EP0057703A4 - Drive system. - Google Patents

Drive system.

Info

Publication number
EP0057703A4
EP0057703A4 EP19810902261 EP81902261A EP0057703A4 EP 0057703 A4 EP0057703 A4 EP 0057703A4 EP 19810902261 EP19810902261 EP 19810902261 EP 81902261 A EP81902261 A EP 81902261A EP 0057703 A4 EP0057703 A4 EP 0057703A4
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
flywheel
drive system
wheel
vehicle
speed
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP19810902261
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0057703A1 (en
Inventor
Horace Charles Dean
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of EP0057703A1 publication Critical patent/EP0057703A1/en
Publication of EP0057703A4 publication Critical patent/EP0057703A4/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60K—ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GAS EXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS IN VEHICLES
    • B60K6/00—Arrangement or mounting of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion, e.g. hybrid propulsion systems comprising electric motors and internal combustion engines ; Control systems therefor, i.e. systems controlling two or more prime movers, or controlling one of these prime movers and any of the transmission, drive or drive units Informative references: mechanical gearings with secondary electric drive F16H3/72; arrangements for handling mechanical energy structurally associated with the dynamo-electric machine H02K7/00; machines comprising structurally interrelated motor and generator parts H02K51/00; dynamo-electric machines not otherwise provided for in H02K see H02K99/00
    • B60K6/08—Prime-movers comprising combustion engines and mechanical or fluid energy storing means
    • B60K6/10—Prime-movers comprising combustion engines and mechanical or fluid energy storing means by means of a chargeable mechanical accumulator, e.g. flywheel
    • B60K6/105—Prime-movers comprising combustion engines and mechanical or fluid energy storing means by means of a chargeable mechanical accumulator, e.g. flywheel the accumulator being a flywheel
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16H—GEARING
    • F16H15/00—Gearings for conveying rotary motion with variable gear ratio, or for reversing rotary motion, by friction between rotary members
    • F16H15/02—Gearings for conveying rotary motion with variable gear ratio, or for reversing rotary motion, by friction between rotary members without members having orbital motion
    • F16H15/04—Gearings providing a continuous range of gear ratios
    • F16H15/06—Gearings providing a continuous range of gear ratios in which a member A of uniform effective diameter mounted on a shaft may co-operate with different parts of a member B
    • F16H15/32—Gearings providing a continuous range of gear ratios in which a member A of uniform effective diameter mounted on a shaft may co-operate with different parts of a member B in which the member B has a curved friction surface formed as a surface of a body of revolution generated by a curve which is neither a circular arc centered on its axis of revolution nor a straight line
    • F16H15/36—Gearings providing a continuous range of gear ratios in which a member A of uniform effective diameter mounted on a shaft may co-operate with different parts of a member B in which the member B has a curved friction surface formed as a surface of a body of revolution generated by a curve which is neither a circular arc centered on its axis of revolution nor a straight line with concave friction surface, e.g. a hollow toroid surface
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02T—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
    • Y02T10/00—Road transport of goods or passengers
    • Y02T10/60—Other road transportation technologies with climate change mitigation effect
    • Y02T10/62—Hybrid vehicles

