Patent Application
20230380557
The present invention is directed to an umbrella with a collapsible/retractable/foldable frame, and in particular to a centralized drive module for such an umbrella.
Large collapsible umbrellas, such as patio umbrellas, may be in the form having a central support post or a side support post.
For a central supported umbrella, it includes a central support post having at its upper end a frame structure that supports a canopy made of a flexible material (e.g. fabric). Heretofore, that frame structure of umbrellas includes a network or array of radially disposed ribs, extending radially in a circle, configured to allow the canopy material to span or stretch out in an opened state of the umbrella, and to collapse or fold into a closed state for stowing or when the umbrella is not in use. Generally, long ribs are pivotally connected at one end to an upper hub with the free ends of the long ribs extending from the long hub. Short ribs are pivotally connected at one end to a location along respective long ribs and pivotally connected at another end to a lower hub. The upper hub is fixed at the upper end of the post. The lower hub is slidable relative to the upper hub along the central support post, to move towards and away from the upper hub. In the collapsed state of the umbrella, the lower hub is moved away from the upper hub, and the long ribs and the short ribs are pivoted to collapse the long ribs and the short ribs towards the post. When the lower hub is raised towards the upper hub, the short ribs and the long ribs are pivoted to cause the long ribs and short ribs to extend from the respective hub outwards from the post, thereby extending the canopy material to provide under shading the canopy.
For a side supported umbrella (see, e.g., U.S. Ser. No. 10/136,709B2), it includes a side support post having an arm supported by and extending (e.g., cantilevered) from the post, whereby the extended end of the arm supports an upper hub of a frame structure that support a canopy. A lower hub is suspended below the upper hub. Long and short ribs are provided as in the central supported umbrella. The lower hub can be drawn towards and away from the upper hub, to operate the long and short ribs in a similar manner as discussed above in reference to the central supported umbrella.
In recent years, motorized umbrellas have been proposed to provide users with automated opening and closing functions. For example, see, US20080023053A1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,757,183, 7,188,633, 20050072451A1, KR101005019B1, U.S. Ser. No. 10/499,715, U.S. Ser. No. 10/538,937 and U.S. Ser. No. 10/912,357. Some of the umbrellas disclosed in these patent publications purportedly are ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ with various levels of automation to facilitate user use of the umbrella. However, the structures of these umbrellas are quite complex requiring extensive structural and drive components. The extensive structural and drive components increase production costs and maintenance costs for these umbrellas.
For these umbrellas, the motor drive components and the separate control components are integrated into the structure of the umbrella assemblies. These components are typically provided either at the base of the umbrella assemblies, or along the post of the umbrella assemblies. Further for those equipped with a solar panel, the solar panel is positioned above the canopy of the umbrella assembly. Part of the increased production costs is the result of required integration of the electronic and drive components for the ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ umbrellas during production assembly, which further required running of electrical wires to interconnect the various components distributed within the umbrella assembly, from the solar panel to the battery unit to the drive motor and the electronic components. Typically, production assembly of regular umbrellas requires lower skill labor, but with the additional more complex drive components and control components, higher skill labor would be required. Furthermore, to minimize user assembly of these umbrellas with complex structural and drive components, these umbrellas are shipped in a configuration with the complex structural and drive components preassembled/integrated in a rather bulky overall configuration, thus requiring higher shipping costs. To reduce shipping costs, higher level of integration of the ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ components would be required, but that would lead to further increased production costs. A failed component that was integrated into the umbrella structure would require more complicated procedures to repair or replace the failed component.
