Cameron Alberg
Detachable Skates
This product is a mechanism that can turn an inline skate into a detachable shoe/skate hybrid, allowing skaters to quickly remove their wheels and walk into buildings, classrooms, or anywhere else without having to worry about another pair of shoes. The detachable skates were designed as part of a product design class focused on engineering design principles
Cameron Alberg, Peiyan Gui, Matt Werth, Nick Wright
My Role: Developed concept, designed detachment mechanism, created CAD models, animations and renderings
Skills: CAD modeling | Mechanical Design | Quality Function Deployment
Render of final design with skate (Fusion 360)
Render of final design (Fusion 360)
Why
How can skating be a more practical mode of transportation?
Students are always looking for quick and convenient ways of getting around campus. Many campus locations are not accessible by car, and bicyles need to have a secure spot to be locked. Skating is efficient except for the fact that an extra pair of shoes are needed to go indoors, and putting them on in the first place takes time. There are existing products that attach on to regular shoes (for those who don't own skates), but they are not as reliable or effective as actual roller skates. Skates that are easily detachable could become a more feasible way of transportation not just for students, but for any active user.
Process
We deliberately decided not to redesign a skate with an embedded mechanism, due to the fact that many popular and effective skates already exist. Our target user was a regular or semi-regular skater who would have their own pair of skates. Therefore, we focused on designing a mechanism that would be compatible with existing products.
We used the quality function deployment (QFD) chart to identify the correlations between user desires for certain features, and the engineering features that we had control over. Based on this analysis we determined the most important features to focus on (such as reducing the overall weight of the mechanism, and properly designing the release force of the locking mechanism).
The main components of the design are two mounts which attach to a skate boot and wheel frame using two pairs of screws, with hole placements defined by universal frame system (UFS) standards. The pieces have sets of male/female rail system to provide a secure fit when slid together. Two push button on either side of the design keep the top and bottom pieces together with high strength torsional springs. The pieces can only release with a significant force on both buttons simultaneously, ensuring that the skates don't detach accidentally.
The mounts and push buttons would be made out of 6061 aluminum and steel torsional springs. A rubber insole would be attached to the underside of the top mount, to make walking without the skate wheels more comfortable.
Quality function deployment chart
Unexploded view of final design (Solidworks)
Exploded view of final design (Solidworks)
Engineering drawing of button (Solidworks)
Engineering drawing of boot mount component (Solidworks)
Animation of skate functionality (Fusion 360)