JP6770563B2 - Bicycle wheel - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bicycle wheel, and more particularly to a bicycle wheel and a method of manufacturing a bicycle wheel that can achieve the effects of light weight and structural strength.

In general, biking is one of the most popular leisure activities today. To provide users with a more convenient and easy ride effect, most manufacturers will work on the development and improvement of bicycles through various structural designs, material compositions, or power transmission methods. For example, in the case of bicycle frames or rims, manufacturers prefer to choose lightweight materials, and composite materials are one of those options. Of the wide range of composites, fiber reinforced polymer composites are the most widely used. The basic composition of the polymer composite material is a fiber and a polymer resin base material. Fibers are a major factor in determining the mechanical properties of composites and are used to withstand main loads and improve the stiffness and fatigue resistance and deformation properties of materials. There are many types of thermoplastics such as polycarbonate (PC) and polyamide (PA). In addition, fibers come in a variety of materials and shapes. Fiber materials commonly used in the industry are glass fiber, carbon fiber, and Kevlar fiber. Fiber shapes include spun fibers, continuous fibers, woven fibers, and short fibers. Also, when applied to structures, continuous fibers are the number one choice for reinforcing fibers due to the high strength requirements of the material.

In addition, the rim is an important medium for the entire bicycle to convert energy into speed, and the quality of the rim affects riding speed, pedaling force, and wind blocking. In addition to light weight, inertia, smoothness, stiffness, and low wind resistance are also important considerations. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of bicycle rims, there is a great demand in the existing industry for a balance between light weight and mechanical strength.

To overcome these drawbacks, the present invention provides a bicycle wheel and an adapter thereof that alleviates or avoids the above problems.

A main object of the present invention is to provide a bicycle wheel and a method for manufacturing a bicycle wheel that can achieve the effects of light weight and structural strength.

The bicycle wheel according to the present invention has a wheel frame. The wheel frame is a hollow annular frame consisting of multiple equally sized wheel bars. Each wheel bar has two halves that are interconnected to form a wheel bar, the two halves being made through lamination, heating, and formation of thermoplastic prepregs, respectively. Wheel bars of equal size are interconnected to form a bicycle wheel.

Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description below, along with the accompanying drawings.

It is a perspective side view which shows the 1st Embodiment of the bicycle wheel which concerns on this invention. It is an operation perspective side view which shows the wheel frame of the bicycle wheel of FIG. 1 which is disassembled into two equal parts. It is an operation perspective side view which shows the wheel frame of the bicycle wheel of FIG. 1 which is disassembled into four equal parts. It is an operation perspective side view which shows the wheel frame of the bicycle wheel of FIG. 1 which is disassembled into six equal parts. It is an operation break side view which shows the wheel bar of the wheel frame of FIG. 1 which is disassembled into two equal parts. It is another operation break side view which shows the wheel bar of the wheel frame of FIG. 1 which is disassembled into two equal parts. It is a perspective side view which shows the 2nd Embodiment of the bicycle wheel of this invention. It is an operation perspective view which shows the rib of the bicycle wheel of FIG. 7 which is disassembled into two equal parts. FIG. 7 is another perspective view showing the ribs of the bicycle wheel of FIG. 7, which are disassembled into two equal parts. It is a block flowchart of the bicycle wheel manufacturing method of this invention. It is an operation perspective view which stacks a plurality of thermoplastic prepregs with each other. It is an operation perspective view which forms the bicycle wheel of this invention. It is another motion perspective view which forms the bicycle wheel of this invention. It is an operation perspective view which connects the part of the bicycle wheel of this invention.

1 and 7 show a first embodiment and a second embodiment of the bicycle wheel 10 according to the present invention, respectively. In the first embodiment of the bicycle wheel 10, the bicycle wheel 10 has a wheel frame 20, and in the second embodiment of the bicycle wheel 10, the bicycle wheel 10 has a wheel frame 20 and a plurality of ribs 30.

The wheel frame 20 is a hollow annular frame and is composed of a plurality of wheel bars 21. With reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the wheel frame 20 comprises two equal parts of the wheel bar 21, four equal parts of the wheel bar 21, or six equal parts of the wheel bar 21. Are all of equal size. Further, the wheel frame 20 can also be composed of three equal parts of the wheel bar 21, five equal parts of the wheel bar 21, and the like. Further, the wheel frame 20 is composed of 2 to 10 equally sized wheel bars 21. Each wheel bar 21 has two halves.