There remains a need for a simple and reliable structure for a motorized/powered collapsible umbrella that can be produced and shipped at reduced costs, and easy to be assembled and operated by users.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention is directed to a motorized umbrella assembly, that comprises a support structure (e.g., a central post or a side post); a canopy comprising: a frame structure supported by the support structure; and a flexible canopy material (e.g., canvas, fabric, etc.) supported on the frame structure; and a centralized drive module comprising a plurality of modularized units removably/detachably attached, and wherein the drive module is structurally and operatively coupled to the frame structure to operate to open/extend or close/collapse the canopy between an opened configuration and a closed configuration. In one embodiment, the modularized units are configured to be removably/detachably stacked into a stacked structure of the overall drive module using quick connect couplings, thereby facilitating quick removably/detachably coupling between the bottom side of one modularized unit to the top side of another modularized unit, to facilitate configuring a stack of modularized units removably/detachably attached to form the overall drive module, and wherein the interfacing top and bottom sides of the adjacent modularized units are provided with complementary electrical connection terminals (e.g., complementary conductive pogo pins and contact pads, complementary electrical connectors, etc.). The modularized units may be provided with quick connect features at the top and bottom sides of respective housings of the modularized units to facilitate quick connect couplings of adjacent modularized units. In one embodiment, the quick connect features at the top and bottom sides of the respective housings of the modularized units are similar to facilitate interchangeability of the modularized units for stacking in a desired order of the modularized units in the stacked structure.
In one embodiment, the drive module is modularized with a separate power supply unit (including a rechargeable battery) and a separate drive module (comprising all the electric components, e.g., drive motor, drive transmissions, and control circuitry). The power supply unit is removably/detachably attached (e.g., by a plug and twist locking interface, threaded interface, and/or fasteners) to the drive unit. The power supply unit is detachable from the drive unit, e.g., to replace the rechargeable battery, etc. In one embodiment, the drive module comprises: a modularized drive unit (which comprises a drive motor and associated drive transmissions such as reduction gears, etc.); and a modularized power supply unit removably/detachably attached to the drive unit, wherein the power supply unit supplies electrical power to the drive module. The power supply unit has a power supply housing having a top side and a bottom side and the drive unit has a drive housing having a top side and a bottom side, and wherein the bottom side of the power supply housing is configured to be removably/detachably attached to the top side of the drive housing. The motorized umbrella assembly as in claim 6, wherein the interfacing surfaces of the top side of the drive housing and the bottom side of the power supply housing have complementary electrical connection terminals. In one embodiment, the drive unit or the power supply unit comprises a control unit.
In one embodiment, the frame structure of the canopy comprises: a support hub assembly having an upper hub and a lower hub below the upper hub, wherein the upper hub is connected to the support structure; a plurality of longitudinal long ribs, wherein each long rib has an end removably coupled to the upper hub at an upper end of the support hub assembly; a plurality of longitudinal short ribs, each comprising a first end pivotally coupled to a location along a corresponding long rib and a second end removably coupled to the lower hub at a lower end of the support hub assembly, wherein the canopy material is supported on the long ribs, spanning over the long ribs, wherein the drive module operates to open/extend or close/collapse the frame structure of the canopy between the opened configuration and the closed configuration by varying the distance between the upper hub and the lower hub to pivot the short rib relative to the long rib, whereby the canopy is closed/collapsed when the lower bub is lowered away from the upper hub, and the canopy is opened/extended when the lower hub is raised towards the upper hub.
In one embodiment, the drive unit is removably/detachably attached to a top side of the upper hub, wherein the drive motor is operatively coupled to the lower hub via a pulley and a cable that runs through a hole provided in the upper hub and having a distal end connected to the lower hub, wherein the drive motor is operated to wind the cable onto the pulley to raise the lower hub towards the upper hub to open the frame structure of the canopy, and to unwind the cable from the pulley to lower the lower hub away from the upper hub to close the frame structure of the canopy, wherein the lower hub is lowered under the weight of the collapsible frame structure of the umbrella assembly as tension in the cable is released by unwinding from the pulley as driven by the drive motor. In one embodiment, the top side of the upper hub is provided with quick coupling features, whereby the quick coupling features at the bottom of the motor drive unit matches the quick coupling features at the top side of the upper hub to facilitate quick coupling of the bottom side of the stacked drive module to the top side of the upper hub of the frame structure of the canopy.
