Patent Publication Number: US-2022234678-A1

Title: Pedal anti-skid pad assembly and scooter

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present disclosure claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202120204886.7, filed with the Chinese patent Office on Jan. 25, 2021 and entitled “PEDAL ANTI-SKID PAD ASSEMBLY FOR VEHICLE AND SCOOTER”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to the technical field of transportation, in particular to a pedal anti-skid pad assembly and a scooter. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Scooter is a commonly-used short-distance transport that we see in our lives. It may travel at a speed of 5-20 kilometers per hour. The scooter mainly consists of a handle tube, a riser tube, a front wheel, a pedal and a rear wheel. After years of development, it has a variety of functions. In order to be safe and convenient to use, a power button of the scooter needs to be designed, and the scooter can only be ridden when the power button is triggered. 
     SUMMARY 
     In view of the above problem, the present disclosure proposes a pedal anti-skid pad assembly and a scooter, to solve the above problem or at least partially solve the above problem. 
     An embodiment of a first aspect of the present disclosure provides a pedal anti-skid pad assembly configured for being installed on a pedaling portion of a scooter. The pedal anti-skid pad assembly includes: an anti-skid pad body, the anti-skid pad body having a first surface for being fixedly connected with the pedaling portion; and a membrane switch, fixed on the first surface of the anti-skid pad body, the membrane switch being configured to electrically connect with an electric drive apparatus of the scooter, and the membrane switch being configured to switch on when receiving external force to trigger the electric drive apparatus to start. 
     An embodiment of a first aspect of the present disclosure provides a scooter, comprising a pedaling portion, a drive wheel provided under the pedaling portion, and a pedal anti-skid pad assembly configured for being installed on the pedaling portion. The pedal anti-skid pad assembly comprises: an anti-skid pad body, the anti-skid pad body having a first surface for being fixedly connected with the pedaling portion; and a membrane switch, fixed on the first surface of the anti-skid pad body, the membrane switch being configured to electrically connect with an electric drive apparatus of the scooter, and the membrane switch being configured to switch on when receiving external force to trigger the electric drive apparatus to start. 
     According to the pedal anti-skid pad assembly and the scooter provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the membrane switch is provided on the anti-skid pad body of the pedaling portion of the scooter. After the anti-skid pad body is installed on the pedaling portion, when a user pedals on the anti-skid pad body, force may be transmitted to the membrane switch to switch on the membrane switch, and then the electric drive apparatus of the scooter can be started, which realizes the function of triggering the start of the scooter by pedaling, and the operation is convenient and fast, the scooter can be started without user&#39;s additional active force. Therefore, the operation convenience of the scooter can be improved, and user experience can be improved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In order to describe the technical solution in embodiments of the present disclosure or in the prior art more clearly, the following will briefly introduce the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present disclosure. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other accompanying drawings may be obtained based on these accompanying drawings without creative work. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic structural diagram of a pedal anti-skid pad assembly provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a pedal anti-skid pad assembly provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a partial exploded structure of a scooter provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of a pedal anti-skid pad assembly after installation provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     In related arts, the power button of an electric scooter is usually set at the handle and designed as a dip switch, a brake lever, etc. This method requires a user to manually operate the switch and actively apply force to operate, which is not convenient to use. 
     The technical solution in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure. 
     The “including” mentioned in the entire specification and claims is an open term, so it should be interpreted as “including but not limited to”. “Approximately” means that within an acceptable error range, those skilled in the art can solve the technical problem within a certain error range, and basically achieve the technical effect. 
     In addition, the term “connection” herein includes any direct and indirect means of connection. Therefore, if it is described in the text that a first apparatus is connected to a second apparatus, it represents that the first apparatus may be directly connected to the second apparatus, or indirectly connected to the second apparatus through other apparatuses. The following description of the specification is a preferred embodiment for implementing the present disclosure. However, the description is for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the present disclosure, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. The protection scope of the present disclosure shall be subject to those defined by the appended claims. 
