JP2001071726A - Wheel for bicycle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve durability and safety of a bicycle by providing a gas pressure governor which refills gas into a tire from a small pressure gas cylinder through a gas conduit when tire pressure is lowered so as to retain the tire at a constant pressure. SOLUTION: A small pressure gas cylinder 6 has capacity of about 100 cc or below and is formed into an optional shape that can be attached to the vicinity of the axle of a wheel, and air or compressed gas such as carbon dioxide is filled into the inside of the cylinder 6. When gas pressure in a tire 5 is lowered, a gas pressure regulator 7 refills gas in the inside of the tire 5 from the cylinder 6 through a gas conduit 8 so as to retain the tire 5 to a constant pressure. The tip part of the gas conduit 8 is connected to a valve communicated with a tube in the tire 5 by a connecting part 9. Each of cylinder 6 and regulator 7 is arranged in a diagonal position centering around a hub 3. Tire internal pressure can be kept always constant for a long period of time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the improvement of wheels using tires inflated by air or other gas pressure, which are used for general bicycles or motorized bicycles. The aim is to automatically replenish the tire gas pressure to make it maintenance-free, to ensure the safety of cycling, and to improve durability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally known bicycle wheels are equipped with a tube-mounted tire on the outer periphery of a rim, and a gas such as air is supplied to the tube at an optimum pressure (generally 2.5 kg
f / cm ² or more) and used for traveling. It is necessary to prepare an air pump to periodically replenish the gas pressure which is naturally released over time and decrease, and use it after replenishing every few months. There is. It is also known to use gas cylinders in addition to air pumps.

[0003]

However, it is difficult to carry an air pump, a gas cylinder, etc. at all times, and they are often lost during storage. Since it is difficult to know, the gas pressure becomes too large and the durability of the tires and tubes is degraded, or the tires and tubes may be damaged during running due to insufficient gas pressure, or there is a danger of causing accidents due to wandering Many.

[0004] In this case, an attempt has been made in the field of automobile wheels to provide a device for automatically supplying gas from a gas cylinder via an air pressure regulator as the tire pressure decreases. Even if the weight of the vehicle is about 1 ton and the engine is driven, it has little effect, even if it has almost no effect.
If the vehicle weight is around 0 kg and it is driven mainly by human treading force, it will have an excessive effect on driving and running stability, and it is impossible to apply these as it is. is there.

[0005]

Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and has an average weight of 10 to 10.
In a bicycle of about 15 kg, while maintaining the stability of driving and running, the tire gas pressure is not required to be replenished for at least two years, and the durability and safety of the bicycle are improved. The invention of claim 1 provides a small-pressure gas cylinder, a gas conduit for connecting between the cylinder and a gas injection valve of the tire, and a gas conduit from the small-pressure gas cylinder when the tire gas pressure is reduced. And a gas pressure regulator for replenishing the tire to maintain the tire at a constant pressure.

A second aspect of the present invention relates to the bicycle wheel according to the first aspect, wherein the small-sized pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are respectively mounted at symmetrical positions around the axle. Furthermore, the invention of claim 3 is that the small-pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are mounted at symmetrical positions about the axle, respectively, such that the center of mass is located at least within a radius of 90 mm from the axis. The present invention relates to a bicycle wheel according to claims 1 and 2.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 relates to a bicycle wheel according to claim 1, wherein a small-sized pressure gas cylinder and a gas regulator are inserted into a hub of an axle. Furthermore, the invention of claim 5 relates to the bicycle wheel according to claims 1 and 4, wherein the hub of the axle has a radius of 90 mm or less.

[0008] The invention of claim 6 further provides a small-sized pressure gas bottle.
At least 3 kgf / cm ²With the above gas pressure
Singly or two or more of air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc.
Gas pressure regulator and gas conduit filled with mixed gas
And wherein the sum of the total weights of these is 450 g or less.
The present invention relates to a bicycle wheel described in any one of claims 1 to 5. Claim 7
The invention of the above, wherein the diameter of the gas conduit is 10 mm or less
A bicycle wheel according to any one of claims 1 to 6. further
The invention of claim 8 provides a small pressure gas cylinder and a gas pressure regulator,
And the sum of the total weight of the gas lines is less than 5% of the weight of the bicycle
The bicycle wheel according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein:

In the above configuration, when the gas pressure of the tire naturally decreases, the gas pressure regulator opens, and pressurized gas is supplied from a small pressure gas cylinder through a gas conduit to the injection valve until the tire internal pressure reaches a specified amount. Keep the internal pressure constant at all times.