In a further embodiment, the modularized units of the drive module further comprise a modularized sensor unit removably/detachably attached to the power supply unit, wherein the sensor unit has a bottom side that is configured to be removably/detachably attached to the top of the power supply housing. The sensor unit may comprise at least one of a wind sensor, atmospheric pressure sensor, temperature sensor, tilt sensor, motion sensor, oscillation sensor (for sensing side-way movements of the umbrella assembly), etc., and wherein separate sensors or combination of sensors are embodied in separate modularized units, thereby a user can customize the configuration of the umbrella assembly with desired sensors.
In one embodiment, the power supply unit comprises a modularized battery unit and a modularized solar panel unit.
In a further embodiment, the modularized units of the drive module further comprise a modularized solar panel unit removably/detachably attached to the top side of the sensor unit or the power supply unit, wherein the solar panel unit includes a solar panel and a casing that has a bottom side provided with quick connect features to the adjacent.
In one embodiment, the support structure of the canopy comprises one of: (a) a central support post extending through the lower hub and having an upper distal end supporting the upper hub of the frame structure, and wherein the long ribs and short ribs of the frame structure extends away from the central post in the opened configuration, and (b) a side support post and a side support arm cantilevered and extending from the side support post, wherein an extended end of the support arm supports the upper hub of the frame structure, and wherein the frame structure is on one side of the side support post. In one embodiment, in the case of (b), a distal end of the side support arm is slidably coupled to the side support post to facilitate the distal end to slide up and down the side support post when the frame structure of the canopy opens and closes, respectively, wherein the support structure further comprises a support brace having one end pivotally attached to the top of the side support post and another end pivotally attached to a location along the side support arm. In one embodiment, the side support arm comprises one of the long ribs in the frame structure of the canopy.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a modularized drive assembly for an umbrella assembly, comprising a plurality of modularized units, including: a drive unit which comprises a drive motor and associated drive transmissions such as reduction gears, etc.; and a power supply unit removably/detachably attached to drive unit wherein the power supply unit supplies electrical power to the drive module, and wherein the drive unit is structurally and operatively coupled to a frame structure of a canopy of the umbrella assembly to operate to open/extend or close/collapse the canopy between an opened configuration and a closed configuration. As noted above, in one embodiment, the modularized units are configured to be removably/detachably stacked into a stacked structure of the overall drive module using quick connect couplings, thereby facilitating quick removably/detachably coupling between the bottom side of one modularized unit to the top side of another modularized unit, to facilitate configuring a stack of modularized units removably/detachably attached to form the overall drive module, and wherein the interfacing top and bottom sides of the adjacent modularized units are provided with complementary electrical connection terminals (e.g., complementary conductive pogo pins and contact pads, complementary electrical connectors, etc.). Further, the modularized units may be provided with quick connect features at the top and bottom sides of respective housings of the modularized units to facilitate quick connect couplings of adjacent modularized units. The quick connect features at the top and bottom sides of the respective housings of the modularized units may be similar to facilitate interchangeability of the modularized units for stacking in a desired order of the modularized units in the stacked structure. The modularized units may take on the structural embodiments noted above.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention, as well as the preferred mode of use, reference should be made to the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the following drawings, like reference numerals/designations designate like or similar parts throughout the drawings.
The drawings are further annotated to facilitate understanding of the written description hereinbelow in reference to the structures are features illustrated in the drawings.
The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of the presently exemplary device provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be prepared or utilized. It is to be understood, rather, that the same or equivalent functions and components may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices and materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the exemplary methods, devices and materials are now described.
All publications mentioned are incorporated by reference for the purpose of describing and disclosing, for example, the designs and methodologies that are described in the publications that might be used in connection with the presently described invention. The publications listed or discussed above, below and throughout the text are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.
The present invention provides a simple and reliable structure for a smart, motorized/powered collapsible umbrella that can be produced and shipped at reduced costs, and easy to be assembled and operated by users, which overcomes the drawback of the prior art smart umbrellas. The inventive smart umbrella comprises an umbrella assembly and an inventive drive module adapted for use with the umbrella assembly.
