SEAT

The present invention relates to a device for adjusting the distance between a pedal module and a seat of a human-powered vehicle. Also, the present invention relates to a human-powered vehicle comprising said device.

Nowadays, several types of human-powered vehicles have pedals provided in front of the user’s seat. Examples of this design are recumbent bicycles or velomobiles. In these vehicles, there is often a need to adjust the distance between the pedals and the seat, so that a range of body sizes may be comfortably accommodated.

One approach for solving the pedal-seat distance problem is to provide a fixed seat and then adjust the position of the pedals relative to the fixed seat. This is particularly useful for human-powered vehicles such as recumbent bicycles or velomobiles. However, it can be challenging for such a solution to handle forces from heavy pedalling and to avoid adding too much weight to the vehicle.

A known solution for adjusting the pedal-seat distance is observed in motorized vehicles with strict requirements for mechanical strength, such as racing or off-road cars. In these cases, the seat is typically fixed, and the pedals are movable. However, in practice it is observed that these solutions only allow a limited range adjustment. Also, the main focus in these solutions has been on strength and robustness during high energy impacts and not on flexibility to account for a wide range of human sizes. In human-powered vehicles such as recumbent bicycles and velomobiles, this low level of configurability is undesira ble.

A further approach for the adjustment of the pedal-seat distance is observed in most everyday cars. Typically, the pedals are provided at a fixed position in the car and it is the seat which may be moved. This is achieved by sliding the seat over two parallel guide rails fixed to the vehicle and providing a plurality of lockable positions for the seat along the guide rail. However, this solution is also seen to have several problems. Even though the guide rails used in cars are made of rolled steel profiles, which achieve a good strength for the rails and provide a good surface for sliding the seat, these solu- tions typically weight several kilograms per seat. This is not suitable for human-powered vehicles such as recumbent bicycles and velomobiles. An example of this known ap proach is shown in WO 2018199772 A1 , in particular figures 1 to 3 and the correspond ing description together with claims 1 to 3. Even in a single occupancy human-powered vehicle with electric assistance, a weight much above 50kg is difficult to use on the exist ing bike infrastructure. A much more lightweight solution is needed to keep total vehicle mass at an acceptable level.

The present invention will now be disclosed.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for adjust ing the distance between a pedal module and a seat of a human-powered vehicle, the device comprising: a guide rail adaptable to be fixed relative to the seat; and a sliding piece for supporting the pedal module. The sliding piece is adapted to slide on the guide rail, and the sliding piece is lockable to the guide rail on at least one position of the guide rail.

The guide rail may include a channel having an elongated surface for the sliding piece to slide on. Also, the channel may include two lateral surfaces sloped inwardly with an an gle between 10 and 60 degrees such that the channel embraces the sliding piece.

The guide rail may include a perforation, and the sliding piece may include an outward facing protrusion for fastening the sliding piece to the perforation’s position on the guide rail. Also, the outward facing protrusion may be positioned on the sliding piece so as to be inserted into the perforation due to an increase in distance between the sliding piece and a slidable surface of the guide rail. Moreover, the perforation may have a wider edge facing the outward facing protrusion.

The device may include a threaded fastener for engaging corresponding threads on the sliding piece and actuate on a slidable surface of the guide rail, so that the distance be tween the sliding piece and the slidable surface is adjustable by the threaded fastener. Also, the threaded fastener may include a circular base with a surface for both sliding and rotating on the guide rail, and the circular base may include a conical surface for sliding against a lateral surface of the guide rail. The sliding piece may include a fixed axis for pivoting a bracket adaptable to support the pedal module. Also, the sliding piece may have two inward facing protrusions, each pro trusion being adapted to couple a corresponding hollow space in the bracket so as to provide the fixed axis for pivoting. Moreover, for each inward facing protrusion, the slid ing piece may include an outward facing protrusion as described above, each pair of in ward and outward facing protrusions being coupled by a shared core.

The circular base may include a helical cut-out for providing a resting surface for the bracket so that the rotation of the threaded fastener also adjusts a distance between the bracket and the guide rail. Also, the thread fastener may include threads having the same screwing pitch as the screwing pitch of the helical cut-out.

The guide rail may be adaptable to be fixed to the vehicle so that it is fixed relative to the seat.

The pedal module may include two pedals for cycling, and it may also include an electri cal generator for converting a cycling motion from the two pedals to electricity.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a human-powered vehi cle comprising a device as described above. Also, according to a third aspect of the in vention, there is provided a velomobile or a recumbent bicycle comprising a device as described above.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with refer ence to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 A, 1 B, 1 C are perspective, elevation and plan views of a device embodiment;

Figures 2A, 2B are perspective and cross-sectional views of a guide rail embodi ment;

Figures 3A, 3B, 3C are perspective, elevation and cross-sectional views of a device embodiment, particularly revealing a sliding piece inside of a chan nel in a guide rail; Figures 4A, 4B are perspectives views of a threaded fastener with a sliding piece not hidden and hidden, respectively.