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a drive system and relates parti-cularly, although not exclusively, to a drive system for electric powered vehicles.
  • Electric vehicles With the dwindling supply of fossil and related fuels, electric vehicles are being proposed and used in an attempt to reduce our dependence on the internal combustion engine. Electric vehicles have found favour in city and suburban routes where their lower maximum speed is not a handicap. Although electric vehicles have many advantages e.g. low running cost, virtual absence of pollution and easy recharging, their use in "stop-start” motoring is limited. Frequent "starting up” and accelerating of an electric motor driven vehicle continually places a high energy drain on a conventional lead-acid battery and accordingly the discharge efficiency of such batteries is severely reduced and may restrict the range of the electric vehicle by up to 66%.
  • a further object of the invention is to reduce the number of lead-acid batteries required to supply power to an electric vehicle and to reduce the size of the electric motor driving the vehicle.
  • a drive system for a vehicle including a flywheel adapted to be motor driven and a transmission including a wheel adapted to be driven by the flywheel by frictional engagement of said wheel with a face of said flywheel.
  • the flywheel is preferably connected to an electric motor, said wheel and said flywheel being adapted to be moved relative to one another to vary the transmission ratio.
  • the preferred shape of the flywheel is concave conical.
  • FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicle including the drive system of the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is a top view of the drive system in the vehicle of FIG. 1 without wheel positioning means;
  • FIG. 3 is a similar view to that of FIG. 2 but including one type of wheel positioning means.
  • a three-wheeled vehicle 2 which has driven wheels 4, 6 and a steerable wheel 8 which is controlled by handlebars 10.
  • a speed pedal 14 On the floor 12 of the vehicle is a speed pedal 14 to allow control of the speed of the vehicle.
  • a brake control 16 is mounted on the handlebars 10 for actuating braking means (not shown) .
  • a drive system 18 includes an electric motor 20 as a primary power source and an associated flywheel 22 as a supplementary power source.
  • the electric motor 20 is preferably a high speed motor o the permanent magnet type and is powered by a batter pack 24.
  • the flywheel 22 is usually of a concave conical shape but may be of any suitable shape dependent upon the desired drive characteristics.
  • a friction wheel 26, the axle 28 of which couples via a universal joint 32, a constant velocity joint or other similar means to a drive shaft 30, is adapted to engage with the face of the flywheel 22.
  • the friction wheel 26 is movable in an arc with its contact area staying in a fixed geometric relation ship with the curved flywheel 22 to maintain a close geometric approximation to a continuously variable bevel drive having minimum scrub at any driving contact point in its operating range.
  • a spring 33 provides thrust to wheel 26 to enable it to transmit torque to shaft 30.
  • Wheel 26 is maintained in its correct planar relationship with flywheel 22 by a sliding rotating bearing 43 acting on a fixed slide or other means.
  • the drive shaft 30 is coupled by a chain and sprocket arrangement 34 to the drive axle 36 for wheels 4, 6 via differential 35.
  • the chain and sprocket arrangement may be substituted by a pulley and belt system, a geared arrangement or any other suitable means.
  • the transmission ratio of the drive system is dependent on the position of the driven wheel 26 relative to the flywheel 22 and this position is continuously varied to control vehicle speed and load on the drive system.
