WO2008087663A1

WO2008087663A1 - Electrical box assembly for a motorcycle

Info

Publication number: WO2008087663A1
Application number: PCT/IN2008/000032
Authority: WO
Inventors: Venkatesan Raghavan; Syamalarao Bhusam; Sridhar Balaguru
Original assignee: Tvs Motor Company Limited
Priority date: 2007-01-19
Filing date: 2008-01-18
Publication date: 2008-07-24
Also published as: MY151684A; BRPI0806660A2

Abstract

The present subject matter relates to an electrical box assembly (101) of a motorcycle (100). In accordance with one embodiment of the present subject matter, an electrical box assembly (101) includes an electrical box (105) adapted to house plurality of electrical components. The electrical box (105) is mounted on a main tube (120) of the chassis of the motorcycle (100), between left and right frames (125) by means of a single mounting screw (135) and plurality of anti movement registers (140). Selective access to sensitive electrical components, like fuse, in the electrical box (105) is provided through a detachable split cover (185), screwlessly disposed on an opening in the bottom surface of the utility box (110).

Description

ELECTRICAL BOX ASSEMBLY FOR A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein, in general, relates to an electrical box assembly for a motorcycle and in particular relates to a motorcycle provided with an electrical box that is disposed underneath a utility box, and adapted to house and provide easy access to various electrical components. BACKGROUND

In a conventional step through motorcycle, electrical components like ignition system, capacitor discharged ignition (CDI) system, battery, starter relay, flasher relay, fuse, beeper etc are mounted separately. Some of the components are mounted on chassis brackets while a few components are mounted in an electrical box. However, not all the components are mounted at a single place. For example, the battery is usually packaged between the spaces of the utility box and the fuel tank, or is mounted on the sides of the rear wheel. Such a scattered arrangement of the electrical components in the motorcycle makes accessibility and serviceability of the electrical parts difficult. Also, in such an arrangement, access of any particular electrical component of the motorcycle usually * requires either dismounting or disturbing the location or functioning or both of another electrical component in the vicinity whose access is not intended. Conventionally, the electrical box of the motorcycle is capable of housing only a limited number of electrical components. Further, in the conventional arrangement, the electrical box is usually mounted onto the chassis by means of at least two screws. Hence, dismounting the entire electrical box from the motorcycle becomes a difficult, tedious and time consuming process.

Sensitive electrical components, such as the fuse have a high probability of getting defunct time and again. In the conventional arrangement as described above, replacement of these components is again a time consuming and a difficult process.

Therefore, providing an electrical box assembly with a focus on design for serviceability (DFS) and design for assembly (DFA) becomes a challenge. There exists a need for a provision to mount the electrical box by least possible fastening means thereby reducing the replacement and service time, apart from reducing the assembly and production costs.

A further challenge is to provide a layout that has most of the electrical components assembled and secured in a single area on the motorcycle to provide easy access to individual electrical component(s), without disturbing the location and functioning of other electrical components whose access is not intended. Additionally, another challenge is to provide a layout that allows direct access to the fuses of the electrical component(s) for easy replacement. SUMMARY

The subject matter described herein is directed to an electrical box assembly wherein various electrical components of a motorcycle are assembled and secured in a single location. This allows an easy direct access to the individual electrical component(s) without interfering with the location and functioning of other electrical components whose access is not intended. The subject matter described herein is also directed to achieving an arrangement that provides direct easy access to the fuses of the electrical components thereby enabling direct replacement of the fuse. Furthermore, the subject matter described herein is directed towards providing a layout wherein the assembly of various electrical components of the motorcycle is at a single location, mounted on the chassis of the motorcycle and held with a minimum number of screws.

According to one aspect of the present subject matter, the electrical box assembly includes an electrical box mounted in a substantially downward direction on the main tube of the chassis of the motorcycle by means of a single mounting screw and a pair of anti-movement registers. Furthermore, the electrical box is rigidly held within the left and right frame of the chassis of the motorcycle by means of a pair of symmetrically placed anti-movement registers to arrest the lateral movement of the electrical box. The arrangement of the registers, as would be obvious to a person skilled in the art, need not necessarily be symmetrical The electrical box, according to one embodiment of the present subject matter, is made up of six pre-fabricated slots so as to house various electrical components of the motorcycle like capacitor discharge ignition (CDI) system, battery, starter relay, flasher relay, fuse, beeper etc. These electrical components are snugly fitted or snap fitted into the slots of the electrical box and hence held without fasteners. The method of arranging or holding the electrical components in the slots of the electrical box, as would be obvious to a person skilled in the art, is not restricted to the present embodiment and can change without deviating from the scope and spirit of the invention. The electrical box depicted in the present embodiment provides easy and direct access to the electrical components, by way of dismounting the utility box. The utility box is disposed below the seat and mounted on the left and right frames of the chassis of the motorcycle by means of screws. The electrical box depicted in the present embodiment also renders easy and direct access to each electrical component placed in the electrical box without disturbing the location and functioning of other electrical components, whose access is not intended.