When the small pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are mounted at symmetrical positions about the axle, respectively, the small pressure gas cylinder and the pressure regulator are further symmetrically positioned about the axle. When mounted so that the center of mass is located at least within a radius of 90 mm from the shaft center, or when a small pressure gas cylinder and a pressure regulator are inserted in the hub of the axle, and further in this case, the hub of the axle When the diameter is within 180 mm, the mass balance of the wheels during traveling becomes good, and the stability of traveling is not impaired.

Further, the small pressure gas cylinder has a gas pressure of at least 3 kgf / cm ² or more,
When a single gas or a mixture of two or more gases such as carbon dioxide is filled and the sum of the total weight of the gas regulator and the gas conduit is 450 g or less, the mass ratio to the total weight of the bicycle is small, and It hardly affects the driving. Further, when the diameter of the gas conduit is 10 mm or less, there is almost no wind pressure resistance during traveling, and the sum of the total weight of the small pressure gas cylinder, the gas pressure regulator, and the gas conduit is within 5% of the weight of the bicycle. In some cases, it does not affect the driving or stability by human power.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The specific contents of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 5. 1 is used as a front wheel or a rear wheel of a bicycle or a bicycle with an electric auxiliary power. The wheel 1 is composed of a rim 2 and a tire 5 mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the rim 2. Further, the rim 2 has a large number of spokes 4 protruding toward the centripetal direction at regular intervals from the entire inner circumferential side surface thereof, and the spoke 4 has a centripetal position for attaching to the axle (not shown). A hub 3 is formed.

On the other hand, the tire 5 has an endless shape, a tube (not shown) is inserted therein, and a part of the tube is provided with a valve (not shown) for supplying or discharging gas pressure into the tube. (Omitted) is attached, and its tip protrudes from the valve hole (not shown) formed toward the inner peripheral side of the rim toward the inner peripheral direction of the rim.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, in which 6 is a small pressure gas cylinder, 8 is a gas conduit connecting the small pressure gas cylinder 6 to a gas injection valve of the tire 5, Reference numeral 7 denotes a gas pressure regulator, and the small pressure gas cylinder 6 has a capacity of about 100 CC or less and has an arbitrary shape which can be mounted near the axle of the wheel, and has a compressed air or carbon dioxide gas inside. Gas is filled. When the gas pressure of the tire 5 decreases, the gas pressure regulator 7 replenishes the gas from the small pressure gas cylinder 6 into the tire 5 through the gas conduit 8 to maintain the tire at a constant pressure. In the drawing, reference numeral 9 denotes a connecting portion for connecting the distal end of the gas conduit 8 to a valve connecting to a tube in the tire 5.

In this case, in order to keep the mass balance of the wheel 1 good, the small pressure gas cylinder 6 and the gas pressure regulator 7 are mounted at symmetrical positions around the axle, that is, the axis of the hub 3. It is preferable to do so. Furthermore, the small pressure gas cylinder 6 and the gas pressure regulator 7 need to be mounted so as to be symmetrical with respect to the axle, respectively, so that the center of mass is located at least within a radius of 90 mm from the axis.

[0016]

[Embodiment 1] When a small pressure gas cylinder 6 or a gas pressure regulator 7 is attached to a wheel 1 of a bicycle, it is natural that the lighter the weight, the smaller the weight of the gas cylinder 6 and the smaller the gas pressure regulator 7. However, it is a fact that the total weight of the pressure cylinder 6 and the gas pressure regulator 7 is necessarily inevitably heavy to some extent. Therefore, it is extremely important to know how much weight will affect actual driving. When traveling with a load placed on a normal bicycle carrier, the effect of the load is generally felt from around 400 g.

The bicycle used was manufactured by Miyata Kogyo Co., Ltd. to which the present inventor belongs and has a nominal body weight of 16.3 kg. The number of experimental staff is 18 and the average weight is about 60k
g. The load used was a copper wire wound uniformly around the two front and rear wheel shafts. The results are as shown in Table 1.

[Table 1] Negative load (g): 700 900 1,100 1,400 Person who felt heavy feeling: 0 1 125 In this case, the evaluation method based on the load weight is compared with the case of no load. 18km /
The evaluation was made based on whether a clear feeling of weight was felt at any time during h running.

As is clear from the results in Table 1, it was revealed that when the load exceeds 1 kg, which is more than double the load, contrary to the expectation, the effect of the load appears. As a result, regarding the sum of the total weights of the components in the present invention,
It became clear that there was no practical problem if the amount was 900 g or less.

