Abstract:
Disclosed is a magnetic-controlled generator with built-in controller that has integrated design of power generator with magnetic resistance and control circuit unit. The built-in control circuit unit is electrically connected to an armature core, an external digital operator, and a magnetic coil, in order to convert AC power produced by the armature core into DC power to supply for the magnetic coil and meanwhile control the resistance of a flywheel by inserting a number of torque value to the external digital operator. In application to training machines, the device is easy to be installed and operated without restrictions in extra spaces for a controller and configuration of wires.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a magnetic-controlled generator, particularly to one that is applied to training machines with a built-in control unit combining a power generator with magnetic resistance. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Many training machines have a flywheel to support the inertia of rotation, and the flywheel can be the loading for training. Recently, a structure of having a flywheel with a permanent magnet as a rotor and an armature as a stator is commonly applied. It has a stator coil producing AC currents for controlling and brake loading. Such structure has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,325 as shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B  and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,732,961 as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0005]    In  FIGS. 1A and 1B , a flywheel  820  is rotated by a rotary wheel A. A permanent magnet  821  is fitted in the flywheel  820  to form a magnetic field with a stator core  830  to produce currents supplied for a display &amp; control gauge  890  and a brake core  850  arranged aside the flywheel  820  after conversion. The brake core  850  consequently has eddy current against the flywheel  820 . The application principle in the structure of  FIG. 2  is similar to the one in  FIG. 1A ; the only difference is that the brake core  850  in  FIG. 1A  is arranged on the outer edge of the flywheel  820 , and the brake core  980  in FIG.  2  is on the inner edge of the flywheel  820 . 
         [0006]    The structures disclosed above can produce electricity power by the force from operators to form magnetic resistance as a loading for training, which has excellent training function. However, the structures produce high power of electricity with large magnetic resistance and are therefore suitable for large devices only. It would not be a good choice for small devices. The inventor thus tries to find a structure that would reduce the loading, the volume, and the manufacturing costs; in other words, that is suitable for small devices. 
         [0007]    Further referring to  FIGS. 1B and 2 , a controller of the device includes a commutating &amp; wave filtering circuit and an adjustable DC power supply. The commutating &amp; wave filtering circuit converts AC currents produced by a power generator into DC currents, and the controller calculates the torque value entered via a display &amp; control gauge  890  to control the currents supplied from the DC power supply, resulting in the brake core  850 ,  980  forming eddy current against the flywheel  820 . The controller used to connect from the outside via circuit modules; therefore the training machines would not have a space designed for the controller, and there are problems of configuration of wires during installation. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    A primary object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic-controlled generator with built-in controller that generates electricity power and has a magnetic resistance loading device, making it suitable for small training machines with small volume and low costs in manufacturing. 
         [0009]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic-controlled generator with built-in controller that integrates a controller and a power generator with magnetic resistance, so as to remove the difficulties of installation of the controller and configuration of the wires. 
         [0010]    To achieve the objects mentioned above, the present invention comprises a shaft having a middle section and two engaging ends to fixedly engage a supporting seat of a training machine; a transmission element to be engaged either of the engaging ends of the shaft for receiving the driving force from the training machine; the transmission element being a pulley in this embodiment; an outer rotor including a flywheel and a permanent magnet; the flywheel having an outer rim and an inner rim sharing the same axis to form a first annular space and a second annular space, and engaging the shaft to be driven and rotate by the transmission element; the permanent magnet being fixedly arranged along the inner peripheral edge of the inner rim; an inner stator including a coil holder mounted on the shaft and an armature core assembled along the edge of the coil holder for the inner stator to be disposed in the first annular space; the outer edge of the armature core being arranged next to the inner edge of the permanent magnetic; whereby the rotation of the outer rotor would produce AC currents by the inner stator and the currents would be output by an output wire connected to the outside of the armature core: a reluctance device including a stator core having two corresponding indentation spaces to engage a magnetic coil, and an input wire connected to the magnetic coil; an engaging element being fixedly engaged the coil holder and having the stator core assembled thereon for the reluctance device to be disposed in the second annular space; a magnetic ring being arranged—in this embodiment, being directly formed—along the inner peripheral edge of the outer rim of the flywheel and having a gap between the outer edge of the stator core and the inner edge of the magnetic ring; when DC currents being input via the input wire of the magnetic coil, the stator core would produce a magnetic field and further create eddy reluctance with the coupled magnetic ring, forming internal reverse resistance against the flywheel; a control circuit unit built aside the engaging element and connected to the output wire of the armature core, an external digital operator, and the input wire of the magnetic coil, which at least includes a self-activated circuit, a AC-DC conversion circuit, a microprocessor, and a DC control circuit and is able to convert the AC currents from the armature core to DC currents for supplying the magnetic coil; the digital operator receiving a number of torque value from an operator and the microprocessor producing a controlling value for adjusting the currents input from the DC control circuit to form the reverse resistance against the flywheel. 
