JPH1016870A - Motor assisted vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a motor-assisted vehicle capable of reducing the number of assembling steps and the number of part items so as to reduce costs and reducing a disposing space so as to deal with downsizing. SOLUTION: In a motor-assisted vehicle including a power unit 83 for outputting a resultant force formed by combining a pedal pressing force inputted to a crankshaft 13 and an auxiliary force from a power motor 82 and a control unit 85 for variable-controlling the auxiliary force from the power motor 82, the control unit 85 is disposed along the car width direction outer end surface of a unit case (casing) 90 and fixed to the case 90.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric assist vehicle which supplies an auxiliary driving force corresponding to a pedal depression force from an electric motor to wheels.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an electric assisted bicycle which supplies a combined force of a pedal depressing force input to a pedal and an auxiliary driving force from an electric motor to wheels has attracted attention (for example, an electric assisted bicycle).
See Japanese Patent Application No. 6-324686). The electric assist bicycle includes a power unit that outputs a resultant force of a pedal effort and an auxiliary driving force from an electric motor, a pedal effort detection device that detects a pedal effort, and variably controls an output of the electric motor in accordance with the detected pedal effort. And a control unit.

[0003] In this type of electric assist vehicle, the power units and the like are separately arranged along the side of the main tube in order to secure the mounting strength of the power unit and the control unit, secure a space for the arrangement, and prevent damage due to external force. In general, the structure is fixed through a cover and covered with a cover member.

[0004]

However, in the structure in which the power unit and the control unit are separately arranged along the main tube as in the above-mentioned conventional case, a large cover member covering the entire unit and a mounting bracket for another component are provided. Since it is necessary, the number of assembling steps and the number of parts increase, and there is a problem that the cost increases.

In the above conventional structure, the power unit,
Since the control units are separately arranged, there is a problem that the wiring of the wire harness and the coupler around the control unit tends to be complicated, the arrangement space is increased, and the entire vehicle body is enlarged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional situation, and can reduce costs by reducing the number of assembly steps and the number of parts, and the wiring of a wire harness is simple.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electric assist vehicle capable of reducing an arrangement space and downsizing.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power unit for outputting a combined force of a pedal depression force input to a crankshaft and an auxiliary force from an electric motor, and variably controlling the auxiliary force from the electric motor. And a control unit including the control unit, wherein the control unit is disposed along an outer end surface in a vehicle width direction of a casing of the power unit, and is fixed to the casing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the control unit has a through hole, and the crank shaft is inserted through the through hole.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the control unit is disposed on one side of the crankshaft and on a side opposite to a sprocket for taking out a resultant force from the power unit. It is characterized by.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1 to 7 are views for explaining an electric assist bicycle according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a left side view of the electric assist bicycle, and FIG. 2 is a left side view of the driving device. FIGS. 3 to 6 are sectional plan views of the power unit, left side views with the lid member removed, left side views, plan views, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the control unit. Here, the front, rear, left and right referred to in the present embodiment are front, rear, left and right in a state of riding a bicycle.

In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes an electric assisted bicycle,
The vehicle body frame 2 includes a head pipe 2a rotatably supporting a front fork 4 on which a front wheel 3 is rotatably supported, a main tube 2b extending obliquely downward rearward from the head pipe 2a, and a main tube 2b. The seat tube 2c is configured to be integrally connected to a seat tube 2c that stands upward from the rear end of the seat tube 2b.

A mounting bracket 5 is welded to a joint between the main tube 2b and the seat tube 2c, and the bracket 5 forms a substantially circular arc in a side view, and covers the tube joint from the left and right. It is made of a sheet metal having a substantially U-shaped cross section including walls 5a and 5b and an upper wall 5c that covers between the two side walls from the rear to the upper part.

