Bicycle Seat Post Height Adjustment via Sleeve Abutment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current bicycle seat post assemblies require repeated adjustments to achieve the desired height, causing inconvenience and wasting time for riders.
Innovation Solution
A seat post assembly with an outer and inner tube, a bushing, and a connecting structure that allows the inner tube to be quickly adjusted by moving the lower sleeve relative to the upper sleeve, using positioning slots and inclined planes for precise height adjustment, and a pneumatic cylinder for easy height changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the inner tube is lowered to save storage space, then storage space is reduced, but the rider must spend time re-adjusting the height on the next ride
Solution Approach 1:
The lower sleeve is pre-adjusted to abut against the protrusion on the inner tube at the desired height position before the inner tube is lowered for storage. This preliminary positioning ensures that when the inner tube is raised on the next ride, the height adjustment is already prepared, eliminating the need for time-consuming re-adjustment while maintaining compact storage
2Ease of operation
If the rider repeatedly adjusts the inner tube height to find a suitable position, then the desired height is achieved, but operation time is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The lower sleeve acts as an intermediary component between the rider's adjustment action and the inner tube. By adjusting the lower sleeve position relative to the upper sleeve and having it abut against the protrusion, the system provides a mechanical reference that guides the inner tube to the correct height position in one action, eliminating repeated trial-and-error adjustments
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical adjustment system with a positioning system using the lower sleeve, upper sleeve, and protrusion combination. This system substitutes complex mechanical threading or clamping mechanisms with a simpler abutment-based positioning mechanism that achieves precise height adjustment more quickly
Data Source
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AI summary
A seat post assembly (10) includes an outer tube (20) and an inner tube (30) movably disposed upwards and downwards in the outer tube (20). A bushing (40) has an upper sleeve (50) disposed on the top end of the outer tube (20) and penetrated by the inner tube (30), and a lower sleeve (60) movably mounted upwards and downwards on the inner tube (30). A connecting structure (42) is disposed to the bushing (40) for enabling the lower sleeve (60) to be connected with the upper sleeve (50) and moved along the axial direction of the outer tube (20) relative to the upper sleeve (50). Further, the connecting structure (42) allows the position of the lower sleeve (60) relative to a protrusion of the inner tube (30) to be adjustable. As such, when the bottom end of the lower sleeve (60) is abutted against the protrusion of the inner tube (30), the inner tube (30) cannot be raised to achieve the effect of adjusting the total height.