Shimano Inc.

Tsubakimoto Chain Company

Yuichiro Ishikawa

Akira Niitsuma

Yuji Kurematsu

Osamu Yoshida

Takashi Komemushi

Masanori Watanabe

Fumihide Numata

Hiroki Ogose

Satoshi Shahana

Kazuhiro Fujii

Masahiko Konno

Hiroyuki Miyoshi

Takafumi Suzuki

Kento Mitsuyasu

Mao Kuroda

Kohei Kunimatsu

Hiroyuki Kitano

Hiroaki Takeshita

Norikazu Taki

Tetsuya Kitani

Yoshitaka Iwasaki

Haruhisa Ohta

Shogo Matsushita

An object of the present invention is to provide a tensioner with a simple structure that effectively maintains the oil pressure inside an oil pressure chamber at a correct level, while also making the machining and assembling processes less demanding. The tensioner includes a relief mechanism, which includes an orifice member that has an oil passage designed to form an orifice structure. The orifice member has a flat circular end wall part and a circumferential wall part that extends rearwards from the peripheral edge of the end wall part. The circumferential wall part includes a bulged portion that extends rearwards and is curved radially outwards. The bulged portion is designed such that the diameter of the circumscribed circle of the orifice member is greater than the inside diameter of the plunger as viewed in plan from an axial direction before the orifice member is press-fit into the plunger.

Tensioner

To provide a simple-structured check valve unit that allows for retention of a seat relief in an attachment part of a plunger bore, facilitates production without increasing components, and prevents deformation of the plunger. The check valve unit includes the seat relief and a cap member. The plunger has an outlet relief hole in the attachment part for communication between the inside and outside of the plunger. The cap member includes a cap top, an oil flow portion, and a skirt wall. The skirt wall includes a plurality of outwardly raised contact surfaces and a plurality of inwardly raised contact surfaces. The circumscribed circle of the outwardly raised contact surfaces has a larger radius than the inside radius of the attachment part, and the inscribed circle of the inwardly raised contact surfaces has a smaller radius than the outside radius of an engaging part of the seat relief.

Check valve unit

A chain tensioner that can ensure oil with such a volume that sufficiently fills a pressure oil chamber in a tensioner body and can quickly fill the pressure oil chamber with the oil with a simple constitution and without increasing a size of the tensioner body is provided. In a chain tensioner including a tensioner body having a plunger holding hole, a plunger, and urging means that is telescopically accommodated in a pressure oil chamber and urges the plunger, the plunger holding hole has a plunger holding wall sliding with the plunger and a plunger holding bottom-surface part, an oil storing chamber is provided on an outer periphery side of the plunger holding wall, and on an end part on the plunger holding bottom-surface part side of the plunger holding hole, a check valve unit that connects the pressure oil chamber and the oil storing chamber are provided.

Chain tensioner

Provided is a tensioner which has a small total number of components and no risk of incorrect assembly, allows easy load change, is easy to assemble, and excellently stabilizes an oil pressure in a pressure oil chamber. The tensionerincludes a relief mechanism that relieves oil to the outside of a plungerwhen the oil pressure in the pressure oil chamber formed between the plungerand a plunger containing holein a housingincreases, relief holesextending through the plungerfrom the inside of a plunger inner spaceto an outer circumferential side thereof, and a hole closing memberthat is pressed into an opening of each of the relief holeson the outer circumferential side.

To provide a tensioner capable of preventing slipping between a rack portion and ratchet pawls and securing a large backlash with a simple structure. The tensioner includes a ratchet rotatably mounted on a housing and having a front pawl and a rear pawl spaced apart in a front and rear direction on a side face positioned opposite the rack portion. The ratchet includes an additional pawl formed between the front pawl and the rear pawl in the front and rear direction on the side face positioned opposite the rack portion.

To provide a tensioner that can keep the oil pressure in an oil pressure chamber stable and consistently generate suitable reaction force and damping force to impact loads to reduce looseness in the chain and noise. A piston is set such as to partition an inner space of a plunger into an adjustment space on the front side and the oil pressure chamber on the rear side, a piston restricting member restricting the movement of the piston toward the adjustment space. An oil relief mechanism is configured to cause the piston to move forward when oil pressure in the oil pressure chamber rises so as to discharge oil inside the oil pressure chamber to the outside. The piston restricting member has an orifice function that can control the amount of discharged oil.