     It should be understood that the term “and/or” used herein is only an association relationship describing associated objects, which means that there may he three types of relationships. For example, A and/or B may represent: A alone exists, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character “/” in this text generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an “or” relationship. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic structural diagram of a pedal anti-skid pad assembly provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;  FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a pedal anti-skid pad assembly provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;  FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a partial exploded structure of a scooter provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure; and  FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of a pedal anti-skid pad assembly after installation provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 4 , the pedal anti-skid pad assembly provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure is configured for being installed on a pedaling portion  100  of the scooter. Both ends of the pedaling portion  100  are connected to a front wheel (not shown in the figure) and a rear wheel  200  respectively. 
     in some embodiments, the rear wheel  200  may he a drive wheel, and the front wheel may be a driven wheel. In some other embodiments, the front wheel may he the drive wheel, and the rear wheel  200  may be the driven wheel. The pedaling portion  100  may include an upper shell  101  and a lower shell  102  that are detachably connected. The upper shell  101  and the lower shell  102  may be detachably connected by fasteners such as screws. The upper shell  101  and the lower shell  102  may form a receiving space after being fastened. The receiving space may receive an electronic control element  50 , so as to realize the control and switching of a sliding mode of the scooter. The upper shell  101  and the lower shell  102  are detachably connected together, so that the receiving space can be easily exposed, and the electronic control element  50  inside may be repaired or replaced. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the pedal anti-skid pad assembly provided by the present embodiment includes: an anti-skid pad body  10  and a membrane switch  20 . The anti-skid pad body  10  has a first surface A for being fixedly connected with the pedaling portion  100 . The membrane switch  20  is fixed on the first surface A of the anti-skid pad body  10 , the membrane switch  20  is configured to electrically connect with an electric drive apparatus  30  of the scooter, and the membrane switch  20  is configured to switch on when receiving external force to trigger the electric drive apparatus  30  to start. 
     Specifically, the anti-skid pad body  10  is usually made of silica gel, which has a soft texture and a good anti-skid effect. In addition, the manufacturing cost of silica gel is relatively low, and the cost of one-piece injection molding is sufficient. A surface of the anti-skid pad body  10  facing away from the pedaling portion  100  may have anti-skid protrusions  11 , and a shape of the anti-skid protrusions  11  may be any shape such as convex column, corrugated, or irregular pattern. By providing the anti-skid protrusions  11 , an anti-skid effect of the anti-skid pad body  10  can be effectively improved. The membrane switch  20  is an operating system that integrates key functions, indicator elements, and instrument panels. The membrane switch  20  is mainly composed of four parts: a panel, an upper circuit, an isolation layer, and a lower circuit. When the membrane switch  20  is pressed, for example, the membrane switch  20  receives a pedaling force of a user and is pressed, contacts of the upper circuit may be deformed downwards and contact with a pole plate of the lower circuit such that the membrane switch  20  switches on. Since the membrane switch  20  is fixed on the first surface A of the anti-skid pad body  10 , when the user stands on the anti-skid pad body  10  of the scooter, pressure applied by the user on the anti-skid pad body  10  is transmitted to the membrane switch  20 . so that the membrane switch  20  can switch on. 
     The membrane switch  20  being electrically connected to the electric drive apparatus includes that the membrane switch  20  being directly electrically connected to the electric drive apparatus, and may also include that the membrane switch  20  being indirectly electrically connected to the electric drive apparatus. When the membrane switch  20  is pressed and switched on, the electric drive apparatus receives the conduction signal, and may start the drive wheel to rotate, so that the entire scooter can travel. 
     In some embodiments, the membrane switch  20  can have a mode switching function. For example, the user double-clicks a position on the anti-skid pad body  10  corresponding to the membrane switch  20  to select a traveling speed of the scooter so that the scooter is in a high-speed mode, a medium-speed mode, or a low-speed mode. 
