Adaptive Ski Vibration Control via Smartphone Actuators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ski and snowboard designs experience excessive vibration during turns, leading to loss of edge contact with the snow, decreased control, and increased discomfort, especially at high speeds or in tight turns, due to their inherent stiffness and flexibility issues, which existing damping materials and structures fail to adequately address without compromising responsiveness.
Innovation Solution
An adaptive vibration control system utilizing MEMS accelerometers and thermo-electric actuators embedded in the ski, connected via a smartphone application and wireless interface, analyzes ski vibration frequencies and amplitudes using DFT and IDFT, calculates an inverse matrix to generate a control signal that dampens vibrations proportionally, improving ski handling and control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If ski is made with high flexibility and strong sideline curvature to achieve tight turning radius, then turning performance is improved, but vibration amplitudes increase excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The ski stiffness is made dynamically adjustable through embedded actuators that can change the stiffness of the core in real-time based on skiing conditions, allowing the ski to be flexible during turns but stiffen to reduce vibrations when needed
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameter of ski stiffness is changed by applying corrective stimuli to actuators that modify the tension or stiffness in the ski core, thereby adjusting vibration characteristics without changing the overall ski design
2Object-affected harmful factors
If damping materials and structures are added to the ski to reduce vibrations, then vibration amplitudes decrease, but ski responsiveness and speed decrease
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of static damping materials, the system uses dynamically controllable actuators that can adjust damping characteristics in real-time, providing vibration reduction only when and where needed, thus preserving ski responsiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful vibration frequencies are extracted and targeted specifically through frequency analysis, allowing damping to be applied selectively to problematic frequencies while leaving other frequencies unaffected, maintaining ski performance
3Object-affected harmful factors
If stiff and hard ski construction is used to reduce vibration amplitudes at certain frequencies, then vibration control is improved, but ease of control by average users decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The ski's effective stiffness parameter is changed dynamically through actuator control, allowing the ski to adapt to different user skill levels and conditions, making stiff skis controllable for average users when needed
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively reduces ski vibrations, enhancing edge contact and control, thereby improving skiing performance and safety by providing real-time adaptive damping that adjusts to the user's parameters and snow conditions, ensuring a more comfortable and responsive skiing experience.
Implementation Method 1
consist of an accelerometer sensor embedded in the ski to provide measurements of instantaneous changes of acceleration
Implementation Method 2
the control signal is transmitted to the thermo-electrical actuator embedded in the ski core to damp vibration
Implementation Method 3
The control signal stimulates the thermo-electrical actuators, which in response extracts/contracts at the rate and in proportion to the control signal, providing dampening force proportional to the vibration
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for controlling of ski vibration consisting an accelerator/actuator sub-system attached to the ski and a adaptive vibration control application residing in the user smart-phone and communicating with the accelerometer/actuator sub-system over Bluetooth radio interface is disclosed. The adaptive vibration control application extracts vibration frequencies and amplitudes from signal received from an accelerometer, separates such frequencies according to their types—bending or torsional, and after thresholding and scaling by the ski calibration parameters and by the user desired ski response, apply such signal to the control loop and consequently to the actuators to provide vibration dampening force. In one embodiment, such actuators are attached to the ski, while in another embodiment such actuators are embedded into the ski.