The front ends of a pair of left and right chain stays 6 extending rearward of the vehicle body are connected to the bracket 5, and the rear end of each chain stay 6 and the upper end of the seat tube 2c are connected to the left and right. They are connected by a pair of seat stays 7. The chain stay 6 and the seat stay 7 are integrally connected via a rear wheel bracket 8, and a rear wheel 9 is rotatably supported on the bracket 8. A handle 10 is mounted on the upper end of the front fork 4, and a seat pillar tube 12 on which a saddle 11 is mounted is mounted on the upper end of the seat tube 2c so as to be adjustable in height.

A driving device 8 is provided by the mounting bracket 5.
1 is suspended and supported. The driving device 81 includes a human-powered driving mechanism that rotationally drives the rear wheel 9 by the pedal depression force input to the crankshaft 13 and an electric driving mechanism that rotationally drives the rear wheel 9 by the auxiliary driving force from the electric motor 82. ing. The pedal force and the auxiliary driving force are transmitted to the rear wheel 9 after being combined in the power unit 83. Reference numeral 81a is a cover that covers the upper part of the driving device 81.

The manual drive mechanism includes a crankshaft 1 in a power unit 83 fixed to the mounting bracket 5.
3 is arranged so as to penetrate in the vehicle width direction and rotate freely,
A crank 14 is fixed to both ends of the crankshaft 13, a pedal 15 is rotatably mounted on the tip of the crank 14, and a pedaling force input to the crankshaft 13 is transmitted from a planetary gear type speed increasing mechanism 92 described later to a chain. Sprocket 17,
The transmission is transmitted to the rear wheel 9 via a chain 18 and a freewheel (not shown).

The electric drive mechanism includes a power unit 83 for outputting a combined force of the assisting force from the electric motor 82 and the pedaling force, a battery 84 for supplying power to the electric motor 82, A control unit 85 for variably controlling the force and a pedaling force detecting device 86 for detecting the pedaling force are provided.

The battery 84 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and contains therein a number of Ni-Cd cells connected in series. The battery 84 is disposed along the tube 2c behind the seat tube 2c constituting the vehicle body frame 2. The lower end of the battery 84 is fixed to the upper wall 5c of the mounting bracket 5 with a bolt 88a. It is fitted in a bottom cylindrical support box 88. By this fitting, the discharge female terminal 84a at the lower part of the battery is electrically connected to the discharge male terminal (not shown) on the support box 88 side. The upper end of the battery 84 protrudes upward through the space between the left and right seat stays 7, 7 and is supported by being surrounded by the two seat stays 7, the seat tube 2c, and the rear fender 9a. It is possible. A handle 87a and a charging terminal 87b are mounted on the upper portion of the battery 84.

The power unit 83 has a unit case 90 (casing) made of aluminum die-cast, and houses a planetary roller type speed reduction mechanism 91, a planetary gear type speed increasing mechanism 92, and the pedaling force detection device 86. . The unit case 90 has a substantially bottomed cylindrical case body 93.
And a lid member 94 for closing an opening formed in the left side wall of the case main body 93. The lid member 94 is detachably fastened to the case main body 93 by bolts 95.

Bosses 93a and 93b extending in the vehicle width direction are provided at the front and rear of the upper wall of the case body 93, respectively.
Are integrally formed. The case main body 93 has its boss portions 93a and 93b on the left side of the mounting bracket 5,
It is located between the right side walls 5a, 5b and is fastened and fixed by bolts 89a, 89a. The case body 93
The flange portion of the electric motor 82 is bolted and fixed to the front end opening flange, and the rotating shaft 82 a of the motor 82 is arranged to be perpendicular to the crankshaft 13.

The crankshaft 13 is inserted into the unit case 90 in the vehicle width direction.
Both ends of 3 protrude outside the case. The left end of the crankshaft 13 is rotatably supported by a boss of the lid member 94 via a bearing 96. At the right end of the crankshaft 13, a substantially cylindrical resultant shaft 155 a integrally formed on the bottom of a substantially bowl-shaped outer peripheral gear 155 via a bearing 97 is rotatably mounted.

