JP3214709U - Assist bicycle - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an assist bicycle capable of reducing the consumption of a storage battery while reducing the burden of manpower driving and reducing the travel distance limitation due to the capacity of the storage battery. A sprocket 15 that drives a front wheel 12 or a rear wheel 13 by human power, a motor 2 that drives a front wheel, a drive control device 5 that controls driving of a motor according to driving torque or speed by human power, a motor, and In an assist bicycle provided with a rechargeable battery 3 as a power source for a drive control device, a generator 42 that is arranged so as to be able to contact with and separate from the wheels and that generates power in contact with the wheels, and detects the inclination of the bicycle. An acceleration sensor 56 and an arm drive controller 54 that moves the generator in and out of the front wheels according to the inclination of the assist bicycle detected by the acceleration sensor are provided. [Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an assist bicycle with an electric motor that operates a bicycle cooperatively by combining human power and electric power.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an assist bicycle with an electric motor that cooperates and operates a bicycle by combining human power and electric power has been disclosed. In other words, this assist bicycle has a power assist that controls the bicycle to drive an electric motor and the electric motor according to a driving torque by human power, in addition to a human power driving device that drives wheels by human power including pedals, sprockets, chains, and the like. A rechargeable storage battery is mounted as a power source for the controller and the motor and power assist controller, the storage battery and the power assist controller are connected, and the driving torque and the motor torque obtained through the pedals are synthesized. A bicycle is driven by a driving force (for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1, a storage battery is used as an energy source, and it is necessary to charge the battery before consuming the energy stored in the storage battery. In general, a charger is connected to a commercial power source such as a household outlet, and a storage battery removed from the bicycle is set in the charger for charging.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-100790

  However, in the conventional storage battery, the mileage possible by one charge is about 20 km, and the mileage is inevitably limited. In order to increase the travel distance per charge, there is a problem that it is necessary to enlarge the storage battery, which hinders weight reduction, which is an advantage of the bicycle.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an assist bicycle capable of reducing the consumption of a storage battery while reducing the burden of manpower driving and reducing the limitation of the travel distance due to the capacity of the storage battery.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a human-powered drive device that drives a wheel by human power, an electric motor that drives the wheel, and a drive control device that controls the electric motor to be driven according to a driving torque or speed by human power. And an assist bicycle including a rechargeable storage battery as a power source for the electric motor and the drive control device. And a controller for moving the generator in and out of the wheel according to the inclination of the bicycle detected by the acceleration sensor.

  In the above device, the apparatus further includes a movable arm that drives the generator so as to be in contact with and away from the wheel, and the controller generates the generator when the acceleration sensor detects that the bicycle is in a state of climbing the slope. It is preferable to drive the movable arm so that the wheel is detached from the wheel.

  As described above, according to the assist bicycle according to the present invention, the generator is brought into contact with and separated from the wheel according to the inclination of the bicycle detected by the acceleration sensor, so that the storage battery is charged when traveling on a flat ground or when going downhill. As a result, the consumption of the storage battery can be reduced, and when the bicycle is in an uphill state in which the bicycle is climbing the slope, the generator is detached from the wheel, and the load for driving the wheel by power generation can be released. As a result, it is possible to reduce the limitation of the travel distance due to the capacity of the storage battery while reducing the burden of manual driving.

1 is a side view showing an overall configuration of an assist bicycle according to an embodiment. It is a block diagram showing typically the composition of the electric power system of the assist bicycle concerning an embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a bicycle according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing the overall configuration of the assist bicycle 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the power system of the assist bicycle 1. As shown in FIG. Note that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments as they are, and various devices can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the following embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment.

(Assist bicycle operation)
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the assist bicycle 1 includes a front wheel 12 and a rear wheel 13 that are rotatably supported by a frame 11, a pedal 14 as a human power drive device, a sprocket 15, and a chain 16. The rear wheel 13 is driven via a sprocket 15 and a chain 16 that can rotate. The torque detector 17 is a device that detects the driving torque generated by the pedal 14. The motor 2 is an AC electric motor and is fixed to the frame 11 so as to rotationally drive the sprocket 15. The battery 3 is a rechargeable storage battery that supplies driving power for the motor 2, and is detachably housed in a slot 31 fixed to the frame of the assist bicycle 1. The battery 3 can be removed from the slot 31 and charged by being set in a charger connected to a commercial power source such as a household outlet.

  The power generation unit 4 mainly includes a power generator 42 and a movable arm 41 that supports the power generator 42 so as to be able to contact and separate from the front wheel 12. The generator 42 is supported by the movable arm 41 so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the front wheel 12, and generates power while being in contact with the front wheel 12.

  The drive control device 5 is a drive control device that controls the motor 2 and the power generation unit 4. The drive control device 5 includes a power converter 51 such as a bidirectional inverter that converts direct current into alternating current, and power assist control that controls the power converter 51 so as to drive the motor 2 in accordance with driving torque generated by human power. Instrument 52 is included. Furthermore, the drive control device 5 is provided with a rectifier 55 that rectifies the output current when the generator 42 is an AC generator.