     In some embodiments, a program may be preset, so that when the user gets off the pedaling portion  100  and the pressure on the membrane switch  20  disappears, a preset time (for example, 2 minutes) passes before the scooter turns off. In the preset time period, the user may push the scooter to walk around. After the preset time, the drive wheel of the scooter cannot rotate, and the user cannot push the scooter. In this regard, the scooter is equivalent to being in a locked state, thereby improving the safety of use of the scooter. 
     It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, preferably, the anti-skid pad body  10  may protrude from the pedaling portion  100  When the anti-skid pad body  10  is fixed on the pedaling portion  100 . Since the anti-skid pad body  10  protrudes from the pedaling portion  100 , a deformation space of the anti-skid pad body  10  is not limited in a height direction, so that the anti-skid and shock absorption effects of the anti-skid pad body  10  can be ensured. In some other embodiments, the pedaling portion  100  may have a groove for receiving the anti-skid pad body  10 , and the anti-skid pad body  10  may be fixed in the groove of the pedaling portion  100 . The groove may provide installation positioning of the anti-skid pad body  10 , so that the anti-skid pad body  10  can be accurately fixed at a preset position, Which improves the reliability and accuracy of product installation. Furthermore, when the anti-skid pad body  10  is fixed on the pedaling portion  100 , the anti-skid pad body  10  may be flush with an upper surface of the pedaling portion  100  to improve the aesthetics of appearance and improve the fixing reliability of the anti-skid pad body  10 . 
     On the other hand, in the embodiment show in  FIG. 1 , the anti-skid pad body  10  is oblong, the corresponding membrane switch  20  is rectangular, and an extending direction of a long side of the anti-skid pad body  10  is consistent with an extending direction of a long side of the membrane switch  20 , and all extend along a front and rear direction of the scooter. Since the shape of the membrane switch  20  is rectangular, in some other embodiments, the anti-skid pad body  10  may be rectangular, circular, oval, square, or the like. The membrane switch  20  may also have any shape such as a square, a circle, an oval, a diamond, which is not limited in the present disclosure. 
     According to the pedal anti-skid pad assembly and the scooter provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, the membrane switch is provided on the anti-skid pad body of the pedaling portion of the scooter. After the anti-skid pad body is installed on the pedaling portion, a user pedals on the anti-skid pad body, that is, force may be transmitted to the membrane switch to switch on the membrane switch, and then the electric drive apparatus of the scooter can be started, which realizes the function of triggering the start of the scooter by pedaling, and the operation is convenient and fast, the scooter can be started without user&#39;s additional active force. Therefore, the operation convenience of the scooter can be improved, and user experience can be improved. Moreover, since the function may be realized by only adding one membrane switch, the operation. is simple, the cost is low, and it is stable and reliable. 
     In addition, since the membrane switch  20  is provided on the first surface A of the anti-skid pad body  10 , the first surface A is used to be fixedly connected to the pedaling portion  100 , Therefore, the anti-skid pad body  10  covers the membrane switch  20  and has a certain protective effect on the membrane switch  20 , On the other hand, since the anti-skid pad body  10  is generally made of soft materials such as silicone material, force exerted on the anti-skid pad body  10  is easily transmitted to the membrane switch  20 , making the membrane switch  20  sensitive. As long as the user stands on the anti-skid pad body  10 , the membrane switch  20  is quickly and sensitively switched on. 
     Based on the above embodiment, the anti-skid pad body may he configured to bond to the pedaling portion  100  through an adhesive layer  40 . Since the anti-skid pad body  10  is generally made of a soft silicone material, bonding the anti-skid pad body  10  to the pedaling portion  100  may ensure that a connection force of the anti-skid pad body  10  is balanced everywhere, and the anti-skid pad body  10  is guaranteed to be flat after being fixed, and has good appearance and smoothness. In addition, the bonding method is fixed and reliable and the anti-skid pad body  10  is not easy to fall off. 
