing temperature (CT), evaporative temperature (ET), refrigerant, and motor revolutions per minutes (rpm). Typically, refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors can run at many different values for these parameters, with corresponding changes in their cooling capacity.

The refrigeration compressors are large units which are specifically used for refrigeration, heat pumping, and for air conditioning of large facilities. These compressors should not be confused with small, stand alone compressors. Out of three types of refrigerating compressors are in use, the most efficient one is scroll compressors while reciprocating compressors are used for heavy industrial purpose.

From the above description, the reader would get some idea about refrigeration compressor and how they actually work.