         [0011]    In addition, there are two reluctance devices disposed in the second annular space symmetrically; in other words, there are two stator cores engaging two magnetic coils and two input wires connected to the magnetic coils. The present invention further includes a built-in wireless transmission unit at the corresponding side of the control circuit unit, aside the engaging element, to transmit signals between the control circuit unit and the external digital operator; the wireless transmission unit includes Bluetooth device but is not limited to such application. 
         [0012]    Also, the control circuit unit and the wireless transmission unit each has a protective piece arranged on the outside, correspondingly connecting the engaging element for protection. The microprocessor is further connected to a transmission port for software to store the torque values from the training machine into the microprocessor for the control circuit unit to operate the adjusting process. 
         [0013]    With structures disclosed above, the present invention has a smaller volume and low costs with dual function of power generating and magnetic resistance. The design of combining the power generator, reluctance device, and the control circuit also excludes the needs of spaces for installation of the controller and configuration of the wires. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIG. 1A  is a side elevation view of a conventional brake device combining a power generator with eddy-current magnetic resistance; 
           [0015]      FIG. 1B  is a schematic diagram illustrating the controlling structure of a conventional brake device combining a power generator with eddy-current magnetic resistance; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a conventional power generator with built-in eddy-current resistance; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the present invention in a preferred embodiment; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is another exploded view of the present invention in a preferred embodiment; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the present invention in a preferred embodiment; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a sectional view along line  6 - 6  in  FIG. 5 ; 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a control circuit unit of the present invention; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram illustrating the present invention applied to training machines. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0023]    Referring to  FIGS. 3-6 , a preferred embodiment of the present invention mainly comprises a shaft  10 , a transmission element  13 , an outer rotor  20 , an inner stator  30 , two reluctance devices  40 , an engaging element  51 , a magnetic ring  52 , a control circuit unit  60 , and a wireless transmission unit  70 . 
         [0024]    The shaft  10  has a middle section  12  and two engaging ends  11  to be fixedly engaged a supporting seat of a training machine. 
         [0025]    The transmission element  13  has a function of receiving the force from the training machine. In this embodiment, the transmission element  13  is a pulley, having a grooved rim  131  for a cord to engage and thus connecting to the training machine; a first bearing hole  132  is arranged for engaging a bearing  14  and being mounted on either of the engaging ends  11 , and the bearing  14  is fixed by a C ring  15  so that the pulley  13  is able to rotate on the shaft  10 . 
         [0026]    The outer rotor  20  includes a flywheel  21  and a permanent magnet  22 . The flywheel  21  has a plate body  211  extending outwardly to form an outer rim  212  and extending inwardly to form an inner rim  213 . The outer rim  212  and the inner rim  213  are sharing the same axis to form a first annular space inside the inner rim  213  and a second annular space between the outer rim  212  and the inner rim  213 . The permanent magnet is annular and arranged along the inner peripheral edge of the inner rim  213  to engage the flywheel  21 . The plate body  211  further has a flange  216  including a hole  217  and a second bearing hole  218  at the center thereof. The hole  217  engages a protruding body  133  of the pulley  13  so that the outer rotor  20  is driven by the pulley  13  and simultaneously rotating therewith. The second bearing hole  218  engages a bearing  24  so that the outer rotor  20  can rotate when mounted on the shaft  10 . 
