A First Look at the Morph Test Rig In Action - Heavy Steel With Lots of Holes So We Can Test Anything

I took Lucas and a friend to Water Country in Portsmouth, NH (lots of fun) and on the way back, I stopped at John Baron's shop to see the new test frame in action.

 While 3D CAD is amazing, it's hard to beat RL (real life)

 This sequence shows the new morphing configuration in action. Alan Ball realized that in order to get the low riding mode we want, we should have a frame that has "dual flanking members." Which means that the part of the bike that goes up and down (the wheel to seat part) will fit in between two outer support members. This means that when the bike morphs down, it can go much lower because you eliminate the interference that stops the downward Morph in Morph II.. (Actually that was done on purpose in Morph II...so it would be rigid once you got down.)

 Now, as you watch this sequence, you can see the benefits. The bike practically folds on itself in the up position (we probably can't do that once the gas spring is installed). And in the low position, you'll see that it can go REALLY LOW. (also not practical, but hey, fun to see.)

 Note that right now we only plan to use the middle set of pictures as a real range. The very first ones and very last ones are outside the usable range of the full design with gas springs. (We think)

Here is a brief video showing John moving the test rig.

Note the automatic seat leveling device. Here in the low mode, it is tilting the seat forward. Note the angle between the left strut, and the small upper strut.

Now notice that the upper strut is almost parallel to the lower one. This tilts the seat back in the up mode, thus reducing the forward seat tilt that occurs with the morphing up.
 
Discussion: There is a lot of new ideas in this frame design. John has figured out a lot of details already in building the unit. He is also planning to use one gas shock rather than the two found on Morph II. This will save cost, and save weight.
 
In early discussion of the Morph, Rory talked about a "Super Tight" mode where you could make the bike even shorter than you might normally use, say for really tight spaces. This frame can do that, when going all the way up and when the morphing arms nest completely.

This picture shows the arm positions (roughly) in the high rider mode.

Now check this out. The twin flanking members are fully nested, and the bike will get a good 3" shorter.

Designs for a Test Rig to Determine if a Morph Has the "Magic"

When the Morph is working right, it is truly magic. You float on the gas springs, and with virtually no effort, you can make yourself float up to talk to people, and then glide down to high-speed riding position. Morph II, our 60-lb steel prototype had the magic. But Morph III, which had the benefit of weighing in at only 40 pounds, lacked the magic. Why? Well, there are lots of reasons that we know, and maybe some we don't know. Morph III used locking gas springs, and they didn't have the same amount of force. We didn't get as much float. But the mechanism was different also.

So we went back to the Morph II design, and carried that forward into the MorphOut design. And we decided to make a flexible tester so we can try out designs in the morphing frame easily and see how they work when we sit on them.

This is the first version of a text rig to work out geometry for the MorphOut design. (We call it MorphOut as in getting out to users. Goal is to build five bikes and put them in people's hands soon!)

Here is the e-Drawings file for the SolidWorks model:  You'll need the free e-Drawings Viewer (for Mac or PC)


This is the CAD for an improved version of the test rig. This rig includes the ability to overlap the morphing arms, which we believe will be crucial for the eventual finished design. This added complexity to the test rig, but we thought it would be worth it to have a more complete view of how the design will work.

Here is the e-Drawings file for the SolidWorks model:  You'll need the free e-Drawings Viewer (for Mac or PC)


Below are progress photos from John Baron as of July 19th. The Telestrut tubing will allow us to bolt on anything we need as we proceed with our tests.

A Self-Adjusting Seat Mechanism for the Morphing Handcycle - Refining the Design (including a 3D Model)

This is an improved design from Alan Ball that uses the morphing struts to correct for seat tilt as you morph up and down.

Close-up of the seat adjustment mechansim showing the base supports for a slung seat design. The link arm shown in red causes the seat to adjust as the morphing happens.

The next step is to build a test rig to see how all of these designs work in real life before committing them to a finished design.

Here is the e-Drawings file for the SolidWorks model:  You'll need the free e-Drawings Viewer (for Mac or PC)

Designing a Seat for the Morphing Handcycle - A Look at How Other Recumbant Seats Are Designed

Document processing pending. — Download Move_With_Freedom_morphout_sea.ppt


Alan Ball, Rory McCarthy and Bill Warner had a design session on July 10th 2009 to review how other seats have been constructed, and how the MorphOut seat might be made.

We concluded that the Longbike seat, on page 7, was the applicable to our design, and that we should make contact with them. Perhaps we might just incorporate their seat design into the Morph. They have a nice sliding mechanism, and also an adjustable seat back angle.


A Morphing Seat For The Morphing Handcycle - How to Correct Seat Position When You've Tilted the Frame by 20 Degrees

Alan sent these screen images along with a cool shadow border, so our post gets a slightly different look.

Shown above in green is the proposed morphing seat. Actually, there is the boxy (just for layout...not the real design) seat sub-frame. The end of the morph arm, along with the little tab that moves (how?) adjusts the seat angle to be correct in both low rider and high rider positions.

Oblique view.

Side view in high rider. The 74 inch rider isn't there.

Mid morph. The seat morphing mechanism is beginning to tilt the seat backwards.

