Folding Bicycle System with Nesting Annular Wheels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing human-powerable wheeled vehicles, such as bicycles, face challenges in compact storage and transport due to their large size and weight, particularly with full-size wheels, which exceed airline luggage size and weight limits, and require complex disassembly and packing processes, often resulting in damage during transit.
Innovation Solution
The development of a folding bicycle system that uses annular wheels with removable hubs and conical attachment elements, allowing for compact storage by nesting wheels and folding frames into a single, lightweight package that meets airline size and weight restrictions, with minimal tools required for packing and unpacking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full-size wheels are used, then riding performance is improved, but packed volume and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel is divided into separate components: rim, tire, and hub. The hub is made detachable, allowing the wheel to be disassembled into segments that can be packed more compactly. This segmentation enables full-size wheels to be broken down for smaller packed volume while maintaining full wheel size for riding performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The front wheel is designed with a hollow center that can receive and nest the rear wheel inside it during packing. This nesting arrangement significantly reduces the packed volume of multiple full-size wheels, allowing them to occupy the space of a single wheel while maintaining their full-size dimensions for riding.
2Reliability
If full-size wheels are used, then riding performance is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the wheel into detachable components (rim, tire, hub), the hub weight can be minimized since it is only needed during assembly/disassembly operations, not continuously carried. The segmentation allows for lighter overall wheel construction while maintaining full-size riding capability.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional packing methods are used, then protection from impact is improved, but device complexity and time required increase
Solution Approach 1:
The packing process merges multiple protective functions into the wheel structure itself. The detachable hub and nesting arrangement combine structural protection, space efficiency, and assembly functionality into a unified system, reducing the need for separate protective containers and complex packing procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel structure provides its own protection through the nested arrangement and detachable components. The hubs and rims protect themselves during packing without requiring external protective cases, and the system is designed to be self-sufficient for its own assembly and disassembly operations.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional packing methods are used, then protection from impact is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel components are designed in advance with detachable hubs and nesting capabilities, so that when packing is needed, the disassembly and nesting process is already facilitated by the pre-designed structure. This preliminary design action reduces the actual time required for packing operations while maintaining protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel system performs its own packing and unpacking operations through the detachable hub mechanism, requiring minimal external intervention or complex packing procedures. The self-service nature of the design reduces the time investment needed for packing while maintaining adequate protection.
Data Source
AI summary
A bicycle folding system comprises a front fork with a first steerer for rotating the front fork in a head tube, a second steerer that rotatably attaches to a crown of the front fork, and a clamp module that secures the first steerer in the head tube. The clamp module also detachably attaches to the second steerer, which (a) secures the second steerer in front of and substantially parallel to the first steerer when the bicycle is in a rideable configuration, and (b) detaches to allow rotation of the second steerer when folding the bike. The axis of rotation of the second steerer for the bike folding process is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the first steerer in the front fork.