JP2016040148A - Wheel device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wheel device having a step climbing function which needs only a small force to climb a step and is easily replaced with an existing wheel.SOLUTION: A wheel device of the invention includes: (1) a tire; (2) a wheel in which the tire is attached to an outer periphery so as to freely rotate in a relative manner; (3) a shaft member which is fixed to a frame of a vehicle device and extends in parallel to a vertical direction of the wheel; (4) a member which restricts a moving path of the shaft member between a first position in an outer periphery of the wheel and a second position located at the advance side relative to the first position; and (5) a member which applies an elastic force to the shaft member so that the shaft member is positioned in the first position when the wheel device travels in a normal state, allowed to move to the second position when the wheel device climbs the step, and returned to the first position when the wheel device moves to an upper tier of the step.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a wheel device, and can be applied to wheel devices of wheelbarrows such as silver cars, strollers, shopping carts, wheelchairs, and handwheels such as suitcases and carry bags.

  Many manual vehicles use human power as power for movement, and some of them are operated by people with weaker power than others. For example, a silver car is a vehicle intended to be used by an elderly person.

  The silver car is configured by connecting a front wheel, a rear wheel, a pusher part, and a seat part that also serves as a luggage storage container and luggage storage by a frame or the like. Since a silver car runs outdoors by walking and pushing manually, there are various steps on the route, which obstructs driving. Conventionally, a step-over mechanism for overcoming a step on a route has been proposed for various vehicles as well as silver cars.

  The conventional step-over mechanism can be roughly classified into three. The first uses an auxiliary tool (including an auxiliary wheel) that comes into contact with the step prior to the wheel (see Patent Documents 1 to 3). Secondly, a plurality of small wheels are arranged at equal angular intervals from the same center of rotation to constitute one wheel device as a whole (see Patent Document 4). The third uses a caterpillar configuration such as that used for tanks and bulltozers.

JP 2012-081941 A JP 2006-306246 A JP 2002-200120 A JP 2012-143519 A

  However, it is difficult to apply the step climbing mechanism using the auxiliary tool by replacing it with an existing wheel device depending on the diameter of the wheel and the shape of the auxiliary tool. Further, the wheel device becomes large and complicated by the amount of the auxiliary tool. Furthermore, when the vehicle is on standby, a third party or another device may come into contact with the assisting tool to cause damage, and the person in contact may be damaged. Furthermore, depending on the assisting tool, there is a device in which the force required to get over the step is still larger than the force required to travel the vehicle, and the advantage of using the assisting tool is small.

  Currently, patent applicants are researching and developing silver cars having a pet housing part that houses pets such as small dogs in addition to a normal housing part. Driving a silver car containing a pet requires more power than ever before, so the power that can be used to climb over a step is reduced. Such a silver car is required to be able to overcome the steps with a small force.

  In the step climbing mechanism using a plurality of small wheels, the force required to climb over the step is considerably larger than the force required for walking depending on the distance between the small wheel and the rotation center that rotates the entire small wheel. Further, because of the distance, the step (height) that can be overcome is limited to be small. Furthermore, when replacing existing wheels, the step climbing mechanism using a plurality of small wheels has to be redesigned, resulting in low alternative performance.

  The caterpillar configuration is a technique that is difficult to apply to manual vehicles such as wheelbarrows and handcarts because the overall configuration is large and complicated.

  Therefore, there is a demand for a wheel device having a step-overstep function that requires a small force for stepping over and can easily cope with replacement with an existing wheel.

  The wheel device of the present invention includes (1) a tire, (2) a wheel having the tire attached to the outer periphery so as to be relatively freely rotatable, and (3) a frame of a vehicle device provided with the wheel device. A shaft member fixed in parallel to the vertical direction of the wheel, and (4) a first position within the outer periphery of the wheel, and a second position on the traveling side from the first position. And (5) the shaft member is positioned at the first position during normal travel of the wheel device, and the shaft member is moved over the step of the wheel device. An elastic force is applied to the shaft member such that the shaft member is allowed to move to the second position, and the shaft member is returned to the first position when the wheel device moves to the upper stage of the step. And an elastic force applying member.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the wheel apparatus which has the level | step climbing function which can respond easily also with the replacement with the existing wheel with small force required for level | step climbing is realizable.

