A wheel for a non-motorized vehicle (e.g., a shopping cart) can include a housing assembly and a tread assembly. The housing assembly can be configured to sealingly house electronics or other components. The tread assembly can removably mate with the housing assembly such that the electronics or other components remain closed and/or sealed within the housing assembly when the tread assembly is mated or unmated with the housing assembly.

Disclosed is a vehicle support device comprising a polygonal surface which may be affixed to a front edge of an at least one circumferential plate (110) or to a midline of an at least one circumferential plate (110). The polygonal surface (105) may be a pentagon polygon having five sides, a hexagon polygon having six sides, an octagon polygon having eight sides, or any polygonal shape. The polygonal front surface may have an at least one asymmetrical side. The polygonal front surface (105) may have a plurality of lug bolt supports (120), which may have five lug bolt supports (120), seven lug bolt supports (120), eight lug bolt supports (120), or twelve lug bolt supports (120). The vehicle support device may have an axle support centerline (125), a vehicle support device centerline (130), and an non-zero centerline offset (135) between the axle support centerline (125) and the vehicle support centerline (130) to provide for offset alignment of the vehicle support device in a vehicle wheel well.

The vehicle support device may be used to support any wheeled automobile, trailer or tractor, to provide levelness and stability of the vehicle, prevent UV and time or gravity-caused degradation of the tires, and extend the life of the tires, and on other vehicles with modification. For most automobiles, trailers, and tractors, the vehicle support device may replace one or more of the tires and wheels on an axle to securely and solidly support the vehicle on ground or a on concrete pad.

The invention refers to a furniture panel assembly (200, 200 200, 200) comprising a furniture panel (300, 300 300, 300) and a wheelhouse cassette (100, 100, 100, 100). The furniture panel (300, 300 300, 300) has a slot (23) extending in a plane in parallel with and at least partly between the major surfaces of the furniture panel (300, 300 300, 300) and the wheelhouse cassette (100, 100, 100, 100) is positioned in the slot (23). The wheelhouse cassette (100, 100, 100, 100) comprises a wheelhouse (1; 1; 1; 1) and a wheel (2) adapted to be inserted into and retainably engage the wheelhouse (1; 1; 1; 1).

An embodiment is developed for a cylindrically shaped, elliptical rolling robot that has the ability to morph its outer surface as it rolls. The morphing actuation alters lengths of the major and minor axes, resulting in a torque imbalance that rolls the robot along faster or brakes its motion. A control scheme is implemented, whereby angular position and horizontal velocity are used as feedback to trigger and define morphing actuation. A goal of the control scheme is to cause the robot to follow a given velocity profile comprised of steps and ramps. Equations of motion for the rolling robot are formulated, which include rolling resistance torque caused by deformation of the outer surface tread. A computer program solves the equations of motion, and resulting plots show that by automatically morphing its shape in a periodic fashion, the rolling robot is able to commence from an initial position, achieve constant average velocity and slow itself.

A wheel and a rim with a weight reduction inner flange are provided. The rim includes an inner flange, a middle portion and an outer flange which are all annular and connected end to end to form an annular rim, in which the inner flange or the outer flange includes multiple groups of edge weight reduction sockets arranged side by side on one side of the inner cavity of a hub, and multiple groups of inner weight reduction sockets arranged side by side are provided inside the edge weight reduction sockets on the rim; a group of edge weight reduction sockets includes a first edge weight reduction socket and a second edge weight reduction socket at the edge of the inner flange or the outer flange, and the first edge weight reduction socket is in the shape of a right-angled triangle having round angles.

A wheel for a vehicle is provided. The wheel has a first rim support member having a first hub portion rotatably mounted on an axle, and a second rim support member having a second hub portion releasably rotatably mounted on the axle, the second rim support member being releasably secured to the first rim support member along a region spaced from the axle. A rim portion extends from at least one of the first rim support member and the second rim support member and is configured to support a tyre thereon. A flywheel is positioned between the first rim support member and the second rim support member and has a flywheel hub portion releasably rotatably mounted on the axle between the first hub portion and the second hub portion.

A wheel for a human-powered vehicle is provided. The wheel has a flywheel rotatable about a flywheel rotation axis. A flywheel drive is positioned to engage the flywheel to control rotation thereof. A control unit is coupled to the flywheel drive and configured to determine a target rotation speed for the flywheel based at least partially on user input received via an electronic user interface and motion data received from at least one sensor, and direct the flywheel drive to rotate the flywheel at the target rotation speed.

A rim with an inner flange having strip weight reduction sockets and a wheel are provided. The rim includes the inner flange, a middle portion and an outer flange which are all annular and are connected end to end to form an annular rim, in which trapezoidal weight reduction sockets are provided on the inner wall of the inner flange; the bottom edges of the weight reduction sockets are flush with the edge of the inner flange; the top edge of each weight reduction socket has fillets; and the weight reduction sockets have a bottom edge length of 5-30 mm, a height of 15-60 mm, a top edge length of 5-15 mm, a base angle of 72-83, and a depth of 1-5 mm.

A lift device includes a wheel assembly coupled to a frame. The wheel assembly includes a rim having an inner barrel, an outer barrel, and a lip defining a first surface and a second surface. The lift device also includes an adapter plate and an axle having a first end coupled to the frame and a second end including a hub. The adapter plate includes a barrel portion defining a first face and a second face, a hub portion directly coupled to the hub, and a transition portion extending between the barrel portion and the hub portion. The second surface of the lip engages the first face of the barrel portion when the wheel assembly is in a first configuration and the second face of the barrel portion when the wheel assembly is in a second configuration thereby reducing a track width of the lift device.

Aluminum wheels include a rim and a disc having a mounting portion. The mounting portion includes an inner mounting face and an outer mounting face. The mounting portion also includes a coarse grain region and a fine grain region. The coarse grain region can be adjacent, and at least partially form, one of the inner mounting face or the outer mounting face. The coarse grain region includes aluminum alloy grains of a first average grain length that is greater than 1 mm. The fine grain region extends between the coarse grain region and the other of the inner mounting face or the outer mounting face. The fine grain region includes aluminum alloy grains of a second average grain length that is less than 0.5 mm.