  • the means of varying this position may be mechanical, by foot or hand levers (not shown) or monitored by an electronic control circuit (not shown) which may monitor and compute the drive ratio required for varying drive conditions.
  • FIG. 3 there is shown an arm 38 around shaft 28 which includes a geared sprocket segment 40 meshing with a gear of an electric reduction motor
  • instruments showing drive motor speed and other drive-required information may be provided to enable the driver to in effect compute his own driving ratio to ensure optimum operation with a minimum of cost.
  • friction wheel 26 is disengaged from the flywheel 22 and is located in position 45 (indicated in phantom in FIG. 3).
  • the motor 20 driving the flywheel 22 is energised and the flywheel 22 allowed to reach its selected idle or starting speed (which will be quite high) and at which speed the flywheel will store enough energy to provide initial acceleration to the vehicle before dropping in speed by a significant amount. Therefore, the energy stored in the flywheel 22 is used for the initial acceleration of the vehicle 2 rather than the energy stored in the battery 24.
  • the driver then operates a mechanism e.g. speed pedal 14 to move the wheel 26 into engagement, with flywheel 22 (shown in phantom at 44 in FIG. 2) and so actuate the drive system.
  • Vehicle acceleration and speed will depend on the transmission ratio selected - either manually or automatically, and the speed at which this ratio is changed.
  • the friction wheel is moved along the face of flywheel 22 dependent on the position of the speed pedal 14. As the friction wheel moves from the phantom position 44 the greater angular velocity of the flywheel in this region will accordingly increase the speed of the friction wheel.
  • Various mechanical, electric or hydraulic interconnections from the speed pedal to the electronic control circuit could be made to enable the driver to select the correct drive ratio for a particular load and speed.
  • the use of microprocessor technology may be used for the control of the drive system or simple instruments provided for the operator to make adjustments to the transmission ratio as required.
  • the friction wheel may be of any suitable type but is preferably a tyred wheel having a solid or pneumatic tyre.
  • the motor drives the flywheel 22 at high speed.
  • the efficiency of the motor is above 70% whereas at low speeds the efficiency may be reduced to as low as 10% and the range of speeds used by the motor under normal use will be reduced.
  • the friction wheel 26 moves along the flywheel 22 to regions of greater radius. This is, in effect, increasing the transmission ratio.
  • the motor 20 drives the vehicle using the energy of battery 24.
  • the friction wheel 22 assumes the "cruise” position shown in Figure 3 the vehicle 2 is cruising at relatively high speed using the battery 24 and motor 20.
  • the energy in flywheel 22 "smooths" the peaks in the power consumption from the battery 24 while cruising.
  • a ratio will be selected that allows the motor to run at a speed within its optimum operating range. High torque to climb hills will be achieved by selecting a higher transmission ratio and lower output speed whilst down grades will use a lower transmission ratio and higher output speed.
  • Deceleration will occur by moving the transmission to a higher ratio position which will then transform the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle to the flywheel by accelerating it to a higher speed and so providing a supplementary energy storage system. Should there be sufficient kinetic energy available i.e. by descending a hill, the flywheel and motor will reach a situation where the motor will become a generator and so restore electrical energy to the battery system. This reverse cycle of recharging the energy storage system will apply every time the vehicle speed is reduced by a significant amount i.e. at every stop.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Transportation (AREA)
  • Arrangement Or Mounting Of Propulsion Units For Vehicles (AREA)

