JP2000247278A - Battery box mounting structure for motor assisted bicycle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a frame size to reduce weight and cost. SOLUTION: In a motor assisted bicycle with its body frame detachably mounted with a battery box for accommodating a battery 31, one end of the battery box 12 is suspended from a top tube (a pipe of a body frame) 7, and the other end is detachably fixed to a bracket (the other part of the body frame) 13. When attaching and detaching the battery box 12, the stroke of the battery box 12 along the top tube 7, a down tube 8 and a seat tube 9 is unnecessary, so that a space surrounded by the top tube 7, down tube 8 and seat tube 9 can be narrowed to reduce a frame size, thereby reducing the weight and cost of the motor assisted bicycle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery box mounting structure for an electric bicycle in which a battery box accommodating a battery is detachably mounted on a vehicle body frame.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electric bicycles have been proposed and put into practical use. The electric bicycle supplements the driving force of human power with an auxiliary power of an electric motor. It is indispensable to mount a power unit including an electric motor that operates by receiving supply of power from a battery. The battery was housed in a battery box, and the battery box was detachably mounted on the vehicle body.

[0003]

When a battery box is arranged in a space surrounded by pipes of a body frame in a conventional electric bicycle, the battery box is attached and removed because the battery box is attached along the pipes. For this purpose, a certain amount of stroke is required, so that the space surrounded by the pipes of the body frame cannot be reduced to reduce the frame size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a battery box mounting structure for an electric bicycle in which a frame size can be reduced to reduce weight and cost. It is in.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric bicycle in which a battery box accommodating a battery is detachably attached to a vehicle body frame. The vehicle body frame is suspended from a pipe, and the other end is detachably fixed to another portion of the body frame.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the battery box is formed into a bag shape that can be opened and closed around an upper end, and the upper end of the battery box is wound around a pipe of a vehicle body frame. The left and right lower end portions are fixed so as to sandwich other portions of the body frame.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a fitting groove is formed at an upper end of the battery box,
The fitting groove is fitted into a pipe of the vehicle body frame, and the lower end of the battery box is detachably fixed to another portion of the vehicle body frame by rotating the battery box around the pipe.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to stroke the battery box along the pipe of the vehicle body frame when attaching and detaching the battery box. Therefore, the space surrounded by the vehicle body frame is narrowed to reduce the frame size. As a result, the weight and cost of the electric bicycle can be reduced.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Embodiment 1> FIG. 1 is a side view of an electric bicycle having a battery box mounting structure according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view of a battery box portion of the electric bicycle, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2.

In the electric bicycle 1 shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a head pipe located at an upper front portion of a vehicle body, and a steering shaft 3 is rotatably inserted into the head pipe 2. A steering wheel 4 is attached to an upper end of the steering shaft 3, an upper end of a pair of left and right front forks 5 is attached to a lower end of the steering shaft 3, and a front wheel 6 is rotatably mounted to a lower end of the front fork 5. Supported.

A top tube 7 and a down tube 8 extend from the head pipe 2 toward the rear of the vehicle body. The down tube 8 extends under the top tube 7 obliquely downward toward the rear of the vehicle body. ing. A seat tube 9 erected diagonally upward toward the rear of the vehicle body is attached to each rear end of the top tube 7 and the down tube 8. A seat post 10 is provided in the seat tube 9. The saddle 11 is fitted and held so as to be vertically movable, and a saddle 11 is attached to an upper end thereof.

A battery box 12 is suspended from the top tube 7, and the battery box 1 is suspended.
2 is accommodated in a triangular space surrounded by the top tube 7, the down tube 8 and the seat tube 9, and the lower end thereof is fixed to a bracket 13 provided between the down tube 8 and the seat tube 9. A power unit 14 is attached to the rear end of the down tube 8.

The power unit 14 has a drive system using human power and a drive system using an electric motor 15 arranged side by side.
This includes the electric motor 15, the controller 16, a treading force detecting means (not shown), and the like.

