Shimano is doing work on a non-get hold of technique of charging bicycle parts, according to a patent software (US 2023/0021733 AI) that has just been released.
The patent software refers to highway bikes, mountain bikes and a variety of other styles of bikes, and discusses a ‘non-speak to charging method’ for components with electronic shifting such as a entrance derailleur, light-weight, adjustable seat post and adjustable suspension. It exclusively mentions that this process isn’t supposed to cost a rear derailleur or the travel device of an electric powered bicycle.
Present electrical bicycle parts – derailleurs, adjustable seat posts, and so on – involve an onboard electricity supply (just one or extra batteries) that requirements to be periodically replaced or recharged.
Nevertheless, Shimano claims, “Recently, some electrical devices are billed working with a wi-fi charging approach that makes use of an electromagnetic field to transfer power involving two or a lot more equipment based mostly on inductive coupling.
> Your finish to Shimano road bike groupsets
“The device to be billed receives the electromagnetic vitality by resonant inductive coupling and converts the electromagnetic strength to electrical vitality to charge a ability source of the machine to be billed.”
Sure, as usual, the language is convoluted but the patent application indicates that Shimano is at the very least taking into consideration bringing a non-get hold of charging procedure to the biking entire world.
“The bicycle part generally includes an electrical aspect a rechargeable electrical power source and a non-make contact with charging part,” Shimano states.
“The rechargeable energy source is electrically linked to the electrical component. The non-call charging portion is configured to wirelessly obtain exterior electric electricity and to supply the external electrical electric power to the rechargeable energy resource.
“The rechargeable electrical power source of the bicycle ingredient can be conveniently billed devoid of working with an electrical cable.”
Shimano describes several other facts about exactly how the system would operate. The non-get hold of charging device could be held in a bike’s bottle cage, for illustration, it could be “a mobile device that is carried by the user”, or it could be the battery unit of an e-bike.
As mentioned, the procedure could be employed to handle electrically adjustable suspension – “the stiffness and/or stroke size of the… suspension can be adjusted,” states Shimano – or a front derailleur.
As you use each individual component its electrical power will be depleted, of course, so sensors will be certain it is automatically recharged from the charging system.
Shimano outlines how the exterior non-call charging product “can be placed in a few centimetres (about 4cm or much less) of the non-make contact with charging coil of a bicycle component”.
It also suggests, “On the other hand, the non-get hold of charging coil can be configured to use magnetic resonance, so that the non-get in touch with charging devices can be a single or two meters away from the bicycle factors.”
Almost everything is managed by means of wireless communication and, think us, there is a entire ton of depth in this article – 29 internet pages of it, to be specific.
We have not reported on anything identical from other models right here on street.cc but Cycling Field Information protected the enhancement of wireless electrical bicycle charging from Intis in September 2021.
As we often issue out with just about anything patent-associated, there is no warranty that these programs will ever come to fruition. Shimano applies for – and is granted – hundreds of patents every single calendar year, a lot of of which under no circumstances make it off the laptop or computer monitor.
It appears to be to us that a non-contact charging process would present few advantages, specially provided that just about all wires are by now concealed internally, but what do you assume? A action forward or useless complication? Enable us know in the remarks down below.
