WO2016112028A1

WO2016112028A1 - Vehicle and associated connection apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2016112028A1
Application number: PCT/US2016/012212
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hok-Sum Horace LUKE
Original assignee: Gogoro Inc.
Priority date: 2015-01-05
Filing date: 2016-01-05
Publication date: 2016-07-14
Also published as: TWI632082B; TW201632391A

Abstract

A vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes a frame, a cover, and a connection unit. The cover includes an external surface and an internal surface opposite to the external surface, wherein the internal surface faces toward the frame when the cover is attached to the frame. The connection unit is configured to connect the cover and the frame magnetically.

Description

VEHICLE AND ASSOCIATED CONNECTION APPARATUS

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to a vehicle, and particularly to a cover configured to attach on the vehicle.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the invention, a vehicle is disclosed.

The vehicle includes: a frame, a cover including an external surface and an internal surface opposite to the external surface, wherein the internal surface faces toward the frame when the cover is attached to the frame; and a connection unit configured to magnetically connect the cover and the frame.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a vehicle is disclosed.

The vehicle includes a frame including a first magnetic element and a cover including a second magnetic element, an internal surface, and an external surface, wherein the second magnetic element is arranged on the internal surface and with respect to the first magnetic element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar elements or acts. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of various elements and angles are not drawn to scale, and some of these elements are arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility. Further, the particular shapes of the elements as drawn, are not intended to convey any information regarding the actual shape of the particular elements, and have been solely selected for ease of recognition in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure; FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an external surface of a cover of the vehicle of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the vehicle of FIG. 1 with the cover detached. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various disclosed embodiments. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures associated with switches, sensors, controllers, and communications systems and structures and networks have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring descriptions of the embodiments.

Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims which follow, the word "comprise" and variations thereof, such as, "comprises" and "comprising" are to be construed in an open, inclusive sense that is as "including, but not limited to."

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

The use of ordinals such as first, second and third does not necessarily imply a ranked sense of order, but rather may only distinguish between multiple instances of an act or structure.

The headings and Abstract of the Disclosure provided herein are for convenience only and do not interpret the scope or meaning of the embodiments.

In the present disclosure, a feature "vehicle" is a device for transporting persons or things, for example, including a scooter, a motorcycle or a motor driven vehicle. However, in principle, "vehicle" is not limited to these embodiments. The "vehicle" also includes a non-motor driven vehicle, manual vehicle (for example, bicycle), single wheel vehicle, multi-wheel vehicle, any other kinds of vehicles, etc. which are also included within the scope of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, a detachable cover is designed to be placed on a frame of a vehicle, and more particular, the detachable cover is engaged with the frame through an attractive force between the cover and frame. The attractive force can attract the cover while the cover is moved within a range from the frame, and can hold the cover to the frame.

In some embodiments, a vehicle comprises a cover in non-physical connection with a portion of the vehicle.

In some embodiments, the attractive force is a magnetic force and generated by a magnetic member disposed on the cover or frame. With the magnetic member, the cover could be securely fixed on the frame even when the vehicle is in motion. Also, with the magnetic member, no mechanical fastening member, such as screw, nail, would appear on the external surface of the cover.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a scooter 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The scooter 100 includes a cover 101 and a frame 110. The cover 101 is configured to attach on the front end (i.e., toward to the moving direction of the scooter 100) of the frame 110 of the scooter 100. However, it should be appreciated that the cover 101 can be applied on other portions of the scooter 100, for example, a lateral side or a rear end of the scooter 100. The cover 101 is detachable from the frame 110 in order to provide several advantages for a user. For example, the user can conveniently replace the cover 101 with a cover with more preferable color or personalized style.

In some embodiments, the frame 110 is located in front of a rider or a rider position of the scooter 100. In some embodiments, the frame 110 at least partially extends in front of a rider or a rider position. In some embodiments, the frame 110 partially extends in front of a rider or a rider position and partially extends under a section of a footrest area.

Referring to FIG. 2, the cover 101 has an external surface 101 A facing substantially forwards when the cover 101 is installed. The cover 101 can include various shapes, and in some embodiments, the shape of cover 101 is designed to fit the front end, a front facing side or a section of the frame 110 with which the cover engages. For example, if the frame 110 has an oval shape, the cover 101 could also be configured to have an oval shape to ensure tight sealing with the frame 110.

In some embodiments, the external surface 101 A of the cover 101 is a convex surface bulging outward from the frame 110. For the cover 101 disposed on the front end of the frame 110 of the scooter 100, a streamline design may be preferred in order to reduce the air resistance while the scooter 100 is in motion.

In some embodiments, the external surface 101 A of the cover 101 is free from any mechanical fastening member. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the exposed external surface 101A of the cover 101 is a smooth and recess-free surface. An observer cannot find any holes for screw, nail, or latch on the external surface 101 A. Without holes for fastening means, the cover 101 not only is appealing but also has better aerodynamic performance.