A front end of a rear arm 18 bent and formed in a letter shape in a side view is pivotally pivoted up and down by a pivot shaft 19 on a bracket 17 attached to a lower rear end of the down tube 8. A rear wheel 20 is rotatably supported at the rear end of the rear arm 18. A rear cushion 21 is inclined and interposed between the seat tube 9 and an intermediate portion of the rear arm 18, and the rear arm 21 and the rear wheel 20 supported by the rear cushion 21 are suspended from the vehicle body by the rear cushion 21. Have been.

On the other hand, the power unit 14 is rotatably supported with a crankshaft 22 disposed in a lateral direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1). (Only one is shown) is attached, and a pedal 24 is pivotally supported at an end of each crank 23.

A large-diameter drive sprocket 25 is mounted on the crankshaft 22. An endless endless sprocket is provided between the drive sprocket 25 and the small-diameter wheel sprocket 26 mounted on the rear wheel 20. A chain 27 is wound. The chain 27 is given a predetermined tension by tensioners 38 and 29.

Here, the structure of the battery box 12 and the details of its mounting structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG.

In the present embodiment, the battery box 12 is integrally formed of resin in a bag shape that can be opened and closed at the bottom, and one side portion 12A of the battery box 12 has a hinge portion 12a (see FIG. 3) formed at an upper end portion. It can be expanded as a center. On the inner surface of the other side portion 12B of the battery box 12, a convex portion 12b and a bottom wall 12c are vertically protruded horizontally, and a battery 31 is provided in a storage space covered by the cover 30 in the battery box 12. Is stored.
The battery 31 is constituted by a plurality of rechargeable secondary batteries 31a which are stacked and stored in the storage space in three stages. The cover 30 is detachably attached to the convex portion 12b, the upper end of which is protruded from the inner surface of the battery box 12, by a plurality of screws 32, and an accessory storage space S is formed above the cover 30. .

The bottom wall 1 in the battery box 12
A discharging connector 33 and a charging terminal 34 are accommodated below 2c.

On the other hand, the bracket 13 is formed by bending a sheet metal into a crank shape in a plan view, and three discharge terminals 35 are juxtaposed in the front-rear direction.
Are protruded inward as shown in FIG.
The bracket 13 has a substantially semicircular fixing portion 13a (FIG. 2).
) Project upward, and a circular hole 13b is formed at the center thereof.

A sleeve 36 having flange-shaped stoppers at both ends is inserted through the top tube 7, and the lower end of the sleeve 36 is fixed to the top tube 7 by screws 37.

The battery box 12 having the above configuration is mounted in the following manner.

That is, one side 12 of the battery box 12
A is rotated around the hinge portion 12a and opened, and the upper end of the battery box 12 is wound around the sleeve 36 fixedly inserted into the top tube 7 to attach the battery box 12 to the top tube 7. Be suspended. Thereafter, one side portion 12A of the battery box 12 is rotated about the hinge portion 12a to close it, and the bracket 13 is closed at the lower left and right lower ends of the battery box 12.
And a quick fastener 38 inserted into a recess 12 d formed in one side 12 A of the battery box 12.
Thereby, the lower ends of the battery box 12 and the cover 30 are fastened to the bracket 13 together. Then, the lower end of the battery box 12 is fixed to the bracket 13 while being suspended from the main pipe 7, and at the same time, the discharging terminals 35 arranged in parallel with the bracket 13 are connected to the discharging connector 33 on the battery box 12 side. , And the battery 31 housed in the battery box 12 and the power unit 14 are electrically connected.

The pedaling force of the rider while the electric bicycle 1 is traveling is detected by a pedaling force detecting means (not shown) built in the power unit 14, and a detection signal is input to the controller 16. Then, the controller 16
Supplies electric power according to the magnitude of the pedaling force from the battery 31 in the battery box 12 to the electric motor 15,
The electric motor 15 generates auxiliary power corresponding to the pedaling force and outputs the auxiliary power to the crankshaft 22. As a result, the crankshaft 22 is rotationally driven by both the pedaling force and the auxiliary power, and the rotation is performed by the drive sprocket 25 and the
The power is transmitted to the rear wheel 20 via the wheel 7 and the wheel sprocket 26, and the rear wheel 20 is driven to rotate, so that the electric bicycle 1 runs. As described above, in the electric bicycle 1, the driving force of the rear wheel 20 is supplemented by the auxiliary power of the electric motor 15, so that the physical load on the rider is reduced by that much.

