Bicycle hub axle having a dynamo theron

【0001】

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

The present invention relates to a bicycle hub shaft, and more particularly to a bicycle hub shaft with a dynamo.

【0002】

[Conventional technology]

With reference to FIG. 1 or 9, bicycles often employ several types of electricity generators to power lamps such as headlights, taillights, etc. to eliminate the need for batteries. .. Conventionally, the dynamo 106 is arranged on the shaft 108 to generate the required electric power inside the hub shell of the bicycle. However, with this conventional configuration, it was difficult to assemble the shaft and the dynamo.

【0003】

The shaft 108 has a groove 112, which extends along the axial direction to both the small diameter portion 114 (short diameter portion) and the large diameter portion 116 (long diameter portion). The ball pusher 118 is inserted through the large diameter portion 116 and fixed to the stator yoke 122 of the dynamo 106 so as to be adjacent to the nut 120. The spacer 124 is inserted through the shaft 108 and attached behind the ball pusher 118. The spacer 124 has a protrusion 126 extending radially inward of the opening opened in the center of the spacer 124. The protrusion 126 is fitted into the groove 112 so that the spacer 124 does not rotate with respect to the shaft 108. A connector housing 128 having an electrical connector 130 inside is inserted through a shaft 108 and mounted behind a spacer 124. The electrical connector 130 is electrically connected to the dynamo 106 through the wire 131. The insulation plate 132 is assembled by attaching the ground plate 134 and the locknut 136, whereby each component is fixed to the shaft 108.

【0004】

One of the problems that arises in such prior art is that the electrical wire 131 is susceptible to damage during assembly. For example, the shaft 108 needs to form a groove 112 by mechanical cutting. When a groove is formed by mechanical cutting, burrs are often formed by cutting. This burr causes two problems. The first one, the ball push 118 the proper position is that there is a case it is difficult to install on location. Second, this burr can cause damage to the electrical wire 131.

【0005】

Another problem in the prior art arises from the spacer 124. The protrusion 126 on the spacer 124 is typically small and easily breaks in the groove 112. Such breakage often occurs when the locknut 136 is overtightened against the ground plate 134. When such breakage occurs, the spacer 124 rotates freely with respect to the shaft 108. When the spacer 124 rotates, it not only damages the wire 131, but may also break it.

【0006】

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art, is easy to assemble, and minimizes the problem of attaching the ball pusher to the proper position and the problem of breaking the electric wire. It is intended to provide a suppressed, dynamo-equipped bicycle hub shaft.

【0007】

[Means for solving problems]

The first side surface in the present invention is a bicycle hub shaft with a dynamo having both ends, and the shaft has a small diameter portion located at one end of the shaft and a large diameter portion coaxially with the small diameter portion. It is a thing. The small diameter portion has a diameter shorter than the diameter portion, and the large diameter portion has at least two grooves extending in a direction not parallel to the rotation direction of the shaft.<u style="single">At the same time, it has a large-diameter portion main body and a step portion located radially outside the large-diameter portion main body. here,</u>The diameter of the large diameter portion is longer than the diameter of the circle inscribed in the groove, and the diameter of the circle inscribed in the groove is longer than the diameter of the small diameter portion.<u style="single">Further, the groove has a portion formed by extending to the step portion, and the step portion has a notch portion. Further, it has at least one convex portion on the radial outer side of the shaft, and the notch portion is located between the convex portion and the step portion.</u>【0008】

Another aspect of the present invention is a bicycle hub shaft assembly with a dynamo, which is a shaft having both ends, a small diameter portion located at one end of the shaft, a large diameter portion coaxial with the small diameter portion, and a large diameter portion main body. The electric generator arranged, the bearing race arranged in the large-diameter main body, the electric wire extending from the electric generator through the groove and the bearing race, and the bearing race and the spacer are fixed in a predetermined position. It has a lock nut arranged in the small diameter portion for the purpose. The large-diameter portion has at least two grooves extending in a direction not parallel to the rotation direction of the shaft, and the large-diameter portion has a step portion radially outward from the large-diameter portion main body. Further, the spacer has an opening, the opening has at least one protrusion extending radially inward of the opening, and the protrusion has a protrusion for preventing rotation of the spacer. It comes into contact with one of the grooves.