     Of course, it cannot be ruled out that in some other embodiments, the anti-skid pad body  10  may also be fixed on the pedaling portion  100  in other methods, for example, the anti-skid pad body  10  is fixed on the pedaling portion  100  by a pressure bar, or even fixed on the pedaling portion  100  by fasteners. 
     In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the first surface A of the anti-skid pad body may have a receiving groove C, and the membrane switch may be fixed in the receiving groove C. The membrane switch  20  may be bonded to the anti-skid pad body  10 . 
     Specifically, the receiving groove C on the anti-skid pad body  10  may be injection-molded, so that the membrane switch  20  is firmly fixed, and a surface of the membrane switch  20  facing a groove bottom wall of the receiving groove C may be bonded to the groove bottom wall, and a side wall of the membrane switch  20  may be bonded to a groove side wall of the receiving groove C, so that the membrane switch  20  is fixed to the receiving groove C in multiple directions, thereby maximizing the connection stability of the membrane switch  20 . By providing the receiving groove for receiving the membrane switch  20  on the anti-skid pad body  10 , the membrane switch  20  may be positioned on the one hand, and the connection stability of the membrane switch  20  may be improved on the other hand, thereby ensuring the functional reliability of the scooter. 
     Further, a surface of the membrane switch  20  facing a notch of the receiving groove forms a second surface B. A thickness of the membrane switch  20  may he equal to a depth of the receiving groove. As a result, the second surface B may he flush with the first surface A when the membrane switch  20  is fixed in the receiving groove. In this way, the membrane switch  20  and the anti-skid pad body  10  may be fixed to have a smooth appearance, and a thickness of the adhesive layer  40  provided between the membrane switch  20  and the anti-skid pad body  10  with the pedaling portion  100  may be uniform everywhere. No faults may occur, thereby ensuring the strength and stability of the connection. 
     The adhesive layer  40  is provided on both the first surface A and the second surface B, and the adhesive layer  40  is configured to adhesively fix the anti-skid pad body  10  and the membrane switch  20  to the pedaling portion  100 . Most preferably, the adhesive layer  40  covers the first surface A and the second surface B. The adhesive layer  40  is covered with the anti-skid pad body  10  and the membrane switch  20 , which can ensure that the anti-skid pad body  10  and the membrane switch  20  can be firmly fixed on the pedaling portion  100  to the greatest extent. Of course, as an optional embodiment, the adhesive layer  40  may be a glue-dispensing type distributed in dots to save manufacturing costs. But obviously, in this glue-dispensing fixing method, after the anti-skid pad body  10  and the membrane switch  20  are fixed, the degree of stability is not high, and individual dispensing points are prone to loosening. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the membrane switch  20  may have an electrical connection wire  21 , and the electrical connection wire  21  is configured to extend into the pedaling portion  100  to be electrically connected to an electronic control element  50  inside the pedaling portion  100 . Further, the electrical connection wire  21  may be arranged at an edge of the membrane switch  20  for ease of processing. The pedaling portion  100  may have a through hole  103  into which the electrical connection wire  21  extends, and a shape of the through hole  103  may fit a cross-sectional shape of the electrical connection wire  21 . Thereby, the electrical connection wire  21  may act as a positioning member to realize the positioning of the installation position of the membrane switch  20  and the anti-skid pad body  10  on the peddling portion  100 . 
     Some embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a scooter, including a pedaling portion  100 , a drive wheel is provided under the pedaling portion  100 , and the pedal anti-skid pad assembly as provided in the first embodiment is installed on the pedaling portion. At the same time, a driven wheel may also be provided under the pedaling portion  100 . When the rear wheel  200  is the drive wheel, the front wheel may be the driven wheel. 
