Bicycle Frame Unit with Adjustable Portion for Mold Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing frame units for bicycles face issues with residual stress and safety concerns due to welding, high manufacturing costs, and reduced productivity caused by manual welding and the need for multiple molds for varying sizes.
Innovation Solution
The frame unit integrates left and right frame bodies with adjustable portions, reinforcing panels, and press-formed reinforcing beads, allowing for size adjustment and automation of the welding process, eliminating the need for multiple molds and enhancing rigidity and durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If welding process is used to join head tube to upper frame and lower frame, then joining strength is achieved, but residual stress and cracks occur at joining portions reducing safety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the head tube, upper frame, and lower frame into a single integrally formed component. This merging eliminates the welding joints between these parts, thereby removing the source of residual stress and crack initiation while maintaining structural strength through continuous material geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces separate reinforcing members (gussets or reinforcement plates) that are welded to the integral frame structure at specific locations. This segmentation allows the main load-bearing structure to remain crack-free while providing localized reinforcement where additional strength is needed, separating the functions of structural integrity and reinforcement.
2Strength
If manual welding is performed for joining portions, then joining is achieved, but welding quality varies with worker skill and environment increasing inferiority rate and working time
Solution Approach 1:
By combining the head tube, upper frame, and lower frame into a single integrally formed component, the patent eliminates multiple manual welding operations. This reduces productivity issues associated with manual welding variability while maintaining necessary structural strength through the integral design and selective reinforcement.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate molds are manufactured for each size specification, then various bicycle sizes are produced, but manufacturing costs increase and productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates an adjustable portion in the frame structure that allows the same mold to produce frames of different sizes. This dynamic design element enables size variation through adjustment rather than requiring separate molds for each specification, thereby maintaining productivity while achieving adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs a universal mold that can produce frames for multiple size specifications by incorporating adjustable portions. This single multi-functional mold replaces the need for multiple dedicated molds, reducing manufacturing costs and improving productivity while maintaining the ability to produce various bicycle sizes.
4Adaptability or versatility
If separate molds are manufactured for each size specification, then various bicycle sizes are produced, but manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs a universal mold that can produce frames for multiple size specifications by incorporating adjustable portions. This single multi-functional mold replaces the need for multiple dedicated molds, reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining the ability to produce various bicycle sizes.
Data Source
AI summary
A frame unit for a bicycle may include a left frame body in which a part of an adjusting portion, a part of a seat tube, a part of a frame, and a left stay are integrally formed; and a right frame body in which a part of the adjusting portion, a part of the seat tube, a part of the frame, and a right stay are integrally formed, in which the seat tube and the frame are integrally formed by adjusting a length of the adjusting portion, and the left frame body and the right frame body are coupled integrally.