Patent Abstract:
A wheel rim includes a rim body, two firm tracks, and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal unit. The two firm tracks were mounted on two sides of the rim body, and these hollow anti-thermal units are spread in two firm tracks. The hollow anti-thermal unit can reduce transfer rate of the thermal when braking a car.

Full Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 104141550, filed on Dec. 10, 2015, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present disclosure elates to a wheel rim and a method of manufacturing the wheel rim. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a wheel rim being able to strengthen the wheel structure and lighten the weight and a method for manufacturing the wheel rim. 
         [0004]    Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Since carbon fiber composite materials have material characteristics of high strength and low specific density, in recent years, the carbon fiber composite materials have gradually become the materials adopted by many structural parts as well as the driving elements applied in related vehicles. For example, the wheel rims of bicycles are suitable for using the carbon fiber composite material, and this has become the main stream of the market of high-performance bicycles. 
         [0006]    However, since the carbon fiber composite materials are min formed by combining fiber materials with macromolecule materials, the structure of the macromolecule materials will be damaged by the high temperature state resulted from the carbon fiber composite materials being rubbed by external forces, such that the overall structure strength is decreased. Accordingly, the structure of the elements using the macromolecule materials cannot bear the loading and impact thereof, and hence the situation of accidental destructions will occur. 
         [0007]    Furthermore, the carbon fiber composite materials under the high temperature state are also less resistant to abrasion. When the carbon fiber composite materials used in the wheel rim have been rubbed by braking elements for a long time, the high temperature therebetween will make the wheel rim less resistant to abrasion, and hence the lifetime of the wheel rim will be decreased. 
         [0008]    A bicycle fiber wheel rim existing in the current market tries to move the contacting location (braking side) of the braking elements of the bicycle downward to be close to the key part of the overall structure strength. This solution needs to be arranged with a special bicycle brake bosses, which is not conducive for consumers to fix or change in the future. In addition, the aforementioned design merely solves the problem of being lack of strength under high temperatures, but fails to solve the problem of being nonresistant to abrasion, while the weight of the wheel rim is increased as well. 
         [0009]    Further, another bicycle fiber wheel rim existing in the current market attaches or uses a basalt fiber on the contacting location (braking side) of the braking elements of the carbon fiber wheel rim. This way merely avoids thermal conduction but fails to overcome the problem of being nonresistant to abrasion and the effects of the abrasion to the macromolecule materials. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0010]    According to a structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim is disposed between two corresponding braking elements. The wheel rim includes a rim body, two firm tracks, and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units. The rim body adopts a carbon fiber composite material, the two firm tracks are opposite to each other and exposedly mounted on two sides of the rim body, and the two firm tracks, respectively corresponds to the two braking elements; the plurality of hollow anti-thermal units spread in each of the firm tracks. 
         [0011]    According to another structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim is disposed between two corresponding braking elements. The wheel rim includes a rim body and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units. The rim body adopts a carbon fiber composite material in one piece. The hollow anti-thermal units are spread in two surfaces corresponding to the two braking elements of the rim body. 
         [0012]    According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, another method of manufacturing a wheel rim is proposed, and the method is adapted to manufacturing the aforementioned wheel rim and includes the following steps. A plurality of hollow anti-thermal units are added to a macromolecule material and the hollow anti-thermal units are sufficiently mixed to be spread in the macromolecule material. A carbon fiber material is mixed to become a carbon fiber composite material. The carbon fiber composite material are shaped and hardened on the wheel rim corresponding to the braking elements. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    The present disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  illustrates a 3-D sectional view of an embodiment of a wheel rim; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  illustrates a 3-D sectional view of another embodiment of the wheel rim; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in  FIG. 3 ; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of the method of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0019]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
         [0020]    Please refer to both of  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 1  illustrates a 3-D sectional view of an embodiment of a wheel rim;  FIG. 2  illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in  FIG. 1 . According to a structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim  100  is proposed to be used on bicycles, where the wheel rim  100  is disposed between two corresponding braking elements (not shown). The wheel rim  100  includes a rim body  110 , two firm tracks  120  and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units  130 . 
