Treadmill

Abstract

To provide a treadmill capable of accurately detecting force acting in a plane direction when a person walks.SOLUTION: A treadmill 1 comprising a belt 31 circulating on a top plate 2, a motor 41 for circulating the belt 31, and a load detecting sensor 5 for detecting a load of a walker acting on the top plate 2, comprises a bracket 6 attached thereto, the bracket including a plane part 61 parallel to a bottom surface 2d of the top plate 2, and a hanging part 62 hanging at a right angle from the plane part 61. A motor 41 is attached to the hanging part 62, and high-frequency vibrations caused by rotation of the motor 41 are transmitted as longitudinal vibrations along the plane of the hanging part 62, and the high frequency vibrations transmitted to the top plate 2 are removed by a high-frequency filter 8.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a treadmill used when a human walks (including when running, referred to as "walking"), and more particularly to a treadmill configured to detect a walking state with a load detection sensor.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, a treadmill is configured by providing a circulating belt and a motor for circulating the belt on a top plate. Then, the speed of the belt is adjusted using an operation panel so that a user can walk on the belt at a preferred speed.

[0003] By the way, in such a treadmill, a device has been proposed that can detect the walking state of a human during walking for the purpose of rehabilitation or the like (see Patent Document 1).

[0004] Such a treadmill is provided with load detection sensors such as load cells at the four corners below the top plate, and by detecting the load applied to the load detection sensors, it can detect the displacement of the center of pressure of the subject during walking, the load applied at the time of kicking off or landing, etc., and can grasp the rehabilitation state of the subject during walking.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] By the way, when using such a load detection sensor to detect a human walking state, the following problems existed in the configuration of a conventional treadmill.

[0007] That is, in a conventional treadmill, a motor was provided at a position separated from the top plate, and a roller was rotated from the motor via a pulley.

[0008] However, in such a method, when detecting the walking state of a person walking on the belt, even if the load applied in the Z-axis direction can be detected, when trying to detect the load applied in the X-axis direction (travel direction) or the Y-axis direction (width direction), only the load generated by the friction between the belt and the top plate could be detected.

[0009] However, since silicon or the like for reducing friction is provided between the belt and the top plate, the forces applied in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction cannot be accurately detected, and the forces in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction applied at the time of a human's kick-off or landing cannot be accurately detected.

[0010] On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, a plate-shaped barrel portion 92 obtained by bending a metal frame is attached to the front side of the top plate 91, and a motor 93, a roller 94, etc. are integrally installed on this barrel portion 92, so that the load applied at the time of a human's kick-off or landing is transmitted from the belt 95 to the barrel portion 92 via the motor 93, and the force transmitted from the barrel portion 92 to the top plate 91 can be detected by the load detection sensor 96.

[0011] However, in such a method, the vibration due to the eccentricity of the motor 93, the roller 94, etc. accommodated in the barrel portion 92 is transmitted as a wave in the vertical direction (the wave in the arrow direction in the figure) to the planar barrel portion 92, and the low-frequency vibration based on the natural vibration frequency of the barrel portion 92 and the low-frequency vibration of the pedestrian are superimposed, making it difficult to accurately extract only the vibration during walking.

[0012] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a treadmill that can accurately detect the force acting in the planar direction during human walking.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0013] That is, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a treadmill comprising a revolving member that revolves on a top plate, a motor that causes the revolving member to revolve, and a load detection sensor that detects the load of a walker acting on the top plate, wherein the motor is attached via a bracket fixed to the bottom surface of the top plate.

[0014] With this configuration, high-frequency vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor can be directly transmitted to the top plate via the bracket. Therefore, noise from the motor can be removed via a high-frequency filter, and only low-frequency waveforms due to walking can be extracted.

[0015] Further, in such an invention, the top plate is configured to be provided with a plurality of holes along the vertical direction and a block portion that does not have such holes, and the bracket is attached to the block portion.

[0016] With this configuration, weight reduction can be achieved while maintaining the rigidity of the top plate. In addition, since the motor is attached to the block portion, the motor can be securely fixed to the top plate to transmit high-frequency vibrations.

