Foldable Vehicle Width Adjustment Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Foldable vehicles, such as the HIRIKO ™ foldable car, lack the ability to adjust their width, which limits their versatility in navigating narrow urban spaces and parking, as they can only adjust length and height.
Innovation Solution
An adjustment assembly embedded in the vehicle, connectable to pairs of wheels, featuring a foldable unit and a tilting unit that allows for changing the distance between wheels and angular positioning during driving, enabling width adjustment through a centralized controller.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the vehicle width is reduced for parking and storage, then space requirements are minimized, but the vehicle cannot navigate standard width roads and parking spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle employs a dynamic width adjustment system where the body can be folded inward along longitudinal axes to reduce width for parking, and unfolded to restore full width for road navigation. This dynamic transformation allows the vehicle to adapt between two functional states: a compact folded state for minimal space occupation and a full-expanded state for normal driving operations.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the vehicle width is increased for road navigation, then maneuverability on standard roads is improved, but space requirements for parking and storage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle employs a dynamic width adjustment system where the body can be folded inward along longitudinal axes to reduce width for parking, and unfolded to restore full width for road navigation. This dynamic transformation allows the vehicle to adapt between two functional states: a compact folded state for minimal space occupation and a full-expanded state for normal driving operations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a width adjustment mechanism is added to the foldable vehicle, then versatility is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The width adjustment mechanism utilizes the existing foldable body structure and folding actuators to achieve both length reduction and width adjustment. The same folding actuators that collapse the body lengthwise also enable lateral folding for width reduction, eliminating the need for separate dedicated width adjustment mechanisms and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle body is designed with folding capability along both longitudinal axes (for length reduction) and lateral axes (for width reduction). This multi-dimensional folding approach allows the same structural elements to serve multiple functions: the folding doors and body panels can fold horizontally to reduce length and vertically/inward to reduce width, maximizing versatility without adding separate mechanisms.
Data Source
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AI summary
An adjustment assembly for changing width of a vehicle that has at least one pair of wheels, where the adjustment assembly is embedded in the vehicle and is connectable to a pair of front, middle or rear wheels thereof. The adjustment assembly includes, inter alia: a foldable unit connectable to the pair of wheels of the vehicle, configured for changing its overall length over a predefined axis "Y" connecting the centers of the pair of wheels, for adjusting a distance between the pair of wheels it connects to; and a tilting unit operatively associated with the pair of wheels of the vehicle to which the foldable unit connects. The tilting unit is configured for changing angular positioning of the pair of wheels in respect to the "Y" axis, during driving of the vehicle when folded or unfolded.