It is a schematic front view of the wheel apparatus of an embodiment. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is explanatory drawing (1) of level | step climbing operation | movement of the wheel apparatus of embodiment. It is explanatory drawing (2) of level | step difference operation of the wheel apparatus of embodiment. It is explanatory drawing (3) of level | step difference operation of the wheel apparatus of embodiment. It is explanatory drawing (4) of the level | step difference operation of the wheel apparatus of embodiment. It is a schematic front view of the wheel apparatus of other embodiment.

(A) Main Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of a wheel device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, it is assumed that the wheel device of the embodiment is applied to a front wheel of a silver car.

(A-1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a schematic front view of the wheel device of the embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II. Note that FIG. 1 also shows a virtual ground so that the vertical direction of the wheel device can be easily understood. In addition, FIG. 1 also shows the traveling direction when the silver car having the wheel device is pushed by hand so that the relationship between the arrangement of each component and the traveling direction can be easily understood.

  The wheel device 1 according to the embodiment mainly includes an axle 2, a wheel 3, a tire 4, and a torsion spring (also referred to as a torsion bar spring or a torsion coil spring) 5.

  The axle 2 is a shaft member that forms a skeleton of a silver car and attaches the wheel device 1 to a front wheel attachment portion (not shown) in the frame, and is, for example, a solid or hollow rod. The axle 2 may be fixed to the front wheel mounting portion of the frame, or may be rotatably mounted. When there are a plurality of front wheels, the axles of the respective front wheels (wheel device 1) may be common, or may be separate bodies. Although FIG. 1 shows a case where the center of the disc-shaped wheel 3 is the home position of the axle 2, the home position of the axle 2 is not limited to this. For example, the home position of the axle 2 may be a position closer to or far from the ground than in FIG. Further, the home position may be shifted before and after the traveling direction. However, considering the stability when traveling while receiving the load of the silver car body, the home position of the axle 2 is preferably the center of the wheel 3.

  In this embodiment, the wheel 3 is not fixed to the axle 2. The wheel 3 holds the tire 4 so that the tire 4 can freely rotate around the wheel 3. For example, a plurality of rollers (or spheres) 6 may be provided on the outer peripheral surface of the wheel 3 to allow relative free rotation of the tire 4, and a rolling bearing is provided on the inner peripheral side of the tire 4. May be provided, and the wheel 3 may be fitted into the rolling bearing to allow relative free rotation of the tire 4. The wheel 3 may be composed of, for example, a single disk having a large thickness (FIGS. 1 and 2 show this case), and the two disks having a small thickness are interposed via spacers. It may be configured to be integrally attached. Further, for example, if a guide configuration (for example, guide groove 7) described later can be secured, a wheel with spokes can be applied as the wheel 3.

  The tire 4 only needs to be able to freely rotate around the wheel 3 without detaching from the wheel 3, and the shape and material thereof are not limited. For example, as the tire 4, a tire whose cross section is a circle (so-called toroidal shape) or a semicircle can be applied, and the outer peripheral shape of the wheel 3 may be selected accordingly. Further, for example, a solid tire 4 may be applied, or a hollow tire into which air or the like can be inserted may be applied.

  The torsion springs 5 are provided on both outer surfaces of the wheel 3. The winding portion 5 a of the torsion spring 5 is loosely fitted to a cylindrical spring mounting shaft 3 a that is erected on the side surface of the wheel 3. Although the case where the spring mounting shaft 3a is fixed only to the wheel 3 is shown, in order to ensure the parallel movement with the axle 2, it may also be fixed to the front wheel mounting portion in the frame described above. . One arm portion 5 b of the torsion spring 5 is in pressure contact with a cylindrical spring stopper 3 b erected on the side surface of the wheel 3, and the other arm portion 5 c of the torsion spring 5 is provided on the axle 2. It is inserted through the through hole 2a. The arm portion 5b is provided so that the tip of the arm portion 5b is located closer to the traveling direction than the center of the wheel 3. The arm portion 5c may be fixed to the axle 2 and may be attached to the axle 2 so as to be movable, and the attachment method is not limited to the insertion into the through hole 2a. The arm portion 5c is arranged along the vertical direction of the ground when the axle 2 is located at the home position, and a spring mounting shaft 3a to which the winding portion 5a is fitted is provided so as to realize this. ing. Of course, the extending direction of the arm portion 5c at the home position of the axle 2 is not limited to the vertical direction of the ground. The spring stopper 3b is provided at a position where pressure in the opening direction is applied to the two arm portions 5b and 5c when the axle 2 is located at the home position. It contributes to the stabilization of the position.