The fact that the electrical box is mounted on the chassis by means of only one screw and a pair of anti movement registers also renders the task of dismounting the entire electrical box from the motorcycle, if required, easy and less-time consuming.

According to another aspect of the present subject matter, a selective access to a miniature electrical component like a fuse in the electrical box is provided through a detachable split cover that is disposed without any screws on an opening in the bottom surface of the utility box. In instances wherein only a fuse replacement is required, such a provision is better compared to the conventional tedious and time consuming method of accessing the fuse. Although the present embodiments depict only one such split cover, there can exists a plurality of such split covers in the utility box, as may be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present subject matter will be better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other features, aspects and advantages of the subject matter will be better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

Fig.l is an exploded view of a step through motorcycle in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Fig 2 is a schematic side view of an arrangement of an electrical box assembly 101 within the chassis of the step through motorcycle in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Fig 3 is a schematic plan view of the arrangement scheme of various electrical components of the motorcycle, snugly fitted in pre-fabricated slots of an electrical box 105 in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. Fig 4(a) is a schematic plan view of the bottom surface of a utility box of the motorcycle depicting access to a fuse in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Fig 4(b) is a perspective view of a detachable split cover in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to address the aforesaid challenges, according to at least one embodiment of the present subject matter, an electrical box assembly in a motorcycle is provided with an easily mountable and accessible electrical box adapted to hold most of the electrical components of the motorcycle. Further a detachable split cover is disposed on the bottom of the utility box of the motorcycle, through which a direct access is provided to the fuses disposed in the electrical box.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the electrical box is mounted on the middle portion of the chassis of the motorcycle beneath the utility box by means of a single mounting screw and two pairs of anti-movement registers. However, the number of anti-movement registers employed can be more or less than two pairs. The chassis, of the motorcycle including the electrical box assembly, includes a main tube, a left frame and a right frame. The main tube extends longitudinally from a front end portion to the middle portion of the chassis. The left frame and the right frame are parallel to each other and extend from the middle portion to the rear end portion of the chassis.

The electrical box is held rigidly within the left frame and the right frame of the chassis of the motorcycle by means of a pair of symmetrically placed anti-movement registers so as to arrest any lateral movement of the electrical box on the main tube. Another pair of symmetrically placed anti-movement registers is adapted to lock the electrical box between the left frame and the right frame of the chassis.

The electrical box includes pre-fabricated slots to hold various electrical components of the motorcycle such as a capacitor discharge ignition (CDI) system, a battery, a starter relay, a flasher relay, a fuse, a beeper and the like. The electrical components are snugly fitted into the pre fabricated slots and hence are held without fasteners, as depicted in the present embodiment. Further, the utility box of the motorcycle includes a detachable split cover to cover the opening at the bottom surface of the utility box and provide easy access to sensitive electrical components, such as a fuse, placed in one of the slots in the electrical box.

Fig.l is a detailed view of a motorcycle 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. The embodiments disclosed herein are described in the context of a step through motorcycle 100. However, the embodiments and the subject matter herein can also be applied to other vehicles, such as, but not limited to, scooter type two- wheeled vehicles, all terrain vehicles, step over two - wheelers and other vehicles with more than two wheels.

As used herein, the terms "front", "rear", "left", "right", "up", and "down", correspond to the direction assumed by a driver of the motorcycle 100. The motorcycle 100 is configured for accommodating two persons, a rider and a pillion rider. The motorcycle 100 includes a chassis, a handlebar 130 towards a front end thereof and configured for a rotation about the steering axis. The chassis extends along the entire longitudinal axis of the motorcycle 100. Hence for the sake of simplicity, the chassis can be hypothetically divided into a front portion, a middle portion and a rear end portion.

