The present invention relates generally to a flywheel measuring system and a fitness equipment, and more particularly to a flywheel measuring system and a fitness equipment which could measure a rider's pedaling power.
Conventional fitness equipment, such as a treadmill, an elliptical trainer, and a stationary bicycle, is commonly used to improve cardiopulmonary function, wherein many people choose an elliptical trainer and stationary bicycle for aerobic exercise since elliptical trainer and stationary bicycle have less injury to the user's knee during exercise.
In order to allow users to adjust an exercise force by themselves, a magnetic resistance device is disposed inside of elliptical trainer and stationary bicycle. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,325 discloses an elliptical trainer and a stationary bicycle which have a driving wheel assembly, a flywheel assembly, and a transmission belt assembly disposed therein, wherein the transmission belt assembly connects the driving wheel assembly and the flywheel assembly. The driving wheel assembly connects a crank and a pedal. When the user pedals the pedal, a driving wheel in the driving wheel assembly is driven to rotate, and the transmission belt assembly transmits the rotation force to the flywheel assembly, so as to drive a flywheel in the flywheel assembly to rotate. A plurality of permanent magnet are disposed on a peripheral edge of the flywheel. In addition, a fixed magnetic core is disposed inside of an elliptical trainer or a stationary bicycle, wherein the fixed magnetic core is electromagnetically coupled to the permanent magnets, and at least one set of coils surrounds the fixed magnetic core. When the flywheel rotates, the magnetic core and the rotating permanent magnets generate electromagnetic induction. In this way, the coil surrounding the fixed magnetic core generates an electric signal, and a control system of the fitness equipment performs feedback control according to the electric signal, whereby to generate resistance to the flywheel, allowing the user to adjust their exercise strength.
In order to enable users to not only adjust an exercise force by themselves but also monitor their exercise capacity, a measuring device is disposed inside the fitness equipment. However, the fitness equipment would be not only bulkier and occupies more space but also increases the manufacturing cost, which further increases the price of the fitness equipment and reduces the consumer's desire to purchase. Also, the accuracy of the measurement of the externally installed measuring device is skeptical.
Therefore, there is a need for the manufacturers to develop a measuring device with high accuracy which could occupy less space and have a lower cost.
In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a flywheel measuring system, which could measure a rider pedaling power outputted by the rider pedaling on the elliptical trainer and the stationary bicycle with high accuracy under a condition without over increasing the size and the cost of equipment.
The present invention provides a flywheel measuring system, which includes a base, a flywheel, at least one permanent magnet, a magnetic core, an abutting member, a cantilever arm, and a signal generating apparatus. The flywheel is rotatably disposed on the base, and has an axial core and a peripheral portion away from the axial core. The at least one permanent magnet is disposed on the peripheral portion. The magnetic core is movably disposed on the base and is electromagnetically coupled to the at least one permanent magnet, wherein when the flywheel rotates, the at least one permanent magnet drives the magnetic core to move. The abutting member is fixed on the base. The cantilever arm includes a connecting portion and a contacting portion which are disposed on the base, wherein when the magnetic core moves, the contacting portion is pushed by the magnetic core to abut against the abutting member. The signal generating apparatus is disposed on the contacting portion of the cantilever arm, wherein when the contacting portion abuts against the abutting member, the signal generating apparatus generates a strain, and outputs a signal according to the strain.
When the flywheel rotates, the permanent magnet disposed on the peripheral portion of the flywheel could move along with the rotation of the flywheel, and the permanent magnet could drive the magnetic core which is electromagnetically coupled to the permanent magnet to move. When the magnetic core moves to push the cantilever arm to approach the abutting member fixed on the base, the signal generating apparatus disposed on the cantilever arm would generate a strain, so as to generate a signal according to the strain.
In an embodiment, further including a supporting shaft and a restricting member, wherein the supporting shaft has a first end and a second end opposite to the first end; the first end is rotatably connected to the axial core of the flywheel, so that the supporting shaft rotates in a plane parallel to a rotation plane of the flywheel; the second end is connected to the magnetic core, so that the magnetic core rotates along a rotation direction of the supporting shaft; the restricting member is disposed on the base and is across the supporting shaft, whereby to restrict a rotation area of the supporting shaft.
