JPH0127913B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention stores bicycle wheel rotational energy;
The present invention relates to a bicycle energy storage device for releasing this energy as wheel rotation when needed.

Various energy storage devices have been proposed that store excess energy in a flywheel during driving and release this energy as wheel rotation when climbing a hill or the like.

However, all of these require special space for the flywheel, and
Particularly in the case of bicycles, it is unavoidable to increase their size, which obstructs the compactness that is the inherent advantage of bicycles, and requires large covers and the like to prevent the risk of contact with the rotating flywheel.

In addition, when a flywheel is provided inside the wheel (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11546/1983), it is necessary to move the flywheel in the axial direction of the wheel in order to connect and disconnect the flywheel from the wheel when accumulating and releasing energy. be. The driving force for this movement needs to be transmitted from the outside of the wheel to the inside of the wheel through the bearing, which complicates the structure of the bearing of the wheel and is not practical.

Taking the above facts into consideration, the present invention eliminates the need for a special space for installing a flywheel, eliminates the danger of a rotating flywheel, and provides a clutch for transmitting and interrupting rotational force between the flywheel and the wheels. The object is to obtain an energy storage device for a bicycle that allows easy installation of the mechanism.

The present invention includes a flywheel that is supported for relative rotation around the axle of a wheel, a sun gear that is coaxially fixed to the flywheel, and an axle that is supported on the wheel with an axis parallel to the wheel and meshes with the sun gear. A planetary gear that revolves around the wheel, a ring gear that is coaxially supported with the wheel and is rotatable around the axle and meshes with the planetary gear, and a ring gear that is connected to the flywheel via the planetary gear by preventing rotation of the ring gear. It is characterized by having a clutch means that puts the wheels in a driving force transmitting state and enables the rotation of the ring gear to cut off the driving force transmission between the flywheel and the wheels, causing the flywheel to spin idly.

Therefore, in the present invention, even when the flywheel is disposed inside the wheel, transmission and interruption of driving force between the flywheel and the wheel need only be to prevent or enable rotation of the ring gear. In other words, when the ring gear is restrained, the planetary gear transmits driving force between the wheel and the flywheel, so the rotation of the wheel is accelerated and transmitted to the flywheel, causing the flywheel to rotate at high speed, and when the ring gear is released, the flywheel is The wheel spins idly and enters an energy storage state. If the ring gear is restrained again in a state where the vehicle speed is reduced, the flywheel is placed in a driving force transmission state with the wheels and energy is released. The sun gear, planetary gear, and ring gear can be modified in various ways without losing their function as a planetary gear mechanism.

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

FIG. 1 shows a bicycle 10 equipped with an energy storage device according to this embodiment. This bicycle 10 has a general structure, and a front fork 16 on which a front wheel 14 is pivotally supported is rotatably supported at the front part of a triangular frame 12, and a handle 18 fixed to the front fork 16 is attached to the front part of a triangular frame 12. It is designed to perform steering operations.

Further, a back hawk 20 and an under hawk 22 are connected to the rear part of the triangular frame 12, and together with a part of the triangular frame 12, the triangular shape is formed.

Both ends of a fixed shaft 24 are fixed to the tips of the back hawk 20 and the under hawk 22, as shown in FIG. An axle 28, which is part of a wheel, is pivotally supported on the outer periphery of the intermediate portion of the fixed shaft 24 via a bearing ball 26, so that it can freely rotate around the fixed shaft 24. A small sprocket wheel 30 is fixed to one end of the axle 28.
A chain 34 is wound between the small sprocket wheel 30 and a large sprocket wheel 32 (Fig. 1) that is pivotally supported on the triangular frame 12, and the rider The sprocket wheel 32 receives the force applied to the pedal 36.

On the other hand, the disk portion 3 extends radially from the other end of the axle 28.
8 protrudes, and locking portions 40 provided at appropriate intervals on the outer periphery of the disc portion 38 lock the inner ends of a plurality of wheel spokes 42. Further, a locking portion 44 protrudes near the small sprocket wheel 30 of the axle 28, and locks the inner ends of a plurality of wheel spokes 46. These wheel spokes 42,4
The outer end of the wheel 6 is attached to a rim 48, and a tire 50 and a tube (not shown) are provided on the rim 48 to form a rear wheel.

A flywheel base 54 is pivotally supported on the axle 28 via a needle bearing 52 on the outer periphery of the central portion, and a bolt 5 is connected to the flywheel base 54.
A disc-shaped flywheel 58 is fixed at 6.
Therefore, this flywheel 58 has spokes 42,4
6 and does not protrude outside the wheel.

A gear 60 serving as a sun gear is carved into one axial end of the flywheel base 54 and meshes with a large planetary gear 62. This large planetary gear is fixed to one end of a planetary gear shaft 64 that passes through the disk portion 38, but is disposed within the wheel like the flywheel 58, that is, between the spokes 42 and 46.

