Method for making a composite material wheel rim

Abstract

A method for making the composite material wheel rim includes the steps of: configuring a plurality of inner lining chunks individually to the desired position where the spokes are to be mounted to allow the inner lining chunks to be integrated with an inner annular portion of the wheel rim, next, integrating the formed inner annular portion with an outer annular portion of the wheel rim to form a semi-finished wheel rim, and then, creating the requested threaded holes for connecting the spokes in the inner lining chunks of the inner surface of the semi-finished wheel rim subject to the requested amount and angles of the spokes. By the present method, the semi-finished wheel rim allows drilled, threaded holes subject to needs to fit different types of wheel hub units to increase the yield rate and reduce the inventory of the wheel rims.

Claims

1. A method for making a composite material wheel rim, comprising: forming an annular portion of a wheel rim in a first mold; placing a plurality of inner lining chunks individually to a desired position on the annular portion where each spoke is to be mounted, wherein the plurality of inner lining chunks is metallic material; laminate-stacking carbon fiber cloth to enable the plurality of inner lining chunks to be encased to form an inner annular portion of the wheel rim; placing the formed inner annular portion in a second mold and forming an outer annular portion of the wheel rim in the second mold by stacking carbon fiber cloth onto an outer side of the formed inner annular portion, and processing a combination of the formed inner annular portion and the outer annular portion to form a semi-finished wheel rim; and according to a spoke amount of a wheel hub and an assembled angle of each spoke, drilling and tapping holes in the plurality of inner lining chunks of an inner surface of the semi-finished wheel rim to form threaded boles.

2. The method for making the composite material wheel rim as claimed in claim 1, wherein an amount and drilled angles of the threaded holes correspond with the spoke amount of the wheel hub and the assembled angle of each spoke.

3. The method for making the composite material wheel rim as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of each spoke is provided with a first end connected with the semi-finished wheel rim and another end of each spoke provides a second end secured to a fixed protruding member arranged on an outer edge of the wheel hub; wherein the first end has an outward-enlarged head, wherein the spoke is inserted through a hollow adjusting element, wherein the hollow adjusting element is confined to each spoke by the outward-enlarged head; and wherein an outer wall of the hollow adjusting element provides an external thread section screwed to a corresponding threaded hole.

4. The method for making the composite material wheel rim as claimed in claim 3, wherein the threaded holes are formed by employing a laser to mark positions of the holes and using an NC machine tool to drill the holes and tap threads.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In order that the present invention may be more fully understood, preferred embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a stereogram of the wheel rim unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 2 is a front view of the wheel rim unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the process steps involved in making the composite material wheel rim according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 4 is a stereogram showing the appearance of the semi-finished wheel rim according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(6) FIG. 5 is a front cross-sectional view of the wheel rim unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 6 is a first partially enlarged view of FIG. 4.

(8) FIG. 7 is a second partially enlarged view of FIG. 4.

(9) FIG. 8 is a side cross-sectional view of the wheel rim unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(10) FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of A shown in FIG. 8.

(11) FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of B shown in FIG. 8.

(12) FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of C shown in FIG. 8.

(13) FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of D shown in FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(14) The means for achieving the aforesaid objective and the functions of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein preferred embodiments of the present invention are disclosed.

(15) Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the bicycle wheel unit 1 includes a wheel rim 10, a wheel hub 11 and a plurality of spokes 12. The wheel hub 11 is arranged at the center of the wheel rim 10. Moreover, each spoke 12 has one end connected with the inner surface of the wheel rim 10 and the other end connected with the outer edges of both ends of the wheel hub 11. A method for making the composite material wheel rim 10 disclosed in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, comprises the steps of:

(16) (a) placing a plurality of inner lining chunks 14, which are metallic material and provide no pre-drilled threaded holes, in a first mold. The first mold is used for forming an inner annular portion 13 of the wheel rim 10. According to the desired position where each spoke 12 is to be mounted, a laminate-stacking carbon fiber cloth 15, that the inner lining chunks 14 are encased in, is processed by thermally pressing and hardening to form the inner annular portion 13 of the wheel rim 10, as shown in FIG. 4. The plurality of inner lining chunks 14 is fixed within the inner annular portion 13.

(17) (b) placing the fully-formed inner annular portion 13 made in step (a) in a second mold used for forming an outer annular portion 16 of the wheel rim 10, stacking carbon fiber cloth 15 onto the outer side of the inner annular portion 13 after aligning the alignment point, and processing the combination of the inner annular portion 13 and the outer annular portion 16 by thermally pressing and hardening to form a semi-finished wheel rim 17.