【0009】

Yet another aspect of the present invention has a shaft having both ends, the shaft having a small diameter portion located at one end of the shaft, located inside the small diameter portion in the axial direction, and having a diameter longer than the small diameter portion. A large-diameter portion, a washer, an electric generator arranged in the large-diameter portion, a ball pusher on the large-diameter portion having no thread on the inner side surface, and an electric wire extending from the electric generator. It has a spacer arranged in a large diameter portion, a washer, and a locknut arranged in the small diameter portion for fixing the spacer in a predetermined position. The small diameter portion has a diameter shorter than that of the large diameter portion, and the large diameter portion has four grooves extending in the axial direction. The grooves are arranged at substantially equal intervals along the circumference of the large diameter portion. The large-diameter portion has a large-diameter portion main body and a step portion located radially outside the large-diameter portion main body. A part of the groove extends to the step portion. The groove has an open end on the opposite side of the groove end portion extending to the step portion of the groove. The large diameter portion has a notch portion. The washer has an opening that is disposed in the notch and is formed so that it can be inserted in a position close to one of the grooves. The ball pusher is arranged on the outer side in the axial direction of the electric generator and the washer, and has four convex portions on the inner side in the axial direction. The four convex portions are brought into contact with the groove end portion formed in the step portion in order to prevent the ball pusher from rotating about the axis. The spacer has an opening and has three protrusions extending radially inward of the opening. The protrusion is brought into contact with any three of the grooves in order to prevent the spacer from rotating. The electrical wire extends from the electrical generator through the opening of the washer, one of the grooves and the ball pusher.

【0010】

Other objects, features, and effects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by detailing below. However, it goes without saying that detailed descriptions and characteristic examples are given by illustration in order to clarify more preferable specific examples of the present invention, and do not impose any limitation. Changes and changes within the scope of the present invention will be made in large numbers as long as they do not deviate from the gist of the present invention. The present invention also includes such modifications.

【0011】

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention relates to a bicycle hub axle assembly 10 as shown in FIG. The assembly 10 includes a shaft 12 having both ends of a right end 12a and a left end 12b, as shown in FIG. The right end 12a of the shaft includes a small diameter portion 14 (short diameter portion) and a large diameter portion 16 (long diameter portion). The shaft 12 also includes an electricity generator, such as a dynamo 106 installed in the center of the shaft 12. Here, it represents "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "front", "inside", "top", "bottom" and other positions. The words and phrases described for this purpose are used simply to facilitate the description and to indicate the positional relationship of the constituent members as shown in the figure. Therefore, any direction of the components described herein is included in the scope of the present invention.

【0012】

As shown in FIG. 1, the hub shaft assembly 10 is provided on the front wheel 100 of the bicycle 102 and is used to supply electric power to the lamp 104 and the like. The hub shaft assembly 10 can be provided on any wheel of the rear wheel of a bicycle, any wheel of a tricycle, or a moving body having other wheels.

【0013】

The hub axle assembly 10 is incorporated into the hub of the front wheel 100 of the bicycle 102. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the two ends 12a, 12b of the shaft 12 are fixed to the right and left front wheel forks 136,138, and the spokes 140 are fixed to the two flanges 142 of the external rotor assembly. Will be done. The axis A1 shown in FIG. 3 is the rotation axis of the front wheel 100 of the bicycle, and the external rotor assembly rotates together with the front wheel 100 about the axis A1 as the rotation axis.

【0014】

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 5, the small diameter portion 14 of the right side portion 12a of the shaft 12 is threaded and has a shorter diameter than the unthreaded large diameter portion 16. As described above, in the present embodiment, the large diameter portion 16 is not formed with a thread, but the large diameter portion 16 may be formed with a thread. The small diameter portion 14 has an end portion 14a on a side (that is, outside in the axial direction) away from the large diameter portion 16 located inside the small diameter portion 14 in the axial direction. Preferably, the large diameter portion 16 is formed with four grooves 20. In a preferred configuration, the grooves 20 are arranged on the outer periphery of the large diameter portion 16 and are formed along the circumference at substantially equidistant distances. The large diameter portion 16 has a diameter sufficiently long so that the shaft 12 is strong enough to withstand normal wear and tear due to the use of the bicycle even if the four grooves 20 are formed. The diameter of the groove is set based on the assumption of the diameter D1 of the circle inscribed in the groove (shown in FIG. 5). Preferably, the diameter D1 is configured to have a diameter longer than the diameter of the small diameter portion 14. More preferably, the diameter D1 is about 9 mm and the radius R1 of the groove 20 is about 1.5 mm.