Abstract

A drive system for electrically powered vehicles where a specifically shaped flywheel (22) is driven by a motor (20). A friction wheel (26) engages the flywheel (22) to provide the driven output. The flywheel (22) is preferably of a concave conical shape with the wheel (26) adapted to be moved angularly thereon to vary the transmission ratio.

Description

DRIVE SYSTEM The present invention relates to a drive system and relates parti-cularly, although not exclusively, to a drive system for electric powered vehicles.
With the dwindling supply of fossil and related fuels, electric vehicles are being proposed and used in an attempt to reduce our dependence on the internal combustion engine. Electric vehicles have found favour in city and suburban routes where their lower maximum speed is not a handicap. Although electric vehicles have many advantages e.g. low running cost, virtual absence of pollution and easy recharging, their use in "stop-start" motoring is limited. Frequent "starting up" and accelerating of an electric motor driven vehicle continually places a high energy drain on a conventional lead-acid battery and accordingly the discharge efficiency of such batteries is severely reduced and may restrict the range of the electric vehicle by up to 66%.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drive system for electric vehicles which will increase the operating range of an electric vehicle when used in frequent "start-stop" or commuter duty.
A further object of the invention is to reduce the number of lead-acid batteries required to supply power to an electric vehicle and to reduce the size of the electric motor driving the vehicle.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a drive system for a vehicle, including a flywheel adapted to be motor driven and a transmission including a wheel adapted to be driven by the flywheel by frictional engagement of said wheel with a face of said flywheel. The flywheel is preferably connected to an electric motor, said wheel and said flywheel being adapted to be moved relative to one another to vary the transmission ratio. The preferred shape of the flywheel is concave conical.
In order that the invention may be better understood and put into practical effect there will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings a preferred non-limitative practical embodiment of a drive system according to the present invention. In the drawings:-
FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicle including the drive system of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a top view of the drive system in the vehicle of FIG. 1 without wheel positioning means; and
FIG. 3 is a similar view to that of FIG. 2 but including one type of wheel positioning means.
A three-wheeled vehicle 2 is shown which has driven wheels 4, 6 and a steerable wheel 8 which is controlled by handlebars 10. On the floor 12 of the vehicle is a speed pedal 14 to allow control of the speed of the vehicle. A brake control 16 is mounted on the handlebars 10 for actuating braking means (not shown) .
A drive system 18 includes an electric motor 20 as a primary power source and an associated flywheel 22 as a supplementary power source. The electric motor 20 is preferably a high speed motor o the permanent magnet type and is powered by a batter pack 24. The flywheel 22 is usually of a concave conical shape but may be of any suitable shape dependent upon the desired drive characteristics.
A friction wheel 26, the axle 28 of which couples via a universal joint 32, a constant velocity joint or other similar means to a drive shaft 30, is adapted to engage with the face of the flywheel 22. The friction wheel 26 is movable in an arc with its contact area staying in a fixed geometric relation ship with the curved flywheel 22 to maintain a close geometric approximation to a continuously variable bevel drive having minimum scrub at any driving contact point in its operating range. A spring 33 provides thrust to wheel 26 to enable it to transmit torque to shaft 30. Wheel 26 is maintained in its correct planar relationship with flywheel 22 by a sliding rotating bearing 43 acting on a fixed slide or other means. The drive shaft 30 is coupled by a chain and sprocket arrangement 34 to the drive axle 36 for wheels 4, 6 via differential 35. The chain and sprocket arrangement may be substituted by a pulley and belt system, a geared arrangement or any other suitable means.
The transmission ratio of the drive system is dependent on the position of the driven wheel 26 relative to the flywheel 22 and this position is continuously varied to control vehicle speed and load on the drive system. The means of varying this position may be mechanical, by foot or hand levers (not shown) or monitored by an electronic control circuit (not shown) which may monitor and compute the drive ratio required for varying drive conditions.
In FIG. 3 there is shown an arm 38 around shaft 28 which includes a geared sprocket segment 40 meshing with a gear of an electric reduction motor
42, actuation of which is controlled by the electronic control circuit to give in effect an automatic gear box.
In a manually controlled version instruments showing drive motor speed and other drive-required information may be provided to enable the driver to in effect compute his own driving ratio to ensure optimum operation with a minimum of cost.
