How to automatically adjust the handlebars of a bicycle into the warehouse

Abstract

Shared bicycles are becoming increasingly popular, but problems such as random parking, the impact on the city appearance, and vandalism are becoming increasingly serious. The method of automatically deforming and compressing the bicycle and then automatically entering and exiting a special storage box can solve the above-mentioned problems of shared bicycles. The method of automatically aligning the handlebars of bicycles into the storage box of the present invention installs an encoder on the bicycle to record the deviation angle of the front wheel from the correct position. The user only needs to align the front wheel with the storage box of the bicycle, lift the rear wheel, and simply align it with the front wheel. The rear wheel can be automatically aligned by the fine-tuning device while the conveying device is conveying, thereby realizing the function of automatically and completely aligning the handlebars of the bicycle into the storage box. The beneficial effect of the present invention is that the handlebars can be automatically aligned into the storage box, thereby facilitating automatic storage and greatly saving storage space. Together with my other inventions, it solves various drawbacks of shared bicycles.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of mechanical electronics and is a method for automatically aligning the handlebars of a bicycle (which may also be other similar vehicles; the term "bicycle" herein is applicable to all other similar vehicles). Using this system, bicycles can automatically align their front and rear wheels so that they are aligned, allowing for convenient automatic entry and exit from a dedicated bicycle storage compartment, significantly improving storage efficiency. Background Art

[0002] With the increasing popularity of shared bicycles, while they bring convenience to people, their disadvantages are also very obvious: bicycles are parked randomly, occupy a lot of public space, and seriously affect the city appearance, etc.; the inventor's previous invention, "Blade-type Automatic Deformation Bicycle Self-service Sharing Method", invented a method that can automatically deform bicycles. Through this method, bicycles are uniformly compressed and stored in a storage box, which not only provides bicycles for use very conveniently, but also eliminates all the disadvantages of the aforementioned general shared bicycles; after the bicycle is shrunk and deformed and put into the storage box, it is very important to keep the front and rear wheels in line. First, the front and rear wheels are in line (that is, the handlebars of the bicycle are often said to be straight), which can keep the bicycle in the blade shape and take up the least space. Second, the front and rear wheels are in line and can be dragged in and out of the storage box without changing direction, thereby improving storage efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve its technical problem is: after the handlebars of the bicycle are aligned, the bicycle will automatically enter the storage box specially used for storing bicycles. Specifically, a rechargeable battery and a controller are placed in the bicycle, and an encoder (or other similar methods) is installed on the frame (referring to the bicycle frame, the same below) to record the rotation angle of the stem (i.e., the front wheel) and thereby sense whether the handlebars are aligned; a positioning device is also installed on the frame, and when the stem and handlebars are aligned (i.e., the front and rear wheels are in a line), an electric actuator (electromagnet or motor, etc.) drives the positioning device to lock the front wheel so that the front and rear wheels are stably kept in a line for easy storage and entry and exit; an electric conveying device is provided in the bicycle storage box, which can drive the bicycle with the handlebars aligned to automatically enter and exit the storage box, and the specific steps are: a green light is turned on in the corresponding area with an empty space in the storage box, the user first aligns the front wheel with the guide groove of the empty space in the storage box and pushes it into the storage box, the front wheel triggers the storage box switch, prompting the user to align the rear wheel, and the user lifts the rear wheel to align it with the front wheel After the wheels are basically aligned, the encoder senses that the front and rear wheels are basically aligned, and the conveying device in the storage box automatically conveys the bicycle into the storage box; because the user cannot ensure that the handlebars are completely aligned when placing the wheels, a handlebar alignment fine-tuning device is set in the storage box or on the bicycle frame. The fine-tuning device automatically twists the angle of the rear wheel to make it in a straight line with the front wheel based on the deviation angle record of the encoder on the frame (the record can be transmitted to the controller of the storage box via wired or wireless means). In other words, during the conveying process, the handlebars of the bicycles that are not completely aligned can be fine-tuned until they are aligned and locked in position to facilitate transportation and storage.

