Longboard-Skateboard Conversion Kit with Segmented Support Structures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional ride-on boards, such as skateboards and snowboards, lack the necessary damping, rebound, flexibility, and strength-to-weight ratio for a smooth and stable ride on uneven terrain, particularly when converting a snowboard into a long skateboard, which results in excessive flexion and potential hazards.
Innovation Solution
A longboard configuration that incorporates a snowboard deck with skateboard trucks and support structures made from materials like fiber-reinforced polymer, shape-memory alloys, or carbon fiber, which provide controlled flexibility and stiffness to mitigate excessive flexion and enhance ride comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a snowboard is converted into a long skateboard without modification, then the board maintains its damping, rebound, and flexibility properties, but the excessive flexibility makes the board uncontrollable, unstable, and dangerous
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is divided into multiple segments including a first support structure near the front truck, a second support structure near the rear truck, and optionally a third support structure at the center. This segmentation allows each segment to independently manage local flexion while collectively providing overall structural stability, resolving the contradiction between maintaining snowboard flexibility and preventing excessive flexion.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structures are constructed from composite materials such as carbon fiber, Kevlar, or fiber-reinforced polymers. These composite materials provide high strength-to-weight ratio and controlled stiffness, allowing the support structures to resist excessive flexion while maintaining the overall flexibility and damping properties of the snowboard deck.
2Duration of action of moving object
If the board length is increased to create a longboard, then the ride duration and stability on uneven terrain are improved, but the board requires additional support structures to prevent excessive flexion between trucks
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is segmented into multiple independent components distributed along the board length. This segmentation allows each support structure to be optimized for its specific location and function, managing flexion locally without requiring a single complex continuous structure, thus reducing overall device complexity while enabling longboard configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
Support structures are strategically positioned at specific locations along the board (front, center, rear) based on local flexion requirements. Each support structure's properties are optimized for its specific position, providing controlled flexibility where needed while maintaining structural integrity, thereby managing complexity through localized optimization rather than uniform design.
3Duration of action of moving object
If traditional skateboard materials are used, then the board is portable and suitable for tricks, but the rough, stiff ride is not conducive to long periods of enjoyment
Solution Approach 1:
The snowboard deck utilizes composite materials including hardwood core (poplar or birch), fiber-reinforced polymer layers (fiberglass or carbon fiber), and polyethylene plastic base. These composite materials provide optimal balance between strength, flexibility, and damping properties, enabling long-duration comfortable riding while maintaining structural integrity, unlike traditional homogeneous skateboard materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The material properties of the board are optimized by controlling parameters such as core wood type, fiber orientation, layer thickness, and resin composition. These parameter changes enable the board to achieve desired flexibility, damping, and strength characteristics for long-duration comfort while maintaining portability and trick capability.
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 solution enables a smooth, stable, and responsive ride by maintaining the damping, rebound, and strength-to-weight ratio of a snowboard while preventing excessive flexion, allowing for long-duration riding without damage or safety hazards.
Implementation Method 1
Shape-memory is a term that refers to the property of some plastics that return to their originally manufactured shape. Some classes of nylon, for example, have a high elastic modulus and will return to their originally molded shape after being deformed. Such plastics commonly return to their originally manufactured shape faster when heated to a temperature that is below their melting point.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to longboard-skateboards and longboard-skateboard conversion kits, and methods for converting a snowboard to a skateboard. A skateboard of exceptionally long length combining properties of a snowboard and a skateboard with additional support provides a unique ride. A longboard-skateboard conversion kit includes: a board from either a new or reclaimed source, skateboard truck assemblies, one or more support structure(s) made of one or more of various firm but flexible materials whose properties allow the support structure to rebound and return to a predetermined state or shape and having the necessary properties to provide added stability to a skateboard deck or snowboard's flexible nature in the form of suspension, thereby controlling the board's shape and deflecting the weight of the user operating the longboard-skateboard, and thereby equalizing the downward force put upon it and reducing unwanted vibrations from normal use on less than perfectly flat terrain.