Figures 1A-1C show a device embodiment from several views. This device can be in stalled in a human-powered vehicle such as a recumbent bicycle or a velomobile, and the device allows adjusting the distance between the pedal module 150 and a seat (not shown) fixed to the human-powered vehicle. For example, the device can be fixed to the vehicle so that this results in the device being fixed relative to the fixed seat.

The device includes a guide rail 110 and a sliding piece 120 (not directly visible in Figs.

1 A-1C) for sliding along the guide rail 150 and changing the position of the pedal module 150.

The device is operated to change the position of the pedal module 150 by actuating on the mechanical linkage that supports the pedal module 150. The bracket 140 connects the sliding piece 120 with the pedal module 150. As the sliding piece 120 is moved along the guide rail 110, the pedal module 150 changes position and thus the distance be tween the pedal module 150 and the fixed seat in the vehicle is adjusted.

The sliding piece 120 has two modes of operation: an unlocked mode, in which it is free to be moved along the guide rail 110; and a locked mode, in which the movements along the guide rail 110 are restricted from happening.

The guide rail 110 includes the channel 111 with an elongated surface for the sliding piece 120 to slide on. This surface is also referred to as slidable surface. On the left- hand side of Figure 1 A it is possible to observe the cross-sectional profile of the channel 111 , which shows two lateral surfaces sloped inwardly. The sliding piece 120 is thus em braced laterally by the channel 111 and constricted by the channel’s 111 structure to perform longitudinal movements along the channel 111.

In the embodiments shown in the figures, the pedal module 150 has two pedals for cy cling and an electrical generator for converting a cycling motion from the two pedals to electricity. Flowever, other pedal modules could also be used with the device. Once the distance between the pedal module 150 and the seat has been adjusted, the device must be locked in place so that the user may use the pedal module according to its purpose. In a situation such as the one show in the Figures, the pedal module 150 may be a target of forces from heavy pedalling. It is therefore necessary to provide that the sliding piece 120 is lockable to the guide rail 110 on at least one position of the guide rail 110. This aspect of the invention will be explained in more detail throughout the fol lowing description.

Figures 2A and 2B show the guide rail 110 in more detail. The guide rail 110 includes the longitudinal channel 111 with an elongated surface 112 for the sliding piece 120 to slide on. The channel also includes two lateral surfaces 113 sloped inwardly such that the channel 111 embraces the sliding piece 120 when the latter is positioned to slide on the slidable surface 112. In one embodiment, the lateral surfaces 113 are sloped at an angle between 10 and 60 degrees.

The lateral surfaces 113 of the channel 111 also include a few perforations 114. These are used for locking the sliding piece 120 on the corresponding positions along the guide rail 110. The locking interaction will be explained in further detail while describing the re maining figures.

Also, the inclination of lateral surfaces 113 shown in Figure 2B may vary. In one embodi ment, the lateral surfaces 113 have symmetrical inclinations. In another embodiment, one lateral surface 113 has a fixed angle and the other has a flexible angle that may be adjusted for providing different locking performances. In a further embodiment, the dis- tance between the lateral surfaces 113 at their base is fixed but the distance at top can be adjusted.

Figures 3A to 3B are similar to Figures 1 A and 1 B, except that the guide rail 110 has been hidden. The sliding piece 120 is therefore exposed. In the embodiment shown, the sliding piece 120 includes an outward facing protrusion 121 implemented as a pin. This protrusion 121 is used for locking the sliding piece 120 to the guide rail 110 by insertion into the perforation 114 mentioned above while referring to Figure 2A.

Figure 3C shows a cross-sectional view of the guide rail 110 combined with a crosscut of the sliding piece 120 at the position of the outward facing protrusions 121. The sliding piece 120 is at a position of the guide rail 110 where the outward facing pro trusions 121 of the sliding piece 120 are in alignment with corresponding perforations 114 on the lateral surfaces 113 of the guide rail. Also, the sliding piece 120 is shown in the unlocked mode; that is, the sliding piece 120 can either be moved along the channel 111 or changed to the locked mode, in which the outward facing protrusions 121 are in serted into the corresponding perforations 114. This results in that the sliding piece 120 locks to the shown position on the guide rail 110. In the embodiment shown in Figure 3C, the sliding piece 120 includes a fixed axis 123 for pivoting the bracket 140 connected to the pedal module 150. The bracket 140 in cludes a tubular hollow space 141 that is inserted in its two ends by two inward facing protrusions 122 from the sliding piece 120. This embodiment results in that the bracket 140 can pivot on the support provided by the two inward facing protrusions 122. Also, for each inward facing protrusion 122, the sliding piece 120 includes an outward facing protrusion 121 , and each pair of inward and outward facing protrusions 121 , 122 is coupled by a shared core. This allows achieving an easier manufacturing process.