[0004] The implementation principle of the present invention is described as follows: A rechargeable battery is placed in the bicycle. The handlebars of the bicycle are fixed on the handlebar stem, which is often called the handlebar of the bicycle. The handlebar can rotate freely in a tube called the head tube in front of the frame, and then the front wheel is driven to rotate through the front fork to complete the direction change when riding the bicycle. The handlebars of ordinary bicycles are flexible. When riding, you need to twist them by hand to change the direction. When docked, the handlebars naturally bend and achieve static balance through support. In the present invention, the entire bicycle is automatically contracted into a blade-like shape and the front and rear wheels are kept in a straight line in this shape and parked in a special storage box. Without system assistance, it is difficult to ensure that the above requirements are met every time by relying on human visual judgment and manual operation. Therefore, a set of auxiliary system methods are needed to help people automatically complete the task of aligning the handlebars into the storage box.

[0005] First, a sensor is needed to detect whether the handlebars are aligned correctly and by how much. This sensor is an encoder mounted on the bicycle frame (referring to the bicycle frame, the same below). It records the rotation angle of the stem (i.e., the front wheel) and simultaneously detects whether the handlebars are aligned correctly. The rotation angle of the stem indicates the position of the front wheel. By installing gears on the stem, the stem rotation can be synchronized to the rotation of the encoder shaft through gear meshing (directly mounting the encoder on the stem is not convenient). With each rotation of the stem, the microcontroller on the frame records the number and direction of encoder pulses through the encoder's A and B phase interrupt signals. Initially, the front and rear wheels are aligned. Every slight deviation from the correct position causes the encoder to generate a pulse, and the number of pulses records the magnitude of the deviation angle.

[0006] The bicycle storage box contains an electric conveyor device that can automatically move the bicycle in and out of the storage box after the handlebars are aligned. When entering the storage box, the bicycle is not fully retracted into a straight line, which means that the handlebars may not be aligned. The operation of entering the storage box should be as simple as possible and error-free. The specific steps are as follows: the corresponding area of ​​the storage box with an empty space will light up green. The user first aligns the front wheel with the guide groove of the empty space in the storage box and pushes it into the storage box. The reason for entering the storage box guide groove first is that the front wheel is more flexible and easy to control backward, forward, and alignment. After the front wheel is aligned with the front wheel guide groove line, the front wheel is pushed into the storage box and the storage box switch is triggered. The storage box prompts the user to align the rear wheel (this can be done through voice reminders or different types of light prompts, such as red and green lights simultaneously on or flashing green lights, the same reminder methods apply below). After the user lifts the rear wheel and basically aligns it with the front wheel (because the storage box can obtain the deviation angle of the encoder after communicating with the single-chip microcontroller on the frame, thus determining whether it is roughly aligned), the user is notified that the preparation is complete, and then the conveyor device in the storage box automatically conveys the bicycle into the storage box.

