JP2001280464A - Bicycle with automatic gear changer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bicycle able to run smooth slope on a equipped with a automatic gear changer. SOLUTION: In the bicycle 1 with a gear changer 2 wherein one of the sift gear is selected automatically in accordance with the running conditions, the gear changer 2 is operated by a controller 5 installed thereon. The controller 5 can transmit the signal to the gear changer 2 by receiving the input signals from a speed sensor 3 and a pedal pressing force sensor 4 respectively and it is characterized that the gear is shifted to a lower ratio gear if a pedal pressing force is more than predetermined value and the acceleration is less than the predetermined value.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bicycle with an automatic transmission, and more particularly to a bicycle for shifting gears on a slope more ideally.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various bicycles having an automatic transmission have been proposed. For example, some bicycles include a speed sensor and a control device that automatically shifts the transmission based on a signal from the speed sensor. This bicycle automatically shifts to high gear (heavy pedals and high speed) when traveling on level ground at a certain speed, and low gear (light pedals and low speed) when traveling uphill. The operation is such that automatic gear shifting is performed.

The purpose of this type of bicycle is to run efficiently while minimizing the load on the driver.

[0004]

However, in the case of the above-described bicycle with an automatic transmission, there is a possibility that the operation may be somewhat uncomfortable as a driver's sensation.

[0005] That is, in consideration of a case in which the vehicle approaches a slope while traveling on a bicycle, the speed is often given a considerable momentum before approaching the slope. This is an action for the driver to avoid in advance the phenomenon that the speed drops sharply when entering the slope and a substantial pedal load is applied once the speed drops. If the momentum is increased from the time of traveling on level ground as described above, the labor can be averaged as a whole, and the driver's fatigue can be reduced.

However, when this is compared with the operation pattern of automatic shifting, the result of acceleration on flat ground is determined to be high-speed running, and the transmission is automatically shifted to the high gear side. Then, the gear is on the high gear side even when approaching the slope, and thereafter, the control device recognizes the deceleration based on the signal from the speed sensor, and shifts to the low gear side for the first time.

[0007] As described above, when the vehicle is going to go uphill from now on, on the contrary, since the vehicle is driven uphill to some extent with the gear being shifted to the high gear side, the driving feeling becomes uncomfortable, and the bicycle is not satisfactorily driven. There is an inconvenience that the vehicle cannot be brought up to speed sufficiently and as a result, it is not possible to climb up the slope lightly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and even when a bicycle is accelerated when approaching a slope, the automatic gear shift is automatically shifted to a low gear side so that the climbing can be performed lightly. It is an object to provide a motorized bicycle.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a bicycle with an automatic transmission, and is configured as follows to solve the above-mentioned technical problem.

That is, in the first configuration, in a bicycle configured to automatically shift the transmission 2 provided on the bicycle 1 according to the running state of the bicycle 1, the speed for detecting the speed of the bicycle A sensor 3, a pedal depression force sensor 4 for detecting a load acting on a pedal of the bicycle, and a control unit 5 that receives signals from the sensors 3 and 4 and outputs an instruction signal to the transmission 2. I have.

The control unit 5 determines that the pedaling force intensity signal from the pedaling force sensor 4 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value and that the speed sensor 3
The transmission is shifted to the low gear side when the acceleration detected at is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
That is, the control unit 5 shifts the transmission 2 to the low gear side when the pedal becomes heavier than a predetermined value and the speed increase rate is lower than a predetermined rate (including a deceleration state). Hereinafter, important components of the present invention will be further described.

[Transmission 2] The transmission 2 is a transmission driven by an external or internal actuator (motor / hydraulic pressure), and is preferably of an internal type.

[Speed Sensor 3] The speed sensor 3 measures the speed of the bicycle, and may be provided with an optical or magnetic sensor for detecting the amount of rotation of the wheels.

[Pedal Depression Force Sensor 4] The pedal depression force sensor 4 measures the torque applied to the crankshaft, and may be a strain gauge or a sensor that optically detects the torsion of the shaft.