Referring to FIG. 5, each wheel bar 21 has an upper half 211 and a lower half 212. The upper half 211 can be the outer frame portion of the wheel frame 20. The lower half 212 may be connected to the upper half 211 to form the wheel bar 21 and may be the inner frame portion of the wheel frame 20. Referring to FIG. 6, each wheel bar 21 has a left half 213 and a right half 214. The right half 214 is connected to the upper half 211 to form the wheel bar 21. Each half 211, 212, 213, 214 of the wheel bar 21 is made through stacking, heating, and forming of the thermoplastic prepreg 40, and the two corresponding halves 211, 212, 213, 214 are combined to form the wheel bar 21. To do. The plurality of wheel bars 21 are connected to each other to form the wheel frame 20. Also, the two corresponding halves 211, 212, 213, 214 of each wheel bar 21 or the plurality of wheel bars 21 are the two corresponding halves 211, 212, 213, 214 of each wheel bar 21 or the plurality of wheel bars 21. They are interconnected by the adhesive strength of the materials themselves or a combination of additives between them. Next, the wheel frame 20 is formed by the halves 211, 212, 213, 214 and the wheel bar 21.

Referring to FIG. 7, in the second embodiment of the bicycle wheel according to the present invention, the ribs 30 are arranged at intervals in the radial direction from the wheel frame 20, and the ribs 30 have an inner end and an outer end, respectively. .. The inner ends of the ribs 30 are connected to each other. The outer end of the rib 30 is connected to the inside of the wheel frame 20. Next, the bicycle wheel 10 is formed by a wheel frame 20 and a plurality of ribs 30. Referring to FIG. 8, each rib 30 has an upper half 31 and a lower half 32. The lower half 32 is connected to the upper half 31 to form the rib 30. Further, referring to FIG. 9, each rib 30 can have a left half 33 and a right half 34. The right half 34 is connected to the left half 33 to form a rib 30.

Each half 31, 32, 33, 34 of the rib 30 is made through lamination, heating, and formation of the thermoplastic prepreg 40, and the two corresponding halves 31, 32, 33, 34 are combined to form the rib 30. The plurality of ribs 30 are interconnected and connected to the wheel frame 20 to form the bicycle wheel 10. Also with reference to FIG. 14, the two corresponding halves 213, 214, 33, 34 of each rib 30 or the plurality of ribs 30 and the wheel frame 20 are interconnected by the adhesive force of the material itself or a combination of additives. Wheel.

Referring to FIG. 10, the method of manufacturing a bicycle wheel 10 according to the present invention includes a preparation step, a module laminating step, a forming step, and a subsequent machining step.

With reference to FIGS. 10-10, the preparation step comprises preparing a thermoplastic prepreg 40, a plurality of modular molds 70, a cutting device, a heating device, a molding device, and at least one processing machine. The thermoplastic prepreg 40 is formed by impregnating continuous fibers with resin, woven fabric, or short fibers. Further, the continuous fiber, the fiber woven fabric, and the short fiber can be carbon fiber, glass fiber, or reinforcing fiber. FIGS. 2-6, referring to FIG. 8 and 9, bicycle wheel 10, depending on the shape and size each part is decomposed in a portion of the stomach several (wheel frame 20 and the ribs 30) .. Modular Mold 70 has an outer dimension and structure corresponding to each portion of the bicycle wheel 10. After the formation of the thermoplastic prepreg 40, the thermoplastic prepreg 40 is pre-cut by a cutting machine according to the outer dimensions of each portion of the wheel frame 20 and the rib 30. After cutting the thermoplastic prepreg 40 in advance, a plurality of thermoplastic prepregs 40 are laminated and heated by a heating device to form a thermoplastic composite material 50. At least one machining machine is used in subsequent machining steps after the forming step.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 8, and 9, the module lamination step includes decomposing the bicycle wheel 10 into two parts of the wheel frame 20 and the ribs 30, the respective portions of the wheel frame 20 and the ribs 30 Includes disassembling into a plurality of halves 211, 212, 213, 214, 31, 32, 33, 34. With reference to FIG. 11, depending on the mechanical properties, dimensions and thickness requirements of the various parts and the design of the modular mold 70, the number of layers of the thermoplastic prepreg 40 and the fibers of each layer of the thermoplastic prepreg 40. The orientation of the angle is determined and the fiber angle is −180 to 180 degrees. The thermoplastic prepreg 40 is pre-cut by a cutting device and placed in a heating device. The heating temperature of the heating device must be higher than the glass transition temperature (Tg, 150-190 ° C.) of the thermoplastic prepreg 40, which is 250 ° C.-300 ° C. Depending on the viscosity characteristics of the resin in each layer of the thermoplastic prepreg 40, the laminated prepregs 40 can be bonded in advance to form the thermoplastic composite material 50.

