Spoked Wheel System with Nesting Axle for Compact Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Human-powerable wheeled vehicles, especially those with full-size wheels, face challenges in compact storage and transportation due to their bulky conical shape, requiring complex disassembly and additional structural cases, which increase weight and cost, and often exceed airline size and weight limits.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a spoked wheel system with a central annulus that allows the axle of one wheel to nest inside another, reducing overall stack height and enabling more compact storage without the need for a separate suitcase, using a user-removable hub that maintains spoke tension.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional spoked wheels with conical hubs are used, then structural strength and stiffness are improved, but storage volume and transportability deteriorate due to bulky shape
Solution Approach 1:
The hub is designed with a hollow conical cavity that receives and nests the axle, allowing the axle to be stored within the hub structure itself. This nesting arrangement eliminates the need for separate axle storage space and reduces the overall volume required for wheel storage while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel is divided into separable components including the hub, axle, rim, and spokes. The hub and axle can be detached from the rim and spokes, allowing independent storage of each component. This segmentation enables compact packing by storing components separately rather than as a single bulky assembled unit.
2Ease of operation
If full-size wheels are used for better road performance, then vehicle performance is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to complex disassembly requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel is designed with separable components that can be easily detached using simple tools. The hub can be removed from the rim, and the axle can be extracted from the hub cavity, breaking down the complex full-size wheel into manageable segments for storage without requiring complex disassembly procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The axle is extracted from the hub by removing it from the conical cavity, and the hub is extracted from the rim assembly. This extraction of key components simplifies the disassembly process and enables compact storage while preserving the full-size wheel configuration for optimal road performance.
3Reliability
If additional structural cases are used for wheel protection, then reliability is improved, but weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protective function is merged with the wheel components themselves. The hub structure provides protection for the nested axle, and the rim provides protection for the spokes and hub assembly. This self-protection approach eliminates or reduces the need for additional external protective cases, thereby reducing overall weight and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel components are designed to protect themselves during storage and transport. The hub's conical structure naturally protects the nested axle, and the overall wheel design allows components to shield each other from damage without requiring external protective structures.
4Volume of moving object
If wheels are stored in compact configuration, then storage space is reduced, but ease of operation worsens due to time and tool requirements for reassembly
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel is segmented into components that can be quickly detached and reattached. The hub can be removed from and reattached to the rim, and the axle can be inserted into and removed from the hub cavity, allowing rapid transitions between compact storage and operational configurations without requiring extensive reassembly time.
Solution Approach 2:
The hub is pre-designed with a conical cavity that receives the axle in a predetermined orientation, and the hub and rim are pre-configured with matching interfaces. This preliminary design of the nesting geometry enables quick and tool-free reassembly by simply aligning and inserting components in the correct sequence without requiring complex alignment procedures.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for packing a human-powerable vehicle uses an inner annular module that can be incorporated into a wheel. The inner annular module has a open central region, attachment points for steel spokes in tension that radiate out from the annular module, and a feature to facilitate the detachable attachment of a hub by a user, so that a user detachable hub can be installed in the open central region when the annular module is used as part of a vehicle wheel. Removal of the hub facilitates the placement of the module over the axle of a second wheel. The attachment points for the spokes that radiate outward are in a circular configuration that is concentric with the center of the annular module. The attachment points for the spokes are on two parallel planes.