(18) (c) using a drilling tool 20 and a thread tapping tool 30 to create the requested tapped holes in the inner lining chunks 14 inside the semi-finished wheel rim 17 to form threaded holes 18 subject to the amount of the spokes 12 configured to the arranged wheel hub 11 and the assembled angle of each spoke 12. The threaded holes 18 are drilled and tapped from the inner surface of the semi-finished wheel rim 17 toward the inner lining chunks 14, such that a wheel rim 10 is fully formed and such that the manufacturing process of the wheel rim 10 is completed.

(19) The amount of the threaded holes and the drilled angle of each threaded hole 18 may be altered to correspond with the amount of the spokes 12 of the aforementioned wheel hub 11 and the assembled angle of each spoke 12. Referring to FIG. 5 to FIG. 8, one end of the spoke 12 is provided with a first end 120 connected with the wheel rim 10, and the other end of the spoke 12 provides a second end 121 secured to a fixed protruding member 110 arranged to the outer edges of both ends of the wheel hub 11. The first end 120 has an outward-enlarged head 123. After the spoke 12 is inserted through a hollow adjusting element 122, the adjusting element 122 is confined to the spoke 12 by the head 123. The outer wall of the adjusting element 122 provides an external thread section 124 allowed to be screwed to the threaded hole 18, as shown in FIG. 9 to FIG. 12, so that the first end 120 of the spoke 12 is connected with the threaded hole 18 of the wheel rim 10. Moreover, the adjusting element 122 is allowed to be adjusted axially in the interior of the threaded hole 18 to adjust the pulling force of the spoke 12.

(20) After being fully formed, the semi-finished wheel rims 17 may be stored. Then, according to the amount of the spokes 12 of the wheel hub 11 that the consumer requests and the assembled angle of each spoke 12, the inner lining chunks 14 inside the semi-finished wheel rim 17 are individually drilled with a hole by the drilling tool 20, and each hole is tapped with threads by the thread tapping tool 30 to form threaded holes 18. Thus, the wheel rim 10 is fully formed, and the manufacturing process of the wheel rim 10 is completed. The threaded holes drilling may employ a laser to mark the positions of the threaded holes, and the NC or CNC machine tool is used to drill holes and tap threads to not only enable the space between the threaded holes and the angle of each hole to be drilled precisely but also to permit numerous holes to be drilled at a time.

(21) The method for making the composite material wheel rim disclosed in the present invention provides advantages and functions as follows:

(22) (I) Before being integrated with the inner annular portion 13, each inner lining chunk 14 provides no pre-drilled threaded hole. That is, the inner lining chunks 14 are individually drilled with a hole and tapped with threads after the semi-finished wheel rim 17 is formed. Moreover, the threaded holes are created subject to the amount of spokes 12 amount of the wheel hub 11 that the consumer requests and the assembled angle of each spoke 12. Consequently, the manufacturers have no need to stock different inner lining chunks 14 with different angles of threaded holes or different types of wheel rims for different types of wheel hubs, so that the produce cost and the inventory cost can be reduced to increase the business competitive advantage.

(23) (II) The method disclosed in the present invention avoids not only the problem in storage management and the complexity and difficulty of the production process but also the errors of wrongly arranging the reinforcement members to the rims occurring in the aforesaid prior art case. Besides, the present method also avoids the carelessness in income quality control (IQC), in-process quality control (IPQC), and outgoing quality control (OQC) to reduce the working hours for inspection. Thus, the production process is allowed to be managed effectively.

(24) (III) The method disclosed in the present invention not only reduces the working hours and the burden of the operation personnel but also increases the product accuracy and the yield rate (non-defective unit rate) to enhance the products competitive advantage.

(25) (IV) The drilling of threaded holes disclosed in the present invention may employ a laser to mark the positions of holes and may use the NC or CNC machine tool to drill holes and tap threads, so that the space between the threaded holes and the angle of each drilled hole can be extremely precise to meet the product standard. Besides, employing such tools allows numerous holes to be drilled at a time.

(26) (V) The threaded holes disclosed in the present invention are created after the semi-finished wheel rim 17 is formed, so that each threaded hole provides an extremely accurate position and angle to allow the adjusting element 122 of each spoke 12 to be screwed to the inner lining chunk 14 more tightly without being loose or dropping off, to ensure the products safety in use to benefit the riders.

(27) It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations and modifications to the invention described herein will be apparent without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. The variations and modifications as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as herein set forth.