Patent Application
20210163111
The invention relates to an electromotive drive device for a floatable device, preferably a float tube, with a drive by means of an electric motor, which is operable by means of a separate power supply module, an open-loop/closed-loop control and with a remote control, wherein the electric motor is disposed within a housing and is connected to a drive propeller outside the housing, which drive propeller, at least in areas, is surrounded by a protecting device, which is connected to the housing via connecting supports. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for operating an electromotive drive device of the aforementioned species.
An electro-mechanical drive for a floatable device, which is employable in sport fishing, is known from the EP 3 257 741 A1. The drive includes a motor, the drive axis thereof being connected to a drive propeller.
The DE 84 01 738 U1 describes a drive apparatus with a propeller, which offers the option to make motor-less watercrafts drivable by means of the propeller emerging into the water. Upon reaching the desired location, the propeller is lifted again out of the water.
With the EP 2 824 027 A1 a boat drive unit is made public, which includes a self-contained liquid cooling system, the liquid thereof being contained in a closed interior space. The interior space is formed by means of a cylindrical exterior surface of a cylindrical motor housing section of the drive unit for exchanging thermal energy between an electric motor, which is disposed therein. The interior space of the self-contained liquid cooling system is partially delimited by a shell structure of the drive unit in such a manner that the liquid in the interior space is in direct contact with the shell structure. Thus, exchange of thermal energy with the water of the environment is possible.
An electro-mechanical drive for a floatable device, which is employable in sport fishing, is disclosed in the EP 3 257 741 A1. A narrow unilateral mount is connected to the casing, the free end of the mount ends at a mounting foot for the connection to a mount, which is disposed at the floatable device; and furthermore, at the casing, a protective device is starting for the drive propeller.
The object of the invention is to create an electromotive drive device for a floatable device, the configuration thereof being provided for an energy-saving application in view of optimizing the use of the available energy.
An electromotive drive device according to the features of claim 1 achieves the object of the invention. Furthermore, the features of claim 15 claim a method for operating an electromotive drive device with the indicated features. In this case, the dependent claims following respectively the main claims, represent a further configuration of the inventive idea.
Sport fishing and therefore recreational fishing is gaining increasing commercial significance. So as to reel in a successful catch, in addition to fishing equipment also other important prerequisites are required, for example in the form of inflatable boats. Such boats, also known as belly boats or float tubes, are advantageous in that sport fishing is not limited to the shores of bodies of water. In this case, a float tube is substantially smaller than a normal rubber boat and allows the angler to freely move on the surface of the water and simultaneously practice sportive fishing with both hands. The structure of the float tube is specifically tailored to the angler, as the angler sits in the float tube and his/her feet hang in the water. Forceful paddling moves with the legs will move the boat on the water surface and steer it in the desired direction for practicing sportive fishing. Said locomotion requires a lot of force and in particular strong currents in flowing waters cause issues. Employing uniquely said option of locomotion considerably limits the use of the floatable device. This is what the inventors understood without a doubt, and therefore they came up with employing electromotive drive devices.
Such an electromotive drive device in the shape of a drive is located completely underneath the water surface and is affixed to the underside of the float tube or to the underside of another floatable device. Said placement is essentially advantageous, in particular for sport fishing, as activating the drive propeller does not create any mentionable waves, respectively does not develop any noise, which could cause the fish stocks to leave said region. Another advantage of such an electromotive drive device is found in quickly and easily reaching more remote fishing grounds.
Having a float tube or the like equipped in such a manner with an electromotive drive device thus allows for employing navigational sounding for being able to find fishing stocks, as the fish's air bubbles deliver very well recognizable echos. For this reason echo sounding delivers the angler important information on the number of fish in a region, respectively also under his boat, float tube or the like.
When employing an electromotive drive device together with a floatable device, herein in particular a float tube, the energy consumption is of decisive importance for the most economical use of the available energy. Only an energy accumulator can deliver the energy for operating an electromotive drive device on the water. With the intention of economically using said available energy to the greatest possible advantage, there are two major topics to consider, on the one hand, the design of the electromotive drive device and, on the other hand, providing an energy management, so that the angler returns in any case to his/her start point.
This is why the shape design of the drive device is of particular importance. In this case, flow-optimized drop-shaped embodiments of the housing have proven particularly advantageous, for example in an elliptical, rounded shaping on all sides, in addition to a good trimming. The end of said shape formation represents the widest location of the housing, then subsequently the proper housing shape narrows. The ratio of the bow in the frontal area to the length crucially also determines the speed of the drive device. The shape of the bow draws the water, which is displaced by the drive device, at a higher speed under the drive than the surrounding water, what decisively contributes to a reduced water resistance. The corresponding embodiment of the housing, which consists of an upper part and a lower part, intends to prevent turbulent flow around the drive device, because, on the one hand, turbulent flow would result in higher energy input, and moreover could also contribute to chase off the fish stock.
An energy efficient quantifiable prevention of energy losses due to the exterior shape design of the drive device can decisively contribute to being able to reasonably employ the available energy stored in the energy accumulator. In particular, this means energy benefits for decreasing primary or final energy input.
A further very decisive contribution to reducing the energy input when operating the drive device is found in that a motor, which is embedded within the two housing parts and kept therein, and to which the drive propeller is attached, is cooled at best by the surrounding water. This is realized through lateral intake openings, into which the cooling water can flow. Within the entire housing, the cooling water flows are subdivided into sections so that in addition to an optimum cooling, the sectioned cooling water flows combine again to an overall flow in the following, which exits at connecting supports via outlet openings and thus can contribute to assisting the drive.