[0017] Furthermore, the bracket is configured to include a planar portion along the bottom surface of the top plate and a hanging portion that perpendicularly hangs down from the planar portion, and the motor is attached to the hanging portion.

[0018] When configured in this way, the vibration of the motor can be transmitted as vibration along the plane of the hanging part, so that high-frequency vibration can be transmitted to the top plate and then the noise can be removed by the high-frequency filter.

[0019] Also, a roller holding part for attaching a roller is attached to the front or rear end face of the top plate, and the revolving member is revolved through the roller attached to the roller holding part.

[0020] With this configuration, compared with the case of providing a motor and a roller in the barrel part as in the prior art, the distance from the top plate to the roller can be shortened, and it becomes possible to make it difficult to generate low-frequency vibration due to the rotation of the roller.

[0021] Also, when the bracket is configured to include a flat part along the bottom surface of the top plate, a hanging part that perpendicularly hangs from the flat part, and front and rear auxiliary plates provided across the flat part and the hanging part, and the motor is attached to the hanging part, among the front and rear auxiliary plates, the height dimension of the auxiliary plate on the side where the roller for revolving the revolving member is located is shortened so that the belt from the motor can pass through.

[0022] With this configuration, the bracket can be reinforced by the auxiliary plate to prevent the generation of low-frequency vibration, and it becomes possible to easily make the belt from the motor go around to the roller side.

Effect of the Invention

[0023] According to the present invention, in a treadmill comprising a revolving member that revolves on a top plate, a motor that causes the revolving member to revolve, and a load detection sensor that detects the load of a pedestrian acting on the top plate, the motor is attached via a bracket fixed to the bottom surface of the top plate, so that high-frequency vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor can be directly transmitted to the top plate via the bracket. Thereby, noise from the motor can be removed via a high-frequency filter, and only the low-frequency waveform due to walking can be extracted.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0024]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0025] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0026] The treadmill 1 in this embodiment is configured to be able to detect the center of pressure, center of gravity of a person walking on the revolving member 3, the load along the planar direction during kicking and landing, etc. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it includes a revolving member 3 that revolves on the top plate 2, a drive unit 4 such as a motor 41 and a roller 42 that revolves the revolving member 3, and a load detection sensor 5 that detects the load of a person walking on the revolving member 3 driven by the drive unit 4. Characteristically, the motor 41 is attached to the bottom surface 2d side of the top plate 2 via a bracket 6, and is configured to include a high-frequency filter 8 (see FIG. 6) that removes high-frequency components from the vibration transmitted from the motor 41 through the top plate 2. Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described in detail. In the description, the normal direction of the top plate 2 is described as the Z-axis direction, the revolving direction of the revolving member 3 is described as the X-axis direction, and the width direction of the revolving member 3 is described as the Y-axis direction.

[0027] First, as shown in Fig. 4, the top plate 2 is configured in a planar shape to support the load of a walking person. It is composed of a relatively rigid and lightweight member. Specifically, it is provided with a thickness of about 1.5 m to 2.5 m in the X-axis direction, about 0.8 m to 1.5 m in the Y-axis direction, and about 10 cm to 20 cm in the Z-axis direction. However, the dimensions can be appropriately changed. When the top plate 2 is configured to such a size, it will weigh several tons due to the weight of the metal, making transportation and installation difficult. Therefore, here, as shown in Fig. 4, a honeycomb-shaped hole portion 21 along the Z-axis direction of the top plate 2 is provided, and it is covered with a plate-shaped surface member 25 to achieve weight reduction. In addition, block portions 22 without the hole portion 21 are provided near the four corners. And brackets 6 for attaching the motor 41 and the like can be attached to this block portion 22. Further, anti-friction members 23 such as silicon along the X-axis direction are provided at both left and right ends of the upper surface of the top plate 2, thereby reducing the friction between the top plate 2 and the belt 31 and reducing the contact between the belt 31 and the top plate 2 at the central portion.