In an embodiment, the base further comprises a recess, and the magnetic core further comprises a projecting portion disposed in the recess; when the magnetic core is driven by the at least one permanent magnet, the magnetic core moves along an extending direction of the recess.
In an embodiment, the signal generating apparatus is disposed between the contacting portion of the cantilever arm and the magnetic core.
In an embodiment, the signal generating apparatus is disposed between the contacting portion of the cantilever arm and the abutting member.
In an embodiment, the signal generating apparatus comprises a strain gauge.
In an embodiment, the signal generating apparatus comprises a piezoelectric material.
In an embodiment, the abutting member further includes a fixing portion and an abutting portion connected to the fixing portion; the fixing portion is fixed on the base; a distance between the abutting portion and the cantilever arm is adjustable by the abutting portion disposed on the fixing portion; when the magnetic core moves, the contacting portion of the cantilever arm is pushed by the magnetic core to approach the abutting portion.
In an embodiment, when the magnetic core is not moved, the magnetic core is in contact with the contacting portion, so that the contacting portion approaches the abutting member, and the signal generating apparatus generates an initial strain accordingly; when the magnetic core moves, the magnetic core pushes the contacting portion, so that the contacting portion is further close to the abutting member, and the signal generating apparatus further generates the strain from the initial strain and outputs a signal according to the strain.
In addition, the another primary objective of the present invention is to provide a fitness equipment, which could measure a rider pedaling power outputted by the rider with high accuracy under a condition without over increasing the size and the cost of equipment.
The present invention further provides a fitness equipment, which includes a base, a driving wheel assembly, a flywheel, a driven wheel assembly, at least one permanent magnet, a magnetic core, an abutting member, a cantilever arm, a signal generating apparatus, and a calculation module. The driving wheel assembly is disposed on the base and includes a crank assembly and a driving wheel connected to the crank assembly, wherein the crank assembly is adapted to be operated by a user to drive the driving wheel to rotate. The flywheel is rotatably disposed on the base and has an axial core and a peripheral portion away from the axial core. The driven wheel assembly is connected to the driving wheel and the flywheel and is adapted to drive the flywheel to rotate along with a rotation of the flywheel. The at least one permanent magnet is disposed on the peripheral portion of the flywheel. The magnetic core is movably disposed on the base and is electromagnetically coupled to the at least one permanent magnet, wherein when the flywheel rotates, the at least one permanent magnet drives the magnetic core to move. The abutting member is fixed on the base. The cantilever arm includes a connecting portion and a contacting portion which are disposed on the base, wherein when the magnetic core moves, the contacting portion is pushed by the magnetic core to abut against the abutting member. The signal generating apparatus is disposed on the contacting portion of the cantilever arm, wherein when the contacting portion abuts against the abutting member, the signal generating apparatus generates a strain, and outputs a signal according to the strain. The calculation module is connected to the signal generating apparatus for receiving the signal and is adapted to calculate a rider pedaling power outputted by the user according to the signal.
In an embodiment, when the magnetic core is not moved, the magnetic core is in contact with the contacting portion, so that the contacting portion approaches the abutting member, and the signal generating apparatus generates an initial strain accordingly; when the magnetic core moves, the magnetic core pushes the contacting portion, so that the contacting portion is further close to the abutting member, and the signal generating apparatus further generates the strain from the initial strain and outputs a signal according to the strain.
When the pedal of the fitness equipment is pedaled by a rider, the driving wheel of the driven wheel assembly is driven to rotate, so as to drive the flywheel to rotate via the driven wheel assembly. When the flywheel rotates, the permanent magnet disposed on the peripheral portion of the flywheel could move along with the rotation of the flywheel, and the permanent magnet could drive the magnetic core which is electromagnetically coupled to the permanent magnet to move. When the magnetic core moves to push the cantilever arm to approach the abutting member fixed on the base, the signal generating apparatus disposed on the cantilever arm would generate a strain, so as to generate a signal according to the strain. Then, the calculation module could calculate a power outputted by the rider pedaling on the pedal according to the signal.