[Control Unit 5] The control unit 5 receives signals from the speed sensor 3 and the pedal depression force sensor 4 and outputs an instruction signal to the transmission 2. This control unit 5
It has a structure mainly composed of a microprocessor.

In the second configuration, the bicycle includes a traveling assist mechanism using the electric motor 6, and is configured to automatically shift the transmission 2 provided on the bicycle according to the traveling state of the bicycle 1. , A speed sensor 3 for detecting the speed of the bicycle, a pedal depression force sensor 4 for detecting a load acting on a pedal of the bicycle,
And a control unit 5 that inputs a signal from the control unit 4 and outputs an instruction signal to the transmission 2.

The control unit 5 determines that the pedaling force intensity signal from the pedaling force sensor 4 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value and that the speed sensor 4
When the acceleration detected at is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the transmission 2 is shifted to the low gear side and the travel assist amount by the electric motor 6 is increased.

The electric motor 6 is preferably of an inverter type, which assists the rotation of the crankshaft and assists the running. In the above configuration, assuming that the bicycle is accelerated by pressing the pedal strongly before the slope,
The bicycle approaches the slope soon, and the acceleration becomes equal to or less than the predetermined value even though the pedal is pressed strongly. In this state, the control unit 5 shifts the transmission 2 to the low gear side to reduce the burden on the driver. In the case where the electric motor 6 is provided, appropriate assistance is provided.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a bicycle with an automatic transmission according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS.

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram showing a bicycle 1
Is provided with a crankshaft 12. The crankshaft 12 is connected to the pedal 10 via a crank 11.
Is attached. The crankshaft 12 is provided with a pedal depression force sensor 4 that detects a pedal depression force by detecting the twist.

The drive gear 1 is mounted on the crankshaft 12.
3 is attached, and is connected to a drive gear 15 of a rear wheel via a chain 14. The transmission 2 is connected to the drive gear 15, and a tire 16 is connected to the transmission 2. The transmission 2 is a built-in transmission, and shifts by sliding an internal shift pin (not shown) by an actuator 17.

The actuator 17 is connected to the control unit 5 via a cable 5a, and is configured to operate in a predetermined sequence. The control unit 5 includes a microprocessor, a RAM (random access memory), a ROM (r
ead only memory), input / output ports, and the like (both not shown).

FIG. 2 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a so-called electric assist bicycle in which the electric motor 6 is connected to the crankshaft 12. FIG. 3 shows the relationship between signals obtained from the speed sensor 3 and the pedal depression force sensor 4 and the determination (shift) of the control unit 5. In FIG. 3, (1)
Indicates a state where the slope is viewed from the horizontal direction, and the top is indicated by a broken line. (2) shows the output of the speed sensor 3. In other words, the vehicle was initially running at a speed of about 5 km / h, but accelerated to 15 km before the slope, then gradually decreased in speed and increased to about 20 km from the top of the slope. ing. (3) indicates the position of the gear automatically determined and determined by the control unit 5. (4) indicates the pedaling force (torque) of the pedal 10. That is, it increases from just before the slope, maintains a certain strength during the climb, and the torque decreases sharply at the top of the slope. The reason for the sharp decline is that it has gone downhill. (5) indicates the amount of electric assist by the electric motor 6, which increases from just before the slope, maintains a constant strength during the ascent, and ends the assist at the top of the slope.

Next, a specific operation of the bicycle according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart of the control unit 5 shown in FIG. The control unit 5 controls a general automatic shift based on the acceleration / deceleration (speed sensor 3) of the bicycle on a flat road (when traveling on a level ground at a certain speed, the high gear "the pedal is heavy and the speed traveling mode" side). When the vehicle goes uphill, an automatic gear shift is performed to the low gear "light pedal, low speed running mode" side (step 101).

