Patent Application
20110227514
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device, and more particularly to an eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device used in a magnetic controlled power generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various conventional exercise equipments including treadmills, exercise bikes, steppers, etc. In operation of any such exercise equipment, a user can use his/her feet, hands or other parts of the body to move an operation mechanism of the exercise equipment, (for example, the track of a treadmill, the sprocket of an exercise bike, the pedals of a stepper, the handles of a power rower). The operation mechanism then drives a flywheel to rotate. When operating the exercise equipment to simulate running, stepping or rowing, under the inertia of the flywheel, the load exerted on the user can be increased to enhance exercise intensity.
In order to meet the demands of all kinds of users with different fitness and exercise intensities, the exercise equipment is generally provided with a resistance adjustment mechanism for changing the load on the user or the resistance against operation of the exercise equipment. Accordingly, the exercise intensity is adjustable in accordance with the requirements of different users.
Recently, magnetic resistance adjustment mechanism has become a main stream of the resistance adjustment mechanisms of the gymnastic/rehabilitative equipments. The magnetic resistance adjustment mechanism can be combined with a power generator to form a generally so-called “magnetic controlled power generator”. The magnetic controlled power generator operates on a principle that a user treads the pedals to create mechanical energy. Afterwards, through a transmission member such as a belt or a chain, an eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device is driven to convert the mechanical energy into current. Through a power converter unit, the current generated by the magnetic controlled power generator is supplied to the electronic units of the gymnastic/rehabilitative equipment such as a microcomputer, a control panel and a magnetic resistance unit that necessitate power.
Please refer to
Referring to
However, some defects exist in the structural relationship between the aforesaid rotor 13 and stator 16. First, the rotor 13 is positioned outside the stator 16 so that the inner diameter of the permanent magnets 15 needs to be larger than the outer diameter of the stator 16. As a result, the rotor 13 has a considerably large volume and a pretty heavy weight. This leads to very large volume and heavy weight of the magnetic controlled power generator and needs to be improved.
Second, the radial projections 16B are circumferentially arranged on the surface of the outer wall of the stator core 16A. Therefore, the gap D1 between the crown sections of the projections 16B is larger than the gap D2 between the root sections of the projections 16B. Under such circumstance, when mounting the coils 16C, it is impossible to directly fit previously wound coils 16C onto the root sections of the projections 16B. Instead, it is necessary to wind the coils 16C on the root sections of the projections 16B one by one with a winding machine. Such winding process is quite troublesome and time-consuming and needs to be improved.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide an eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device with minified volume as a whole.
A further object of the present invention is to provide the above eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device the manufacturing process of which is simplified. Moreover, the assembling/installation rate of the eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device is promoted.
To achieve the above and other objects, the eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device is applicable to a magnetic controlled power generator. The magnetic controlled power generator includes: a frame; an eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device; a flywheel having an internal circular cavity; a rotary axle passing through required bearings for supporting the flywheel, a drive wheel being disposed at one end of the rotary axle for driving the rotary axle and the flywheel to rotate; and a magnetic controlled device installed on the frame in adjacency to the flywheel. The eddy-current magnetic controlled loading device includes: a rotor coupled to the rotary axle and positioned in the cavity of the flywheel, the rotor having a rotor core and several pieces of permanent magnets arranged on outer circumference of the rotor core, the rotor and the flywheel being together mounted on the rotary axle, whereby when the drive wheel is rotated, the drive wheel drives the flywheel and the rotor to rotate; and a stator fixed on the frame and coaxially disposed outside the rotor. The stator has a stator core and multiple radial projections arranged on an inner circumference of the stator core. A gap between the crown sections of the projections is smaller than a gap between the root sections of the projections, whereby a previously wound coil can be directly fitted onto the projections of the stator. When the rotor rotates relative to the stator, the magnetic field of the rotor is rotated relative to the coil of the stator, whereby a voltage is generated to produce a current that flows through the coil. The magnetic controlled device is controllable by the current flowing through the coil to increase a load on the flywheel in rotation.
In practice, the diameters of the flywheel, the rotor and the stator are minified so as to reduce the volume and weight of the magnetic controlled power generator. In this case, the previously wound coil can be directly fitted onto the projections of the stator to simplify the manufacturing process of the magnetic controlled power generator.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
The rotor 31 and the flywheel 40 are together mounted on the rotary axle 50. Therefore, when a user pedals the pedals of gymnastic/rehabilitative equipment, a transmission member, such as a belt or a chain (not shown), of the gymnastic/rehabilitative equipment is driven to drive the drive wheel 51, such as a belt wheel or a sprocket, mounted on the rotary axle 50. Consequently, the drive wheel 51 is rotated to drive and rotate the flywheel 40 and the rotor 31.
The rotor 31 has a rotor core 32 and several pieces of permanent magnets 33 arranged on outer circumference of the rotor core 32.
Referring to
The present invention is mainly characterized in that the rotor 31 is positioned inside the stator 34 so that the volume of the magnetic controlled power generator is minified. Therefore, the magnetic controlled power generator is miniaturized and weight-reduced to overcome the defect of large volume of the conventional magnetic controlled power generator in which the rotor is positioned outside the stator. Moreover, the previously wound coils 37 can be directly fitted onto the projections 36 of the stator 34 to complete the assembling operation. Accordingly, the manufacturing process is simplified and the assembling/installation rate is promoted to solve the problem of inconvenience in winding the coils on the projections of the conventional stator one by one with a winding machine.
The above embodiment is only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. It is understood that many changes or modifications of the above embodiment can be made by those who are skilled in this field without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is limited only by the appended claims.