With the aforementioned design, the disclosure of the present invention could measure a rider pedaling power outputted by the rider pedaling on the elliptical trainer and the stationary bicycle with high accuracy under a condition without over increasing the size and the cost of equipment.
The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which
The driven wheel assembly 13 is connected to the driving wheel 110 and the flywheel 12, so that the rotation of the driving wheel 110 could be transmitted to the flywheel 12, and the flywheel 12 is driven to rotate correspondingly. The flywheel 12 includes an axial core 120, a peripheral portion 122 away from the axial core 120, and a casing 124. In addition, at least one permanent magnet 126 is disposed on the peripheral portion 122. In the current embodiment, the permanent magnet 126 is disposed between the peripheral portion 122 and the casing 124. In this way, when the flywheel 12 is driven to rotate, the permanent magnet 126 could move along with the rotation of the flywheel 12. In the current embodiment, the fitness equipment 1 includes six permanent magnets 126. However, the number of the permanent magnet 126 is not a limitation of the present invention. It is noted that the casing 124 is omitted in
Moreover, the fitness equipment 1 further includes a magnetic core 14, an abutting member 15, and a cantilever arm 16, wherein the magnetic core 14 is movably disposed on the base 10 and is electromagnetically coupled to the permanent magnet 126. In this way, when the flywheel 12 rotates, the permanent magnet 126 drives the magnetic core 14 to move. Both of the abutting member 15 and the cantilever arm 16 are disposed on the base 10. When the magnetic core 14 is driven by the permanent magnet 126, the cantilever arm 16 would be pushed to approach the abutting member 15.
More specifically, as shown in
The signal generated by the signal generating apparatus 17 could be used to calculate an output power when the rider pedals the pedal. As shown in
In conclusion, the permanent magnet 126, the magnetic core 14, the abutting member 15, the cantilever arm 16, and the signal generating apparatus 17, which are disposed on the base 10, constitute a flywheel measuring system. The signal outputted by the flywheel measuring system could be adapted to calculate a rider's pedaling power with high accuracy. In addition, as illustrated in the drawings, the flywheel measuring system occupies less space. Moreover, the cost of the flywheel measuring system is lower. Therefore, the fitness equipment 1 could measure an output power when the rider pedals the elliptical trainer or the stationary bicycle, etc., with high accuracy under a condition without over increasing the size and the cost of fitness equipment.
As shown in
As shown in
However, the number of the supporting shaft is not limited to be two. In an embodiment, one supporting shaft and one restricting member are disposed on one side of the flywheel 12, whereby the movement of the magnetic core 14 could be restricted.
However, the restricting means that restricts the movement of the magnetic core 14 is not a limitation of the present invention. As shown in
In the aforementioned embodiments, the signal generating apparatus 17 is disposed between the contacting portion 162 of the cantilever arm 16 and the abutting member 15 without being in contact with the abutting member 15. However, the position of the signal generating apparatus 17 is not a limitation of the present invention. As shown in
In the aforementioned embodiments, when the user uses the fitness equipment 1, the magnetic core 14 would be driven by the permanent magnet 126 to move upward, so as to push the contacting portion 162 of the cantilever arm 16 to approach the abutting member 15. In other words, the magnetic core 14 needs to overcome the force of gravity first to move upwards. It is necessary to consider the influence of gravity at the same time while calculating. However, the position of the magnetic core, the position of the cantilever arm, the position of the abutting member, and the position of the signal generating apparatus could be adjusted in other embodiments, whereby to reduce the influence of gravity.
As shown in
With the aforementioned embodiments, the flywheel measuring system of the present invention could measure a rider pedaling power outputted by the rider pedaling on the elliptical trainer and the stationary bicycle with high accuracy. In addition, the flywheel measuring system has a smaller volume, which would not excessively occupy the space of the fitness equipment. Moreover, the cost of the flywheel measuring system is lower, which would not excessively increase the price of the fitness equipment
It must be pointed out that the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent structures which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.