Flat Bicycle Pedal Honeycomb Structure Weight Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flat bicycle pedals for BMX bicycles lack weight reduction while maintaining effective power transmission and durability.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates two half-shells with a honeycomb structure connected to a pedal axle, featuring semicircular grooves and annular webs for optimal force transfer, with a thin plain bearing shell and adjustable pedal axle positioning, and includes a sealing ring to protect the bearing from dirt and moisture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If a full-surface footplate and counterplate design is used, then power transmission is effective, but weight reduction is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The pedal body is divided into two half-shells that are connected together, with a honeycomb structure integrated into the footplate. This segmentation allows for weight reduction while maintaining structural integrity through the distributed honeycomb framework.
Solution Approach 2:
A honeycomb structure is implemented in the footplate, creating a porous yet strong configuration. The honeycomb pattern provides high strength-to-weight ratio, enabling significant weight reduction while maintaining the necessary power transmission capability from the footplate to the pedal axle.
2Weight of moving object
If plain bearing shell thickness is reduced, then weight is reduced, but bearing capacity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The plain bearing shell is made from a bearing material that differs from the honeycomb structure material, or the same material with an additional bearing coating. This composite approach allows the thin shell to maintain adequate bearing capacity through material selection while keeping the overall weight reduced.
Solution Approach 2:
The thickness of the plain bearing shell is optimized to be less than 3mm at the apex to the footplate. This parameter change achieves weight reduction while the bearing capacity is maintained through the combination of optimized thickness, bearing material selection, and the supporting honeycomb structure.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the pedal axle is made adjustable, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pedal axle is designed to be movable within the pedal body, allowing adjustment of the distance between the pedal and pedal crank. This dynamic element enables adaptability for different riding positions and preferences while the adjustment mechanism is integrated into the existing half-shell and honeycomb structure, minimizing additional complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a flat bicycle pedal consisting of two interconnected half-shells (1, 2) and a pedal axle (6), wherein each half-shell (1, 2) consists of a tread plate (3) and a honeycomb-like structure (4) fixedly connected to the respective tread plate (3), wherein the honeycomb-like structures (4) lie on top of one another in the mounted state, each of the half-shells (1, 2) has, in the honeycomb-like structure (4), a sliding-bearing half-shell (5) for the pedal axle (6), and at least two semicircular grooves (7) for receiving annular webs (8) of the pedal axle (6) are arranged in each sliding-bearing half-shell (5).