Now the seat is tilting back more to correct for the morphing down, and to move the rider to the correct low-rider tilted-back position.

All the way down, in low-rider mode.

Issues to think about: 
1. How do we support the seat back? Needs to be very rigid as you power the pedals. Looks like it would be hard to put a strut between the morphng frame and the seat back, because dimensions are changing
2. Need a foot rest that lets the rider rest their feet in both low-rider and high rider positions.

Here is the e-Drawings file for the SolidWorks model:  You'll need the free e-Drawings Viewer (for Mac or PC)

The best way to visualize the design is to use this 3D viewer and change the configuration pull down to move the bike through its morphing range.




A Self-Adjusting Seat: Alan Ball Presents Two Designs for the Next Morphing Handcycle

Rory, Alan and I had an online design review session today. The latest design from Alan Ball looks at two ways to make the seat self adjusting when you morph. This version puts a hinge below the seat, at the same joint as the front morphing joint. There is a knuckle attached to the seat back that forces the seat forward as you morph down.

Bobby Hall seat positions shown in blue. Note that the Morph in low rider is a longer vehicle than the Bobby Hall. And that the rider sits further forward. Our seat height is about the same.

Now in high rider mode. Notice that the knuckle behind the seat is shorter. This tilted the seat back in high rider.

This is a different approach. A subframe is hinged just below the front of the seat. A tab pushes up the rear of the seat as you morph down. The seat tilts up at 11.5 degrees, which is what you want.

Version 2 showing the seat inn high rider mode. The mechanism has lowered the rear of the seat, and reduced the tilt. The grey lines show what the tilt would be without the mechanism. That tilt would be uncomfortable at best.

We are 2.87 degrees tilted forward. This seems to work well in high rider mode.

Without a seat tilt correction, the tilt is almost 11 degrees forward, which is not acceptable.

Click on the two versions of the model below to see it in 3D. You'll need the free e-Drawings Viewer (for Mac or PC)


When Does a Morph Not Want to Morph? - A Design Issue of "Over-the-Center" Mechanics

One of surprising behaviors we found in the Morph III design was that once it got all the way down, it just didn't want to come back up. It just seemed to "lock" in the low position. The question is why, and how do we avoid this situation in the new design?

Alan Ball and I had a little online design meeting today, and here's what Alan proposes is happening. Start by drawing a line from the front wheel center to the rear morphing joint. Then draw a line to the middle morphing joint. In the Morph III CAD above, notice that the joint is below the wheel to rear-joint line. Since the way you get the bike to start coming up is to lock the front wheel and then roll the rear wheel forward, you can imagine that in this configuration, the middle joint will want to go DOWN. This explains the "locked" feeling. By the way, you can get Morph III to go up, but you have to lift hard. Probably to force your way past the over-the-center condition to the range where the mechanics work in your favor rather than against you.

Here is the Morph Out (same geometry as Morph II) design. Note that the triangle is flipped. Rolling the rear wheel forward with the front wheel locked WILL raise the bike. And the gas springs will be helping at the same time. We find that Morph II "floats" really nicely, and we want to have that same behavior on the next design. We're actually using the IDENTICAL geometry of Morph II, but will be using a different frame configuration to achieve that geometry.

Next Morph - 3D Model showing 5'2" and 6'2" Riders

We're just starting to look at different size riders for the Morph Out design. The 3D model below shows two rider sizes, 5'2" and 6'2", in low and high rider positions. Notice, for example, the position of the feet relative to the front wheel, and of the hands relative to the pedals. The bike is set for the larger rider.

The Solidworks e-Drawings file lets you see this vehicle in 3D, and also choose the configuration you wish to view (lower left of display). Get the free e-Drawings viewer here, and try it out!


Our Next Morph - "Morph Out" 'Cause We're Going to Build 5 And Get 'Em Out for Real Testing

This sequence shows the Morph Out geometry taken a step further into 3D. This is a just a proof of concept frame, but it uses the earlier "twin flanking members" to allow the rear morphing elements to overlap the main tube when the bike morphs down. This gives us extra room to put the seat sub-frame and still maintain a low riding position

The Solidworks e-Drawings file lets you see this vehicle in 3D, and also choose the configuration you wish to view (lower left of display). Get the free e-Drawings viewer here, and try it out!

Just Like Your Teacher Told You, Geometry is Important -- A Detailed Look at the Geometry of the Next Morph

This Powerpoint presentation reviews today's online design session with Alan Ball, Rory McCarthy, and Bill Warner. The goal is to nail down the geometry of the morphing mechanism in stick figure, and then proceed with some basic frame design.
 
Now that we've got two morphing vehicles on the road, the benefits of the Morph II design are easy to see. It has excellent steering geometry in low rider and high rider modes. Mainly, we need to fix the issue that we can't adjust the seat angle, and the struts provided on Morph II turned out to be an unworkable solution due to the high forces that travel through those struts while you are sitting, and even higher forces while you are riding.
 
This presentation compares Morph II, the Bobby Hall, and a proposed new design, which essentially keeps the Morph II morphing frame, but allows it to morph through its full travel. Next will the the challenge of designing a seat that allows the proper adjustments.