The inventive smart umbrella can be easily opened/erected/expanded for use and collapsed with minimum user intervention. This is achieved by providing an inventive centralized and modularized drive module M.
In the illustrated embodiment shown in
As shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, the stack comprises a plurality of modularized units, including a solar panel unit O, a wind sensor unit W, a power supply/electrical power storage/battery unit (herein after referred to as power supply unit or battery unit P), and a motor drive unit D, in the sequence as illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment in
As shown in
As shown in
By having the sensor unit W directly below the solar panel unit O and above the power storage unit P (further discussed below), the sensor unit W is positioned as high up in the stack of modularized units in the drive module M to allow for improved sensing of wind conditions. Alternatively, the sensor unit W could be placed below the power supply unit P, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
If the center post PC in the umbrella assembly U has a tubular structure (which typically is the case for increased rigidity with reduced weight of the post), the opened top end of the center post would be accessible at crown portion of the upper hub. The drive motor may be configured with a cylindrical body that is sized to be received into the opened top end of the center post (i.e., the spin axis of the drive motor is coaxial with or parallel to the longitudinal axis of the post). Indexing keys may be provided on or between the interfacing surfaces of the cylindrical body of the drive motor and the top open end of the center post to facilitate restraining rotational movement of the drive motor with respect to the center post within the top end of the center post. By inserting the drive motor into top end of the post, the overall height, and width, of the motor drive unit can be reduced, with improved structural support of the drive motor during operation of the motor.
As shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, the lower hub HL is allowed to be lowered under the weight of the collapsible frame structure of the umbrella assembly as tension in the cable is released by unwinding from the pulley as driven by the drive motor. To raise the lower hub, the drive motor is controlled to rotate in the opposite direction to wind the cable on the pulley to pull the lower hub towards the upper hub.
In one embodiment, the fully opened configuration and the fully closed configuration of the frame assembly of the canopy may be detected by the control unit based on sensing the changes in electrical load on the drive motor. Specifically, in the closing direction, as the motor gradually unwinds the cable from the pulley, the frame structure of the canopy collapses under its own weight. Hence, less drive current is required for the motor. As the motor fully unwinds the cable from the pulley to fully lower the lower hub to close the canopy in its fully closed configuration, further turning of the motor would result in slacking of the cable, thereby requiring even lesser drive current, hence a change in load on the motor could be detected by the control unit. Alternatively, if the length of the cable is configured to fully unwind from the pulley when the canopy fully collapsed/closed, and the motor is configured to continue to turn in the same unwinding direction, the motor would transition to winding of the cable onto the pulley, thus imposing a higher load on the drive current of the motor, resulting in a change in drive current detected by the control unit. Upon sensing these changes in the load on the motor, the control unit shuts down the motor.
In the opposite opening direction, as the motor fully winds the cable onto the pulley to fully raise the lower hub to open the canopy in its fully opened configuration, further turning of the motor would result in tightening of the cable, thereby requiring a heavier drive current, hence a change in load on the motor could be detected by the control unit. Upon sensing this change inf the load on the motor, the control unit shuts down the motor.
Alternatively, or in addition, limit switches are provided to determine the fully opened and closed configurations of the canopy, e.g., by detecting the position of the lower hub with respect to the upper hub (e.g., position of the lower hub along a central post of the support structure). Limit switches can also be configured to detect the extent of winding/unwinding of the cable on the pulley. Alternatively, limit switches could detect the limits of rotation of the pulley and/or the motor. Alternatively, the control unit could count the number of rotations of the motor/pulley to determine the limit of the cable winding/unwinding from the pulley.