Figures 4A and 4B show a threaded fastener 130 for controlling the distance between the sliding piece 120 and the slidable surface 112 of the channel 111 in the guide rail 110. In Figure 4B, the sliding piece 120 is hidden.

The threaded fastener 130 is operated in a rotational manner and this actuation adjusts the distance between the sliding piece 120 and the slidable surface 112 of the channel 111. The threaded fastener 130 includes a circular base 132 for both sliding and rotating on the slidable surface 112. It also includes outer threads 131 adapted to face corre sponding threads on the sliding piece 120. The outer threads 131 are shown in Figure 4B and the arrangement of the sliding piece 120 around these threads 131 is shown in Figure 4A. This arrangement therefore allows the user to rotate the threaded fastener 130 on one side of the sliding piece 120, while, on the other side of the sliding piece 120, the threaded fastener 130 changes the distance to the slidable surface 112.

While taking Figures 4A and 4B into consideration, it is possible to visualise how the slid ing piece 120 shown in Figure 3C can be changed to the locked mode: the threaded fas- tener 130 can be rotated in a clockwise movement so that the sliding piece 120 gets dis tanced from the slidable surface; during this distancing motion, the outer facing protru sion 121 will, at some moment, enter into the corresponding perforations 114 in the guide rail 110; the threaded fastener can then be tightened further so that the sliding piece 120 gets securely locked in place.

The circular base 132 of the threaded fastener 130 allows rotating the latter on the slida ble surface 112 of the channel 111. This degree of freedom exists because the circular design of the base 132 is not blocked from rotating by the lateral surfaces 113. Also, the circular base 132 includes a conical surface 1322 suitable for sliding against a lateral surface 113 of the channel 111.

Both the diameter of the circular base 132 as well as the inclination of the conical sur face 1322 can be configured so that the sliding piece 120 remains centered in the chan- nel 111 . In unlocked mode, this effect is advantageous because the sliding piece 120 and threaded fastener 130 can be moved longitudinally along the guide rail 110 with a good sliding quality, in which the outward facing protrusions 121 are kept from contact ing the lateral surfaces 113. Also, during the rotation of the threaded fastener 130, the movements caused on the sliding piece 120 have a good insertion quality, in which sym- metric outward facing protrusions 121 interact synchronously with the perforations 114 in the channel 111.

The circular base 132 of the threaded fastener 130 includes a helical cut-out 1321 for providing a resting surface for the bracket 140. Thus, the rotation of the threaded fas- tener 130 also adjusts a distance between the bracket 140 and the slidable surface 112 in the channel 111. Also, the threads 131 of the threaded fastener 130 may be provided with the same screwing pitch as the screwing pitch of the helical cut-out 1321 . This causes the supporting effect on the bracket 140 to be synchronised with the distancing actuation on the sliding piece 120.

The guide rail 110 may be produced with polymer parts having suitable frictional proper ties that allow sliding the sliding piece on the guide rail 110. Some components and sur faces may be provided with the same or additional strength, such as the outward facing protrusions 121. The device described above allows achieving a scalable manufacturing process. Using parts made mostly of polymers, it is possible to achieve a minimum weight for device. 3D printed parts can be used for the initial series production in order to keep tooling costs to a minimum. Once the production volume increases, the elements of the device can be fabricated with injection moulding instead.

The following advantages are observed in the device described above:

• to suit a wide range of cyclists, antroposofic range from less than 5 to more than 95 percentile. · intuitive and self-explanatory control of pedalling position

• quick and tool-less adjustment

• low weight

• low cost to manufacture, even in low volume series production

• robust locking mechanism and capable of handling high loads · zero play when locked in position

• compensate for wear and deflection

• allows use of 3D printed plastic parts

Reference numerals

100 device 110 guide rail

111 channel 112 slidable surface

113 lateral surface

114 perforation

120 sliding piece

121 outward facing protrusion 122 inward facing protrusion

123 fixed axis for pivoting

130 threaded fastener

131 threads

132 circular base 1321 helical cut-out

1322 conical surface

140 bracket

141 hollow space

150 pedal module