This planetary gear shaft 64 has a needle bearing 66
The large planetary gear 62 is supported via the disk portion 38 and is parallel to the axle 28 .
A small planetary gear 68 is fixed to the opposite side, that is, the outer end of the wheel.

This small planetary gear 68 meshes with an internal gear 72 as a ring gear fixed to a disk 70, and the disk 70 is pivotally supported on the outer periphery of the axle 28 via a needle bearing 74. Further, the outer end of the disk 70 corresponds to a disk brake 76, in which a movable pad 78 approaches a fixed pad 80 by hydraulic pressure, clamps the disk 70 between both pads 78, 80, and presses the disk. The rotation of 70 can be stopped.

The disc brake 76 has a flexible tube 82 that communicates with a hydraulic chamber that provides driving force to the movable pad 78, and the other end of the flexible tube 82 is connected to a piston device attached to the handle 18 as shown in FIG. 8
4, and the occupant presses the lever 86 of the piston device 84.
When the disc brake 76 is operated and rotated, the hydraulic pressure increases and the hydraulic pressure within the disc brake 76 is increased. In addition, when the lever 86 is not operated, the movable pad 78 receives force and the fixed pad 80
The disc 70 is spaced apart from the disc 70 to allow rotation of the disc 70.

Here, the disc 70 and the disc brake 76 have the role of a clutch that connects and disconnects the axle 28 and the flywheel 58, and the internal gear 72,
The large and small planetary gears 62, 68 and the gear 60 form a speed increasing mechanism. That is, when the disc 70 is not restrained by the disc brake 76, the disc part 3
8 rotates together with the disk 70, the rotation of the axle 28 does not transmit force to the flywheel 58 or vice versa, and when the rotation of the disk 70 stops, the large and small planetary gears 62 and 68 rotate at high speed while revolving. Therefore, the rotation of the axle 28 is greatly accelerated to rotate the gear 60 and the flywheel.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained below. When starting, if the pedal 36 is depressed without operating the lever 86 of the piston device 84, the large sprocket wheel 3
The rotational force of No. 2 is increased in speed through the chain 34 and is applied to the small sprocket wheel 30, the axle 28, and the tire 50.
Since the bicycle rotates, it can be driven in the same way as a regular bicycle.

In this case, since the disk 70 is free to rotate, it rotates together with the disk portion 38, and the flywheel 58 remains stationary or rotates only lightly due to frictional force, and does not prevent the wheel from rotating.

If the bicycle speeds up sufficiently, the lever 86 of the piston device 84 is operated in a state where it has excess energy, such as when going down a slope, and the disc brake 76 is actuated by hydraulic pressure. As a result, the disk 70 is stopped, the axle 28 is connected to the flywheel 58, and the flywheel 58 is rapidly rotated by a speed increasing mechanism using planetary gears. If the lever 86 of the piston device 84 is returned after the flywheel 58 has rotated at a sufficiently high speed, the disk 70 can be rotated, so that the axle 28 and the flywheel 58 can be rotated again.
The flywheel 58 continues to rotate at high speed and stores energy.

Even if the flywheel 58 rotates at high speed in this way, there is no risk of the occupant coming into contact with the flywheel 58 because it is inside the wheel.

When the lever 86 of the piston device 84 is operated to stop the rotation of the disk 70 again when climbing a slope, the flywheel 58 is connected to the axle 28, and the energy stored in the flywheel 58 is released as rotational force of the rear wheels. Therefore, it is possible to climb and run easily compared to the pedal effort.

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, it is possible to effectively utilize the wheels for attaching the flywheel, eliminate the need for a special space, and eliminate dangers caused by the rotating flywheel, as well as to prevent the flywheel from being attached to the wheels. As a clutch mechanism for transmitting and interrupting driving force between the two, it eliminates the need to move the flywheel in the axial direction, and has an excellent effect that it is easy to install and can be easily installed on existing bicycles.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a bicycle to which an energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG.
It is a figure-line sectional view. 10... Bicycle, 28... Axle, 42, 46...
... spoke, 58 ... flywheel, 60 ... gear, 62, 68 ... planetary gear, 70 ... disk, 72 ... internal gear, 76 ... disk brake, 84 ... piston device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A flywheel supported for relative rotation around the axle of a wheel, a sun gear coaxially fixed to the flywheel, and a sun gear supported on the wheel with an axis parallel to the wheel and meshing with the sun gear to rotate around the axle. A planetary gear that revolves, a ring gear that is coaxially supported with the wheel and rotatable around the axle and meshes with the planetary gear, and a flywheel and the wheel are connected via the planetary gear by preventing rotation of the ring gear. An energy storage device for a bicycle, characterized in that it has a clutch means which brings the flywheel into a driving force transmitting state and enables the rotation of the ring gear to cut off the driving force transmission between the flywheel and the wheel and causes the flywheel to spin idly.