[0028] Here, this circulating member 3 is composed of an endless belt 31 having flexibility and is made of thermoplastic polyurethane or the like. And it is configured to circulate on the top plate 2 by rollers 42 provided before and after the top plate 2.

[0029] This drive unit 4 for driving the belt 31 is composed of a motor 41, rollers 42, pulleys 43, etc., as shown in Fig. 1.

[0030] Among these, the motor 41 is attached to the bottom surface 2d of the top plate 2 via a bracket 6.

[0031] As shown in Fig. 5 and the like, this bracket 6 is composed of a flat portion 61 provided along the bottom surface 2d of the top plate 2, a hanging portion 62 provided perpendicularly downward from this flat portion 61, and auxiliary plates 62b and 62c straddling this hanging portion 62 and the flat portion 61. Regarding this auxiliary plate 62b, it is extended to a relatively lower side so as to prevent deflection due to the self-weight of the motor 41. Regarding the auxiliary plate 62c on the front side, the height dimension is made low so as not to interfere with the rotation of the belt 44. A hole portion 62a having a diameter larger than that of the pulley 43 is provided in this hanging portion 62, and the front portion of the motor 41 is attached through the hole portion 62a with a bolt (not shown). Regarding the flat portion 61, it is attached to the block portion 22 of the top plate 2 via a bolt 63. Although the side portion of the motor 41 may be fixed by placing it on a plate, if this is done, as shown in Fig. 7, due to the vertical vibration of the motor 41, the plate vibrates in the vertical direction perpendicular to the plane, and the low-frequency vibration is transmitted to the top plate 2. Therefore, here, the vertical vibration of the motor 41 is transmitted as vibration along the plane of the plate of the hanging portion 62 (vibration in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 5).

[0032] On the one hand, the roller 42 is attached to the front and rear surfaces of the top plate 2 via the roller holder 7. This roller holder 7 is configured to integrally hold the upper roller 42 provided in front of and behind the top plate 2 and the lower roller 42 provided below it, and is fixed to the block portion 22 provided near the four corners of the top plate 2 with bolts 64. By adjusting the bolts 64, the tension applied to the belt 31 can be adjusted. Among the roller holders 7 provided in this way, a driving force is transmitted between the upper roller 42 on the front side and the motor 41 via a pulley 43, a belt 44, etc. By separating the roller holder 7 and the bracket 6 of the motor 41, the length dimension of the treadmill 1 can be shortened, and the length of the roller holder 7 can be shortened to make it difficult to generate low-frequency vibrations.

[0033] Also, load detection sensors 5 are provided below the four corners of the top plate 2 to which the motor 41 is attached (see FIGS. 1 to 3). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this load detection sensor 5 is provided on the upper surface of the upright portion 11 that stands up from near the four corners of the frame 10, and is provided so as to be sandwiched between the upright portion 11 and the support column portion 24 that hangs down from near the four corners of the top plate 2. This load detection sensor 5 is composed of a load cell or the like, and is configured to be able to detect a load acting along the XYZ axis directions and a moment around the XYZ axes. By each output, it is possible to detect the pressure center and the center of gravity position of the pedestrian when walking on the belt 31, and the load applied at the time of kicking out and landing along the plane direction of the belt 31. Note that since noise from the motor 41, the roller 42, and the belt 31 enters this load detection sensor 5 in addition to the load due to human walking, as shown in FIG. 6, these noises are removed via a high-frequency filter 8 so that only the load due to human walking can be extracted.

[0034] Next, the operation of the treadmill 1 configured in this way will be described.

[0035] First, when operating the treadmill 1, the motor 41 is driven to rotate the belt 31 on the top plate 2 to make a person walk.

[0036] Then, the walking state of the person during walking is detected by the load detection sensor 5. At this time, regarding the force acting in the Z-axis direction due to the person's walking, it is detected as a Z-axis load by the load detection sensor 5 via the belt 31 and the top plate 2. Also, regarding the load along the X-axis direction, which is the circumferential direction of the belt 31 (the load applied during kicking or landing), in addition to the frictional force between the belt 31 and the top plate 2, it is detected as the force transmitted from the belt 31 to the top plate 2 via the roller 42 and the motor 41.