     The pedaling portion  100  may have a receiving space X inside, an electronic control element  50  is accommodated in the receiving space X, the electric drive apparatus is drivingly connected to the drive wheel, and the electronic control element  50  is electrically connected with the membrane switch  20  and the electric drive apparatus respectively. The electric drive apparatus may be a hub motor, which may be used to directly drive the drive wheel to rotate, or the electric drive apparatus is a part of a transmission system, and the rotation of the drive wheel is indirectly controlled by controlling the electric drive apparatus. 
     To assemble the membrane switch  20 , the membrane switch  20  may be first bonded to the first surface A of the anti-skid pad body  10 , and then an adhesive is applied to the first surface A of the anti-skid pad body  10  and the second surface B of the membrane switch  20  after bonding, so that the two become a whole. Then, the electrical connection wire  21  on the membrane switch  20  passes through the through hole  103  on the pedaling portion  100 . The through hole  103  may be located on the upper shell  101 . The other end of the electrical connection wire  21  is electrically connected to the electronic control element  50  inside the pedaling portion  100 . The anti-skid pad body  10  and the membrane switch  20  are integrally bonded to the upper shell  101 , then the bonded whole is assembled on the lower shell  102 , and the upper shell  101  and the lower shell  102  are detachably connected together by fasteners such as screws. 
     It should be noted that the structure and function of the pedal anti-skid pad assembly on the scooter are similar to those of the previously described pedal anti-skid pad assembly. For details, reference may be made to the previous description of the pedal anti-skid pad assembly, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. 
     An embodiment of a first aspect of the present disclosure provides a pedal anti-skid pad assembly configured for being installed on a pedaling portion of a scooter, including: an anti-skid pad body, the anti-skid pad body having a first surface for being fixedly connected with the pedaling portion; and a membrane switch, fixed on the first surface of the anti-skid pad body, the membrane switch being configured to electrically connect with an electric drive apparatus of the scooter, and the membrane switch being configured to switch on when receiving external force to trigger the electric drive apparatus to start. 
     In some embodiments, the anti-skid pad body is configured to bond to the pedaling portion through an adhesive layer. 
     In some embodiments, the first surface of the anti-skid pad body has a receiving groove, and the membrane switch is fixed in the receiving groove. 
     In some embodiments, a thickness of the membrane switch is equal to a depth of the receiving groove. 
     In some embodiments, a surface of the membrane switch facing a notch of the receiving groove forms a second surface, an adhesive layer is provided on both the first surface and the second surface, and the adhesive layer is configured to adhesively fix the anti-skid pad body and the membrane switch to the pedaling portion. 
     In some embodiments, the adhesive layer covers the first surface and the second surface. 
     In some embodiments, the membrane switch is bonded to the anti-skid pad body, 
     In sonic embodiments, the membrane switch has an electrical connection wire, and the electrical connection wire is configured to extend into the pedaling portion to be electrically connected to an electronic control element inside the pedaling portion. 
     In some embodiments, a pedaling portion is included, a drive wheel is provided under the pedaling portion, and the pedal anti-skid pad assembly as described in any one of the above embodiment is installed on the pedaling portion. 
     In some embodiments, the pedaling portion has a receiving space inside, an electronic control element is accommodated in the receiving space, the electric drive apparatus is drivingly connected to the drive wheel, and the electronic control element is electrically connected with the membrane switch and the electric drive apparatus respectively. 
     In some embodiments, the pedaling portion is provided with a through hole, the membrane switch is provided with an electrical connection wire, and the electrical connection wire extends into the pedaling portion through the through hole. 
     In some embodiments, a shape of the through hole fits a cross-sectional shape of the electrical connection wire. 
     On a non-conflict basis, those skilled in the art may combine the different embodiments or examples and the features of the different embodiments or examples described in this specification. 
     Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present disclosure, rather than limiting the disclosure; although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that: the technical solution recorded in the foregoing embodiments can still be modified, or some of the technical features can be equivalently replaced; these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solution to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solution of the embodiments of the present disclosure.