An output gear 156 is mounted on the outer periphery of the resultant shaft 155a.
8 and is supported by the case main body 93. The resultant shaft 155a and the output gear 156 are one-way clutch 1
57 are interposed. The one-way clutch 157 prevents the pedaling force from being transmitted from the output gear 156 to the motor 82 when the vehicle travels using only human power. This allows the output gear 15 to be used during manual driving.
6 and the output gear 152 to be described later are prevented from generating noise. The resultant shaft 155a is connected to the bearing 9
The chain sprocket 17 is spline-coupled to the outer end of the resultant shaft 155a by being rotatably supported by a boss of the case main body 93 via the shaft 9.

The above-mentioned planetary gear speed increasing mechanism 92 is coaxially arranged at the axial center of the crankshaft 13.
This includes a sun gear 100 rotatably mounted on the crankshaft 13, three planetary gears 101 meshing around the sun gear 100 so as to freely rotate and revolve, and the outer peripheral gear 155 meshing with each planetary gear 101. It has. Each of the planetary gears 101 is rotatably supported by a carrier 104 mounted on the crankshaft 13 via a one-way clutch 103. As a result, the pedal depression force input to the crankshaft 13 is applied to the planetary gear 101 of the planetary gear increasing mechanism 92.
Via the chain sprocket 17 and the chain 18 to the outer peripheral gear 155 and the resultant shaft 155a.
Is transmitted to

The planetary roller speed reduction mechanism 91 is mounted on the rotating shaft 82a of the electric motor 82. This is a large-diameter cylindrical outer ring 110 fixed so as to be coaxial with the rotation shaft 82a, the outer ring 110 and the rotation shaft 82a.
And a plurality of planetary rollers 111 abutting on the two rollers 82a and 110, and the planetary rollers 111
And a pin 113 that is rotatably supported through the pin 12. Each planetary roller 1 is provided on both end surfaces of the outer ring 111.
Guide plates 114 and 115 for restricting the axial movement of the bolt 11 are provided.
16 is fixed to the flange portion of the motor 82 together.

Each of the pins 113 is fixed to a disk-shaped carrier 151 having a boss 151a, and the shaft 152a of the output gear 152 is spline-coupled to the boss 151a. The output gear 152 meshes with the output gear 156, and the shaft 152a is supported by the case body 93 via a pair of bearings 153,153. As a result, the driving force of the motor 82 is reduced by the planetary roller type reduction mechanism 91 and transmitted from the carrier 151 and the output gear 152 to the resultant force shaft 155a via the output gear 156, where the resultant force and the pedaling force from the crankshaft 13 are combined. And transmitted to the rear wheel 9.

The case main body 93 is provided with the above-described treading force detecting device 86. As shown in FIG. 4, the pedaling force detecting device 86 includes a reaction force receiving portion 125 provided on the bottom wall of the case main body 93 and an angle detecting portion 126 provided on a rear portion of the upper wall of the case main body 93. And these 12
5, 126 are formed separately along the outer peripheral surface of the case main body 93.

The reaction force receiving portion 125 is connected to the case body 9.
The support plate 127 is bolted and fixed to the opening of the receiving portion 93c bulging out from the bottom wall of the third member 3, and the coil spring 130 is arranged in the receiving portion 93c, and the flange 131a is integrally formed with the coil spring 130. A cylindrical rod member 131 is inserted, and the coil spring 130 is supported between the lower surface of the flange 131a and the support plate 127. The rod member 131 is in sliding contact with the inner surface of the coil spring 130.
0 extends substantially to the center.

The angle detector 126 is mounted on a mounting seat 93d formed on the upper wall of the case main body 93.
32, the sensor shaft 133 is rotatably supported on the sensor body 132, and the sensor shaft 1
A potentiometer 134 for detecting the rotation angle of the motor 33 is fixed. The sensor shaft 133 is arranged at right angles to the crankshaft 13 and protrudes into the case body 93. A rotating lever 135 is fixed to the tip of the sensor shaft 133. The rotating lever 135 is urged clockwise by a spring (not shown) as viewed in the sensor axis direction.