【0015】

The large diameter portion 16 also has a step portion 21. An extension portion 20a of the groove 20 is formed in the step portion 21. The end of the groove 20 opposite to the extension portion 20a is where the large diameter portion 16 has a step with respect to the small diameter portion 14 and has an open end 20b. As will be described later, the step portion 21 functions as a mounting portion for the ball pusher 54 when the ball pusher 54 comes into contact with the step portion 21. The shaft 12 has a washer 22. The washer 22 is provided with an opening 24, and an electric wire 131 is inserted through the opening 24. The washer 22 is installed in the annular notch 26 as shown in FIG. The notch 26 is located slightly inside the step 21 and groove 20, as shown in FIG. 4, and the step 21 and a plurality of protrusions or splines 145 to prevent the dynamo 106 from rotating on the shaft 12. It is formed on the large-diameter portion main body of the large-diameter portion 16 between and. As shown in FIG. 4, the washer 22 adds strength to the assembly and prevents the stator yoke 30 from being deformed. As will be described later, the electric wire 131 connects the electric connector 130 and the dynamo 106.

【0016】

Preferably, the shaft 12 is made of a hard metal, such as iron, and is formed by cold forging. After that, the thread of the small diameter portion 14 and the left end portion 12b shown in FIG. 3 is formed by machine cutting or a lathe.

【0017】

In this way, since the groove 20 is formed in the portion of the shaft 12 that is not used as a thread (that is, the portion in which the thread is not formed), when the groove 20 is formed, as in a typical example in the prior art. In addition, the groove 20 can be formed without forming burrs due to cutting. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the electric wire 131 from being damaged.

【0018】

The hub dynamo 106 has an inner stator assembly and an outer rotor assembly. The inner stator assembly (hereinafter referred to as the inner stator) has a shaft 12, two stator yokes 28,30, a bobbin 32 with a winding coil 34, and a square shape, as shown in FIG. It has a tubular core yoke 36 and two integrated separable discs 38,40. The inner stator is fixed to the front wheel fork 138 by a clamp nut 144 or a locknut 136. The stator yokes 28,30, the tubular core yoke 36 and the separable discs 38,40 are secured to the shaft 12 by splines 145. Preferably, the shaft 12 has four splines 145.

【0019】

The outer rotor assembly (hereinafter referred to as the outer rotor) has a first frame 42, a second frame 44, and a cap 46, each of which is combined, as shown in FIG. The combined outer rotor is rotatably fixed to the shaft 12 with the assistance of bearings 48,50. As shown in FIG. 2, the permanent magnet 52 composed of four magnets arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction is fixed to the cap 46. The north and south poles of the permanent magnet 52 are alternately arranged at equal intervals, and the poles of the permanent magnets 52 face the magnetic pole pieces 28b and 30b (claw portion) of the 28 stator yokes 28 and 30 in total.

【0020】

As is well shown in FIG. 6, the ball pusher 54 is fixed on the large diameter portion main body on the shaft 12 in a state of being in contact with the step portion 21 of the large diameter portion 16. The inner surface 54a of the ball pusher 54 is not threaded. Conventionally, as described above (as shown in FIG. 9), the ball pusher 118 has a thread formed on the shaft 108 and is fixed by a screw. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the ball pusher 54 has four convex portions 54b extended in the axial direction, and as shown in FIG. 4, the extension portion 20a of the groove 20 formed in the step portion 21 ( Hereinafter, it is fitted into the groove portion 20a). Since the convex portion 54b is fitted into the groove portion 20a and the surface 54c of the ball pusher 54 is brought into contact with the step portion 21, the ball pusher 54 is the remaining component member inserted into the shaft 12 from the back surface side of the ball pusher 54. By being pressed by, it is firmly held. In another preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the convex portion 54b is configured to extend radially inward. In yet another embodiment, the convex portion 54b may be configured to extend inward in the radial direction as well as in the axial direction. Further, the ball pusher 54 has a bearing surface 54d for the bearing 50 to roll. Here, the ball push 54 may be any kind of bearing race. For example, instead of the bearing and the ball pusher 54 being separate bodies, a cartridge type bearing mechanism in which the bearing and the bearing race are integrally provided can be used.

