TWI680001B - Adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment, which comprises a driving wheel, a crank shaft connected to the driving wheel and two crank arms connected to the crank shaft. The driving wheel is connected to a resistance unit so that The driving wheel can obtain appropriate resistance from the resistance unit when rotating. As for the rotation angle of the crank shaft, an angle sensing unit is used for real-time sensing, and a control unit adjusts the resistance unit according to the sensing result of the angle sensing unit. The amount of resistance to the driving wheels enables the resistance provided by the resistance unit to change with the angle of the crank shaft. Thereby, the resistance is the maximum when the crank arm is at the position where the user can step on to generate the maximum torque, and the resistance is the minimum when the crank arm is at the position where the user can't apply the torque, which makes it easier for the rider to complete the low speed. High power training.

Description

Adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment

The present invention relates to fitness equipment, and particularly to an adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment.

During the riding of the bicycle, when the two crank arms are located at 0 degrees and 180 degrees respectively, that is, when the two crank arms are in a horizontal state of front to back, because the pedaling force is perpendicular to the force arm, The moment is the largest. Conversely, when the two crank arms are located at 90 degrees and 270 degrees respectively, that is, when the two crank arms are up and down, the torque generated is almost zero due to the stepping force parallel to the force arm.

However, in a rotating system, the power is equal to the torque multiplied by the speed. When this rotating system needs to generate constant power, if the speed is smaller, the torque will increase in a non-linear manner, but because the rider ’s pedaling force is The two crank arms in an upright position do not constitute a moment, so this dead point will not be overcome, and the training will not proceed smoothly.

The main object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment, which can adjust the resistance according to the angle change of the crank arm.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned main objective, the adjustable resistance system of the present invention includes a crank unit, an angle sensing unit, a resistance unit, and a control unit. The crank unit has a driving wheel, a crank shaft, and two crank arms. The crank shaft is connected to the driving wheel and can be synchronized with the driving wheel. The two crank arms are connected to two ends of the crank shaft and can be stepped on. The force drives the crank shaft to rotate with the driving wheel; the angle sensing unit is provided on the crank shaft to sense the angle change of the crank unit; the resistance unit is connected to the driving wheel to provide resistance to the Driving wheel; the control unit is electrically connected to the angle sensing unit and the resistance unit, so that the control unit adjusts the amount of resistance provided by the resistance unit to the driving wheel according to the sensing result of the angle sensing unit, thereby allowing the rider to ride It is easier for occupants to complete training at low speed and high power.

Preferably, when the two crank arms are located at a position generating the maximum torque, the resistance provided by the resistance unit to the driving wheel is the largest, and when the two crank arms are located at a position generating the minimum torque, the resistance unit is provided to the driving wheel. The least resistance.

Preferably, the resistance unit is selected from one of a permanent magnet resistance unit, an electromagnetic resistance unit, a self-generating resistance unit or a motor, and the angle sensing unit is selected from an inductive encoder, an optical encoder, or a magnetic encoder. Device one of them.

The detailed structure, characteristics, assembling or using method of the adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment provided by the present invention will be described in the detailed description of the subsequent embodiments. However, those having ordinary knowledge in the field of the present invention should understand that the detailed descriptions and the specific embodiments listed in the implementation of the present invention are only used to illustrate the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention.

The applicant first explains here that throughout the specification, including the embodiments described below and the claims in the scope of patent application, the terms related to directionality are based on the directions in the drawings. Secondly, in the embodiments and drawings to be described below, the same component numbers represent the same or similar components or their structural features.

Please refer to FIG. 1. The fitness equipment 10 shown in the figure is a vertical exercise bike, which includes a frame 11, an operation panel 16, a seat cushion 17, two pedals 18, and an adjustable resistance system 20, The frame 11 includes a base 12, a riser 13, and a seat post 14. The bottom end of the riser 13 is fixed to the front end of the base 12, and the top end of the riser 13 is assembled with the operation panel 16. The housing 19 is fixed to the rear half of the base 12 to provide protection for the adjustable resistance system 20. The bottom end of the seat post 14 is penetrated in the housing 19 and fixed at the center of the base 12. The top end of the seat post 14 is assembled with the seat cushion 17.

