Patent Application
20240408914
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202310662691.0, filed on Jun. 6, 2023, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to the field of wheels, and in particular to a universal wheel.
In the related art, universal wheels can only rotate 360 degrees horizontally, and since a rotating structure of fixed casters cannot move in a vertical direction and includes no obstacle-crossing mechanism, the universal wheels in the related art cannot successfully go over a high obstacle. Even when the universal wheels can go over the obstacle, the universal wheels shake violently and produce a noise during the going-over, resulting in a poor user experience. There is also a universal wheel that can move in the vertical direction, but an angle between an interaction force between the universal wheel and the obstacle and a force on the universal wheel itself in the vertical direction is large, and thus it is difficult to lift the universal wheel vertically.
In view of this, it is necessary to provide a universal wheel having good shock absorbing performance and a strong obstacle-crossing ability.
In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical solution of the present invention is a universal wheel including:
Further, a direction of the force is parallel to the moving direction of the axle.
Further, the stretchable element is a spring, a gas spring or a hydraulic rod.
Further, the support base includes a fixed plate connected to an upper end of the stretchable element.
Further, when the stretchable element is a spring, the fixed plate has a through hole in which a support rod is slidably connected, a lower end of the support rod is fixedly connected to the axle, and the spring is fitted onto the support rod and located between the axle and the fixed plate.
Further, an upper end of the support rod includes a nut that prevents the support rod from being separated from the through hole.
Further, the fixed plate is perpendicular to the support rod.
Further, the chute is an oblong hole, and a center of a bottom portion of the chute is the origin of the coordinate system.
Further, the support base includes two wing plates, each of the wing plates is provided with a chute, and two ends of the axle are slidably connected to the chutes, respectively.
Compared with the related art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects. By coordinating a spring and a chute disposed obliquely along a radial direction of a roller, this apparatus reduces an angle between resistance applied by an obstacle on the roller and a reaction force generated by the spring when the universal wheel encounters the obstacle, thereby effectively reducing the resistance that the roller bears and improving an obstacle-crossing ability and a shock absorbing effect of the roller.
In order to make the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, preferred embodiments are described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In order to further explain the technical means and effects adopted by the present invention to achieve the intended purpose of the invention, the specific embodiments, structure, characteristics and effects of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and preferred embodiments.
As shown in
A top portion of the support base 1 is fixedly connected with a steering assembly 11 that enables 360° rotation of the universal wheel. The steering assembly 11 is a general assembly of the universal wheel, and a structure thereof is a well-known technology and will not be described in detail in this application.
The rolling assembly includes an axle 3 and a roller 2 rotatably connected to the axle 3.
The shock-absorbing assembly includes a damped stretchable element having a lower end connected to the axle 3 and an upper end connected to the support base 1.
As shown in
The support base 1 includes two wing plates, and each of the wing plates is provided with a chute 13. The chute 13 is located in a first quadrant. Both ends of the axle 3 are slidingly connected to the chutes 13 along a radial direction of the roller. The chute 13 is an oblong hole, and a center of a bottom portion of the chute 13 is the origin of the coordinate system. A major axis of the chute 13 is not parallel to an abscissa line and an ordinate line.
The support base 1 includes a fixed plate 12 connected to an upper end of the stretchable element.
In the present embodiment, the stretchable element is a spring, a gas spring, or a hydraulic rod. In practical applications, the spring have the highest cost performance, so the present embodiment uses a spring 4 as an example. In order to ensure stability of compression and expansion of the spring 4 during a stress process, the fixed plate 12 has a through hole in which a support rod 5 is slidably connected, a lower end of the support rod 5 is fixedly connected to the axle 3, and the spring 4 is fitted on the support rod 5 and located between the axle 3 and the fixed plate 12. An upper end of the support rod 5 includes a nut 51 that prevents the support rod from being separated from the through hole.
In order to maximize the shock absorbing effect and the obstacle-crossing ability, an axis of the spring 4 is parallel to a moving direction of the axle 3. Therefore, the fixed plate 12 is perpendicular to the support rod 5. Of course, a force applying direction of the stretchable element on the axle may not be along the moving direction of the axle, but this will increase a force on the spring, which is not conducive to the shock absorption. Therefore, the axis of the spring is preferably parallel to the moving direction of the axle.
A component force of a force applied by the stretchable element on the axle, which is applied to the axle along the moving direction of the axle, is defined as a first component force, a component force of a maximum bearable load force of the axle, which is applied to the axle along the moving direction of the axle, is defined as a second component force, and the first component force is greater than the second component force to force the axle to always be located at a bottom end of the chute without an external force. When the axis of the spring is parallel to the moving direction of the axle, the first component force is the force.
In universal wheels in the related art, since a roller is in a direction perpendicular to the ground, regardless of whether the universal wheel has a lifting function, a forced direction thereof is perpendicular to the ground. When the roller encounters an obstacle, an angle between resistance applied by the obstacle on the roller and a force on the roller in the direction perpendicular to the ground are relatively large, so the user is required to use a larger thrust to make the roller go over the obstacle, resulting in greater shock of the universal wheel and poor user experience.
Of course, the obstacle of the universal wheel means an obstacle of which a height does not exceed a radius of a roller of the universal wheel.
G1=sin42°×G=13.4 Kg, f=u×G2=0.15×cos42°×G=2.2 Kg, F>G1−f=11.2 Kg
A thrust N applied by the medium obstacle in the moving direction of the axle along the radial direction of the roller is exactly the same as a direction of G1, and a force applied by the spring on the axle is opposite to a direction of N. When the universal wheel is pushed, the resistance N pushes up and compresses the spring, and the axle slides up along the chute, whereby a shock caused by the universal wheel going over the medium obstacle is greatly weakened, the axle drives the roller to rise, and the obstacle-crossing ability of the roller is greatly improved.
G1=sin42°×G=13.4 Kg, f=u×G2=0.15×cos42°×G=2.2 Kg, F>G1−f=11.2 Kg
A thrust N1 applied by the small obstacle in the moving direction of the axle is obviously smaller than N, that is, when the universal wheel is pushed, the user can push the universal wheel with a less force, deformation of the spring is smaller, the resistance N1 pushes up and compresses the spring, and the axle slides up along the chute, whereby a shock caused by the universal wheel going over the small obstacle is greatly weakened, the axle drives the roller to rise, and the obstacle-crossing ability of the roller is greatly improved.
G1=sin42°×G=13.4 Kg, f=u×G2=0.15×cos42°×G=2.2 Kg, F>G1−f=11.2 Kg
The thrust N1 applied by the large obstacle in the moving direction of the axle is obviously greater than N. Compared with
The above descriptions are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not limit the present invention in any form. Although the present invention has been disclosed in the preferred embodiments as above, the preferred embodiments are not used for limiting the present invention, any skilled person familiar with this art can make some changes or modifications by using the technical contents disclosed above to serve as equivalent embodiments of equivalent changes, without departing from the scope of the technical solutions of the present invention, and any simple modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments according to the technical essence of the present invention, without departing from the contents of the technical solutions of the present invention, still fall within the scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202310662691.0 | Jun 2023 | CN | national |
