Crankshaft Paddle With Rotating Grip For Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hand-held paddles for stand-up surfboarding disrupt the user's balance due to changes in center of gravity and alternating motion, making it challenging for beginners to maintain balance while paddling.
Innovation Solution
A paddle design featuring a crankshaft arrangement with adjustable length and angle, allowing the paddle blades to be aligned with the user's center of mass, and incorporating a rotating handle grip to minimize rocking and bending, enabling a more ergonomic and balanced paddling motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If conventional hand-held paddles are used with alternating left and right motion, then propelling force is generated, but user balance is disrupted and center of gravity shifts
Solution Approach 1:
The paddle is divided into separate left and right paddle blades that can be independently positioned and operated. Each blade can be adjusted to optimal angles and positions, allowing synchronized or alternating strokes without disrupting the user's center of gravity, thus maintaining balance while generating propelling force.
Solution Approach 2:
The paddle incorporates adjustable components including telescoping shafts and rotatable blades that allow dynamic repositioning during use. This enables the paddle to adapt to different user positions and water conditions, maintaining optimal propulsion efficiency while allowing the user to remain in an upright, balanced position without excessive body movement.
2Ease of operation
If user bends over to paddle effectively, then paddling motion is achieved, but center of gravity shifts forward and balance is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The paddle acts as an intermediary tool that transfers force from the user's arms and torso to the water without requiring the user to bend over. The extended paddle shafts and optimized blade angles allow effective paddling while the user maintains an upright posture, keeping the center of gravity vertically aligned and stable.
Solution Approach 2:
The paddle allows adjustment of critical parameters including blade angle, shaft length, and blade position relative to the handle. These adjustable parameters enable optimization of the paddling mechanics to generate sufficient propelling force while maintaining an upright user position, thereby preserving center of gravity stability.
3Productivity
If alternating left and right paddling motion is used, then forward propulsion is achieved, but rocking motion is created that disrupts balance
Solution Approach 1:
The paddle features asymmetric blade designs and non-uniform shaft lengths for the left and right sides, allowing each blade to be optimized for its specific stroke pattern. This asymmetry enables more efficient force application to the water, generating forward propulsion while minimizing the rocking motion that would otherwise disrupt surfboard stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The paddle design enables continuous or near-continuous propelling action through overlapping left and right strokes, eliminating idle periods between paddles. This continuous useful action maintains forward momentum and reduces the need for corrective movements that would create rocking motion and disrupt balance.
Data Source
AI summary
A paddle device. First and second paddle assemblies each have a paddle blade extending from a paddle end of a paddle arm so that the paddle structures each have a paddle blade end and a paddle arm end. A hand crankable crank shaft arrangement have a center and first and second ends and having handle segments. The paddle arm end of the first paddle structure is coupled to the first end of the crank shaft arrangement and the paddle arm end of the second paddle structure is coupled to the second end of the crank shaft arrangement. First and second handle grips are rotatably coupled to the crank shaft arrangement so as to permit the crank shaft arrangement to rotate with respect to the first and second handle grips when the crankshaft arrangement is cranked. This abstract is not to be considered limiting.