Though lacking the aforementioned mechanical fastening members, in some embodiments, the cover 101 can be securely attached to the frame 101 through attractive force. In detail, the attractive force becomes significant between cover 101 and the frame 110 (the cover 101 and the frame 110 attract or tend to move to each other) while the cover 101 is located within a predetermined distance from the frame 110. The attractive force draws the cover 101 toward the frame 110 in order to engage the cover 101 with the frame 110. In some embodiments, the cover 101 could be configured to be aligned with the frame 110 by the guidance of the attractive force while installing the cover 101 to the frame 110.

Specifically, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an internal surface of the cover of FIG. 1. An internal surface 10 IB of the cover 101 is shown for better understanding. The internal surface 10 IB of the cover 101 is opposite to the external surface 101 A and faces toward the frame 110 when the cover 101 is installed on the frame 110. In some embodiments including a cover 101 with a convex external surface 101 A, the internal surface 101B of the cover 101 can be designed as a concave surface. The above-described attractive force could be the magnetic force in these embodiments, and some magnetic dots, 102A, 103 A, 104A, 105 A, 106A and 107A (collectively called a connection unit) are configured to be located on the internal surface 101B of the cover 101. The magnetic dots 102A, 103 A, 104A, 105 A, 106A and 107A are designed to provide the attractive force for the cover 101 to be engaged with the frame 110 as shown in FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, the connection unit is arranged on a peripheral region of the internal surface 101B. In some embodiments, the connection unit is arranged along the edge of the internal surface 10 IB. The connection unit including magnetic dots 102A, 103 A, 104A, 105A, 106A and 107A provides magnetic force thus causing the cover 101 to engage the frame 110. The connection unit can be arranged in various patterns according to actual requirements to ensure the cover 101 is securely attached to the frame 110 while the scooter 100 is in motion. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, six magnetic dots 102A, 103 A, 104A, 105 A, 106A and 107A are arranged along two opposite edges of the internal surface 101B in a pattern substantially symmetric with respect to the geometric center of the internal surface 101B. For some

embodiments, the magnetic dots 102A, 103 A, 104A, 105 A, 106A and 107A are arranged in a pattern that provides an evenly distributed magnetic field.

In some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102A, 103 A, 104A, 105 A, 106 A, 107 A are made of ferromagnetic material such that the connection unit can be attracted by a magnet disposed on the frame 110. Therefore, the cover 101 and the frame 110 can attract to each other by magnetic force while the cover 101 is

approaching the frame 110. In some embodiments, a latchable member 108 A is additionally disposed on the internal surface 10 IB in order to provide an auxiliary engaging means to allow the cover 101 to connect with the frame 110. In some embodiments, the latchable member 108 A could be arranged closer to a geometric center of the internal surface 10 IB than the magnetic dots 102A, 103 A, 104A, 105 A, 106 A, 107 A.

In some embodiments, the latchable member 108 A protrudes from internal surface 10 IB. The shape and design of latchable member 108 A can be altered according to designer's requirement. For example, the latchable member 108 A can be designed as a male latchable member in order to lock with a female recess on the frame 110. In some embodiments, more than one latchable member is disposed on the internal surface 101B. Also, in some embodiment, different types of latch could be arranged on cover 101 to lock the cover 101 to the frame 110 in different manners.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the scooter 100 of FIG. 1 with a cover detached. The cover 101 is capable of being assembled with the frame 110. A plurality of magnetic dots 102B - 107B are arranged on the frame 110. The magnetic dots 102A - 107 A of the cover 101 are arranged in a pattern corresponding to the pattern of the magnetic dots 102B - 107B of the frame 110. In some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102 A - 107 A of the cover 101 are arranged in a pattern in order to allow each dot to be in contact with a corresponding magnetic dot on the frame 110 when the cover 100 is installed on the frame 110.

In some embodiments, each of the magnetic dots 102 A - 107 A on the cover 101 is in an opposite polarity with respect to its corresponding (or to-be in contact) one of the magnetic dots (102B - 107B) on the frame 110.

In some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102 A - 107 A are permanent magnets. In some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102 A - 107 A are made of ferromagnetic material. In some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102A - 107A are electromagnets. On the other hand, in some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102B - 107B are permanent magnets. In some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102B - 107B are made of ferromagnetic material. In some embodiments, the magnetic dots 102B - 107B are electromagnets.

In some embodiments, an electric circuit is disposed on the cover 101 or the frame 110, wherein the electric circuit could be wired to the electromagnet dots (e.g., the magnetic dots 102A - 107A and/or magnetic dots 102B - 107B). The electric circuit can be regulated by a switch to control the status of electromagnet. The attraction between dots on the cover 101 and frame 110 can be controlled by the switch.