For the modularized units that require electrical power and/or signal transmissions to and/or from the stacked units, electrical connections may be made by way of appropriate electrical contacts provided at facing bottom and top surfaces of adjacent modularized units. Referring also to the embodiment of
Even if electrical contacts are not implemented, positioning features such as indexing keys may be provided as part of the quick connect features to positively position adjacent modularized units with respect to each other. In addition, or in the alternate, safety switches (e.g., microswitches) may be provided to ensure secured coupling of adjacent modularized units via the quick connect features. Until all the modularized units in the stack in the drive module are securely coupled/connected, the motor drive unit would not operate.
The wind sensor unit W communicates wind conditions (e.g., via electrical signals representing sensed wind conditions) to a control unit T. The control unit T may be incorporated within the housing of the power supply/battery unit P as in
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the control unit T need not be incorporated into the drive module M but can be located outside of the drive module M (e.g., made part of the umbrella assembly, or a separate module attached to the umbrella assembly).
User control of the drive module M to operate the opening/closing of the umbrella assembly may be provided by a wireless control (e.g., a wireless remote control) that communicates wirelessly (e.g., by Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, infrared, RF, etc.) with a receiver provided in the control unit. In one embodiment, there is no separate user control interface (e.g., buttons, switches, etc.) in the umbrella assembly, and hence there is no need for electrical wiring to be provided within the umbrella assembly for wind sensor control signals and functions to open/close the umbrella assembly. The remote control RC includes buttons that provide a user interface to various umbrella assembly operation control functions, such as open/close, operation timers, etc. Alternatively, or in addition, an application module installed in an electronic device (e.g., a mobile phone) may be used to generate the remote-control signal and to provide further user options and settings for operating the umbrella assembly. For example, using the installed application module, the user can set the wind conditions (e.g., wind speed) at which the umbrella can remain opened, the time of day the umbrella is to remain opened, the extent of umbrella opening in dependence on wind conditions and/or sunlight or rain conditions, voice control, etc.
Further, if several smart umbrellas in accordance with the present invention are placed into operation in a group at a physical location (e.g., around a pool, or along a deck), the smart umbrellas may be controlled in unison by the user remote control and/or user application installed in a user electronic device.
To facilitate ease of user control of the umbrella assembly U, the remote control RC may be removably/detachably attached to the umbrella assembly (e.g., on the post, as shown in
In another embodiment, a wireless control could be made a permanent, non-detachable part of the post, so that wiring is not needed to communicate with the control unit in the drive unit. Further, in this embodiment, a separate wireless remote control may be additionally provided to facilitate a user to remotely and wireless control the drive module at a distance.
In another embodiment, if running wiring through the post is acceptable, at the post of the umbrella assembly, to provide a user easy access to operating the umbrella assembly, a user control module/panel (e.g., control buttons and switches) may be provided, which the user can use to control operation of the umbrella assembly (e.g., open, close, lighting on/off, etc.) Control wirings run within the post, from the drive module control panel.
In a further embodiment, both wireless and wired control of the control unit in the drive module may be provided.
By deploying a drive module complete with power supply unit and drive unit, and further with a control unit and sensor unit, there is reduced need to run electrical wires within the umbrella assembly (e.g., under the canopy) as was done in the prior art. Optional speaker, accent lighting, cooling fans, video displays, etc. may be provided under the canopy as add-on accessories to be powered by the power supply unit. See, also,
By using modularized units to configure the drive module, they can be sourced from/provided by separate supplier(s)/manufacturer(s) that is/are separate from the suppliers/manufacturers of the collapsible umbrella assembly. To produce the umbrella assembly, the umbrella manufacturer who is familiar with production and assembly of relatively simple mechanical umbrella structure does not need to raise labor skill levels to otherwise integrate various electrical components and motorization components into the structure of the collapsible umbrella as was done in the prior art. The inventive smart umbrella could be shipped to customers with the drive module separate from the umbrella (in the same package or in separate packages), for easy final assembly by the user for use (stack coupling the modularized units and coupling to the top of the canopy. For example, the drive module can be easily coupled to the top of a central support post above the canopy in the case of a central supported umbrella assembly, or at the end of a cantilever arm above the canopy in the case of a side supported umbrella assembly. The center post may be made up of an upper post supporting the upper hub and lower hub.
