One-person vehicle damper assembly for urban transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current one-person skateboard vehicles for urban transport are complex to maneuver, require special skills, and are not lightweight, compact, or suitable for easy use by all users due to the need for significant deck oscillation to change direction and the inclusion of heavy motorized components with gears and belts.
Innovation Solution
A one-person vehicle with trucks that pivot and include a damper assembly between the pivot and control arm, allowing for easier direction change without large deck oscillation, combined with a compact motorization system and foldable design for enhanced usability and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a bushing element is used to compensate for weight force and facilitate deck return to center, then the vehicle can maintain stability, but the vehicle becomes complex to maneuver and requires special user abilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the mechanical parameters of the control arm system by introducing a damper assembly that modifies the rotational characteristics. The damper assembly allows the control arm to rotate more freely with reduced friction and resistance, enabling easier direction changes while maintaining stability through controlled damping forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional bushing element with a damper assembly that uses controlled damping mechanics instead of pure friction-based bushing mechanics. This substitution allows for smoother, more predictable motion control that is easier to maneuver while maintaining stability.
2Ease of operation
If significant deck oscillation is used to change direction, then the vehicle can overcome the bushing resistance, but the vehicle requires special skills and is not easy to use by all users
Solution Approach 1:
The damper assembly modifies the rotational parameters of the control arm, reducing the oscillation amplitude needed to initiate direction changes. This allows users without special skills to maneuver the vehicle easily by making small, natural body movements rather than requiring large, skillful oscillations.
Solution Approach 2:
The damper assembly acts as an intermediary between the user's weight shifts and the wheel direction changes, smoothing out the transmission of forces. This mediation allows intuitive control where small user inputs produce appropriate directional responses without requiring skillful oscillation techniques.
3Productivity
If motor, gears and belts are included to drive the truck wheel axles, then the vehicle can be motorized for urban transport, but the vehicle weight becomes very great and requires much maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the heavy mechanical transmission components (gears and belts) from the motorized system, retaining only the essential motor function. This extraction significantly reduces vehicle weight while maintaining the core capability of motorized wheel drive for urban transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes a simplified direct-drive motor system for the traditional motor-gear-belt transmission system. This substitution eliminates complex mechanical intermediaries, reducing weight, maintenance requirements, and mechanical failure points while preserving motorized propulsion 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 vehicle is stable, easy to maneuver by any user, lightweight, and compact, with reduced wheel axle rotation radius, avoiding wheelbite and facilitating urban mobility with a broad support base and efficient motorization, allowing for easy storage and transport.
Implementation Method 1
a damper assembly that is interposed between the pivot and the arm rotating about said pivot assembly, allowing said damper assembly to compensate on said arm the weight force that swings the deck and to actuate the return to the centre of said arm when said force yields
Data Source
AI summary
One-person vehicle (1) for urban transport comprising a transport deck (2) for one user of the vehicle (1), trucks (3) for the displacement of said transport deck (2), and control arms (4) for said trucks (3) which are attached to said transport deck (2) so that they can pivot with respect to said trucks (3) when the user swings the deck (2) for changing the traveling direction of the vehicle (1), and is characterized by the fact that each of said trucks (3) comprises a pivot (5) to be inserted into one of said control arms (4) and a damper assembly (19) which is interposed between the pivot (5) and the arm (4) rotating about said pivot (5), allowing said damper assembly (19) to compensate on said arm (4) the weight force that swings the deck (2) and to drive the return to the centre of said arm (4) when said force yields.