Then, when the driver recognizes the slope and starts accelerating (at the time point indicated by a chain line A in FIG. 3), the speed decreases despite the pedal 10 being depressed with a depressing force exceeding a predetermined value (step 102). In a case where the state of the operation continues (for example, about 0.2 seconds to about 2 seconds (t)) (Step 103), the control unit 5 shifts down to the actuator 17 (Step 104).
Is sent.

For this reason, for example, a vehicle initially traveling at the second speed is smoothly lowered to the first speed, and the pedal is lightened, so that the hill can be easily climbed. In a bicycle having an electric assist, the assist amount is increased at the same time as the shift down. In the case of bicycles that originally have an electric assist mechanism,
By adding the pedal depression force sensor 4, connecting the transmission 2 and the control unit 5, and changing the software, this function can be realized, so that the added value can be increased without significant cost increase. .

The negative branches of steps 102 and 103 proceed to step 105 for judging whether or not the pedaling force is reduced, and the positive branch proceeds to step 106 of whether or not the speed of the bicycle has increased. The affirmative branch of step 106 shifts to step 107 to perform an upshift.

The negative branches of steps 105 and 106 and the subsequent stage of step 107 are circulated to step 101. As described above, according to the bicycle with the automatic transmission according to the present embodiment, the transmission is shifted down at the moment when the pedals become heavy upon approaching the hill, so that smooth uphill traveling can be performed. In addition, when a bicycle having an electric assist mechanism is originally improved to a bicycle with an automatic transmission according to the present invention, a code for transmitting and receiving between the electric assist mechanism and the automatic transmission mechanism is added, and a simple software change is performed. , The improvement work can be easily performed.

[0029]

According to the present invention, the transmission is shifted to the low gear side when the pedaling force intensity signal from the pedaling force sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined value and the acceleration detected by the speed sensor is equal to or lower than the predetermined value. With this configuration, the vehicle can travel on a smooth slope.

In addition, it is possible to provide a bicycle having an electric assist mechanism and an automatic transmission mechanism capable of smoothly running up a hill with a simple operation of adding only a small improvement to the bicycle having the electric assist mechanism. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a bicycle with an automatic transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the appearance of the bicycle with an automatic transmission according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing the operation of the bicycle with an automatic transmission according to the embodiment, and shows the height of a slope, a signal from a speed sensor, the number of shift steps, a signal from a treading force sensor, and an electric assist amount; It is a figure showing a relation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing processing in a control unit of the bicycle with an automatic transmission according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 bicycle 2 transmission 3 speed sensor 4 pedal depression force sensor 5 control unit 6 electric motor 10 pedal 11 crank 12 crankshaft 13 drive gear 14 chain 15 drive gear 16 tire 17 actuator

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3J552 MA01 NA08 NB07 PA35 QC07 RA07 RB22 SA22 SB10 TA06 TB03 UA08 VA39W VB01Z VB04W VB08W

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A bicycle for automatically shifting a transmission provided on a bicycle according to a running state of the bicycle, a speed sensor for detecting a speed of the bicycle, and a pedal depression force for detecting a load acting on a pedal of the bicycle. A sensor and a control unit that inputs signals from each of the sensors and outputs an instruction signal to the transmission, wherein the control unit determines that the pedaling force intensity signal from the pedaling force sensor is equal to or more than a predetermined value, and A bicycle with an automatic transmission, wherein the transmission is shifted to a low gear side when the acceleration detected by the sensor is equal to or less than a predetermined value. 2. A bicycle equipped with a traveling assist mechanism using an electric motor and automatically shifting a transmission provided on the bicycle in accordance with the traveling state of the bicycle, a speed sensor for detecting a bicycle speed, and a bicycle pedal. A pedal depression force sensor that detects a load acting on the transmission, and a control unit that inputs a signal from each of these sensors and outputs an instruction signal to the transmission, and the control unit includes a depression force signal from the pedal depression force sensor. Is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and when the acceleration detected by the speed sensor is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the transmission is shifted to a low gear side and the travel assist amount by the electric motor is increased. A bicycle with an automatic transmission, characterized in that: