JPH04365690A - Bicycle incorporating electric motor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To incorporate a battery without increasing the wheel base, and to sufficiently protect a wiring cord by disposing the battery and the like in a space defined by a top tube and a plurality of down tubes, and by disposing electric wires between the down tubes. CONSTITUTION:There are provided a top tube 16 extending straight forward from a head pipe 14 in a rearward oblique direction, and a plurality of down tubes 18 extending below the top tube 16 in parallel with the latter. A battery 34 and a controller 36 are disposed in a space defined by the top tube 16 and the down tubes 18, and electrical wiring cords are disposed between the plurality of down tubes 18. With this arrangement, the battery can be incorporated without the wheel base being increased or the diameter of the rear wheel being reduced. Further, the electric cords is covered thereabove with the battery 34 and the controller 36 so that rain water can hardly stick thereto, and is also protected by the down tubes 18 so that obstacle cannot hardly impinge thereupon.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bicycle equipped with an electric motor as auxiliary power.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art There is a known two-wheeled bicycle of this type in which a battery is housed in a so-called rear triangle surrounded by a seat tube, a seat stay, and a chain stay (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-60698). That is, the battery is housed between the seat tube and the rear wheel.

However, in this case, in order to accommodate the battery, the rear wheel must be moved rearward from the seat tube, or a rear wheel with a small diameter must be used. This resulted in problems such as an increase in the distance between the front and rear wheels (wheelbase) and poor running stability due to the small diameter wheels.

On the other hand, in this type of bicycle, a large number of electrical wiring cords must be connected between the battery, the controller, and the motor, and further between the controller and the operating section of the handlebar. This wiring cord must be as short and concise as possible, and must be resistant to rain and damage from obstacles. Therefore, it has been proposed to attach a cord concealing storage body along the lower surface of the frame pipe of the vehicle body (Utility Model Publication No. 58-8636).

[0005] However, in this case, the rain that adheres to the frame pipe flows down to this lower edge and flows into the cord hiding storage body.
Rainwater will adhere to the cord. Furthermore, since the cord storage body is exposed at the lower edge of the frame, there is a problem in that if a curb, stairs, etc. hit the lower edge of the frame pipe while maneuvering the vehicle body, the wiring cord may be damaged.

[0006]

[Object of the Invention] The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to accommodate a battery without increasing the wheelbase or reducing the diameter of the rear wheel, and also prevents rainwater from splashing on the electrical wiring cord, thereby preventing trouble. To provide a bicycle with an electric motor that is difficult to hit by objects and suitable for protecting wiring cords.

[0007]

[Structure of the Invention] According to the present invention, the object is to provide a top tube that extends in a substantially straight line from the head pipe toward the rear, and a top tube that is disposed below the top tube and substantially parallel to the top tube. a plurality of down tubes, a battery and a controller disposed in a space sandwiched between the top tube and the down tubes, and an electrical wiring cord disposed between the plurality of down tubes. This is achieved by a bicycle equipped with an electric motor.

[0008]

[Embodiment] Fig. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an exploded view of its power system, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the main frame, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in Fig. 1. .

The frame of this embodiment is formed by integrally joining a main frame 10 and a power unit 12. As shown in FIG. 3, the main frame 10 includes a head pipe 14, a top tube 16 extending diagonally downward and rearward from the head pipe 14, and a top tube 16 located below the top tube 16 and approximately connected to the top tube 16. Two left and right down tubes 18, 1 extending diagonally downward and backward in parallel.
8, a seat tube 20 fixed to the rear end of the top tube 16, and a pair of left and right seat stays 22, 22 extending obliquely downward and rearward from the top tube 16 through the left and right sides of the seat tube 20. seat tube 2
The lower part of 0 is a cylindrical part 2 for accommodating an electric motor 80 described later.
0a, and the rear ends of the down tubes 18, 18 are fixed to this cylindrical portion 20a.

In FIG. 1, a seat pillar 24 is inserted into the seat tube 20 from above and fixed therein. 26 is a saddle attached to the upper end of this seat pillar 24. Further, 28 is a front fork held by the head pipe 14, 30 is a steering handlebar, and 32 is a front wheel.

34 is a rechargeable battery such as a lead-acid battery, and the top tube 16 and two down tubes 1
It is housed in the space between 8 and 18. A controller 36 is housed in the same space in front of the battery 34.

As shown in FIG. 3, the batteries 34 are made up of three pairs of left and right pairs arranged in the front-rear direction, and an adhesive tape (not shown) is wrapped around the outer periphery of these batteries to integrally connect them. In addition, the battery 34 is covered with a box-shaped plastic cover 40 (40a-b) that is divided into two parts from the left and right sides (see FIG. 4).
, there is a band 42 on the outside of these plastic covers 40.
is fitted. As a result, the battery 34 is integrated as a whole.

The battery 34 is installed as shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. The left and right down tubes 18, 18 are connected by two connecting plates 44, 44, while the right down tube 18 and top tube 16 are connected by two U-shaped brackets 46, 46. A battery 34 secured with a plastic cover 40 is inserted between the top tube 16 and the down tube 18 from the left side of the vehicle body. Then, the upper ends of the rubber bands 48, 48, whose lower ends are connected to the connecting plate 44 or the down tube 18, are locked to hooks 50, 50 fixed to the top tube 16. As a result, the battery 34 is connected to the bracket 46 and the rubber band 48.
is held firmly between. Furthermore, at one end of the battery 34, for example, the front end, there is a hanging handle 52 for transporting the battery 34 (see FIG.
Reference) is desirable.