         [0027]    The inner stator  30  includes a coil holder  31  and an armature core  32 . The coil holder  31  has a shaft hole  311  with a key way  314  arranged therein, a flat surface  312 , and an inner flange  313 . Mounted on the shaft  10  tightly and having a square key engaging the key way  314 , the coil holder  31  is fixed on the shaft  10  and disposed in the first annular space  214 . The armature core  32  has a power coil  321  arranged outside and connected to an output wire  323 , and a core frame  322  arranged inside with a screw hole  324  thereon. The core frame  322  is fixedly screwed along the edge of the coil holder  31  for the outer edge of the power coil  321  to be arranged next to the inner edge of the permanent magnetic  22 . Whereby the rotation of the outer rotor  20  would produce AC currents by the power coil  321  and the currents would be output by the output wire  323 . 
         [0028]    Each of the reluctance devices  40  includes a stator core  41  having two corresponding indentation spaces  411  to engage a magnetic coil  42 , and an input wire  43  connected to the magnetic coil  42 . 
         [0029]    The engaging element  51  has an engaging hole  511  for the inner flange  313  of the coil holder  31  to be mounted thereon, and a surface  513  with a plurality of screw hole  513  to fixedly screw the coil holder  31  thereon. 
         [0030]    The magnetic ring  52  is arranged along the inner peripheral edge of the outer rim  212  of the flywheel  21 . In this embodiment, the magnetic ring  52  is directly formed on the inner peripheral edge of the outer rim  212  of the flywheel  21 . The stator cores  41  have a plurality of screw holes  412  to be fixedly screwed on both sides of the engaging element  51  symmetrically so that the reluctance devices  40  are disposed in the second annular spaces  215  of the flywheel  21 . The stator core  41  further has a gap G between the outer edge thereof and the inner edge of the magnetic ring  52 ; when DC currents are input via the input wire  43  of the magnetic coil  42 , the stator core  41  would produce a magnetic field and further create eddy reluctance with coupled magnetic ring  52 , forming internal reverse resistance against the flywheel  21 . 
         [0031]    The control circuit unit  60  is built aside the engaging element  51  and covered by a first protective piece  53  screwed aside the engaging element  51 . The wireless transmission unit  70  transmits signals between the control circuit unit  60  and an external digital operator (not shown); the wireless transmission unit  70  is a Bluetooth device in the embodiment, but is not limited to such application. Additionally, it is built aside the engaging element  51  corresponding to the control circuit unit  60  and covered by a second protective piece  54 . The protective pieces are not only elements for position fixing, but providing protection for the devices they are covering. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 7 , the control circuit unit  60  includes a self-activated circuit  61 , an AC-DC conversion circuit  62 , a microprocessor  63 , and a DC control circuit  64 . The self-activated circuit  61  receives AC currents from the armature core  32  via the output wire  323 , and the AC-DC conversion circuit  62  converts the AC currents into stable DC currents, so that when the digital operator  230  receives a number of torque value from an operator, the microprocessor  63  would produce a controlling value for the DC control circuit  64  to adjust the DC currents input to the magnetic coil  42 , so as to form a reverse resistance against the flywheel  21 . 
         [0033]    In the embodiment, the microprocessor  63  is further connected to a transmission port for software to store the torque values from the training machine into the microprocessor  63  for the control circuit unit  60  to control the DC currents from the DC control circuit  64  for operation. 
         [0034]      FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram illustrating the present invention—a magnetic-controlled generator with built-in controller— 100  in application to a training machine  200 . The magnetic-controlled generator with built-in controller  100  has the shaft  10  fixedly engaged a supporting seat of the framework  210  of the training machine  200 . The training machine  200  has a pedal shaft  220  connecting the pulley  13  by a cord, and a digital operator  230  arranged on a handle  240  of the training machine  200 . When the operator enters a number of torque value and runs the pedal  250  to rotate the pedal shaft  220 . the armature core  32  would produce AC currents for the AC-DC conversion circuit  62  to produce DC currents and the microprocessor  63  would calculate the torque value for the DC control circuit  64  to output appropriate currents. 
         [0035]    Then the reluctance device  40  and the magnetic ring  52  would form a reverse resistance against the flywheel  21  for the training machine  200 , achieving the purpose of training. 
         [0036]    With the structure disclosed above, the present invention provides a device with dual function of power generation and reluctance that has small volume and low costs in manufacturing. Also, the integrated design of power generator with magnetic resistance and control circuit unit excludes the needs of spaces designed for installation of the controller and configuration of the wires. 
         [0037]    Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except by the appended claims.