[0007] In most cases, users won't be able to perfectly align the rear wheel when placing it. In this case, user error must be tolerated (as long as the front and rear wheels don't significantly deviate from a straight line and can be pulled along). This ensures ease of use and a successful first-time operation. Therefore, a handlebar alignment fine-tuning device is installed in the storage box or on the bicycle frame. This fine-tuning device automatically adjusts the angle of the rear wheel to align it with the front wheel based on the deviation angle recorded by an encoder on the frame (this record can be transmitted to the storage box's controller via wired or wireless means). This fine-tuning device fine-tunes the angle of the rear wheel to align it with the front wheel during transportation, and locks the handlebars in place for easier transportation and storage. Even if the rear wheel and front wheel are not aligned, by dragging or pushing the front wheel forward, the rear wheel will gradually straighten into alignment after a long distance. However, since the purpose of our invention is to minimize storage space, this natural straightening method naturally wastes a lot of storage space (when not straightened, the rear wheel occupies significantly more space to the left and right). Therefore, it is important to completely align the rear wheel as quickly as possible. Fine-tuning the rear wheel is accomplished by twisting or dragging it into alignment with the front wheel. This force can come from either the bicycle or the box. Using the bicycle requires a larger motor due to the greater torque of the rear wheel, which increases the weight of the bicycle. Using the box, however, is much simpler, and several rows of bicycles can share a single fine-tuning mechanism. The box's mechanism for fine-tuning the rear wheel involves placing a sliding block on a ball bearing at the entrance of each row (or shared by several rows). This slider is pulled left and right by the motor. When an incompletely aligned bicycle enters the storage box through the front wheel guide slot and the rear wheel just reaches the slider, the storage box controller detects the rear wheel is on the slider by measuring the distance it has been pulled. The controller then obtains the front and rear wheel deviation angles from the bicycle's microcontroller via a wired (front wheel guide slot acting as a signal line) or wirelessly. It then calculates the required left and right movement of the slider. Since the front wheel must move forward to prevent it from forcibly moving backward during the arc alignment (the arc radius is longer than the chord height), the storage box controller coordinates the slider and front wheel pulling simultaneously during alignment. With only a few centimeters of front wheel movement, the rear wheel is fully aligned. Once fully aligned, a positioning device is installed under the frame. When the stem and handlebars are aligned (i.e., the front and rear wheels are aligned), an electric actuator (electromagnet or motor, etc.) drives the positioning device to lock the front wheel, ensuring stable alignment for easy storage and entry and exit of the storage box. Once the positioning device is activated, the bicycles can be conveniently and neatly transported and stored within the storage box. Since the front wheel guide groove can be led out from the bicycle head tube, a wedge-shaped front wheel positioning column can be accurately inserted into the front wheel guide groove, so the front wheel can be accurately positioned in the magazine box.After fine-tuning, the bicycles can be stored in the storage box one by one at a high density. Since these bicycles have been automatically shrunk into a very compact blade shape through my other inventions, an ordinary parking space can store hundreds of deformed and shrunk bicycles at a high density.

[0008] The beneficial effect of the present invention is that the handlebars of the bicycles can be automatically straightened and put into the bin, thereby facilitating automatic storage and automatic entry and exit of the bin box; since the bicycles with the handlebars straightened after retraction can be automatically stored neatly in the special bin box, it brings good economic benefits and convenience of use; more importantly, together with my other inventions, it solves the problem of shared bicycles taking up a lot of space and causing untidy city appearance. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

[0010] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a bicycle of the present invention.

[0011] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a bicycle-specific storage box of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the rear wheel alignment fine-tuning device before the faucet is aligned according to the present invention.

[0013] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the rear wheel alignment fine-adjustment device after the faucet is aligned according to the present invention.

[0014] In the figure, 1. handlebar, 2. stem, 3. front wheel, 4. stem gear, 5. meshing gear, 6. motor shaft, 7. baffle, 8. gear motor, 9. encoder, 10. locating pin, 11. magnetic core, 12. positioning motor, 13. Hall sensor, 14. magazine, 15. bicycle contracted into a blade shape, 16. empty space in the magazine, 17. rear wheel alignment fine-tuning device, 18. slider, 19. ball bearing, 20. rear wheel, 21. fine-tuning motor, 22. lead screw. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] exist Figure 1 、 Figure 2In the embodiment shown, a bicycle handlebar self-aligning system is installed on the frame and compartment of the retractable bicycle. A handlebar gear (4) is installed on the bicycle handlebar (2), and a gear meshing with the gear is installed on the frame. Because the gear (4) on the handlebar is fixed to the handlebar and cannot be relatively displaced, the rotation of the gear on the handlebar can drive the front wheel (3) to rotate, and the meshing gear (5) transmits the rotation of the front wheel to facilitate the installation of an encoder. Since the bicycle in this embodiment is automatically transformed into a blade-shaped compact form to enter and exit the compartment, it is necessary to ensure that the front and rear wheels are completely in line in order to save space. This requires knowing the position of the front wheel, that is, how much the front wheel deviates from the line. The bicycle is equipped with an encoder to record the deviation angle of the handlebar. In this embodiment, a DC reduction motor with a rotating magnetic core and a Hall sensor is used to provide the encoder function. The reduction ratio of the motor is relatively large (the meshing gear often moves only about one degree when the motor rotates one circle). The reduction ratio of the DC motor used in the gear motor (8) is above 200 to increase the positioning accuracy of the encoder. Therefore, the motor encoder requirements are minimal, resulting in low cost and high accuracy. The encoder can sense the positive or negative angular deviation of the steering wheel from the correct position (even if it is caused by human intervention), thereby guiding the rear wheel alignment correction (i.e., fine-tuning) device to correct the rear wheels.