  1 and 2 show the case where the torsion spring 5 is provided in the upper half of the wheel 3, the torsion spring 5 may be provided in the lower half of the wheel 3 (FIGS. 1 and 2). Are provided symmetrically).

  1 and 2 show the case where the torsion springs 5 are provided on both outer surfaces of the wheel 3, but the torsion springs 5 may be provided only on one outer surface. In the case of having an internal space, a configuration around the torsion spring 5 may be provided in the internal space of the wheel 3.

  A guide groove 7 is provided for guiding the movement of the axle 2 when the tire 4 of the wheel device 1 comes into contact with the step or when the wheel device 1 gets over the step. The width of the guide groove 7 is slightly larger than the diameter of the axle 2. The guide groove 7 guides the movement of the axle 2 from the home position until it comes into contact with the arm portion 5b that is in pressure contact with the cylindrical spring stopper 3b. Since the arm portion 5c is inserted into the through hole 5a of the axle 2 and the trajectory when the axle 2 is moved is generally arcuate, the shape of the guide groove 7 in the longitudinal direction is arcuate.

(A-2) Operation | movement of embodiment Next, operation | movement when the wheel apparatus 1 of embodiment gets over a level | step difference is demonstrated, referring drawings.

  When a silver car is running on a generally flat ground (including a surface other than soil such as an asphalt surface) by the user's hand, the axle 2 is maintained at the home position by the elastic force of the torsion spring 5. In the state, the tire 4 freely rotates on the outer periphery of the wheel 3 by friction with the ground. Due to the free rotation of the tire 4, the silver car runs smoothly even if the axle 2 does not rotate.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the wheel device 1 according to the embodiment is in contact with the step by the running of the silver car, the rotation of the tire 4 is stopped.

  The axle 2 fixed to the frame of the silver car moves in the advancing direction against the elastic force of the torsion spring 5 by the continuous push even if it touches the step, and the tire 4 is rotated by the rectilinear movement of the axle 2. Even if the movement is stopped, the attitude of the guide groove 7 into which the axle 2 is inserted changes, and the wheel 3 rotates inside the tire 4, and eventually the axle 2 is guided as shown in FIG. The position on the opposite side of the home position in the groove 7 is reached.

  The position of the axle 2 shown in FIG. 4 is closer to the contact point P between the wheel device 1 and the step than the position shown in FIG. 3 when the wheel device 1 of the embodiment is in contact with the step. In order to get over the step, as shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to rotate the axle 2 fixed to the frame of the silver car around the contact point P and raise the wheel device 1 to the upper stage. As shown, the position of the axle 2 is close to the contact point P, and the turning radius of the axle 2 for exceeding the step is short, so that the force required to exceed the step is small.

  When the wheel device 1 of the embodiment moves to the upper stage, as shown in FIG. 6, the tire 4 returns to a state where it freely rotates, that is, a state in which smooth progress is made. Further, since the resistance force to the relative movement between the wheel 3 and the tire 4 is very small by the roller 6, the torsion spring 5 is not affected by the rotation of the tire 4, and the torsion spring 5 accumulates the torsional force. The spring 5 returns to the normal running posture. That is, the wheel device 1 of the embodiment returns to the posture when traveling on a substantially flat ground.

(A-3) Effect of the Embodiment According to the wheel device of the above embodiment, when the vehicle goes over the step, the axle approaches the center of rotation for overcoming the step, so the force required to get over the step is increased. Can be small. Therefore, even if the user (operator) of the silver car is an elderly person with weak power, he can get over the steps.