Please refer to FIGS. 2 a and 6 again. The adjustable resistance system 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a crank unit 40, an angle sensing unit 50, a resistance unit 60, and a control unit 70.

The crank unit 40 includes a driving wheel 30, a crank shaft 42 and two left and right crank arms 44. The crank shaft 42 is assembled with the driving wheel 30, and the crank shaft 42 is threaded in a support base 15 in a rotatable manner, and the support base 15 is fixed on the front side of the seat post 14. The two crank arms 44 are exposed at Outside of the casing 19, one end of the two crank arms 44 is fixed to the left and right ends of the crank shaft 42, and the other ends of the two crank arms 44 are respectively assembled with a pedal 18. Thereby, when the two pedals 18 are subjected to the stepping force, the two crank arms 44 can be driven to rotate together with the crank shaft 42, and then the driving wheels 30 are driven to rotate by the crank shaft 42.

The angle sensing unit 50 is disposed on the crank shaft 42 to sense the change in the angle of the crank unit 40, and is particularly used to sense the change in the angle of the two crank arms 44 during pedaling. In the present invention, the angle sensing unit 50 has three different aspects, which are magnetic encoders (as shown in FIG. 2a, FIG. 3a, and FIG. 4a), and inductive encoders (as shown in FIG. 3b, FIG. 4b, and FIG. 5b). (Shown in Fig. 3c, Fig. 4c and Fig. 5c), since the aforementioned three types of encoders are all known technologies, the detailed structure and operation principle will not be repeated here.

The resistance unit 60 is a motor in this embodiment. The resistance unit 60 is installed at the rear end of the base 12 and has a rotating shaft 61. The rotating shaft 61 is connected to the driving wheel 30 by a transmission mechanism 62 (such as a combination of a timing belt and a timing belt pulley), so that the rotation shaft 61 can be synchronized with the driving wheel 30. Act. Therefore, when the resistance unit 60 is energized and not running, the torque holding force of the rotating shaft 61 forms resistance to the driving wheel 30, so that the pedaling force applied to the driving wheel 30 needs to overcome this resistance to make the driving wheel 30 rotate smoothly. Moreover, the larger the current passing through the resistance unit 60, the larger the torque holding force of the rotating shaft 61 is.

The control unit 70 is integrated with the operation panel 16 in this embodiment, and can be electrically connected to the angle sensing unit 50 and the resistance unit 60 by using a wired (such as a wire, not shown) or wireless connection method according to actual needs. The connection effect, however, in practice, the control unit 70 may be separated from the operation panel 16 and installed at another appropriate position (for example, on the frame 11). Thereby, the control unit 70 controls the amount of current output to the resistance unit 60 according to the sensing result of the angle sensing unit 50, and then adjusts the amount of resistance provided by the resistance unit 60 to the driving wheel 30, so that the resistance is generated when the crank arm 44 is located The position at the maximum moment is maximum, and the position is the minimum when the crank arm 44 is at the position where the minimum moment is generated. In this embodiment, the resistance and the rotation angle of the crank arm 44 satisfy the following relationship: ,one of them Is normalized resistance, This is the angle of the crank arm 44 relative to a reference plane P that passes perpendicularly through the center of the crank shaft 42, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Therefore, when the two crank arms 44 are in a horizontal state one after the other, that is, when θ is 90 degrees and 270 degrees, the resistance unit 60 provides the maximum resistance to the driving wheel 30, and when the two crank arms 44 exhibit a In the upright state, that is, when θ is 0 degrees and 180 degrees, the resistance unit 60 provides the minimum resistance to the driving wheels 30. In addition, the invention of this case can better meet the demand for constant power exercise. For example, when a user wants to perform a constant power exercise of 100W, when θ is 0 degrees and 180 degrees, the power will be less than 100W (for example, 50W), and When θ is 90 degrees and 270 degrees, a power greater than 100W (for example, 150W) will be output. Therefore, when the two crank arms 44 are rotated once to return to the starting point, the power will be constant at a predetermined value. 100W to achieve the purpose of constant power.

