Misalignment detecting device for spoked wheel

• US 10,527,408 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2016
• Issued: 01/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hozan Tool Industrial Co. Ltd. (Hozan Kogu Seisakusho KK)
• Original Assignee: Hozan Tool Industrial Co. Ltd. (Hozan Kogu Seisakusho KK)
• Inventors: Hara, Tomomi, Udagawa, Hiroshi, Kurakane, Rikio, Shimokawa, Saburo, Okuno, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Punnoose, Roy M
• Application Number:
  US16/064,722
• Publication Number:
  US 20180306572A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,259 Days
• Field of Search: 35613909, 356601, 356138, 356155
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 2900/541 Servicing
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 31/02 for tightening or straightening wire spokes in situ; for extracting spokes from wheels
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/16 for measuring the deformation in a solid, e.g. optical strain gauge
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 1/14 Determining imbalance G01M1/30 takes precedence

Abstract

There is provided a misalignment detecting device being capable of detecting and correcting distortion of a spoked wheel with a simple configuration. The misalignment detecting device includes: supporting frames 12a, 12b to which the spoked wheel 30 to be inspected is set; a first light source 13 that is attached to the supporting frame and irradiates first detected light to the spoked wheel set on the supporting frame in an axial direction of the spoked wheel; a first line sensor 14 that is attached to the supporting frame so as to be capable of receiving the first detected light and detects radial distortion of the spoked wheel without contact based on the received first detected light; a second light source 15 that is attached to the supporting frame and irradiates second detected light to the spoked wheel set on the supporting frame in a direction intersecting the axial direction of the spoked wheel; and a second line sensor 16 that is attached to the supporting frame so as to be capable of receiving the second detected light and detects axial distortion of the spoked wheel without contact based on the received second detected light.

Claims

1. A misalignment detecting device for inspecting a spoked wheel, the device including:

a supporting frame to support the spoked wheel to be inspected;

a first light source that is attached to the supporting frame and that irradiates first light to the spoked wheel on the supporting frame in an axial direction of the spoked wheel;

a first line sensor that is attached to the supporting frame to detect the first light and to provide an output indicative of radial distortion of the spoked wheel, without contact, based on the detected first light;

a second light source that is attached to the supporting frame and that irradiates second light to the spoked wheel on the supporting frame in a direction intersecting the axial direction of the spoked wheel;

a second line sensor that is attached to the supporting frame to detect the second light and to provide an output indicative of axial distortion of the spoked wheel, without contact, based on the detected second light; and

a processing unit that performs predetermined calculation based on the outputs of the first line sensor and the second line sensor to detect misalignment of the spoked wheel.

2. The misalignment detecting device according to claim 1, wherein

the spoked wheel includes a hub serving as a rotation center, a rim surrounding a circumference of the hub with a predetermined interval, and a plurality of spokes, one end of each of which is secured to the hub and the other end of each of which is connected to the rim,

the radial distortion indicated by the output of the first line sensor is a radial distortion of the rim to the hub, the first line sensor including a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements arranged linearly in a radial direction of the rim, and

the axial distortion indicated by the output of the second line sensor is an axial distortion of the rim to the hub, the second line sensor including a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements arranged linearly in a direction intersecting the radial direction of the rim.

3. The misalignment detecting device according to claim 2, wherein each of the first line sensor and the second line sensor includes a pinhole lens for forming on a photoelectric conversion element surface, an image of an object by the detected light.

4. The misalignment detecting device according to claim 1, wherein the first line sensor outputs a trigger signal that is associated with a position of the rim to which each other end of each of the spokes is connected and that instructs reading of detected light at the associated position.

5. The misalignment detecting device according to claim 4, further including a reference position sensor for detecting a reference position of the rim of the spoked wheel on the supporting frame and providing an output indicative thereof,

wherein the processing means imparts a spoke number to the position associated to the rim position to which each other end of the spokes is connected based on the output of the reference position sensor.

6. The misalignment detecting device according to claim 5, wherein the processing unit performs the predetermined calculation based on the outputs of the first line sensor and the second line sensor and the output of the reference position sensor, and outputs for each spoke an adjustment value by which tension is to be adjusted.