WO2022195291A1

WO2022195291A1 - Improvements in and relating to vehicle trailers

Info

Publication number: WO2022195291A1
Application number: PCT/GB2022/050689
Authority: WO
Inventors: Phillip Gerald BEVAN
Original assignee: Bevan Phillip Gerald
Priority date: 2021-03-18
Filing date: 2022-03-18
Publication date: 2022-09-22
Also published as: GB202103766D0

Abstract

A trailer, adapted to be readily coupled to and uncoupled from a road-going vehicle which in use is to pull the trailer; the trailer also being adapted to carry one or more batteries at least one of which batteries is intended in use to augment or to provide the propulsive power unit of the vehicle; and characterised by any one or more of the following features: • the trailer is a wheeled or skidded or winged or float-borne trailer; and/or • in the embodiment envisaged immediately above, the wheels or skids or wings or floats form non-propulsive components when the trailer is in road-going use; and/or • the trailer is adapted such that when in use with the vehicle it is tiltable forwards, backwards, up or down or side to side whether or not travelling; and/or • the trailer is braked so as to be self-standing and static when not coupled to a vehicle; and/or • the wheels, skids, wings or floats of the trailer are steerable; and/or • the trailer is adapted to mate with the vehicle in a double-Vee (as defined herein) connection; and/or • the trailer is adapted to articulate relative to the vehicle when in use; and/or • the trailer incorporates a recessed or open-ended region to facilitate the passage over or through the trailer of a platform such as – by way of example only – a medical stretcher.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO VEHICLE TRAILERS

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to trailers which in use are towed by road-going vehicles and in this context the term “vehicle” is intended to include vehicles which travel by air or water or which hover on a cushion of air above the ground as well as those which are conventionally referred to as road-going and which themselves travel on the ground.

The term “road-going” is also to be given in this same context of this present disclosure a broad interpretation and can embrace, for example, a vehicle in the form of a hover lawn mower.

Review of Art Known to the Applicant

The invention arose from a study of the requirements of road-going vehicles which derive their main propulsive power from electric batteries carried on the vehicle. Such vehicles are perceived as the successors to petrol powered and diesel fuel powered vehicles, and indeed the current UK Government has stated an intention to ban the sales of conventionally fuelled cars and vans with effect from 2030. Enormous resources are therefore being ploughed into research and development in this field, but there is one perceived major hurdle already to be overcome. Batteries are heavy, and their power output relatively rapidly drained if they are to propel a vehicle as opposed to powering its auxiliary services. Current electrically powered road going vehicles therefore have a very limited range before the battery power is drained and needs recharging. In addition, there are as yet few charging points available throughout a country such as Great Britain. And even if a charging point is to be found in good time before the vehicle slows to a powerless halt, the charge-up process takes many times longer than the familiar practised quick fill-up at the petrol or diesel pump of a roadside filling station.

Research and development in this field to date has therefore concentrated, understandably, on trying to make vehicle-propulsive batteries lighter in weight - because of the problems identified above - and smaller in size - because the battery or batteries have to fit within the envelope of the vehicle bodywork - but these twin aims tend to be mutually exclusive. The modem vehicle, whether simply passenger carrying or load transporting, maximises its occupant-available space and/or payload-accommodating volume. The conventional under-bonnet battery of a private car or a van is minimalist in size. The engine and transmission block, not surprisingly after over a century of development, is similarly space- efficient. The outstandingly frugal fuel consumption figures of current cars and vans of all sizes are due amongst other factors to the already light weight of modern vehicles. All these factors militate against any rapid solution to the propulsive-power battery development problems; and yet research continues persistently along the narrow thought path of developing propulsive batteries with acceptably small size, low weight, high enough power output, and long enough power retention.

The Inventive Concept

The invention starts from a different viewpoint entirely, and is based on the realisation that if a road going vehicle were to incorporate a readily detachable trailer adapted to carry one or more propulsive batteries, the trailer-and-battery unit could be towed by the vehicle whilst the vehicle drew and consumed power from the trailer-carried battery or batteries - and as or before that power source became drained, the trailer and its battery cargo could be uncoupled from the vehicle and replace with a new fully charged set of batteries - or a new trailer carrying a newly charged battery set - and the vehicle could complete its journey or journeys.

This concept represents wholly divergent thinking from the conventional research and development paths in this field. The battery on the vehicle itself need not be used to pull the combined weight of the vehicle and the trailer - the trailer-carried battery pack does that - and could remain virtually unused during the primary stage of the vehicle’s journey. It could function as an auxiliary, in fact, at all stages of the vehicle’s journey or repeated journeys, being instead supplanted at all times by a series of trailer-and-battery units. The problems of short range, over-heavy weight, and unacceptable size, which those thinking along conventional lines are struggling to overcome, are all eliminated.

Scope of the Invention

In its broadest aspect the invention provides a trailer, adapted to be readily coupled to and uncoupled from a road-going vehicle which in use is to pull the trailer; the trailer also being adapted to carry one or more batteries at least one of which batteries is intended in use to augment or to provide the propulsive power unit of the vehicle; and characterised by any one or more of the following features:

• the trailer is a wheeled or skidded or winged or float-borne trailer; and/or

• in the embodiment envisaged immediately above, the wheels or skids or wings or floats form non-propul si ve components when the trailer is in road-going use; and/or

• the trailer is adapted such that when in use with the vehicle it is tiltable forwards, backwards, up or down or side to side whether or not travelling; and/or

• the trailer is braked so as to be self-standing and static when not coupled to a vehicle; and/or

• the wheels, skids, wings or floats of the trailer are steerable; and/or

• the trailer is adapted to mate with the vehicle in a double-Vee (as defined herein) connection; and/or

• the trailer is adapted to articulate relative to the vehicle when in use; and/or • the trailer incorporates a recessed or open-ended region to facilitate the passage over or through the trailer of a platform such as - by way of example only - a medical stretcher.

