The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 28, 2004
Filed:
Oct. 18, 2002
Donald Barnett Harris, Arlington, VA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A method of designing an omni-directional wheel for an omni-directional vehicle that exhibits constant ride height, low vibration, and reduced maximum ground contact pressure is disclosed. An omni-directional wheel consists of a wheel assembly rotatably connected to the omni-directional vehicle chassis. The wheel assembly includes a hub on which free spinning rollers are rotatably mounted at an angle to the wheel axis. The method of designing achieves constant ride height and low vibration operation by configuring the rollers with an exterior profile, thickness, material properties and surface grooving to achieve constant deflection of the roller contact surface at all wheel rotation angles.