Forming step, a temperature of 180 to 300 ° C., a pressure of 1～15Mpa, 5 to 15 minutes of time, and other parameters conditions, self-portion of the rolling vehicle wheel 10 with a modular die 70 or the molding device including the formation of a. After forming each portion of the bicycle wheel 10, portions thereof, are connected to each other by adhesion of the thermoplastic composite material 50, or additive, to complete the entire structure of the bicycle wheel 10. Referring to FIG. 12, the thermoplastic composite material 50 is machined by a rolling mill 60, which has a rotating roller 61, a heat source 62, and at least one pressurizing roller 63. Next, the thermoplastic composite material 50 is heated and pressed, rolled, and processed by pultrusion or the like.

Further, referring to FIG. 13, the thermoplastic composite material 50 is placed in the modular mold 70, and the modular mold 70 has a lower mold 71 and an upper mold 72. The molds 71 and 72 have gaps 711 and 712, respectively. The thermoplastic composite material 50 is placed between the two gaps 711 and 712 of the molds 71 and 72 and is formed at the above temperatures, pressures and times. The high temperature aims to allow the resin to flow with a viscous property that allows the layered resin to diffuse and adhere, while the pressure allows the fibers to be densely arranged between the layers. When the temperature drops below Tg, the mold 70 is removed and a finished product is obtained.

Subsequent machining steps include subsequent machining of the finished product by at least one machining machine such as punching or CNC. Furthermore, if the finished product forming step is formed by the modular mold 70, it was molded finished products, which are cut and separated materials unfinished areas, obtain a finished product of the bicycle wheel 10 it can.

According to the above features and structural relationship, bicycle wheel 10 of the present invention is primarily, thermoplastic composite 50 of laminated design, time, utilizing a temperature, pressure, and other parameters condition, bicycle After the wheel 10 is disassembled according to the modular concept, each part can be machined based on mechanical properties, size and thickness requirements in connection with the design of the modular mold 70. Then, the cutting size of the thermoplastic prepreg 40, to determine the orientation number, and the fibers in each layer of laminated thermoplastic prepreg 40, to achieve the desired stiffness of the bicycle wheel 10, bicycle wheel The total weight of 10 can be reduced. Furthermore, heating and pressing, rolling, pultrusion, by various forming methods such as vacuum heating or mold formation, bicycle wheel 10 is manufactured. By joining or adding a material (such as glue) that can be adhered to the polymer, the polymers in the resin can be bonded to each other to provide excellent adhesive strength. Then, the bicycle wheel 10 to be produced by the methods of the invention, it is possible to achieve the effect of light weight and structural strength, enhance the utility of bicycle wheel 10, greatly the quality of the bicycle wheel 10 Can be improved.

A number of features and advantages of the invention, along with details of the structure and features of the invention, have been described in the description above, but the disclosure is merely exemplary. Within the principles of the invention, details can be made, especially with respect to the shape, size and arrangement of the parts, the maximum scope of the invention being indicated by the general general meaning of the wording set forth in the appended claims. Is done.

Claims (7)

It ’s a bicycle wheel,
Equipped with a wheel frame that is a hollow annular frame
The wheel frame has a plurality of equally sized wheel bars.
Each of the equally sized wheelbars has two halves that are interconnected to form the wheelbar.
The two halves are made through lamination, heating, and formation of thermoplastic prepregs, respectively.
An automotive wheel in which the equally sized wheel bars are interconnected to form the bicycle wheel. The bicycle wheel has a plurality of ribs that are spaced apart from the wheel frame and spaced apart from each other in the radial direction.
Each of the ribs has an inner end connected to each other and an outer end connected to the inside of the wheel frame.
Each rib has two halves that are interconnected to form the rib.
Each of the two halves is made through the lamination, heating, and formation of thermoplastic prepregs.
The bicycle wheel according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of ribs are connected to the wheel frame to form the bicycle wheel. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the wheel frame has 2 to 10 wheel bars of the same size. The bicycle wheel according to claim 3, wherein each wheel bar or the two halves of the plurality of wheel bars are interconnected by the adhesive force of the material itself to form the wheel frame. The bicycle wheel according to claim 3, wherein each wheel bar or the two halves of the plurality of wheel bars are interconnected by a combination of additives to form the wheel frame. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each wheel bar or the two halves of the plurality of wheel bars are interconnected by the adhesive force of the material itself to form the wheel frame. The bicycle wheel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each wheel bar or the two halves of the plurality of wheel bars are interconnected by a combination of additives to form the wheel frame.

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