The sun gear 100 has a pressing arm portion 100a and a rotating arm portion 100b extending in the radial direction.
Are integrally formed at intervals in the circumferential direction. A roller 137 is pivotally supported at the tip of the pressing arm portion 100a.
It is in rolling contact with the upper surface of 31a. The roller 137 is in contact with a zero-point adjustment stopper bolt 138 screwed into the case main body 93 so as to be able to advance and retreat. The stopper bolt 138 restricts the clockwise rotation of the pressing arm 100a. ing. The rotating arm 100b
Is in contact with the rotation lever 135 of the sensor shaft 133.

The sun gear 100 rotates counterclockwise in accordance with the magnitude of the pedaling force input to the crankshaft 13, whereby the pressing arm 100 a rotates to compress the coil spring 130 and , Rotating arm unit 100
b rotates the sensor shaft 133 via the rotation lever 135. The rotation angle of the sensor shaft 133 is detected by the potentiometer 134, and the detected value is output to the control unit 85 via the lead wire 134a.

A vehicle speed sensor 140 is provided at the front of the upper wall of the case body 93. This forms a mounting seat 93e on the case main body 93, and the mounting seat 93e is formed.
e, the sensor main body 141 is bolted and fixed, and the detection section 142 of the sensor main body 141 is projected into the case main body 93. The detecting unit 142 is provided with the outer peripheral gear 1.
55 are opposed to the teeth 155b formed at a predetermined pitch on the outer peripheral surface thereof with a small gap. The vehicle speed sensor 140
Detects the change in the magnetic resistance of the tooth portion 155b due to the rotation of the outer peripheral gear 155, and outputs the detected value to the control unit 85 via the lead wire 140a. Here, the tooth portion 155b is an outer peripheral gear 155.
Are formed at the same time when the internal teeth are forged. Potentiometer 134 and vehicle speed sensor 14
Reference numeral 0 is located in the mounting bracket 5 and is surrounded by left and right side walls 5a and 5b and an upper wall 5c of the bracket 5.

The control unit 85 is disposed along a lid member 94 constituting the left outer end face of the unit case 90 in the vehicle width direction, and is fixed to the lid member 94 with bolts. Located on the opposite side. The control unit 85 has a substantially elliptical shape, and has a through hole 85a formed in the center thereof.
The left end of is inserted outward in the vehicle width direction.

The control unit 85 comprises a unit body 85b and a control cover 85c made of an aluminum alloy for accommodating the unit body 85b.
The boss portions 85f formed at three places of the cover member 9c
4 is fixed to the heat sink 94a by bolts 200. As shown in FIG. 7, the unit main body 85b is provided around the opening 85a 'of the substrate 85d.
The connector 145 to which the lead wires 134a and 140a of the 32 and 140 are connected, the CPU 146, and the shunt resistor 14
7. Place the capacitor 148, and
It has a structure in which ET149 (transistors) are arranged. Reference numerals 150 and 151 are connectors to which power cables (not shown) of the electric motor 82 and the battery 84 are connected. Reference numeral 85e denotes an escape portion for avoiding interference with the boss portion 85f.

The control unit 85 includes:
The magnitude of the pedal depression force applied to the pedal 15 is obtained from the detection value of the potentiometer 134, the vehicle speed from the vehicle speed sensor 140 is read, and the auxiliary driving force is calculated based on a built-in auxiliary driving force control map. The current corresponding to the driving force is configured to be supplied from the battery 84 to the electric motor 82. This auxiliary driving force is set to approximately 1: 1 when the vehicle speed is 0 to 15 Km / h with respect to the pedaling force 1 of the occupant, and gradually decreases from 15 Km / h to reach 24 Km / h. It is set so that it becomes zero at the point of time.