  The drive control device 5 includes an acceleration sensor 56 that detects the inclination of the assist bicycle 1 and an arm drive control that causes the generator 42 to contact and separate from the front wheel 12 according to the inclination of the assist bicycle 1 detected by the acceleration sensor 56. Instrument 54 is provided. Then, when the acceleration sensor 56 detects that the assist bicycle 1 is in a climbing state in which it is climbing an inclination, the movable arm 41 is driven by the arm drive controller 54 so that the generator 42 is detached from the front wheel 12. Is done. The movable arm 41 is configured to automatically come in contact with and separate from the wheels by an electromagnetic mechanism or the like according to the control of the arm drive controller 54. It is also possible to add a mechanism for manually contacting and separating the wheel, such as an operation grip that rotates on the handle.

  Further, the drive control device 5 is provided with a current detector 53 that detects a drive current input to the motor 2, and the voltage of the battery 3 that is a power source or the detected current detected by the current detector 53, or these The power converter 51 adjusts the electric power supplied to the motor 2 so that the output of the generator 42 is optimized using both of the two.

(Assist bicycle operation)
When driving the assist bicycle 1, the pedal is driven by human power, but when the drive control device 5 is operated as necessary, the power assist controller 52 receives the torque signal detected by the torque detector 17 as an input. The power converter 51 is controlled, and the motor 2 is driven according to the driving torque by human power. As a result, the bicycle is driven with a driving force obtained by combining the driving torque obtained by the human power obtained through the pedal and the torque of the electric motor, and the force for driving the bicycle by the human power is reduced. At this time, although the energy of the battery 3 is consumed, when the voltage of the battery 3 becomes equal to or lower than the reference voltage, the arm drive controller 54 drives the movable arm 41 to bring the generator 42 into contact with the front wheels 12. The battery 3 is charged by being converted into a direct current by the rectifier 55.

  The generator 42 is arranged so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the front wheel 12, and generates power while being in contact with the front wheel 12. Specifically, the movable arm 41 is attached so as to be able to drive the generator 42 so as to be in contact with and away from the front wheel 12, and the acceleration sensor 56 indicates that the assist bicycle 1 is in an uphill state where the bicycle is climbing an inclination. Is detected, the arm drive controller 54 drives the movable arm 41 so that the generator 42 is detached from the front wheel 12. In addition, when the assist bicycle 1 applies braking or downhill, the regenerative energy of the motor 2 is charged to the battery 3 via the bidirectional power converter 51 in addition to the energy generated by the generator 42.

(effect)
As described above, according to the assist bicycle according to the present embodiment, the generator 42 is brought into contact with and separated from the front wheel 12 according to the inclination of the assist bicycle 1 detected by the acceleration sensor 56. Charging the battery 3 at the time of hill can reduce the consumption of the battery 3, and when the assist bicycle 1 is in an uphill state where the assisted bicycle 1 is climbing the slope, the generator 42 is detached from the front wheel 12 to generate a wheel by power generation. The driving load can be released. As a result, it is possible to reduce the limitation of the travel distance due to the capacity of the battery 3 while reducing the burden of manual driving.

(Example of change)
The embodiment described above is an example of the present invention. For this reason, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A various change is possible according to a design etc., if it is a range which does not deviate from the technical idea which concerns on this invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, an example in which an AC generator is used as the generator 42 has been described, but a DC generator may be used instead of the AC generator. At this time, the rectifier between the generator 42 and the battery 3 becomes unnecessary. In the above embodiment, an example in which an AC motor is used as the motor 2 has been described. However, a DC motor may be used as the motor 2. At this time, it can be driven by providing a one-way chopper circuit between the motor 2 and the battery 3. That is, by providing a bidirectional chopper circuit between the motor 2 and the battery 3 and switching between motor driving and regenerative braking, the regenerative energy of the motor 2 can be charged to the battery 3 and the energy saving effect is increased. Can do.

  In the above embodiment, the power assist controller 52 is operated by controlling the torque of the motor 2 in accordance with the driving torque by human power and combining both torques. However, the torque detector 17 is used instead. A speed detector may be provided, and the speed of the motor 2 may be controlled according to the rotational speed of the pedal 14 to synthesize both speeds.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Assist bicycle 2 ... Motor 3 ... Battery 4 ... Power generation part 5 ... Drive control apparatus 11 ... Frame 12 ... Front wheel 13 ... Rear wheel 14 ... Pedal 15 ... Sprocket 16 ... Chain 17 ... Torque detector 31 ... Slot 41 ... Movable arm DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 42 ... Generator 51 ... Power converter 52 ... Power assist controller 53 ... Current detector 54 ... Arm drive controller 55 ... Rectifier 56 ... Accelerometer

Claims (2)

A human-powered drive device for driving wheels by human power;
An electric motor for driving the wheels;
A drive control device for controlling the electric motor to drive according to a driving torque or speed by human power;
In an assist bicycle including a rechargeable storage battery as a power source for the electric motor and the drive control device,
A generator that is arranged so as to be able to contact and separate with respect to the wheel, and that generates power in a state of being in contact with the wheel;
An acceleration sensor for detecting the tilt of the assist bicycle;
An assist bicycle, comprising: a controller that moves the generator to and from the wheel according to the inclination of the assist bicycle detected by the acceleration sensor. A movable arm that drives the generator so as to be in contact with and away from the wheel;
The controller drives the movable arm so that the generator is detached from the wheel when the acceleration sensor detects that the assist bicycle is in a state of climbing an inclination. The assist bicycle according to claim 1.