On the other hand, the resistance unit 60 is not limited to the use of a motor. A permanent magnet resistance unit (as shown in Figs. 3a to 3c), an electromagnetic resistance unit (as shown in Figs. 4a to 4c), or a self-generating resistance unit ( As shown in Figures 5a to 5c), the three are connected to the driving wheel 30 by a transmission mechanism 63 composed of a belt and a pulley. The difference between the three is that the permanent magnet resistance unit uses a changing magnet The position of 64 relative to the flywheel 65 is used to adjust the rotation resistance of the flywheel 65, and the resistance applied to the drive wheel 30 is adjusted through the flywheel 65 and the transmission mechanism 63. The electromagnetic resistance unit and the self-generating resistance unit use a control current. The torque holding force of the rotating shaft is adjusted according to the size, and the resistance applied to the driving wheels 30 is adjusted through the rotating shaft and the transmission mechanism 63. In addition, the aforementioned three different types of resistance units 60 can also be arbitrarily matched with different angle sensing units 50. For example, in FIGS. 3a to 3c, the resistance units 60 are all permanent magnet resistance units, and the angle sensing unit 50 depends on The sequence is a magnetic encoder, an inductive encoder and an optical encoder; in Figures 4a to 4c, the resistance unit 60 is an electromagnetic resistance unit, and the angle sensing unit 50 is a magnetic encoder, an inductive encoder, and an optical sensor in order. Encoder; as in Figs. 5a to 5c, the resistance unit 60 is a self-generating resistance unit, and the angle sensing unit 50 is a magnetic encoder, an inductive encoder, and an optical encoder in order. However, no matter how it is matched, the control unit 70 can control the amount of resistance provided by the resistance unit 60 to the driving wheels 30 according to the sensing result of the angle sensing unit 50.

It must also be explained that the adjustable resistance system 20 provided by the present invention is not limited to being used in the upright exercise bike disclosed in FIG. 1, and can also be applied to other different types of exercise equipment (as shown in FIG. 9). Recumbent exercise bike). In this case, the relationship between the resistance provided by the resistance unit 60 and the rotation angle of the crank arm 44 can be adjusted according to actual needs (for example, the riding position of the rider), as long as the time point at which the resistance is maximum and minimum This occurs when the crank arm 44 is in a position where the maximum torque and the minimum torque are generated. for example:

The relationship between the two can be adjusted to: ,one of them For resistance, θ is the angle of the crank arm 44 with respect to the reference plane P. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 10, when θ is between 0 degrees to 45 degrees, 135 degrees to 180 degrees, and 315 degrees to 360 degrees, the resistance provided by the resistance unit 60 is the smallest. When θ is between 45 degrees and 135 degrees and between 225 degrees and 315 degrees, the resistance provided by the resistance unit 60 is the largest.

In addition, the relationship between the two can be adjusted to: ,one of them For resistance, Is the angle of the crank arm 44 with respect to the reference plane P. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 11, the time points when the resistance is the smallest occur when θ is 45 degrees and 225 degrees, and the time points when the resistance is the greatest occur when θ is 135 degrees and 315 degrees.

In summary, the adjustable resistance system 10 of the present invention can adjust the resistance with the change in the angle of the crank arm 44 so that the resistance is maximized when the rider applies the maximum torque to the crank arm 44 and the rider The position where the minimum torque is applied to the crank arm 44 is the smallest, so that it is easier for the rider to complete the training with low speed and high power. In addition, the rider can set the resistance at various angles according to the requirements of use or training, such as training of three iron players. For example, the most difficult position is to set the maximum resistance to achieve the purpose of enhancing training.