【0021】

As shown in FIG. 4, the ring-shaped seal 56 is extrapolated to the shaft 12 and abuts on the ball pusher 54. The seal 56 has an opening 56a to allow the electrical wire 131 to pass through. The spacer 58 having the opening 58a is inserted through the shaft 12 and abutted against the seal 56. Preferably, as shown in FIG. 8, the spacer 58 is configured to have three protrusions 60 extending radially inward of the opening 58a. When the spacer 58 is inserted through the shaft 12, the protrusion 60 is brought into contact with the groove 20. As a result, it is possible to prevent the spacer 58 from rotating on the large diameter portion 16. The open end 20b of the groove 20 shown in FIG. 3 is in contact with the protrusion 60 of the spacer 58 as the spacer 58 slides over the large diameter portion 16 of the shaft 12. In this way, the spacer 58 inserted through the shaft 12 is brought into contact with the groove 20 by the three protrusions 60, so that the protrusions 60 can be prevented from being damaged when tightened by the locknut 136. .. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the spacer 58 from rotating on the large diameter portion 16, and it is possible to suppress damage to the electric wire. The spacer 58 may form a different number of protrusions 60. Further, the protrusion 60 is generally formed larger than the prior art (for example, the protrusion 126 of the spacer 124 shown in FIG. 9).

【0022】

The spacer 58 has a step or notch 58b for accommodating and protecting the electrical wire 131 during assembly. When the electric wire 131 is inserted through the opening 54a of the ball push 54, the electric wire 131 must be inserted beyond the spacer 58. The notch 58b provides space, and once the assemblies are in close contact with each other, the electrical wire 131 is formed over the spacer 58 without being pinched between the spacer 58 and the ball pusher 54. .. As shown in FIG. 4, the electrical wire 131 is inserted through the center of the ball pusher 54 and then bent and connected to the electrical connector 130 along the notch 58b over the spacer 58. With such a notch 58b, it is possible to further suppress the disconnection of the electric wire 131 when each component is closely fixed. Preferably, the notch 58b has a width of about 5 mm.

【0023】

The connector housing 128 houses the electrical connector 130, is inserted through the shaft 12, and is brought into contact with the spacer 58. The electrical connector 130 is connected to the dynamo 106 by an electrical wire 131. The assembly 10 is completed by attaching the insulating plate 132, the grounding plate 134, and the locknut 136, and each component is fixed to the shaft 12.

【0024】

The specific examples of the present invention as described above merely show exemplary embodiments, and a large number of embodiments having similar effects can be obtained without departing from the spirit of the present invention. All such aspects are included within the scope of the invention as added by the claims.

【0025】

[Effect of the invention]

According to the specific example according to the present invention, since the groove is formed in the portion not used as the thread of the shaft (that is, the portion in which the thread is not formed), it is typical in the prior art when forming the groove. As in the example, the groove can be formed without forming burrs due to the cutting process. Therefore, it is possible to prevent damage to the electric wire.

【0026】

Further, when the spacer inserted through the shaft is brought into contact with the groove by the three protrusions, it is possible to prevent the protrusion 60 from being damaged when the locknut 136 is tightened. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the spacer 58 from rotating on the large diameter portion 16, and it is possible to suppress damage to the electric wire.

[Simple explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a bicycle having a bicycle hub shaft with a dynamo according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rearward partial sectional view of a hub shaft assembly including a dynamo according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a rear sectional view of the shaft in the assembly of FIG. 2. FIG.

4 is an exploded and assembled perspective view of the hub shaft assembly of FIG. 2. FIG.

5 is a diagram showing an end portion of a ball pusher in the hub shaft assembly of FIG. 2, and shows the diameter of a circle inscribed in the groove.

6 is a perspective view of a ball pusher in the hub shaft assembly of FIG. 2, showing a convex portion protruding in the axial direction.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a ball pusher according to another embodiment of the present invention, showing a convex portion protruding in the diameter direction.

8 is a rear view of the spacer in the hub shaft assembly of FIG. 2, showing a protrusion and a notch.

FIG. 9 is an exploded and assembled perspective view of a conventional hub shaft assembly with a dynamo.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 Shaft 14 Small diameter 16 Large diameter 20 Groove 20a Groove end 20b Opening end 21 Step 26 Notch 30 Electric generator (dynamo) 54 Bearing race (ball push) 54b Ball push convex 56 Washer 56a Washer opening 58 Spacer 58a Spacer opening 60 Protrusion 131 Electric wire 136 Locknut 145 Convex (spline)