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Exercise treadmill for additionally vibrating a user running or walking on a tread belt

Exercise treadmill for additionally vibrating a user running or walking on a tread belt description/claims

1. Field of Invention

The invention relates to power driven exercise treadmills and more particularly to such an exercise treadmill capable of additionally vibrating a user running or walking on a tread belt by providing a sinusoidal change to a motor speed.

2. Description of Related Art

Recent trends towards physical awareness have led to an increase in the number of individuals exercising on a regular basis in order to keep physically fit. A number of types of exercise equipment are currently in use to provide exercise to persons who wish to keep physically fit without venturing outdoors. One of the most popular of indoor exercise devices is the exercise treadmill.

A conventional exercise treadmill is shown in FIG. 1. The exercise treadmill comprises a motor 10 having a drive shaft 11 extending therefrom, a flywheel 12 attached to the drive shaft 11, a first wheel 13 attached to an end of the drive shaft 11, a front drive roller 17, a second wheel 16, larger than the first wheel 13 for speed reduction and torque increase, attached to one end of the drive roller 17, a belt 15 trained about the first and second wheels 13 and 16, a rear driven roller 18, a tread belt 19 trained about the rollers 17 and 18, a support frame 21 under the tread belt 19, a sensor 14 mounted proximate the second wheel 16, a controller (e.g., microprocessor) 20 electrically connected to the motor 10, and a raised control panel 22 electrically connected to the motor 10 for commanding the controller 20.

In use, a person runs or walks on the tread belt 19. The sensor 14 is adapted to sense speed (i.e., speed change) of the tread belt 19 and generate and transmit a corresponding signal to the controller 20 which in turn may transmit an instruction signal to the motor 10 for regulating the speed of the drive shaft 11. However, such control loop cannot regulate the speed of the drive shaft 11 in substantially real time. The provision of the flywheel 12 can slightly improve the regulation at the cost of increasing the number of components and thus the manufacturing cost. Further, no vibration effect is provided. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.

It is therefore one object of the invention to provide an exercise treadmill capable of additionally vibrating a user running or walking on a tread belt by providing one of a plurality of sinusoidal changes having a small, predetermined peak value to a motor speed by eliminating a flywheel and optionally mounting a sensor on a motor shaft.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view schematically showing a conventional exercise treadmill;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view schematically showing a preferred embodiment of exercise treadmill according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of FIG. 2 with a user running on the tread belt;

FIG. 4 plots average speed versus time for the clockwise rotating motor utilized in the invention;

FIG. 5 plots average speed versus time for the counterclockwise rotating motor utilized in the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 3 where the user is lying on the tread belt which moves back and forth repeatedly.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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