3 ms·
Maybe good for wheelchairs where comfort is crucial, but for anything else (bicycle, car) it would waste a lot of energy, not to mention the rigidity issues.
by aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
Maybe good for wheelchairs where comfort is crucial, but for anything else (bicycle, car) it would waste a lot of energy, not to mention the rigidity issues.
- taneq 8y agoAs long as the deformation of the loops is largely elastic, it shouldn't waste significant amounts of energy since the energy stored on every 'up' bump should be returned on 'down' bumps. The side-to-side rigidity is my worry about it, but I imagine that could be arbitrarily increased by widening the loops.
- jameshart 8y agoI wonder if the wheel is more suited to wheelchairs because they are pushed at the rim, rather than turned from the hub (as in a bicycle or car). The whole mechanic whereby the hub moves eccentrically relative to the rim when the springs compress seems likely to create all kinds of rolling resistances if the wheel is being turned from the hub - or even if it is being pushed along undriven by a load at the hub. But the unusual rim-driven mode of wheelchairs maybe is the sweetspot for this kind of thing? In particular, it seems that by compressing the springs in particular directions, torques on the wheels will create linear forces on the load - and vice versa - which might be helpful for things like getting a wheelchair up a curb, or over a bump.