New Trends in the Global Sports Venue Testing Equipment Industry
With the continuous sweep of the global national fitness wave, the construction of sports venues has entered a stage of global expansion. As core paving categories for professional venues, campus playgrounds, community fitness spots and leisure landscapes, the safety performance, sports adaptability and environmental protection standards of artificial turf and plastic runways have become the focus of global attention. The supporting testing equipment is undergoing a leapfrog upgrade from "manual and extensive" to "intelligent and precise", from "single-point random inspection" to "full-process control", and from "bulky and inconvenient" to "portable and efficient". With technological innovation, Chinese enterprises have achieved corner overtaking, driving the global sports venue testing industry into a new era of high-quality development and building a solid safety line for global sports enthusiasts.
It is learned that in the global field of artificial turf and plastic runway testing, the traditional testing model has long had many common pain points, which have become a common bottleneck restricting the improvement of global venue quality. In terms of plastic runways, the early testing of core indicators such as elasticity and vertical deformation generally relied on manual caliper measurement, with an error of up to ±5mm, making it difficult to accurately identify potential sports injury hazards; large-scale testing equipment was bulky and inconvenient to move, unable to adapt to the on-site testing needs of campus playgrounds, small community venues and sports facilities in remote areas. In addition, there was a lack of efficient methods for testing anti-aging properties and harmful substance content, making it difficult to fully control material quality and service durability. In the field of artificial turf, the testing of key indicators such as traction coefficient and grass fiber pull-out force mostly relied on empirical judgment. Early mainstream foreign testing equipment was not only bulky and required automobile transportation, but also had a measurement accuracy of only 2 torque (N.m) and could not automatically record test data, making it difficult to meet the global large-scale and diversified testing needs. This led to the problem of "emphasizing construction over testing" and "emphasizing acceptance over operation and maintenance" in some countries and regions, laying hidden safety hazards.
Today, with the in-depth global integration of new technologies such as sensor technology, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, artificial turf and plastic runway testing equipment has achieved comprehensive technological breakthroughs, with significantly improved accuracy and stability, and has gradually broken regional technical barriers to adapt to the standard requirements of different countries and regions around the world. In the field of plastic runway testing equipment, multi-sensor fusion technology is widely used. Represented by China's Langske Instrument LSK-YD type vertical deformation tester, the equipment adopts high-precision pressure sensors, combined with an ARM9-based high-speed data acquisition system. The force and deformation acquisition frequency are both higher than 2kHz, and the vertical deformation measurement accuracy reaches ±0.05mm, which can complete 3 vertical deformation tests within 60 seconds. It also meets multiple domestic and foreign standards such as China's GB 36246-2018, GB/T 14833-2020, EU EN14904 and international FIBA certification. Equipped with casters at the bottom, the equipment is flexible and convenient to move, and is equipped with a PC touch screen all-in-one machine. Operators can get started after simple training, and it can also automatically print A4 standard test reports, greatly improving testing efficiency. In addition, the new plastic runway testing equipment is also integrated with laser ranging and image recognition technologies, which can intelligently analyze cracks and wear on the runway surface. Combined with a chemical testing module, it can quickly detect harmful substances such as heavy metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), fully complying with global environmental protection and safety concepts, and has been exported to many countries and regions in Europe, America, Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
In the field of artificial turf testing equipment, domestic Chinese equipment has achieved corner overtaking, breaking foreign technological monopoly and becoming an important growth pole in the global market. The "Portable Turf Traction Coefficient Tester" independently developed by the National Sports Goods Quality Supervision and Inspection Center affiliated to Hebei Provincial Institute of Quality Inspection has reached the international advanced level with the advantages of high precision, portability and easy operation, and is currently applied in sports venue testing in more than 20 countries around the world. Composed of detachable components such as a torque wrench and a support rod, the equipment can be manually assembled on site. The measurement accuracy can be as precise as 0.1 torque (N.m), and it can automatically record test data and calculate the traction coefficient, perfectly adapting to the globally general qualified value requirement of 1.2~1.8 for artificial grass surfaces of football venues. Compared with similar foreign equipment, it has a significantly smaller volume and improved portability, which can be easily carried by a single person, and can be flexibly adapted to various artificial turf venues such as campuses, communities and professional venues, especially suitable for outdoor testing needs in areas with relatively weak infrastructure such as Central Asia and Africa. At the same time, the new artificial turf testing equipment can also accurately test indicators such as grass fiber pull-out force, wear resistance and anti-aging properties. Combined with China's GB/T 30228 and relevant international standards, it provides comprehensive data support for venue quality evaluation around the world by simulating different climates and usage scenarios, helping with the quality control of Chinese artificial turf products exported to 170 countries and regions.