The term “double-Vee” used above is not to be interpreted unduly narrowly as limiting the envisaged construction to a literally V-shaped fitment of the trailer to the vehicle. It can take many forms within what was previously described in engineering fields as a male- female connection.

The invention includes within its scope the combination of a trailer embodying the invention and a road-going vehicle (as defined herein) adapted to receive and pull the trailer; and in one particularly advantageous embodiment, the trailer when so mated with the vehicle forms a temporarily integral part of the vehicle itself.

Brief Description of the Accompanying Drawings

The accompanying drawings show one embodiment of a trailer-and-vehicle combination embodying the invention which will now be described with reference to those drawings in which: Figure 1 shows the vehicle in side view; Figure 2 and Figure 3 show schematically but accurately the way in which the trailer portion of the Figure 1 vehicle can be offered up to the vehicle to which it is about to be coupled and form part; and Figure 4 - which like Figures 2 and 3 is drawn to a larger scale than that of Figure 1 - shows the trailer and vehicle portions coupled and ready to travel.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Figure 1 shows a vehicle in the form of an ambulance. The ambulance is six-wheeled, with its front wheels conventionally steerable by the driver in use, and its front, intermediate, or front and intermediate wheel sets propel the vehicle in road-going use.

This particular ambulance is a bespoke vehicle developed by the current Applicant, using active air suspension (with anti-dive and squat technology) so as to be able to lean like a motorcycle when cornering. Its six wheels are supported on three respective axles, the rear one of which lifts to let the rearward part of the ambulance onto the road for easy access to a medical stretcher once the ambulance tailgate is open and whilst of course the ambulance is stationary.

The detailed design of this ambulance forms no part of the present invention in its auxiliary aspects such as suspension, power unit, and medical equipment. The relevant features are those shown at the rear end around, above and behind the rearmost set of wheels. As shown in Figure 1, recessed vertical, horizontal, and vertical again shut lines in the ambulance body work define the volume of a trailer which incorporates the rearmost set of wheels and which is selectively detachable from and couplable to the remainder of the ambulance. The trailer unit thus forms a separate and separable unit from the main ambulance vehicle which can travel without it, or selectively with it, as desired.

The main four-wheeled ambulance carries batteries and these will be used to power the auxiliary medical equipment on the vehicle and may, given current developmental advances, be used selectively to power the vehicle itself. However, with the trailer incorporated into the vehicle as shown, the trailer carries batteries of its own and it is these trailer-carried batteries which the vehicle preferably will use first and which will be drained before any use of the main vehicle battery is contemplated.

As Figures 2 and 3 each show, schematically but accurately, the trailer in this instance has a double-Vee connectivity with the open back end of the ambulance vehicle chassis. In practical format the trailer will have an electric/hydraulic connector that is attached in use to the ambulance with a hydraulic ram attached to the rear of it. When the ambulance is reversed onto the trailer (with the trailer brakes on) the towing pin is electrically/hydraulically connected to the ambulance corresponding unit. The hydraulic ram is then pulled forward to mate the two into the double-Vee connection and the trailer and ambulance vehicle are coupled one to another with the trailer (as Figure 1 shows) forming an all but undetectable supposedly integral part of a then six-wheeled ambulance. A reverse operation is done to offload the trailer which can then have its wheels braked in order to stand static whilst its batteries are recharged and/or replaced with brand new fully charged batteries for its next trip. For a given ambulance driving shift - which conventionally involves several trips to and from a hospital in any one shift time unit- the ambulance could pick up and drop off several such trailer-battery units to get it through the shift without ever having to use, let alone risk draining its main battery power.

As shown in the drawings, the trailer is U-shaped in its rear portion and the open “U” allows for example a floor, internal to the ambulance, to pass down through the trailer chassis for stretcher access. This could be augmented by an independent wheel lifting mechanism to drop the ambulance and/or the trailer - or raise one or the other - for a shorter turning circle.

Such a trailer is only carrying the batteries, not propelling the rearmost wheels, whilst the ambulance in use draws its propulsive power from the batteries carried by the trailer. The necessary electrical, mechanical and hydraulic fittings to bring about the trailer and its ambulance-trailer combination can be selected from known alternatives by the intended skilled addressee of this specification. Such features as the desired steering, tilting, and raising and lowering mechanisms are again each known in themselves by those skilled in this field. The inventive concept lies in the conceptual thinking which runs wholly contrary to current developmental work in this area of research and supposedly innovative development.

Claims

1. A trailer, adapted to be readily coupled to and uncoupled from a road-going vehicle which in use is to pull the trailer; the trailer also being adapted to carry one or more batteries at least one of which batteries is intended in use to augment or to provide the propulsive power unit of the vehicle; and characterised by any one or more of the following features:

• the trailer is braked so as to be self-standing and static when not coupled to a vehicle; and/or · the wheels, skids, wings or floats of the trailer are steerable; and/or

• the trailer is adapted to articulate relative to the vehicle when in use; and/or

• the trailer incorporates a recessed or open-ended region to facilitate the passage over or through the trailer of a platform such as - by way of example only - a medical stretcher.