Further, the chassis of the motorcycle 100 comprises a main tube 120, and a pair of left and right frame 125. The main tube 120 extends longitudinally downwardly from the front portion of the chassis towards the middle portion of chassis. The left and right frames 125 are substantially parallel to each other and extend longitudinally upwards from the middle portion of the chassis towards the rear end of the chassis. The left and the right frames 125 are joined on the rear side of the main tube 120 so as to form a chassis unit and the periphery around this joint. The region where the left and right frames 125 join the main tube 120, hypothetically constitutes a part of the middle portion of the chassis. A rider seat 115 is mounted above a utility box 110 and a fuel tank, which are disposed side by side. The rider seat 115 is adapted to selectively open or close thereby providing access to the utility box 110 and the fuel tank. An electrical box assembly 101 comprises an electrical box 105 mounted substantially downwardly on the main tube 120 of the chassis and substantially beneath the utility box 110 by means of a single mounting screw 135 and a pair of symmetrically mounted anti movement registers 140, as shown in Fig 2. Furthermore, the electrical box 105 is locked between the left and right frames 125 of the chassis by another pair of anti movement registers 140/1 adapted to arrest lateral movement of the electrical box 105, as shown in Fig 2. Fig 2 is a schematic side view of the arrangement of electrical box assembly 101 within the chassis of the step through motorcycle 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. The electrical box assembly 101 includes an electrical box 105 mounted substantially downwardly on the main tube 120 of the chassis and substantially beneath the utility box 110 by means of a single mounting screw 135 and a pair of symmetrically mounted anti movement registers 140/2, thereby arresting the lateral movement of the electrical box 105 on the main tube 120. Furthermore, the electrical box 105 is locked between the left frame and right frame 125 of the chassis by a pair of symmetrically mounted anti movement registers 140/1 to arrest lateral movement of the electrical box 105. Fig 3 is a schematic plan view of the arrangement of various electrical components of the motorcycle 100 snap fitted in pre-fabricated slots of electrical box 105 in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. The electrical box 105 is equipped with six pre-fabricated slots 150, 155, 160, 165, 170, 175. These pre-fabricated Slots are adapted to snap hold various electrical components of motorcycle 100. For example, the slot 150 is adapted to hold the capacitive discharge ignition (CDI) system, the slot 155 is adapted to hold a battery, the slot 160 is adapted to hold a starter relay, the slot 165 is adapted to hold a fuse, the slot 170 is adapted to hold a beeper and the slot 175 is adapted to hold a flasher relay.

It would be noted that the electrical box 105 can have slots more or less in number than six. Further the slot 150 can be adapted to hold an electrical component other than a CDI system. The same is true for other slots depicted in the present embodiment. The location of slots relative to each other may be varied in accordance with requirements. Fig 4(a) is a schematic plan view of the bottom surface of the utility box 110 depicting access to a fuse 180 of motorcycle 100 by means of a detachable split cover 185 in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present subject matter, the detachable split cover 185 provides selective access to two or more miniature electrical components like a fuse placed in one of the slots in electrical box 105.

Fig 4(b) is a perspective view of a detachable split cover 185 in accordance with another embodiment of the present subject matter. The detachable split cover 185 is mounted on an opening in the bottom surface of the utility box 110 to provide selective access to miniature electrical components of motorcycle 100 like fuse placed in one of the slots in electrical box 105.

It would be noted that the utility box 110 can have more than one such selective access to various electrical components placed in the slots of electrical box 105 in accordance with requirement. Although the subject matter has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. As such, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiment contained therein.

Claims

We claim:

1. An electrical box assembly 101 for a motorcycle 100, said assembly 101 comprising:

a plurality of electrical components; and

an electrical box 105 containing a plurality of custom sized slots for housing said electrical components, wherein said electrical box 105 is mounted on a middle portion of a chassis of said motorcycle 100, said electrical box 105 being disposed substantially downwardly on said chassis such that said electrical box 105 is substantially beneath a utility box 110 of said motorcycle 100,

characterized in that

said electrical box 105 is mounted on said middle portion of said chassis by means of a single mounting screw 135 and a plurality of anti-movement registers 140.

2. The assembly 101 as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chassis comprises a main tube 120, and left and right frames 125, wherein

said main tube 120 extends longitudinally downwardly from a front end portion of said chassis towards said middle portion of said chassis, said left and right frames 125 being substantially parallel to each other and extending longitudinally upwardly from said middle portion of said chassis towards a rear end portion of said chassis and wherein said electrical box 105 is mounted on the said main tube 120 and between said left and right framesl25.

3. The assembly 101 as claimed in claim 2, wherein said electrical box 105 is mounted on said main tube 120 by means of said single mounting screw 135.

4. The assembly 101 as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of said anti- movement registers 140 include a pair of anti movement registers 140/2 adapted to arrest a lateral movement of said electrical box 105 on said main tube 120.

5. The assembly 101 as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of said anti movement registers 140 include a pair of anti movement registers 140/1 adapted to lock said electrical box 105 between said left and right frames 125.

6. The assembly 101 as claimed in claim 1, wherein said utility box 110 is dismountable.

7. The assembly 101 as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electrical components are snap fitted in said custom sized slots of said electrical box 105.

8. The assembly 101 as claimed in claim 1, wherein a split cover 185 is disposed on an opening in the bottom surface of said utility box 110 thereby providing selective access to electrical components placed in said slots of said electrical box 105.

9. The assembly 101 as claimed in claiml, wherein said electrical components includes a capacitor discharge ignition (CDI) system, a battery, a starter relay, a flasher relay, a fuse and a beeper.