Portability, intelligence, customization and standardization have become the core development trends of global artificial turf and plastic runway testing equipment, completely breaking the application limitations of traditional testing equipment. From a global market perspective, both types of testing equipment are upgrading towards lightweight. The main weight is mostly controlled between 10-20 kilograms, equipped with foldable handles and rollers. Some equipment adopts a rechargeable design with a built-in large-capacity lithium battery, which can complete dozens of tests continuously when fully charged, getting rid of the dependence on commercial power and adapting to the outdoor testing needs of venues without power supply, especially suitable for sports venue testing in remote areas. In terms of intelligence, mainstream global equipment is equipped with high-definition touch screens and intelligent control systems, with built-in standardized testing processes, which can automatically complete data collection, analysis, storage and upload. Some equipment also integrates AI algorithms, which can build a venue quality attenuation model through historical test data to realize automatic hidden danger early warning, promoting the transformation of testing work from "passive investigation" to "active prevention and control". In addition, customized equipment for different global scenarios has gradually emerged, including wind-resistant testing equipment suitable for artificial turf attached to golf courses, low-cost and cost-effective testing equipment for primary and secondary school plastic runways, and weather resistance special testing equipment suitable for high-temperature and high-ultraviolet areas such as Central Asia and the Middle East, covering global diversified testing needs.
From the perspective of application scenarios, the application boundary of global sports venue testing equipment is gradually extending from a single project acceptance to the entire chain of artificial turf and plastic runway venue construction, daily operation and maintenance, and material research and development, forming a full-life-cycle quality control system. In the acceptance link of new venues, the equipment can quickly test core indicators to ensure that the venue meets the standards and international certification requirements of the country and region where it is located. Among them, artificial turf venue testing can also rely on relevant equipment data to quantify venue environmental quality, helping with the standardized construction of global sports venues; in daily maintenance testing, a venue quality attenuation curve is established through regular inspections. For example, a foreign university playground found local aging problems 3 months in advance through plastic runway testing equipment data analysis, and targeted maintenance saved 40% of the cost; in the field of material research and development, testing equipment provides data support for the formula optimization of new polyurethane runway materials and wear-resistant grass fiber materials. A Chinese sports floor material enterprise used relevant equipment to improve the stability of the plastic runway rebound coefficient by 25%, and the product successfully passed the EU EN14904 certification and was exported to more than 30 countries and regions around the world.
Industry data shows that the global market size of sports safety testing instruments is continuously expanding. As the world's core producer and exporter, China is driving the steady growth of the industry. Among them, the market size of China's sports safety testing instruments reached about 15 billion yuan in 2022, and is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 10%, of which artificial turf and plastic runway testing equipment account for an important share. At the same time, the global artificial turf market continues to grow. It is expected that the global sales volume will reach 29.342 billion yuan and the demand will exceed 480 million square meters by 2025, driving the synchronous growth of global artificial turf testing equipment demand. The Asia-Pacific region has become the fastest-growing market, while North America and Europe maintain a stable demand trend. At present, the global industry standardization process is accelerating. China has issued more than 30 mandatory national standards and more than 50 recommended national standards, covering various fields such as artificial turf, plastic runway facilities and testing methods. At the same time, it actively participates in the formulation of international standards, promoting the integration of Chinese standards with international standards, and providing clear basis for global equipment research and development, market access and industry supervision. In addition, China, the United States, the European Union and other countries and regions have strengthened industry supervision, jointly carried out special inspection actions, severely cracked down on counterfeit and shoddy testing equipment, and promoted the standardized and globalized development of the industry.
Insiders said that the technological upgrading of artificial turf and plastic runway testing equipment not only demonstrates the innovative strength of Made in China in the field of sports engineering equipment, but also meets the core demand of global national fitness for venue safety and high-quality experience, becoming an important support for the high-quality development of the global sports industry. At present, the global investment in sports infrastructure is continuously increasing. The deepening of urbanization and the concept of national fitness have driven the growth of demand for artificial turf and plastic runway venues. Especially in developing countries, the potential for sports venue construction is huge, bringing broad development space for the testing equipment industry. In the future, global testing equipment will further develop towards intelligence, diversification, integration and greenization. Through the integration of AI algorithms, it will realize automatic hidden danger early warning, strengthen in-depth docking with venue management systems, and build a full-process intelligent venue quality control system; at the same time, domestic Chinese equipment will continue to improve core competitiveness, expand the international market, strengthen global technological cooperation and exchanges, promote the global popularization of testing technologies and equipment, and provide Chinese solutions and contributions for global sports venue safety and the high-quality development of the sports industry.
Relevant enterprise responsible persons revealed that the next step will be to increase R&D investment, focus on key areas such as youth sports venues, rural fitness venues and sports facilities in overseas remote areas, develop more targeted and cost-effective artificial turf and plastic runway testing equipment, and promote in-depth integration of industry, university and research to accelerate the transformation of scientific research achievements. They will also strengthen global channel layout and localized services, allowing precise testing technology to enter more scenarios around the world, protecting the safety and happiness of every sports enthusiast, and helping with the balanced development of global sports cause.