Next, the operation and effect of this embodiment will be described. According to the present embodiment, since the control unit 85 is arranged along the left outer side surface of the unit case 90 of the power unit 83 and is fixed to the case 90 with bolts, it is possible to arrange both the conventional units separately. This eliminates the need for a large-sized cover member and a mounting bracket, and reduces the number of assembly steps and the number of parts, thereby reducing costs and reducing the size and weight.

Since the two units 83 and 85 are integrated, the length of wiring between the control box 85b and the motor 82, the potentiometer 134, the vehicle speed sensor 140 and the like can be shortened, and the wiring around the control unit 85 can be reduced. In addition to simplification, the generation of noise can be suppressed, and the degree of freedom in layout when mounted on the vehicle body can be improved.

Further, since the control unit 85 is arranged by effectively utilizing the empty space between the unit case 90 and the crank 14, it is possible to avoid an increase in the arrangement space. In addition, since the control cover 85c that covers the unit body 85b is disposed facing outward, damage due to stepping stones and the like can be prevented, and the control cover 85c functions as an external component, so that a special decorative plate or the like can be eliminated.

The boss 8 of the control unit 85
5f is a heat radiation seat 94a formed on the unit case 90 side.
, The heat generated from the control unit 85 can be radiated to the unit case 90 side, and the temperature rise of the unit body 85b can be suppressed. Further, the traveling wind easily hits the control cover 85c of the control unit 85, and the temperature rise can be suppressed from this point as well.

In this embodiment, the control unit 8
Since the through-hole 85 a through which the crankshaft 13 is inserted is formed in the center of the unit 5, interference with the crankshaft 13 can be avoided. Shape and storage efficiency can be improved.

Further, since the control unit 85 is disposed on the opposite side of the chain sprocket 17, the arrangement balance in the left and right directions can be improved, and the appearance and the storage efficiency can be improved from this point as well.

Further, since the control unit 85 is disposed outside the unit case 90, maintenance and replacement of the control unit 85 can be performed more easily than when the control unit 85 is disposed inside.

[0041]

As described above, according to the electric assist vehicle according to the first aspect of the present invention, the control unit is arranged along the end face in the vehicle width direction of the casing of the power unit and fixed to the casing. In this case, a large cover and a mounting bracket can be dispensed with as compared with the case where the components are separately arranged, so that the number of assembly steps and the number of parts can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced. In addition, because both units are integrated, the wiring of the wiring harness around the control unit can be simplified, the degree of freedom in layout can be improved, the size can be reduced, and maintenance is easy. Can do it.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the control unit is formed with a through hole through which a crankshaft is inserted.
There is an effect that appearance and storage efficiency can be improved by avoiding interference with the crankshaft.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the control unit is disposed on the side opposite to the sprocket of the power unit, the arrangement balance in the left and right directions can be improved, and the appearance and the storage efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a left side view of an electric assisted bicycle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a left side view of a power unit of the electric assisted bicycle.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of the power unit.

FIG. 4 is a left side view showing a state where a lid member of the power unit is removed.

FIG. 5 is a left side view of the power unit.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the power unit.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric assist bicycle 13 Crankshaft 17 Chain sprocket 82 Electric motor 83 Power unit 85 Control unit 85a Through hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electric assist vehicle comprising: a power unit that outputs a resultant force of a pedal depression force input to a crankshaft and an assist force from an electric motor; and a control unit that variably controls the assist force from the electric motor. An electric auxiliary vehicle, wherein the control unit is disposed along an outer end surface in a vehicle width direction of a casing of the power unit, and is fixed to the casing. 2. The electric assist vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the control unit has a through hole, and the crankshaft is inserted through the through hole. 3. The electric motor according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is disposed on one side of the crankshaft and on a side opposite to a sprocket for extracting a resultant force from the power unit. Auxiliary vehicle.