[0020]

Embodiment 2 In this embodiment, a small pressure gas cylinder 6 is used.
An experiment was conducted on the stability during running by installing the gas pressure regulator 7 and the gas conduit 8 for supplying the pressure gas.
Two types of bicycles were prepared by Miyata Kogyo Co., Ltd. to which the present inventor belongs: body weight: nominally 16.3 kg and 9.9 kg. Evaluation staff 20 people, running speed 18 ~
It is 20 km / h. The evaluation was made based on whether or not an unusual shaking of the vehicle body was felt. The results of the experiment are as shown in Table 2. The results in Table 2 show the total value of the two front and rear wheels (the load on each wheel is the same).

[Table 2] Bicycle evaluation value Not felt Felt slightly Feel (almost not felt) (No problem in practical use) 16.3 60 g 18 20 kg car 80 g 8 1 20 100 g 2 8 10 9.9 30 g 1550 kg car 50g 4 16 70g 0 6 14

According to Table 1, the weight of the bicycle is 16.3k.
In the case of a g-vehicle, there is no practical problem when the total weight of the pressure cylinder 6, the gas pressure regulator 7, and the gas conduit 8 is about 80 g, but when the total weight exceeds 100 g, vibration during traveling increases. For a bicycle with a weight of 9.9 kg, 50
When the weight is about g, there is no practical problem, but when the weight is about 70 g, the vibration during running becomes large. Therefore, from the above experimental results, the sum of the total weights of the small pressure gas cylinder 6, the gas pressure regulator 7, and the gas pipe 8 for supplying the pressure gas applicable to the present invention is within 5% of the weight of the vehicle body. I knew it needed to be.

[0023]

Embodiment 3 In this embodiment, a small pressure gas cylinder 6 and a gas pressure regulator 7 are installed at diagonal positions centering on the hub 3 based on Embodiment 2 (see FIG. 1). ) And the small pressure gas cylinder 6 is divided into two parts, and a gas pressure regulator 7 is added thereto to make a total of three parts. These parts are divided into three parts at symmetrical positions around the hub 3 (see FIG. 2).
A prototype of the two configurations was made and a running stability test was conducted. The test method was the same as that of Example 2 described above, and a bicycle weighing 16.3 kg was used. The load weight was about 80 g and 100 g, and the weights of the diagonal part and the three-part part were the same. The results are as shown in Table 3.

[Table 3] Positional aspect Evaluation value Not felt Felt slightly Felt (almost not felt) (No problem in practical use) Diagonal 80g 15550 100g 61311 3 divisions 80g 18 200 100g 11900

As is clear from the results in Table 3, it was found that the influence of vibration can be almost eliminated by increasing the number of divisions (the number of symmetric positions) even when the mass is about 100 g.

[0026]

Embodiment 4 In this embodiment, the effect of the thickness of the gas conduit 8 on running was studied. The bicycle used for the experiment had a vehicle weight of 12.9 kg manufactured by Miyata Kogyo Co., Ltd. to which the present inventors belong. The arrangement of the gas conduits 8 was the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and the evaluation method was changed by changing the diameter of the cylindrical conduit (80 g or less in total of the two wheels), and five people evaluated the feeling of wind noise during running. The evaluation was performed by a person. Table 4 shows the results.

[Table 4] Wind noise: not felt slightly felt felt (almost not felt) (no problem in practical use) Diameter: 5 mm 500 0 10 mm 4 10 15 mm 2 3 0 20 mm 1 3 1

From the above results, it was found that the thickness of the gas conduit 8 needs to be 15 mm or less in outer diameter.

[0029]

Embodiment 5 In this embodiment, a small pressure gas cylinder 6, a gas pressure regulator 7 and a gas conduit 8 are connected to the bicycle wheel 1.
We investigated the variation of the load sensation when installed near the axle, and conducted an experiment on how much these should be close to the axle. In the experiment, the same vehicle weight (12.9 k) as used in the fourth embodiment was used.
g) A small pressure gas cylinder 6 and gas pressure regulator 7
In addition, two types are prepared: a case where the gas conduit 8 is mounted within a radius of 90 mm around the axle and a case where the gas conduit 8 is also mounted within a radius of 105 mm. With the cooperation of 10 evaluation personnel, especially when starting the initial drive The experiment about the load sensation was performed.

As a result, a radius of 105 m around the axle
All the evaluation staff members felt a sense of load when attached within m, but no one complained of load feeling when attached within a radius of 90 mm. From these results, it was found that in order to obtain a smooth running sensation, it is necessary to mount the vehicle within a radius of 90 mm around the axle.