[0016] When the gear motor (8) is not powered on and the handlebar (1) is manually twisted, the gear motor (8) has a small reverse resistance when idling and the force is applied to both ends of the handlebar when the handlebar is manually twisted, resulting in a relatively large force arm. Therefore, the rider can hardly feel the presence of the motor when the gear motor (8) is not powered on, and the riding experience is not affected at all. A single-chip microcomputer system is placed on the frame. When the front wheel rotates left or right, the front wheel (3) drives the handlebar (2) to rotate, the handlebar drives the handlebar gear (4) to rotate, the handlebar gear (4) drives the meshing gears (5) to rotate, and the meshing gears (5) drive the gear motor (8) to rotate at no load through the motor shaft (6). The single-chip microcomputer can record the position of the front wheel at any time (whether it deviates to the left or right from the line of the front and rear wheels and the specific deviation amount) by recording the A, B and other phase signals of the encoder (9) on the gear motor (8).

[0017] When the bicycle needs to be aligned and put into the storage box, the requirements for the user cannot be too high. The user can only be asked to roughly align the front and rear wheels (i.e., rough alignment or rough adjustment); even if the user is asked to completely align the handlebars, the user's understanding of the standard for complete alignment is different and it is difficult to achieve. Therefore, there must be an auxiliary power to help the user completely align the handlebars (i.e., fine alignment or fine adjustment). The power for aligning and fine-tuning the handlebars can come from the bicycle or outside the bicycle, i.e., the storage box. In this embodiment, by increasing the power of the gear motor (8), i.e., increasing its torque, a front and rear wheel alignment fine-tuning device can be added to the frame. The device can twist the front wheel when the rear wheel is fixed, and twist the rear wheel when the front wheel is fixed (when twisting the rear wheel, the rear wheel can be placed on a sliding block that is easy to slide to reduce resistance). The specific degree of twisting is calculated based on the angle record of the encoder. However, considering the factors of cost, bicycle weight and sharing cost, in this embodiment, the alignment fine-tuning device is placed in the storage box, and since the front wheel is more flexible than the rear wheel and is easier for the user to operate and align, the fine-tuning device in this embodiment fine-tunes the rear wheel. The rear wheel alignment fine-tuning device (17) comprises a slider (18) that can roll on a ball (19), and a fine-tuning motor (21) rotates a lead screw (22) to drive the slider (18) to move left and right. The fine-tuning motor (21) adopts a DC reduction motor with an encoder having a diameter of 37 mm.

[0018] When the user needs to return the bicycle and put it into the bicycle storage box, the corresponding row with empty space in the storage box will light up green. The user will first align the front wheel with the guide groove of the row where the empty space (16) is located in the storage box. After the front wheel is aligned with the front wheel guide groove line, the front wheel is pushed into the storage box and the storage box switch is triggered. After the storage box is triggered, it will prompt the user to align the rear wheel with a voice and slowly flash the green light. The user will lift the rear wheel and align it with the front wheel and then put it down. The single chip computer on the bicycle will obtain the information that the front and rear wheels are roughly aligned and can enter the storage box through the encoder (9). It will remind the user that it is ready and beeps twice. At this time, the user lets go of the bicycle. The bicycle will automatically shrink according to the invention of the inventor for shrinking components of each bicycle and will be pulled into the storage box by the storage box conveyor device. If the front and rear wheels deviate too much from the straight position, the user will be prompted to re-align the rear wheel. Since it is basically impossible for the user to align the handlebars very straight, the storage box conveyor device will automatically pull the bicycle into the storage box after starting. The state of the bicycle that has just entered the storage box is as follows Figure 3 As shown, when the rear wheel (20) enters the slider (18) on the alignment fine-tuning device (17) in the box, the controller in the box communicates with the controller of the bicycle (wired communication can be performed by the guide groove or wireless communication can be adopted) to obtain the deviation angle of the front and rear wheels (because the front wheel enters the box through the guide groove, there is no problem with the position of the front wheel), and the fine-tuning motor is started to drive the slider (18) to slide left or right to straighten the rear wheel into a line with the front wheel, see Figure 4As shown. After successful fine-tuning, the conveyor mechanism in the hopper pulls the rear wheel forward, disengaging the slider. This slider then provides rear wheel alignment and fine-tuning for subsequent bicycles entering the hopper. The slider can only slide left and right, and during this process, the hopper controller controls the hopper conveyor mechanism to simultaneously pull the front wheel forward to prevent the rear wheel from sliding backward. The hopper conveyor mechanism is actually a set of motor-driven sliders. When a bicycle enters the hopper, it engages and pulls the bicycle forward or backward by raising and lowering electromagnets.