         [0021]    The rim body  110  adopts a carbon fiber composite material mainly including a fiber material with high rigidity and a macromolecule material that enhances the ability of the materials being abrasion-resistant and anti-thermal. The rim body  110  further includes a tire-fixing part  111 . 
         [0022]    Two firm tracks  120  are opposite to each other and exposedly disposed on two sides of the rim body  110 . The two firm tracks  120  respectively correspond to the two braking elements. The tire-fixing part  111  is located closely to the two firm tracks  120 . 
         [0023]    The hollow anti-thermal units  130  are hollow soda lime borosilicate glass balls, and the hollow anti-thermal units  130  are spread in each of the firm tracks  120 . An average particle diameter of the hollow anti-thermal units  130  ranges from 20 μm to 50 μm. By the aforementioned embodiments, the hollow anti-thermal units  130  are used to be mixed and spread in the firm tracks, such that not only the hollow structure of the hollow anti-thermal units  130  can be used, but also the weight of the rim body  110  can be effectively reduced. Moreover, the transmission rate of the thermal energy in the elements can be reduced through the hollow structure feature of the hollow anti-thermal units  130 , and hence the goal of preventing the material of the nm body  110  from being damaged by continuous high temperature can be achieved, such that the high temperature will not reach the rim body  110 . As a result, the present disclosure can integrate the abrasion-resistant effects with the anti-thermal effects of the hollow anti-thermal units  130 . 
         [0024]    It should be noted that the hollow anti-thermal units  130  may be hollow ceramic balls. 
         [0025]    Please further refer to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 3  illustrates a 3-D sectional view of another embodiment of the wheel rim;  FIG. 4  illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in  FIG. 3 . According to another structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim  100  is proposed to be used on bicycles, where the wheel rim  100  is disposed between two corresponding braking elements (not shown). The wheel rim  100  includes a rim body  110  and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units  130 . 
         [0026]    The rim body  110  adopting a carbon fiber composite material is formed integrally, and the rim body  110  mainly includes a fiber material with high rigidity and a macromolecule material that enhances the ability of the materials being abrasion-resistant and anti-thermal. The rim body  110  of the bicycles further includes a tire-fixing part  111 . 
         [0027]    The hollow anti-thermal units  130  are spread in two surfaces  112  corresponding to the two braking elements of the rim body  110 , where the surfaces  112  may be all of the surfaces of the rim body  110 . By the another embodiment, not only the effects of preventing the high-temperature from reaching the rim body  110  can be achieved, but also the overall weight of the rim body  110  can be lightened by better using the hollow structures of the hollow anti-thermal units  130 . 
         [0028]    Please refer to  FIG. 5 , which illustrates a flow chart of the method of the present disclosure. The method in  FIG. 5  is the method of manufacturing the wheel rim  100  in  FIG. 1  or  FIG. 3  and includes the steps as follow. In step  200 , a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units are added to a macromolecule material, and the hollow anti-thermal units are sufficiently mixed to spread in the macromolecule material. In step  300 , the carbon fiber material is mixed the macromolecule material with the hollow anti-thermal units to become a carbon fiber composite material. In step  400 , the carbon fiber composite material is shaped and hardened on the wheel rim corresponding to the braking elements. The materials mixed with the carbon fiber composite materials of step  300  mainly include fiber materials and macromolecule materials. 
         [0029]    It can be understood based on the aforementioned embodiments that the wheel rim and the method of manufacturing the wheel rim proposed in the present disclosure may integrate the effect of lightening the wheel rim with the effect of reducing thermal transmission rate to achieve the goals of extending the lifetime of the rim body and lightening the weight. 
         [0030]    Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. 
         [0031]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cove modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1