Single-Sprocket Bicycle Trainer With Chain Re-Engagement Guides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bicycle trainer systems require users to manually manage multiple sprockets and cassettes, leading to installation complexities, noise, wear, and tear, and an unsatisfactory digital shifting experience.
Innovation Solution
A single-sprocket system with oblique chain guides that maintain chain engagement on a single sprocket, allowing virtual gear shifting through electronic resistance adjustments, eliminating the need for physical gear changes and cassette management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple sprockets and cassettes are used for gear shifting, then gear ratio changes are achieved, but installation complexity and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the gear ratio adjustment function from the mechanical sprocket/cassette system and relocates it to the electronic resistance control system. The resistance device can vary resistance levels to simulate different gear ratios, eliminating the need for multiple physical sprockets and cassettes, thus reducing installation complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical gear shifting system (multiple sprockets, cassettes, and chain guides) with an electronic resistance control system. The resistance device uses electronic control to adjust resistance levels, substituting mechanical gear changes with electronic resistance variation, thereby simplifying the device structure and reducing installation complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple sprockets and cassettes are used for gear shifting, then gear ratio changes are achieved, but noise and wear increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical gear shifting system with an electronic resistance control system. By using electronic resistance adjustment instead of mechanical sprocket changes, the system eliminates the noise and wear associated with mechanical gear engagement and chain movement across multiple sprockets, while still providing gear ratio simulation through resistance variation.
3Reliability
If chain guides are added to maintain chain engagement, then chain reliability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the need for complex chain guide systems by eliminating the multiple sprocket setup. With a single sprocket and electronic resistance control, the chain path becomes simpler and more stable, maintaining reliable chain engagement without requiring additional chain guide components, thus improving reliability while reducing structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A single-sprocket system for integration into a bicycle trainer, the system including a sprocket having teeth about a perimeter of the sprocket, a first planar side, and a second planar side, wherein the teeth of the sprocket are configured to engage a chain of a bicycle mounted to the bicycle trainer. The system further includes a first chain guide adjacent the first planar side of the sprocket, wherein the first chain guide is configured to re-engage the teeth of the sprocket with the chain when the chain has become disengaged from the teeth of the sprocket towards the first planar side, and a second chain guide adjacent the second planar side of the sprocket, wherein the second chain guide is configured to re-engage the teeth of the sprocket with the chain when the chain has become disengaged from the teeth of the sprocket towards the second planar side.