[0019] The bicycle (15) shrunk into a blade shape is neatly and compactly stored in the storage box (14). In order to keep the front and rear wheels in a stable position in a line in the storage box for easy storage and entry and exit, a positioning block (7) is installed on the meshing gear, and a DC reduction motor is used to drive the positioning pin to move. When the handlebar (1) is aligned (i.e., the front and rear wheels are in a line), the positioning motor (12) drives the positioning pin (10) to lock the gear so that the front and rear wheels are stably kept in a line for easy storage and entry and exit; and a magnetic core (11) is connected to the positioning pin (10), and a Hall sensor (13) is provided on the frame to sense whether the positioning pin (10) is completely locked or completely released.

Claims

1. A method for automatically aligning bicycle handlebars and placing them in a storage compartment, comprising a bicycle and a storage compartment for storing the bicycle, and characterized by: When the user puts the bicycle into the warehouse, the corresponding area of ​​the empty space in the warehouse box will light up green. The user first aligns the front wheel with the guide groove of the empty warehouse box and pushes it into the warehouse box. The front wheel touches the warehouse box switch to remind the user to straighten the rear wheel. After the user lifts the rear wheel and basically aligns it with the front wheel, the conveying device in the warehouse box automatically determines. If it is basically aligned, it will automatically twist the angle of the rear wheel so that it is in a straight line with the front wheel and convey the bicycle into the warehouse box. If the front and rear wheels deviate too much from the straight line, the user will be prompted to realign the rear wheel. The feature that supports the above-mentioned user entry method is that an encoder is installed on the frame to record the rotation angle of the handlebar and sense whether the faucet is aligned. A faucet alignment fine-tuning device is provided in the warehouse box or on the bicycle frame. The faucet alignment fine-tuning device automatically twists the angle of the rear wheel so that it is in a straight line with the front wheel according to the deviation angle recorded by the encoder on the frame.

2. The method for automatically aligning and placing a bicycle handlebar into a warehouse according to claim 1 is characterized in that The frame is also equipped with a positioning When the stem and handlebars are aligned, that is, the front and rear wheels are in line, the electric actuator drives the positioning device to lock the front wheel, thereby keeping the front and rear wheels in a stable line for easy storage and entry and exit.

3. The method for automatically aligning and placing a bicycle handlebar into a warehouse according to claim 1 is characterized in that When the rear wheel is fine-tuned, the slider in the faucet alignment fine-tuning device can only slide left and right and during the sliding of the slider, the magazine controller controls the magazine conveying device to pull the front wheel forward at the same time to prevent the rear wheel from forcibly sliding backward; the slider is the sliding part of the faucet alignment fine-tuning device, and its function is to drive the rear wheel to move left and right so that the front and rear wheels are in a straight line.

4. The method for automatically aligning and placing a bicycle handlebar into a warehouse according to claim 1 is characterized in that After the rear wheel is fine-tuned successfully, the conveying device in the warehouse box pulls the rear wheel forward and disengages the slider in the faucet alignment fine-tuning device. This slider can also provide rear wheel alignment fine-tuning function for other subsequent bicycles entering the warehouse.

5. The method for automatically aligning and placing a bicycle handlebar into a warehouse according to claim 1 is characterized in that the frame A position sensor is provided on the positioning device to sense whether the positioning device is completely locked or completely released.

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