A human-powered vehicle component includes a communication device and an electronic controller. The communication device is configured to communicate with a first electric component and a second electric component differing in type from the first electric component. The electronic controller is configured to be operable in a first control state to manage the first electric component and a second control state managed by the second electric component. The electronic controller is configured to be operable in the first control state upon determining the communication device can communicate with the first electric component but cannot communicate with the second electric component. The electronic controller is configured to be operable in the second control state upon determining the communication device can communicate with the second electric component.

Human-powered vehicle component

To provide a tensioner that has a simple structure and is easy to assemble, and is configured to smoothly relieve pressure during oil release with reduced flow resistance so that the oil pressure in an oil pressure chamber is kept stable in a favorable manner. A relief valve unit includes a cap member that fits with a seat member to retain a stopper member inside the seat member. An external relief hole, which causes a relief-side space in a plunger hole to communicate with the outside of a plunger, opens radially in an outer circumferential surface of the plunger.

To provide a circuit module, a bicycle electric component, and a communication system that are easily matched to a communication system that uses power line communication, a circuit module is configured to be mounted on a bicycle electric component. The circuit module includes a first circuit board, a communication converter configured to convert between information appropriate to power line communication and information appropriate to communication other than the power line communication and mounted on the first circuit board, and a plurality of first terminals formed on the first circuit board. The plurality of first terminals is connected to a second circuit board included in the electric component.

Circuit module, bicycle electric component, and communication system

A bicycle power supply system is configured to be connectable to a plurality of battery units and configured to switch each of the plurality of battery units between a first state and a second state. The bicycle power supply system includes a memory device and an electronic controller. The memory device stores order information for switching the plurality of battery units from one of the first state and the second state to the other one of the first state and the second state in a predetermined order. The electronic controller switches the plurality of battery units from one of the first state and the second state to the other one of the first state and the second state in accordance with the order information in a case where the plurality of battery units is connected. The memory device is configured to changeably store the order information.

Bicycle power supply system

A braking device for a dual-bearing reel for braking a spool rotatably mounted on a reel body, includes a spool brake and a spool controller. The spool brake is configured to brake the spool by electromagnetic induction during casting of a fishing line. The spool controller is configured to control a braking force of the spool brake by controlling an ON/OF-state of current that is generated due to the electromagnetic induction at a prescribed period. The spool controller has a period changer configured to change the prescribed period for braking the spool.

Braking device for dual-bearing reel

A bicycle display device is configured to show an image on a display that is appropriate to a bicycle component, which is communicable with the bicycle display device. The bicycle display device is configured to be mounted on a bicycle. The bicycle display device includes a communication unit, a display and an electronic controller. The communication unit is communicably connected to a bicycle component that is mounted on the bicycle and configured to be actuated in multiple actuation modes. The display is configured to show an image related to the actuation modes of the bicycle component, which is one of different types of bicycle components. The electronic controller changes the image shown on the display in accordance with the type of the bicycle component communicably connected to the communication unit.

Bicycle display device

The spool brake device is equipped with a brake unit, a detector, and a controller. The controller controls the braking force by the brake unit based on the variation of the rotational speed of the spool detected by the detection unit. When the rotational speed is increasing, the controller controls the braking force by the brake unit in the regular braking mode. In the regular braking mode, the controller changes the braking force by the brake unit according to the rotational speed of the spool. In addition to it, when the rotational speed of the spool stops, the controller is to control the braking force by the brake unit in the first braking mode, during a period of predetermined time. In the first braking mode, the controller makes a braking force by the brake unit that is less than the braking force in the regular braking mode. In addition, after the predetermined time, the controller may make a braking force in a second braking mode by the braking unit that is less than the braking force in the first braking mode.

Spool brake device

The spool brake device is equipped with a brake unit, a detector, and a controller. The controller controls the braking force by the brake unit based on the rotational speed of the spool detected by the detector. When the rotational speed is less than the predetermined rotational speed, the controller controls the braking force by the brake unit in the regular braking mode. In the regular braking mode, the controller changes the braking force by the brake unit according to the rotational speed. On the other hand, when the rotational speed is equal to or higher than the predetermined rotational speed, the controller controls the braking force by the brake unit in the emergency braking mode, during the period of predetermined time. In the emergency braking mode, the controller makes the braking force by the brake unit larger than the braking force in the regular braking mode.

A fishing reel forwardly releases a fishing line and includes a reel unit, a spool, a spool brake, an electric component, and a voltage booster circuit. The spool is rotatably supported by the reel unit. The spool brake generates an electric power upon a rotation of the spool, and applies a brake force to brake the spool using the electric power when the spool is rotated. The electric component operates using the electric power generated by the spool brake. The voltage booster circuit increases a voltage supplied to the electric component.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Yuichiro Ishikawa