  In addition, according to the wheel device of the above embodiment, all the components are contained within the outer periphery of the tire if the thickness direction is not taken into account, so that the components are damaged in contact with an unnecessary object or the like. In addition, it is possible to prevent other objects from being damaged or coming into contact with a third party and being damaged.

  Furthermore, according to the wheel device of the above-described embodiment, all the components are accommodated within the outer periphery of the tire, and the axle is located at the center of the wheel. Therefore, the wheel device can be replaced with an existing silver car wheel device. is there.

(B) Other Embodiments Although various modified embodiments have been mentioned in the description of the above-described embodiment, further modified embodiments as exemplified below can be given.

  Of course, the configuration in which the axle is normally positioned at the home position and is moved when the step is over is not limited to that of the above embodiment. FIG. 7 is a schematic front view showing such a modified embodiment. In this modified embodiment, the helical spring 5 is applied as a spring, the axle 2 is positioned at the home position by the tensile force, and a linear groove 7 is applied as a guide groove.

  In the above-described embodiment, the position in the most traveling direction of the axle 2 is regulated by the arm portion 5b of the torsion spring 5. And the end of the guide groove 7 in the traveling direction may regulate the position of the axle 2 in the most traveling direction.

  In the above embodiment, the guide mechanism using the groove is shown, but the guide mechanism is not limited to this. For example, a guide rail may be applied, and a hole, a recess, or a member that engages with the guide rail may be provided on the axle side.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the wheel device of the present invention is applied to the front wheel of a silver car has been described, but it may be applied to the front wheel of another wheelbarrow such as a stroller, shopping cart, wheelchair, etc. The present invention may be applied to a wheel of a hand-car such as a carry back, and may be applied to a wheel device of an automatic vehicle (for example, an electric wheelchair) as well as a manual vehicle.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wheel apparatus, 2 ... Axle, 3 ... Wheel, 3a ... Spring mounting shaft, 3b ... Spring stopper, 4 ... Tire, 5 ... Torsion spring, 5a ... Torsion spring winding part, 5b, 5c ... Torsion spring Arm part, 6 ... roller, 7 ... guide groove.

The wheel device of the present invention includes (1) a tire, (2) a wheel having the tire attached to the outer periphery so as to be relatively freely rotatable, and (3) a frame of a vehicle device provided with the wheel device. A shaft member fixed in parallel to the vertical direction of the wheel, and (4) a first position within the outer periphery of the wheel, and a second position on the traveling side from the first position. And (5) the shaft member is positioned at the first position during normal travel of the wheel device, and the shaft member is moved over the step of the wheel device. An elastic force is applied to the shaft member such that the shaft member is allowed to move to the second position, and the shaft member is returned to the first position when the wheel device moves to the upper stage of the step. An elastic force application member, (6) the first Position is characterized by the central position der Rukoto the outer circumference of the wheel.

Claims (5)

Tires,
A wheel with the tire attached to the outer periphery so that it can rotate relatively freely;
A shaft member fixed in parallel to the vertical direction of the wheel, fixed to a frame of a vehicle device provided with the wheel device;
A guide member that regulates a movement path of the shaft member between a first position in the outer periphery of the wheel and a second position on the advancing side from the first position;
The shaft member is positioned at the first position during normal running of the wheel device, and the shaft member is allowed to move to the second position when the wheel device gets over the step, and the wheel device is A wheel device comprising: an elastic force applying member that applies an elastic force to the shaft member so that the shaft member is returned to the first position when the shaft member is moved to the upper stage of the step.   The wheel device according to claim 1, wherein the first position is a center position of an outer peripheral circle of the wheel.   The wheel device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the guide member comprises a guide groove.   The elastic force applying member uses a torsion spring, and one arm portion of the torsion spring is fixed, and the other arm portion of the torsion spring is inserted into the shaft member and directed toward the one arm portion. The wheel device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the wheel device is movable.   The wheel device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the torsion spring is provided so that an extension direction of the other arm portion is parallel to a vertical direction of the ground.

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