When the battery 31 is charged because the voltage of the battery 31 has dropped due to use, the fixing of the lower end portions of the battery box 12 and the cover 30 to the bracket 13 by the quick fastener 38 is released. If the one side portion 12A of the battery box 12 is rotated and opened about the hinge portion 12a, the battery box 12 can be easily removed from the suspended top tube 7. Then, the battery 31 stored in the removed battery box 12
Is charged using the charging terminal 34, and the battery 3 is charged.
When the charging of the battery 1 is completed, the battery 31 can be used again by attaching the battery box 12 to the electric bicycle 1 in the manner described above.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the battery box 12 is attached or detached,
2 does not need to be stroked along pipes such as the top tube 7, the down tube 8, the seat tube 9, etc., so that the triangular space surrounded by the top tube 7, the down tube 8 and the seat tube 9 is narrowed to reduce the frame size. Can be reduced, whereby the weight and cost of the electric bicycle 1 can be reduced.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a partial side view showing a battery box mounting structure according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the same.

In this embodiment, the battery box 12
A concave fitting groove 12e along the outer peripheral shape of the top tube 7 is formed at the upper end of the top tube 7. A rectangular concave portion 12f is formed in the lower center of the battery box 12, and a charging terminal 34 is provided on a side portion thereof.

On the other hand, a bracket 13 provided between the down tube 8 and the seat tube 9 has a lock mechanism 3.
9 and a discharge terminal 35 are provided.

When the battery box 12 is mounted, a fitting groove 12e formed at the upper end of the battery box 12 is fitted into the top tube 7 from the lateral direction, and the battery box 12 is mounted around the top tube 7. By rotating, the lower end is brought into contact with the bracket 13. Then, as shown in FIG.
When the second concave portion 12f fits into the lock mechanism 39 and the lower end portion of the battery box 12 is fixedly locked by the lock mechanism 39, the mounting of the battery box 12 is completed and the discharge terminal 35 provided on the bracket 13 The electrical connection with the discharge connector 33 provided on the battery box 12 side is completed.

To remove the battery box 12, the battery box 12 is unlocked by the lock mechanism 39, and then the battery box 12 is pivoted upward about the top tube 7 to be removed from the top tube 7. Just pull it out.

Thus, also in the present embodiment, when attaching / detaching the battery box 12, the battery box 1
2 does not need to be stroked along pipes such as the top tube 7, the down tube 8, the seat tube 9, etc., so that the triangular space surrounded by the top tube 7, the down tube 8 and the seat tube 9 is narrowed to reduce the frame size. Can be reduced, and the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in an electric bicycle in which a battery box containing a battery is detachably attached to a vehicle body frame, one end of the battery box is connected to a pipe of the vehicle body frame. , And the other end is detachably fixed to another part of the vehicle body frame. Therefore, the effect that the frame size of the electric bicycle can be reduced to reduce the weight and cost can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an electric bicycle including a battery box mounting structure according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view of a battery box portion of the electric bicycle including the battery box mounting structure according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial side view showing a battery box mounting structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a battery box mounting structure according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric bicycle 7 Top tube (body frame) 8 Down tube (body frame) 9 Seat tube (body frame) 12 Battery box 12e Fitting groove 13 Bracket (other parts of body frame) 31 Battery

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electric bicycle comprising a battery box accommodating a battery detachably attached to a body frame, wherein one end of the battery box is suspended from a pipe of the body frame, and the other end is attached to and detached from another part of the body frame. A battery box mounting structure for an electric bicycle characterized by being freely fixed. 2. The battery box is formed in a bag shape that can be opened and closed about an upper end, and the upper end of the battery box is wound around a pipe of a vehicle body frame.
The battery box attachment / detachment structure for an electric bicycle according to claim 1, wherein the left and right lower ends are fixed so as to sandwich other parts of the body frame. 3. A fitting groove is formed at an upper end of the battery box, and the fitting groove is fitted into a pipe of a vehicle body frame.
2. The battery box mounting structure for an electric bicycle according to claim 1, wherein the battery box is rotated about a pipe and its lower end is detachably fixed to another portion of the vehicle body frame.