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US 11,117,635 B2Granted
System for balancing dampening forces on a suspension system
AssigneeMotion Instruments, Inc.
InventorsRobert James Przykucki, Jr., Michael Chartier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for adjusting the damper force on the suspension system of a bicycle is provided. Sensors are placed on the front shock and rear shock to measure the amplitude of displacement or acceleration in the time domain and generate a zenith position, velocity, force, and work based on the measured values. The system calculates a curve fit approximation curve for the relationships of zenith position versus velocity and uses the approximation curves to generate and display recommended damper settings for the front shock and rear shock. Using the data ensures that the bicycle suspension data is balanced, such that the front shock and rear shock respond similarly to the same event.
Claims25
A system for adjusting a damping force on a suspension system of a bicycle, comprising:
- a front shock sensor coupled to a front shock of the bicycle to generate a vertical front shock deflection signal representative of vertical deflection of the front shock;
- a rear shock sensor coupled to a rear shock of the bicycle to generate a vertical rear shock deflection signal representative of vertical deflection of the rear shock;
- a processor coupled to the front shock sensor and the rear shock sensor, to:
- generate front shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the front shock based upon the vertical front shock deflection signal,
- generate rear shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the rear shock based upon the vertical rear shock deflection signal,
- generate zenith position data for the front shock representative of a vertical displacement based on the vertical front shock deflection signal, and generate a front shock regression curve fit analysis based upon the front shock velocity data and zenith position data, and
- generate zenith position data for the rear shock representative of a vertical displacement based on the vertical rear shock deflection signal, and generate a rear shock regression curve fit analysis based upon the velocity and zenith position data;
- and
- a display coupled to the processor configured to simultaneously generate a visual representation of the velocity to zenith position data based upon the front shock regression curve fit analysis and the rear shock regression curve fit analysis computed for the front shock and the rear shock respectively, the visual representation comprising the front shock regression curve fit analysis and the rear shock regression curve fit analysis of the velocity data versus zenith position data for the front shock and the rear shock;
- wherein adjustments to the damping force of the front shock and rear shock are based upon a comparison of the front shock regression curve fit analysis relative to the rear shock regression curve fit analysis.
7 more elements
A system for balancing a damping force on front and rear dampers of a full suspension bicycle, the system comprising:
- a front shock sensor coupled to a front shock of the bicycle to generate a vertical front shock deflection signal representative of vertical deflection of the front shock;
- a rear shock sensor coupled to a rear shock of the bicycle to generate a vertical rear shock deflection signal representative of vertical deflection of the rear shock;
- a processor coupled to the front shock sensor and the rear shock sensor, wherein the processor is coupled to the front shock to:
- generate front shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the front shock based upon the vertical front shock deflection signal,
- generate zenith position data for the front shock representative of a vertical displacement based on the vertical front shock deflection signal, and
- generate a front shock regression line based upon the front shock velocity data and zenith position data;
- and
- the processor is coupled to the rear shock sensor to:
- generate rear shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the rear shock based upon the rear shock deflection signal,
- generate zenith position data for the rear shock representative of a vertical displacement based on the vertical rear shock deflection signal, and
- generate a rear shock regression line based upon the rear shock velocity and zenith position data;
- wherein a front slope of the front shock regression line is compared to a rear slope of the rear shock regression line to establish recommended adjustments of the front shock and the rear shock, the recommended adjustments setting the front slope of the front shock regression line and the rear slope of the rear shock regression line within 15° of parallel.
9 more elements
A system for adjusting a damping force on a suspension system of a bicycle, comprising:
- a front shock sensor coupled to a front shock of the bicycle to generate a vertical fork acceleration signal representative of the vertical acceleration of the front shock;
- a rear shock sensor coupled to a rear shock of the bicycle to generate a vertical rear acceleration signal representative of the vertical acceleration of the rear shock;
- a processor coupled to the front shock sensor, to
- generate front shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the front shock based upon the vertical fork acceleration signal,
- generate zenith position data for the front shock representative of a zenith position based on the acceleration signal of the front shock, wherein the front shock velocity data and the zenith position data for the front shock create a scatter-plot for the front shock, and wherein the processor generates a front shock regression line plot representative of the scatter plot of the front shock;
- and
- the processor coupled to the rear shock sensor, to:
- generate rear shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the rear shock based upon the vertical rear acceleration signal,
- generate zenith position data for the rear shock representative of a zenith position based on the acceleration signal of the rear shock, wherein the rear shock velocity data and the zenith position data for the rear shock create a scatter-plot for the rear shock, and wherein the processor generates a rear shock regression line plot representative of the scatter-plot of the rear shock;
- and
- generate a balance of the front shock relative to the rear shock based on a comparison of the front shock regression line plot and the rear shock regression line plot.