In use, with the vehicle stationary, friction wheel 26 is disengaged from the flywheel 22 and is located in position 45 (indicated in phantom in FIG. 3). To set the vehicle in motion the motor 20 driving the flywheel 22 is energised and the flywheel 22 allowed to reach its selected idle or starting speed (which will be quite high) and at which speed the flywheel will store enough energy to provide initial acceleration to the vehicle before dropping in speed by a significant amount. Therefore, the energy stored in the flywheel 22 is used for the initial acceleration of the vehicle 2 rather than the energy stored in the battery 24. The driver then operates a mechanism e.g. speed pedal 14 to move the wheel 26 into engagement, with flywheel 22 (shown in phantom at 44 in FIG. 2) and so actuate the drive system. Vehicle acceleration and speed will depend on the transmission ratio selected - either manually or automatically, and the speed at which this ratio is changed. To increase the speed of the vehicle and vary the transmission ratio, the friction wheel is moved along the face of flywheel 22 dependent on the position of the speed pedal 14. As the friction wheel moves from the phantom position 44 the greater angular velocity of the flywheel in this region will accordingly increase the speed of the friction wheel. Various mechanical, electric or hydraulic interconnections from the speed pedal to the electronic control circuit could be made to enable the driver to select the correct drive ratio for a particular load and speed. The use of microprocessor technology may be used for the control of the drive system or simple instruments provided for the operator to make adjustments to the transmission ratio as required. The friction wheel may be of any suitable type but is preferably a tyred wheel having a solid or pneumatic tyre.
When the vehicle 2 is stationary and the motor 20 activated, the motor drives the flywheel 22 at high speed. By keeping the motor revolving at high speed the efficiency of the motor is above 70% whereas at low speeds the efficiency may be reduced to as low as 10% and the range of speeds used by the motor under normal use will be reduced.
As the speed pedal 14 is further depressed, the friction wheel 26 moves along the flywheel 22 to regions of greater radius. This is, in effect, increasing the transmission ratio. After the first period of acceleration using the energy in the flywheel 22, the motor 20 drives the vehicle using the energy of battery 24. Once the friction wheel 22 assumes the "cruise" position shown in Figure 3 the vehicle 2 is cruising at relatively high speed using the battery 24 and motor 20. The energy in flywheel 22 "smooths" the peaks in the power consumption from the battery 24 while cruising. Thus at steady speed conditions a ratio will be selected that allows the motor to run at a speed within its optimum operating range. High torque to climb hills will be achieved by selecting a higher transmission ratio and lower output speed whilst down grades will use a lower transmission ratio and higher output speed. Deceleration will occur by moving the transmission to a higher ratio position which will then transform the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle to the flywheel by accelerating it to a higher speed and so providing a supplementary energy storage system. Should there be sufficient kinetic energy available i.e. by descending a hill, the flywheel and motor will reach a situation where the motor will become a generator and so restore electrical energy to the battery system. This reverse cycle of recharging the energy storage system will apply every time the vehicle speed is reduced by a significant amount i.e. at every stop.
It is to be understood that many modifications may be made in details of design or construction without departing from the ambit of the invention, the nature of which is to be ascertained from the appended claims.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:
1. A drive system for a vehicle, including a flywheel adapted to be motor driven and a transmission including a wheel adapted to be driven by the flywheel by frictional engagement of said wheel with a face of said flywheel.
2. The drive system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said flywheel has a concave conical shape.
3. The drive system as claimed in Glaim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said flywheel is driven by an electric motor.
4. The drive system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said wheel and said flywheel are adapted to be moved relative to one another to vary the transmission ratio.
5. The drive system as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said wheel includes an output shaft whose angular disposition is variable to alter the transmission ratio by changing the position of contact of said wheel on said flywheel.
6. The drive system as claimed in Claim 4 or Claim 5 , wherein relative movement of said flywheel and wheel is dependent on the position of an operator operated pedal or lever.
7. The drive system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the position of said wheel on said flywheel is controlled by an electronic drive means.
8. The drive system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said wheel is resiliently biassed to said flywheel.
9. A drive system for a vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
EP19810902261 1980-08-14 1981-08-13 Drive system. Withdrawn EP0057703A4 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AUPE502980 1980-08-14
AU5029/80 1980-08-14

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0057703A1 EP0057703A1 (en) 1982-08-18
EP0057703A4 true EP0057703A4 (en) 1982-11-25

Family

ID=3768639

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19810902261 Withdrawn EP0057703A4 (en) 1980-08-14 1981-08-13 Drive system.

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0057703A4 (en)
WO (1) WO1982000693A1 (en)

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5256110A (en) * 1991-05-13 1993-10-26 Olsen William K Continuous infinite-ratio power transmission device

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1397494A (en) * 1919-09-26 1921-11-15 Leon B Strong Transmission mechanism
US1359950A (en) * 1920-07-31 1920-11-23 Beauvais Charles Frederick Friction driving mechanism for motor road and other vehicles
US1609439A (en) * 1922-09-01 1926-12-07 Leon B Strong Automatic load-regulating transmission mechanism
US1629452A (en) * 1925-10-20 1927-05-17 Alfred A Dennis Friction drive mechanism
US2366889A (en) * 1942-02-06 1945-01-09 John R Tapp Motor tester
US2715841A (en) * 1953-08-24 1955-08-23 Franz Frederick Drive mechanism for electric metronomes or the like

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0057703A1 (en) 1982-08-18
WO1982000693A1 (en) 1982-03-04

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Effective date: 19850228