Manual treadmill which can be set to an exercise speed

Abstract

A manual treadmill includes a frame, a treadmill belt having a top surface for allowing a user to exercise thereon and movement of the user driving the treadmill belt to rotate, a sensing apparatus for sensing a rotational speed of the treadmill belt, a resistance adjusting apparatus for generating a resistance to impede rotation of the treadmill belt, an elevation angle adjusting apparatus for changing an inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt, and a control unit. The control unit is in communication with the sensor, the resistance adjusting apparatus and the elevation angle adjusting apparatus and operates one of the resistance adjusting apparatus and the elevation angle adjusting apparatus to control the rotational speed of the treadmill belt, and further operates the other one of that if the rotational speed of the treadmill belt does not reach a predetermined target rotational speed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A manual treadmill, comprising:
 a frame;   a treadmill belt mounted on the frame, having a top surface for allowing a user to perform walking, jogging or running thereon and movement of the user driving the treadmill belt to rotate with respect to the frame;   a sensing apparatus configured to sense a rotational speed of the treadmill belt and generate a corresponding speed signal;   a resistance adjusting apparatus coupled to the treadmill belt for generating a resistance to impede rotation of the treadmill belt;   an elevation angle adjusting apparatus configured to change an inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt; and   a control unit in communication with the sensor, the resistance adjusting apparatus and the elevation angle adjusting apparatus, the resistance adjusting apparatus being controlled by the control unit to control the resistance of the treadmill belt, the elevation angle adjusting apparatus being controlled by the control unit to control the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt;   wherein the control unit receives the speed signal from the sensing apparatus and operates one of the resistance adjusting apparatus and the elevation angle adjusting apparatus to control the rotational speed of the treadmill belt, and further operates the other one of the resistance adjusting apparatus and the elevation angle adjusting apparatus if the rotational speed of the treadmill belt does not reach a predetermined target rotational speed.   
     
     
         2 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is operable to increase the rotational speed of the treadmill belt by controlling the resistance adjusting apparatus to decrease the resistance and/or controlling the elevation angle adjusting apparatus to increase the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         3 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is operable to decrease the rotational speed of the treadmill belt by controlling the resistance adjusting apparatus to increase the resistance and/or controlling the elevation angle adjusting apparatus to decrease the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         4 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprises a front roller rotatably mounted on a front end of the frame and a rear roller rotatably mounted on a rear end of the frame, the treadmill belt mounted around the front roller and the rear roller, wherein a height of front roller is higher than a height of the rear roller so that the top surface of the treadmill belt forms an inclined plane for allowing the user to exercise thereon and the movement of the user drives the treadmill belt to rotate in a direction from the front roller to the rear roller. 
     
     
         5 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein the resistance adjusting apparatus is coupled to the front roller for impeding rotation of the front roller so as to control rotational speed of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         6 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the resistance adjusting apparatus is an eddy current brake configured to apply an eddy current resistance to impede the rotation of the treadmill belt so as to control the rotational speed of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         7 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein when the control unit does not receive the speed signal from the sensing apparatus or the speed signal keeps zero for a predetermined period of time, the control unit determines that there is no user on the treadmill belt and controls the resistance adjusting apparatus to increase the resistance to a maximum resistance. 
     
     
         8 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is operable to control the elevation angle adjusting to change the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt to a predetermined elevation angle, and then control the resistance adjusting apparatus to adjust rotational speed of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         9 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is operable to increase the rotational speed of the treadmill belt by controlling the resistance adjusting apparatus to decrease the resistance applied to the treadmill belt, and wherein when the resistance has reached a lower limit of available resistance setting, the control unit is operable to increase the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt for further increasing the rotational speed of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         10 . A manual treadmill, comprising:
 a frame;   a treadmill belt mounted on the frame, having a top surface for allowing a user to perform walking, jogging or running thereon and movement of the user driving the treadmill belt to rotate with respect to the frame;   a sensing apparatus configured to sense a rotational speed of the treadmill belt and generate a corresponding speed signal;   a resistance adjusting apparatus coupled to the treadmill belt for generating a resistance to impede rotation of the treadmill belt;   an elevation angle adjusting apparatus configured to change an inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt; and   a control unit in communication with the sensor, the resistance adjusting apparatus and the elevation angle adjusting apparatus, wherein the control unit receives the speed signal from the sensing apparatus and selectively operates one or two of the resistance adjusting apparatus and the elevation angle adjusting apparatus until the rotational speed is within a predetermined target rotational speed range.   
     
     
         11 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the control unit is operable to increase the rotational speed of the treadmill belt by controlling the resistance adjusting apparatus to decrease the resistance and/or controlling the elevation angle adjusting apparatus to increase the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         12 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the control unit is operable to decrease the rotational speed of the treadmill belt by controlling the resistance adjusting apparatus to increase the resistance and/or controlling the elevation angle adjusting apparatus to decrease the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         13 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 10 , further comprises a front roller rotatably mounted on a front end of the frame and a rear roller rotatably mounted on a rear end of the frame, the treadmill belt mounted around the front roller and the rear roller, wherein a height of front roller is higher than a height of the rear roller so that the top surface of the treadmill belt forms an inclined plane for allowing the user to exercise thereon and the movement of the user drives the treadmill belt to rotate in a direction from the front roller to the rear roller. 
     
     
         14 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 13 , wherein the resistance adjusting apparatus is coupled to the front roller for impeding rotation of the front roller so as to control rotational speed of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         15 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the resistance adjusting apparatus is an eddy current brake configured to apply an eddy current resistance to impede the rotation of the treadmill belt so as to control the rotational speed of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         16 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein when the control unit does not receive the speed signal from the sensing apparatus or the speed signal keeps zero for a predetermined period of time, the control unit determines that there is no user on the treadmill belt and controls the resistance adjusting apparatus to increase the resistance to a maximum resistance. 
     
     
         17 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the control unit is operable to control the elevation angle adjusting to change the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt to a predetermined elevation angle, and then control the resistance adjusting apparatus to adjust rotational speed of the treadmill belt. 
     
     
         18 . The manual treadmill as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the control unit is operable to increase the rotational speed of the treadmill belt by controlling the resistance adjusting apparatus to decrease the resistance applied to the treadmill belt, and wherein when the resistance has reached a lower limit of available resistance setting, the control unit is operable to increase the inclination of the top surface of the treadmill belt for further increasing the rotational speed of the treadmill belt.