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Automatic speed control apparatus for treadmill and control method thereof

Automatic speed control apparatus for treadmill and control method thereof description/claims

The present invention relates to an automatic speed control apparatus for a treadmill and a control method thereof, more particularly, to an automatic speed control apparatus and control method thereof for automatically controlling the proceeding speed of the track belt precisely corresponding with a user's intention without the user's direct operation for changing the speed of the track belt while running or walking on the treadmill.

A treadmill known as a running machine is widely used indoors such as at home or in a sports center as it allows users to have an effect of exercising while working or running on its endlessly rotating belt in narrow space. Recently, a demand for treadmills is drastically increasing due to the advantages of its safety and convenience because users can exercise indoors using a treadmill even in the cold winter.

In general, a user on a treadmill runs or walks with directly changing the speed of running or walking by finger operation so as to enjoy dynamic exercise. In this regard, the user should directly operate the control panel of the treadmill in order to control the proceeding speed of the track belt while running or walking on the belt. However, the finger operation of the track belt speed while exercising on a treadmill can be bothersome and even dangerous for the user on the moving treadmill as it causes to break a balance of user.

Also, as a stereotyped program stored in a treadmill memory is not manufactured without considering a user's body condition, the user should follow the memorized stereotyped program regardless of user's condition. Therefore, although the memorized program has a merit that the user does not need to directly operate the track belt speed during the exercise, the memorized program makes the user to exercise too much or insufficiently

In order to overcome these problems, automatic speed control apparatus of running machine designed by Youngjin Chae, Korean patent No. 2003-0069941 provides sensors 13, 14 comprised of a light emission part and a light receipt part on the front of control panel of the running machine which can sense where user is located. The apparatus accelerates when user is on the front of a track belt and on the contrary decelerates when user is on the rear part of the track belt so that it can automatically control the speed of track belt in accordance with the user's intention. However, as the sensor used in the automatic speed control apparatus of running machine designed by Youngjin Chae costs too much, the machine has a practical problem of losing price competitiveness in manufacturing a running machine with the sensor.

On the other hand, as an automatic speed control apparatus of a treadmill using the sensor had not avoided high manufacturing cost, there has been an attempt to use an ultrasonic sensor for sensing the location of user. That is, an ultrasonic sensor located in a front part accelerates a track belt rotation when the user gets closer to the ultrasonic sensor and on the contrary it decelerates the track belt rotation when the user become more distant. However, the calculation of the distance of user from the sensor using an ultrasonic sensor is not precise so that it causes malfunction which a treadmill accelerates a belt when the user does not get closer to the ultrasonic sensor or decelerates even when the user is not distant from the ultrasonic sensor.

Moreover, a treadmill using a sensor for automatic speed control can cause serious malfunction as sensing simple gesture of running or walking, or a movement for operating a controller located in a front part as an attempt to accelerate a belt. The speed of track belt can accelerate when user does not want to run or walk faster.

These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic speed control apparatus for a treadmill and control method thereof automatically controlling the speed of track belt rotation to user's intention minutely without operating the treadmill specifically for changing the speed of rotation while running or walking on the track belt.

Another object of the present invention is to enable manufacturer to produce an automatic speed control apparatus for a treadmill automatically controlling the track belt with relatively low price.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic speed control apparatus using a load sensor which senses that user's speed gets faster than the speed of track belt rotation when user is sensed on the front part of the track belt, and therefore the treadmill accelerates the belt. On the contrary, the load sensor senses that user's speed gets slower than the speed of track belt when user is sensed on the rear part of the track belt, then the treadmill decelerates the belt.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide stable speed change control device avoiding a drastic change of speed.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide comfortable exercise environment minimizing inertial force effect by the automatic speed control of a track belt.

Another object of the present invention is to provide stable speed control environment not to misperceive a movement of a user on a track belt for operating button on a control panel or grasping a hand purse as a sign to accelerate or decelerate the track belt.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a treadmill which prevents possible accidents while exercising on a treadmill in advance. Another object of the present invention is to provide a treadmill of reasonable price that can measure user's weigh on the treadmill.

In order to attain the above mentioned object, the present invention provides a speed control apparatus for a treadmill including an endlessly rotating track belt, a driving unit for driving the track belt comprising: at least one front load sensor located at the front part of the track belt for measuring a load from a user on the track belt; at least one rear load sensor located at the rear part of the track belt for measuring a load from the user on the track belt; and a control unit for controlling the driving unit to accelerate or decelerate the speed (i.e., line velocity) of the track belt based on the measured values of the front load sensor and the rear load sensor.

That is, by sensing a running or walking user's location on the track belt from the measured loads at the front and the rear part of the track belt, the speed of the track belt can be automatically controlled in accordance with the user's running or walking speed without specifically operating the treadmill for changing the speed of track belt during the user's running or walking on the track belt.

Herein, the control unit controls the speed of the track belt to accelerate when the user locates in the front part of the track belt, and to decelerate when the user locates in the rear part of the track belt by sensing the location and further the movement of the user from the difference(s) of the measured values of the front load sensor and the rear load sensor.

The front load sensor is formed as at least one front load cell and the rear load sensor is formed as at least one rear load cell. Generally, a load cell includes a or plural number of strain gages which is shrunken or elongated by the external load. That is, as the resistance of the strain gages is changed when an external load is applied, the voltage of the strain gage is also changed. From this voltage difference, the deformation of the strain gage is calculated, accordingly, considering the material which the strain gage attaches, the load applied to the strain gage can be measured. Therefore, in accordance with the degree of the user's biased location on the track belt, the front load sensor and the rear load sensor formed as load cell output different voltages, and thus, the load can be measured by processing the voltage signals such as converting the analog voltage signal into digital voltage signal.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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