10‧‧‧Fitness Equipment

11‧‧‧frame

12‧‧‧ base

13‧‧‧ riser

14‧‧‧seat

15‧‧‧ support

16‧‧‧operation panel

17‧‧‧ seat cushion

18‧‧‧ pedal

19‧‧‧ shell

20‧‧‧ Adjustable resistance system

30‧‧‧Drive Wheel

40‧‧‧Crank unit

42‧‧‧ crank shaft

44‧‧‧ crank arm

50‧‧‧Angle sensing unit

60‧‧‧ resistance unit

61‧‧‧Shaft

62, 63‧‧‧ Transmission mechanism

64‧‧‧ Magnet

65‧‧‧flywheel

70‧‧‧control unit

P‧‧‧ datum

θ‧‧‧ angle

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vertical exercise bike to which the adjustable resistance system of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2a is a perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is a magnetic encoder.
FIG. 2b is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an inductive encoder.
FIG. 2c is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an optical encoder.
FIG. 3a is a perspective view of an adjustable resistance system according to a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is a magnetic encoder.
FIG. 3b is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an inductive encoder.
FIG. 3c is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an optical encoder.
FIG. 4a is a perspective view of an adjustable resistance system according to a third embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is a magnetic encoder.
FIG. 4b is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the third embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an inductive encoder.
FIG. 4c is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the third embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an optical encoder.
5a is a perspective view of an adjustable resistance system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is a magnetic encoder.
FIG. 5b is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an inductive encoder.
FIG. 5c is another perspective view of the adjustable resistance system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, wherein the angle sensing unit is an optical encoder.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an adjustable resistance system according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an angle change of a crank arm provided by the adjustable resistance system of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a curve diagram of the resistance change of the adjustable resistance system applied to a vertical exercise bike of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a horizontal exercise bike to which the adjustable resistance system of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 10 is a curve diagram of the resistance change of the adjustable resistance system applied to the horizontal exercise bike of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is another resistance change curve of the adjustable resistance system applied to the horizontal exercise bike of the present invention.

Claims (7)

An adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment includes: a crank unit having a driving wheel, a crank shaft and two crank arms, the crank shaft is connected to the driving wheel, and the two crank arms are provided on the second of the crank shafts Opposite end; an angle sensing unit provided on the crank shaft to sense an angle change of the crank unit; a resistance unit connected to the driving wheel to provide resistance to the driving wheel; and a control unit, electric The angle sensing unit and the resistance unit are sexually connected, so that the control unit adjusts the amount of resistance provided by the resistance unit to the driving wheel according to the sensing result of the angle sensing unit. The adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment according to claim 1, wherein when the two crank arms are located at a position that generates the maximum torque, the resistance provided by the resistance unit to the driving wheel is the largest, and when the two crank arms are located at At the minimum torque position, the resistance provided by the resistance unit to the driving wheel is the smallest. The adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment according to claim 1, wherein the resistance provided by the resistance unit and the rotation angle of the crank arm satisfy the following relationship: Where τ is the resistance and θ is the angle of the crank arm relative to a reference plane that passes perpendicularly through the center of the crank axis. The adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment according to claim 1, wherein the resistance provided by the resistance unit and the rotation angle of the crank arm satisfy the following relationship: Where τ is the resistance and θ is the angle of the crank arm relative to a reference plane that passes perpendicularly through the center of the crank axis. The adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment according to claim 1, wherein the resistance provided by the resistance unit and the rotation angle of the crank arm satisfy the following relationship: Where τ is the resistance and θ is the angle of the crank arm relative to a reference plane that passes perpendicularly through the center of the crank axis. The adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment according to claim 1, wherein the resistance unit is one of a permanent magnet resistance unit, an electromagnetic resistance unit, a self-generating resistance unit, or a motor. The adjustable resistance system for fitness equipment according to claim 1, wherein the angle sensing unit is one of an inductive encoder, an optical encoder, or a magnetic encoder.