Horizontal Flywheel Stationary Exercise Bicycle Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional stationary exercise bicycles with vertically disposed flywheels are bulky and inefficient in terms of space usage, lacking compactness.
Innovation Solution
A stationary exercise bicycle design featuring a horizontally disposed flywheel with a rotating shaft, driven by a vertically disposed driving shaft and meshed gears, utilizing a transmitting assembly with grooved wheels and a belt to rotate the flywheel, allowing for compactness and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the flywheel is disposed vertically, then the exercise machine can maintain traditional structure, but the machine occupies more space and is not compact
Solution Approach 1:
The flywheel is reoriented from a vertical arrangement to a horizontal arrangement, changing the spatial dimension in which the rotational mass is positioned. This dimensional change allows the flywheel to be placed within the base structure rather than extending vertically, thereby reducing the overall volume occupied by the exercise machine and achieving a more compact design.
2Volume of moving object
If the flywheel is disposed horizontally, then the machine becomes compact and saves space, but the gravity distribution changes affecting stability
Solution Approach 1:
The horizontal flywheel configuration creates a gravity distribution that may affect machine stability. To counteract this, the base structure is designed with increased mass and extended dimensions to provide a counterbalancing gravitational effect. The base acts as a counterweight that offsets the shifted center of gravity caused by the horizontal flywheel, thereby maintaining overall machine stability while preserving the compact design benefits.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The horizontally disposed flywheel reduces the overall gravity of the machine, enhancing stability and saving space, resulting in a more compact exercise machine.
Implementation Method 1
Flywheels have an inertia called the moment of inertia and thus resist changes in rotational speed
Implementation Method 2
a first gear disposed on the axle; a driving shaft vertically disposed in the body; a second gear disposed on the driving shaft and meshed the first gear
Implementation Method 3
a belt disposed on both the first grooved wheel and the second grooved wheel
Data Source
AI summary
An exercise machine such as a stationary exercise bicycle includes a body supported by the ground; an axle disposed in the body; a first gear disposed on the axle; a driving shaft vertically disposed in the body; a second gear disposed on the driving shaft and meshed the first gear; and a horizontally disposed flywheel disposed in a base of the body. A rotation of the axle rotates the flywheel via the first gear, the second gear, and the driving shaft.