[0037] Note that when the motor 41 is attached to the top plate 2 via the bracket 6 in this way, the vertical vibration (mainly the vertical vibration based on eccentricity) generated by the rotation of the motor 41 is transmitted to the top plate 2 and input to the load detection sensor 5.

[0038] At this time, as in this embodiment, the motor 41 is suspended and fixed to the vertical portion 62 of the bracket 6, and the bracket 6 is reinforced by the auxiliary plates 62b and 62c so as to prevent the vertical portion 62 from deflecting. Therefore, mainly only the high-frequency vibration in the direction along the plane of the vertical portion 62 is transmitted. The load due to this high-frequency vibration is input to the load detection sensor 5 via the top plate 2.

[0039] Then, among the vibrations input in this way, the high-frequency component is removed via a high-frequency filter as shown in FIG. 6 so that only the vibration due to the person's walking can be extracted.

[0040] According to the above embodiment in this way, in the treadmill 1 including the belt 31 (rotating member 3) that circulates on the top plate 2, the motor 41 that circulates the belt 31, and the load detection sensor 5 that detects the load of the pedestrian acting on the top plate 2, since the motor 41 is fixed to the bottom surface 2d of the top plate 2 via the bracket 6, high-frequency vibration due to the rotation of the motor 41 can be directly transmitted to the top plate 2 via the bracket 6. As a result, noise from the motor 41 can be removed via the high-frequency filter, and only the low-frequency waveform due to walking can be accurately extracted.

[0041] Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be implemented in various modes.

[0042] For example, in the above embodiment, the endless belt 31 is used as the rotating member 3, but a horizontally long and rigid member along the Y-axis direction may be connected in the X-axis direction by a chain or the like.

[0043] Also, in the above embodiment, noise is removed from the load detection sensors 5 provided at the four corners, but noise of high-frequency components may be removed via the high-frequency filter 8 from the load detection sensor 5 closest to the motor 41.

[0044] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the top plate 2 having the honeycomb-shaped hole portion 21 is used, but it may be configured with a thin plate-shaped plate having no hole portion 21.

Explanation of reference numerals

[0045] 1 ··· Treadmill 2 ··· Top plate 2d ··· Bottom surface 21 ··· Hole portion 22 ··· Block portion 3 ··· Rotating member 31 ··· Belt 41 ··· Motor 42 ··· Roller 5 ··· Load detection sensor 6 ··· Bracket 61 ··· Flat part 62 ··· Vertical part 62a ··· Hole 7 ··· Roller holding part 8 ··· High-frequency filter

Claims

1. A revolving member that revolves on the top plate, A motor that revolves the revolving member, A load detection sensor that detects the load of a pedestrian acting on the top plate, In a treadmill comprising: The treadmill is characterized in that the motor is attached via a bracket fixed to the bottom surface of the top plate.

2. The top plate is provided with a plurality of holes along the vertical direction and A block portion without such holes, And is configured in this way, The treadmill according to claim 1, wherein the bracket is attached to the block portion.

3. The bracket is configured to include a flat portion along the bottom surface of the top plate and a hanging portion that perpendicularly hangs down from the flat portion, The treadmill according to claim 1, wherein the motor is attached to the hanging portion.

4. A roller holding portion for attaching a roller is attached to the front or rear end face of the top plate, and the revolving member is revolved via the roller attached to the roller holding portion. The treadmill according to claim 1.

5. The bracket is configured to include a flat portion along the bottom surface of the top plate, a hanging portion that perpendicularly hangs down from the flat portion, and front and rear auxiliary plates provided across the flat portion and the hanging portion, The motor is attached to the hanging portion, Among the front and rear auxiliary plates, the height dimension of the auxiliary plate on the side where the roller for revolving the revolving member is located is shortened so that the belt from the motor can pass through. The treadmill according to claim 1.

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