Unlike the prior art in which the drive motor is installed below the canopy, e.g., about the middle of the center post, the inventive umbrella assembly allows for a more compact closure of the canopy about the post. Given there is no, or less wires, running below the canopy in the present invention, there is less chance for an open circuit from folding/collapsing of the frame structure in the inventive umbrella assembly.
The inventive drive module may be implemented/deployed in existing center post supported umbrellas, by retrofitting the drive module at the top end of the central support post. Depending on the configuration of a particular central supported umbrella assembly, some modifications may be required to attach the drive module onto the top end of the post, and to provide a cable connection between the pulley in the motor drive unit and the lower hub in the existing umbrella assembly (including creating a small opening for the cable to be threaded through). For certain existing umbrella assembly, the modifications required may be minimal for improved functionalities and features of the existing umbrella assembly.
It is understood that the scope and spirit of the present invention is not limited to the specific removable/detachable coupling/attachment of the various modularized units. Other types of removable/detachable coupling of the modularized units in the drive module not specifically disclosed and illustrated herein may be implemented without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
In an exemplary embodiment, the drive housing and the power supply housing may be removably/detachably coupled by a threaded interface between the bottom of the power supply housing and the top of the drive housing. The power supply housing may be screwed onto/off the drive housing.
In a further exemplary embodiment, the drive housing and the power supply housing may be removably/detachably coupled by using one or more fasteners (e.g., screws, bolts, snaps, inserts, tabs, twist knobs, keys, straps, and the like) that permits the user to easily undo the fasteners to allow the drive housing and the power supply housing to be coupled/attached after the bottom of the power supply housing rested on the top of the drive housing and decoupled/separated, for example, without using handtools, or with minimal use of handtools, or without having to use specialized tools.
The control unit and/or the power supply/storage unit in the drive module M and M″ (and also in the drive module M″ in the further embodiment discussed below) discuss herein may include a battery power management feature, to regulate the use of stored power to reserve power needed to close the umbrella assembly in the event of undesirable wind conditions (or open the umbrella in the event of rain). The power regulating function may regulate to reserve/dedicate, e.g., at least 20% electrical/battery power remaining to operate the umbrella assembly, or sufficient remaining electrical power for a user predetermined number of opening/closing of the umbrella assembly. An alarm may be provided, or an alert on the user electronic device if an application was installed, if the remaining electrical/battery power reached the predetermined threshold level. Accordingly, if the light unit consumed battery power or the umbrella had been operated but there was not sufficient sunlight for the solar panel to generate enough charges to recharge the battery/power storage unit, there will always be some battery power remaining for limited operation of the umbrella assembly. Furthermore, the battery power management may include regulating how much power is supplied to the light module or any other battery consuming functions other than opening/closing of the umbrella assembly. For example, the battery power management feature may include providing power to lit the LEDs in the light unit at 100% brightness for a predetermined number of hours (e.g., 3 hours), but dim the LEDs to 50% brightness for rest of time they are kept on, until there is 20% battery power remaining.
1. General Specifications:
2. Solar Panel Specifications:
3. Lithium Battery Specifications:
4. LED Lighting Specifications:
5. Remote Control Specifications:
6. Motor Specifications:
7. Three-Leaf Cup Wind Speed Sensor with Hall Sensor Detection Component Specifications:
8. Warning Buzzer Specification
While the invention has been discussed above primarily in reference to a central support umbrella assembly, the inventive concept of the same drive module can be deployed for cantilevered/side supported umbrella assemblies, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
While the present invention has been described above in connection with the illustrated embodiments, the scope of patent invention covers all possible present and future variations and improvements that is apparent from the disclosure above. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit, scope, and teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the disclosed invention is to be considered merely as illustrative and limited in scope only as specified in the appended claims.
This application claims the priorities of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/327,794 filed on Apr. 5, 2022. This application is fully incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. All publications noted below are fully incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63327794 | Apr 2022 | US |