In some embodiments, not all dots are necessary to be magnets. For example, a connection unit is disposed on the cover 101, and the connection unit includes a plurality of metallic dots instead of the magnetic dots 102 A - 107 A. The metallic dots of the connection unit could be attracted to the magnetic dots 102B -

107B, causing the cover 101 to engage with the frame 110. In some embodiments, the frame 110 includes a plurality of metallic dots instead of the magnetic dots 102B - 107B. The metallic dots could be attracted to the magnetic dots 102 A - 107 A, causing the cover 101 to be engaged with the frame 110.

In some embodiments, the cover 101 has a latchable member 108 A arranged on the internal surface 10 IB. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the latchable member 108 A is arranged closer to a geometric center of the internal surface 10 IB than the magnetic dots 102A - 107A. The latchable member 108 A is configured to engage with the frame 110 in order to cause the cover 101 to be secured substantially in a normal vector of the internal surface 101B. In some embodiments, the latchable member 108 A is a male latchable member and protrudes from internal surface 10 IB and designed to form a locking mechanism with a mated latchable member 108B, which can be in a form of recess in the frame 110, and the protrusion structure of the latchable member 108 A substantially parallel to a moving direction of the vehicle 100. It should be noted that the latchable member 108 A is configured as an auxiliary securing member other than the connection unit, e.g., the magnetic dots 102 A - 107 A, and the frame 110, and the latchable member 108 A does not affect the fit between the cover 101 and the frame 110.

In some embodiments, the arrangement is reversed that the latchable member 108 A is a recess on the internal surface 10 IB and designed to be engaged with another latchable member 108B protruding from the frame 110. In some embodiments, when the vehicle 100 moves forward, pressure with a component acting upon the external surface 101 A of the cover 101 in a direction opposite to an unlatching direction. Specifically, the pressure component can secure the cover 101 to the frame 110 in the unlatching direction of the latchable member 108 A and the latchable member 108B. In other words, the faster the vehicle is, the greater the force component will be.

In some embodiments, the cover 101 includes at least one corresponding element, e.g., 102A'-107A', to align the cover 101 and the frame 110. The

corresponding elements 102A-107 are utilized as auxiliary members to facilitate the attaching process and make sure the cover 101 can be easily secured to a predetermined position of the frame 110 without special aids. The above description of illustrated embodiments, including what is described in the Abstract of the Disclosure, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Although specific embodiments and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent

modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible

embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a frame;

a cover including an external surface and an internal surface opposite to the external surface, wherein the internal surface faces toward the frame when the cover is attached to the frame; and

a connection unit configured to magnetically connect the cover and the frame.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the connection unit is arranged on a peripheral region of the internal surface.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the connection unit includes a plurality of magnetic dots along the edge of the internal surface.

4. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein the magnetic dots are arranged symmetrically to the geometric center of the internal surface.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the frame includes a magnetic element, wherein the connection unit is installed on the cover and configured to contact with the magnetic element on the frame, and the connection unit has an opposite polarity to the magnetic element.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the connection unit is a permanent magnet or an electromagnet.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the connection unit includes a ferromagnetic material.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 further including a latchable member on the internal surface.

9. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the latchable member is arranged closer to a geometric center of the internal surface than the connection unit.

10. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the latchable member is configured to secure the cover to the frame.

11. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the latchable member protrudes from internal surface.

12. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the latchable member protrudes from the internal surface in a direction substantially parallel to a moving direction of the vehicle.

13. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the frame includes a protrusion, and the latchable member includes a recess disposed on the internal surface and configured to be engageable with the protrusion of the frame.

14. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein when the vehicle moves, a force component induced by air flow acts upon the external surface of the cover is subjected to pressure with a component acting in a direction opposite to a direction of unlatching movement of the latch.

15. A vehicle, comprising:

a frame including a first magnetic element; and

a cover including a second magnetic element, an internal surface, and an external surface, wherein the second magnetic element is arranged on the internal surface and with respect to the first magnetic element.

16. The vehicle of claim 15, wherein the cover includes a latchable member used to secure the cover to the frame, wherein the latchable member is arranged closer to a geometric center of the internal surface than the second magnetic element.

17. The vehicle of claim 16, wherein when the vehicle moves, a force component induced by air flow acts upon the external surface of the cover is subjected to pressure with a component acting in a direction opposite to a direction of unlatching movement of the latch.

18. The vehicle of claim 15, wherein the cover further includes a corresponding element to align the cover and the frame.

19. The vehicle of Claim 15, wherein the second magnetic element is arranged on a peripheral region of the internal surface of the cover.

20. The vehicle of claim 15, wherein the magnetic element includes a plurality of magnetic dots along the edge of the internal surface of the cover, and the magnetic dots are arranged symmetrically to the geometric center of the internal surface.