8 more elements
A device for displaying parameters of a suspension system for a bicycle, the device comprising:
- electronic memory to store user inputs and result data for a front shock and a rear shock;
- a setup module to obtain information related to the front shock and the rear shock on the suspension system of the bicycle, the setup module comprising:
- a front shock module to obtain a calibrated vertical displacement of the front shock;
- and
- a rear shock module to obtain a calibrated vertical displacement of the rear shock;
- a record module that records events during a ride, the record module obtaining a zenith position, vertical displacement, velocity, and acceleration of the front shock and rear shock for each event and storing the zenith position, vertical displacement, velocity, and acceleration of the front shock and the rear shock in electronic memory;
- a results module that accesses the results of the record module and setup module to calculate vertical zenith position versus vertical velocity components for each event at the front shock and the rear shock, the results module generating a curve fit analysis of the vertical zenith position component versus velocity for the front shock and the rear shock and generating a curve fit analysis of the vertical velocity component versus zenith position of the front shock and the rear shock, the results module comparing the curve fit analysis for the zenith position and velocity components at the front shock with the curve fit analysis for the zenith position and velocity components at the rear shock;
- and
- a display to output recommended damper settings for the front shock and the rear shock;
- and
- a balance component that analyzes the suspension system as a whole and includes the curve fit analysis of the front shock and the rear shock to determine the suspension system performance.
8 more elements
A system for adjusting a damping force on a suspension system of a motorcycle, comprising:
- a front shock sensor coupled to a front shock of the motorcycle to generate a vertical front shock deflection signal representative of vertical deflection of the front shock;
- a rear shock sensor coupled to a rear shock of the motorcycle to generate a vertical rear shock deflection signal representative of vertical deflection of the rear shock;
- a processor coupled to the front shock sensor and the rear shock sensor, to:
- generate front shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the front shock based upon the vertical front shock deflection signal,
- generate rear shock velocity data representative of a vertical component of velocity of the rear shock based upon the vertical rear shock deflection signal,
- generate zenith position data for the front shock representative of a vertical displacement based on the vertical front shock deflection signal, and generate an approximation curve video signal based upon the front shock velocity data and zenith position data;
- generate zenith position data for the rear shock representative of a vertical displacement based on the rear shock deflection signal, and generate an approximation curve video signal based upon the rear shock velocity and zenith position data;
- generate a vibration measurement of dynamic forces for each compression and rebound event;
- and
- generate a balance between the front shock and the rear shock by comparison of the approximation curve video signals of the curve fit analysis for the front shock and the rear shock performance;
- and
- a display coupled to the processor configured to simultaneously generate a visual representation of the velocity to zenith position data based upon the approximation curve video signal computed for the front shock and the rear shock, the visual representation comprising a curve fit analysis of the velocity data versus zenith position data for both the front shock and the rear shock.
9 more elements
A system for balancing a suspension system on a bicycle, the system comprising:
- a fork having a fork sensor that generates:
- a fork vertical deflection signal representative of a vertical deflection of the fork based on a head angle of the fork;
- and
- a fork velocity signal in a time domain representative of a speed of the vertical deflection of the fork based on the head angle of the fork;
- a rear shock having a rear shock sensor that generates:
- a rear shock vertical deflection signal representative of a vertical deflection of the rear shock based on a leverage ratio of the rear shock;
- and
- a rear shock velocity signal in the time domain representative of a speed of the rear shock based on the leverage ratio of the rear shock;
- a processor that generates a fork regression analysis line based on a scatter-plot of the fork vertical deflection signal versus the fork velocity signal and a rear shock regression analysis line based on a scatter plot of the rear shock vertical deflection signal versus the rear shock velocity signal;
- wherein the processor balances the fork relative to the rear shock based on a comparison of the fork regression analysis line relative to the rear shock regression analysis line;
- and
- a filter that organizes the scatter-plot of the fork and the scatter-plot of the rear shock into collections of discrete events, wherein the processor further generates a fork regression line and a shock regression line for each collection.
9 more elements
A system for balancing a suspension system on a bicycle, the system comprising:
- a fork having a fork sensor that generates:
- a fork vertical deflection signal for a low speed event representative of a vertical deflection of the fork based on a head angle of the fork;
- a fork velocity signal in a time domain representative of a speed of the low speed event for the vertical deflection of the fork based on the head angle of the fork
- a fork vertical deflection signal for a high speed event representative of a vertical deflection of the fork based on the head angle of the fork;
- and
- a fork velocity signal in a time domain representative of a speed of the high speed event for the vertical deflection of the fork based on the head angle of the fork;
- a rear shock having a rear shock sensor that generates:
- a rear shock vertical deflection signal for a low speed event representative of a vertical deflection of the rear shock based on a leverage ratio of the rear shock;
- and
- a rear shock velocity signal in the time domain representative of a speed of the low speed event for the vertical deflection of the rear shock based on the leverage ratio of the rear shock;
- a rear shock vertical deflection signal for a high speed event representative of a vertical deflection of the rear shock based on a leverage ratio of the rear shock;
- and
- a rear shock velocity signal in the time domain representative of a speed of the high speed event for the vertical deflection of the rear shock based on the leverage ratio of the rear shock;
- and
- a processor that generates:
- a fork regression line based on a scatter-plot of the fork vertical deflection signals for the low speed event and the high speed event versus the fork velocity signals for the low speed event and the high speed event, respectively;
- and
- a rear shock regression line based on a scatter plot of the rear shock vertical deflection signals for the low speed event and the high speed event versus the rear shock velocity signals for the low speed event and the high speed event, respectively;
- wherein the processor balances the fork relative to the rear shock based on a comparison of the fork regression line relative to the rear shock regression line.
16 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.