In view of the results of the research conducted in the various embodiments described above, the present invention shows that the small pressure gas cylinder 6 and the gas pressure regulator 7 are installed at diagonal positions around the hub 3 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the small pressure gas cylinder 6 is divided into two parts, and a gas pressure regulator 7 is added thereto to make a total of three parts. It is preferable to mount it at a symmetrical position about the axle.

The small pressure gas cylinder 6 and the gas pressure regulator 7
Ideally, the gas conduit 8 is mounted at a symmetrical position about the axle, and the center of mass is located at least within a radius of 90 mm from the axis. In order to further improve the appearance, it is effective to insert the small pressure gas cylinder 6 and the gas pressure regulator 7 into the hub 3 of the axle as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG.

The small-pressure gas cylinder 6 has a gas pressure of at least 3 kgf / cm ² or more, and is filled with a single gas or a mixture of two or more of air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and the like. The sum of the total weight with the gas conduit 8 and 450 g or less can be said to be suitable for practical use of the present invention. Further, the diameter of the gas conduit 8 used in the present invention is preferably 10 mm or less, and the sum of the total weight of the small pressure gas cylinder 6, the gas pressure regulator 7, and the gas conduit 8 is less than the weight of the bicycle. If it is within 5%, it can function as the optimal bicycle wheel planned by the present invention.

A small pressure gas cylinder 6 and a gas pressure regulator 7
In the case where the pressure gas is charged into the hub 3 of the axle, as shown in FIG.
And the hub 3
You may make it charge inside.

[0035]

According to the present invention, as described above, a small-pressure gas cylinder, a gas conduit connecting the gas cylinder to the gas injection valve from the cylinder, and a gas conduit from the small-pressure gas cylinder when the tire gas pressure decreases. And a gas pressure regulator that replenishes the gas and maintains the tire at a constant pressure, so that when the gas pressure of the tire falls naturally, the pressure regulator opens, and the pressure gas is supplied from the small pressure gas cylinder to the gas conduit. Thus, the pressurized gas can be automatically supplied to the injection valve until the tire internal pressure reaches a specified amount, and the tire internal pressure can be constantly maintained for a long period of time.

When the small pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are mounted at symmetrical positions around the axle, respectively, further, the small pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are at symmetrical positions around the axle. When the vehicle is mounted such that the center of mass is located at least within a radius of 90 mm from the axis of the axle, or when a small pressure gas cylinder and a gas pressure regulator are inserted into the hub of the axle, The wheel has a good mass balance, and does not impair running stability.

Furthermore, the small pressure gas cylinder has a gas pressure of at least 3 kgf / cm ² or more,
When a single gas or a mixture of two or more gases such as carbon dioxide is filled and the sum of the total weight of the gas regulator and the gas conduit is 450 g or less, the mass ratio to the total weight of the bicycle is small, and It hardly affects the driving. Further, when the diameter of the gas conduit is 10 mm or less, there is almost no wind pressure resistance during traveling, and the sum of the total weight of the small pressure gas cylinder, the gas pressure regulator, and the gas conduit is within 5% of the weight of the bicycle. In some cases, various beneficial effects are exhibited, such as not affecting the driving and stability by human power.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a wheel according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a wheel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a wheel according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a wheel according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view and an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a wheel according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wheel 2 Rim 3 Hub 4 Spoke 5 Tire 6 Small pressure gas cylinder 7 Gas pressure regulator 8 Gas conduit 9 Connection

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A small-pressure gas cylinder, a gas conduit connecting between the cylinder and a gas injection valve of the tire, and a gas replenishing means for supplying a tire through a gas conduit from the small-pressure gas cylinder when the tire gas pressure decreases. Wheel with a gas pressure regulator for maintaining the pressure at a constant level. 2. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1, wherein the small pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are respectively mounted at symmetrical positions around the axle. 3. The small pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are symmetrically positioned around the axle, respectively, and are mounted such that the center of mass is located at least within a radius of 90 mm from the axis. And the bicycle wheel according to claim 2. 4. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1, wherein the small pressure gas cylinder and the gas pressure regulator are mounted in a hub of an axle. 5. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1, wherein the axle hub has a radius of 90 mm or less. 6. The small pressure gas cylinder is at least 3 kg.
The gas pressure is f / cm ² or more, and a single gas or a mixture of two or more gases such as air / nitrogen / carbon dioxide is filled, and the total weight of the gas regulator and the gas conduit is 450 g.
The bicycle wheel according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: 7. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of the gas conduit is 10 mm or less. 8. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1, wherein the total weight of the small pressure gas cylinder, the gas pressure regulator and the gas conduit is within 5% of the weight of the bicycle.