Next, the power unit 12 will be explained. Figure 1,
2, 54 is a bottom bracket case (hereinafter referred to as BB case), into which a crankshaft 56 is inserted, and cranks 58, 58 are fixed to both ends thereof. A foot pedal 60 (only one shown) is attached to the crank 58. The BB case 54 is inserted into and coupled to the cylindrical portion 20a of the seat tube 20 from below, while the rear ends of the seat stays 22, 22 are connected to left and right rear stays 62, 64 extending rearward from the BB case 54. connected with bolts. A drive shaft 66 is inserted through the right rear stay 64 here.

The rear end of both rear stays 62 and 64 has a rear wheel 6
8 is retained. That is, the axle 70 of this rear wheel 68
The left end of the axle 70 is fixed to an end plate 62a fixed to the left rear stay 62, and the right end of the axle 70 is fixed to a bevel gear case 72 fixed to the right rear stay 64. A hub 74 is rotatably held on the axle 70, and rotation of the drive shaft 66 is transmitted to the hub 74 via a bevel gear mechanism 76.

[0016] 80 is an electric motor. This motor 80
is fitted and fixed to the BB case 54 from above as shown in FIG. The BB case 54 is fitted into the cylindrical portion 20a of the seat tube 20 by inserting the motor 80 into the cylindrical portion 20a from below, and the four bolts 82 (FIG. 1,
2).

As shown in FIG. 2, the motor 80 is rotatably held on the crankshaft 56 via a one-way clutch 84, a planetary gear reducer 86, a small bevel gear 88, and a large bevel gear 90. is transmitted to the cylindrical shaft 92. The rotation of this cylindrical shaft 92 is further controlled by a bevel gear mechanism 94 on the drive shaft 66.
can be conveyed to.

As a result, the rotation of the motor 80 is transmitted to the rear wheel 68, while the rotation transmitted from the rear wheel 68 toward the motor 80 is interrupted by the one-way clutch 84. Note that the planetary gear type reducer 86 is a known one, and the motor 80
The revolution of the planetary gear which is located between the sun gear rotated by the ring gear and the ring gear fixed to the BB case 54 and meshes therewith is transmitted to the small bevel gear 88.

On the other hand, rotation input by human power from the pedal 60 is transmitted to the large bevel gear 90 via the crankshaft 56, one-way clutch 96, and planetary gear type speed increaser 98. Therefore, the rotation input from the crankshaft 56 is transmitted from the large bevel gear 90 to the drive shaft 66 via the cylindrical shaft 92 and the bevel gear mechanism 94. However, from the rear wheel 68 to the crankshaft 56
The rotation transmitted towards is interrupted by the one-way clutch 96.

Here, the planetary gear type speed increaser 98 includes a ring gear fixed to the large bevel gear 90 and a torque detection lever 10.
and a planetary gear interposed between the sun gear and the sun gear fixed at zero. The planetary gear is caused to revolve around the crankshaft 56 via a one-way clutch 96. The torque detection lever 100 detects the driving force when the pedal 60 is manually driven by the reaction force applied to the sun gear. That is, this lever 100 is held by an elastic material so as to be slightly rotatable, and by detecting the amount of rotation with a potentiometer or the like, the driving force of the manual drive is detected.

The battery 34, the controller 36, the motor 80, and a switch (not shown) provided on the handlebar 30 are connected by an electrical wiring cord 102 (FIG. 4). Here, the wiring cord 102 is disposed so as to pass between the down tubes 18, 18 in the front-rear direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a binding tool 104 is fixed to the lower surface of the connecting plate 44, and the wiring cord 10
2 is retained. In this embodiment, the controller 36
Since the battery 34 and the motor 80 are successively arranged along the down tube 18, the wiring cord 102 is sufficiently short and can be easily accommodated. However, the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0022] Furthermore, the down tube 18 in the present invention,
18 is not limited to two, and may be three or more. The battery may be accommodated within the width of these down tubes, but may also protrude outside of this width as in this embodiment. Furthermore, the present invention includes a three-wheeled vehicle having two rear wheels.

As described above, the present invention accommodates the battery and the controller in the space sandwiched between the top tube and the plurality of down tubes located below the top tube, and therefore accommodates the battery between the seat tube and the rear wheel. There is no need for the wheelbase to be too large or for the rear wheel to have a small diameter compared to other bicycles, making it possible to create a bicycle with excellent running stability. The electrical wiring cord will be passed between the downtube.
The upper part will be covered by the battery and controller, making it difficult for rainwater to splash onto the wiring cord. Furthermore, even if the lower edge of the downtube hits a curb, stairs, etc. when the vehicle is being routed around, the wiring cord can be protected by the downtube. Therefore, the wiring cord is sufficiently protected.

[0024]

【Effect of the invention】 [Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1: Side view of one embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2] Developed diagram of power system

[Figure 3] Perspective view of main frame

[Fig. 4] Cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in Fig. 1

[Explanation of symbols] 10 Main frame 12 Power unit 14 Head pipe 16 Top tube 18 Down tube 20 Seat tube 34 Battery 36 Controller 80 Electric motor 102 Electrical wiring cord

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A top tube extending in a substantially straight line from a head pipe in a diagonally rearward direction, a plurality of down tubes disposed below the top tube and substantially parallel to the top tube; A bicycle with an electric motor, comprising: a battery and a controller disposed in a space sandwiched between a top tube and a down tube; and an electric wiring cord disposed between the plurality of down tubes.