At one portion of the housing, the two-part housing of the drive device has a mount, which can be releasably mounted to the floatable device underneath the water line via a connection.
For example, as a protection, the drive propeller can be provided with a ring shaped protective device in order to keep any items in the water away from the drive propeller. In a preferred embodiment, it is possible for the protective device to extend not completely circularly or ring-shaped around the drive propeller, but only partially. This is advantageous in that the flow resistances altogether can be reduced. Such an embodiment of partially mounting a protective device is then realized at the lower part so that protruding materials present in the navigational water cannot get into the area of the drive propeller.
Likewise, riding the float tube or the like combined with the drive device can be disturbed in that growth of plants, which in particular happens extensively during some seasons in bodies of water, could block the drive propeller. Such a blocking is very problematic, because the drive device is located underneath the floatable device. In such case, the angler can only return to the start point or steer to other shore regions, what s/he can only accomplish by working the leg muscles, in order to subsequently free the drive propeller from the plants. The above scenario cannot happen with the embodied structure of a particularly designed transition between the housing of the drive device and the connection of the drive propeller, because the structure is made such that vegetable matter cannot enter into said area any more. For this purpose, in a preferred embodiment, an overlapping conformation is provided at the housing with the upper housing part and the lower housing part thereof, which conformation at the end of the drive propeller is provided with a protruding area, which essentially is oriented to the side of the housing. Such a structure of so to say overlapping stationary housing parts and the rotating drive propeller protects the critical area against penetrating vegetable matter. One possible embodiment can be designed such that the end of a reception of the drive propeller includes a conical or straight course or the housing parts have a straight or conical course.
In a further preferred embodiment, it is also possible to employ seals in said area. Thus, a seal can be inserted between the stationary conformation of the housing and the end of the drive propeller. In such an embodiment, it is possible for the seal to be attached in the stationary conformation of the housing on the one side or else to be located on the exterior diameter of the end of the drive propeller.
An energy accumulator, for example in the shape of a lithium-ion accumulator, operates the electromotive drive device. Such an energy accumulator is located above the waterline on the float tube and is exchangeably connected to the drive device, which is located below the waterline, by means of a cable connector. The power supply from the energy accumulator to the drive device is controlled by a wireless and watertight manipulation element in the shape of a remote control. The remote control contains a sender/receiver device. The watertight power supply module likewise includes a transceiver device for communicating with the remote control. So that the owners/operators of several drive devices do not interfere with each other, the remote control can realize a change of the active transmitting channels. Such a remote control can be affixed to the body of the angler or optionally directly to the floatable device of the float tube. In addition to elements for activating the drive motor, the remote control can also include displays, which display the current charge state of the energy accumulator, for example. In addition to the current charge state of the energy accumulator, the display elements can also reveal other information to the user. This can be done with numerals, e.g. for the current motor performance in percentage, or else can be done with coloured displays. In particular, coloured displays are better seen on the water than numerals. Thus essentially, a color green can signal unrestricted operation, whereas a change from orange to the red area can display a certain risk area, respectively only a restricted functioning of the drive device. In this case, the functioning is determined at any point in time by the available power of the energy accumulator. At all times the maxim to be observed for the user of the drive device should be the return to a shore or to a coast. Furthermore, the remote control can be provided with a memory function, which stores a value of driven speed of the float tube, so as to continue driving at the same speed later. Likewise, the current rotational speed of the electric motor and also the power consumption of the drive device can be displayed.
The remote control can be equipped with an emergency shut-off switch, for example in order to switch-off the electric motor after the drive propeller is blocked, which can be displayed.
An open-loop/closed-loop control unit disposed within the receptacle includes an information processing unit, which performs permanent monitoring of the rationally available energy capacity. In addition to the travelled distance, such monitoring also includes the accumulated operating time of the drive device. Thereby, the motor runs automatically at the rotational speed according to the maxims of safe return to the shore. Thus, for example based on lower energy, also the open-loop/closed loop control unit can adapt the drive propeller to a reduced rotational speed, and thus adapt the speed.
In case of an undesired incident when employing the drive device, for example should the user not be able to operate the drive device any more, for example when s/he fell out of the float tube, an automatic forced outage of the entire drive device is triggered by a safety connection. Likewise, an emergency shut-off button is provided at the receptacle, so that the drive device can be shut-off at any time in case of failure or loss of the remote control or a hazard situation.
In a preferred embodiment, an electronic pulse-width modulation closed-loop control operates the open-loop/closed-loop control unit.
Employing the above-described electromotive drive device makes the use of the float tube or the like for the concerned angler a lot safer. The applicability is optimized as well, likewise the influence of atmospheric conditions can be addressed.
In a preferred embodiment, it is also possible that the person floating in the float tube on a body of water is able to modify the control of the drive by means of the remote control in that in addition to forward motion also backward motion can be performed. Also, when the float tube moves backwards, the speed is gradually adaptable to the requirements of the journey. Such bi-directional option, with the possibility of unrestrictedly travelling with the float tube in two travel directions with the help of the electro-mechanical drive device, is a particularity, because a float tube without drive device is only movable in forward direction. Thus, different fishing techniques can be practised without any problem, which do not only comprise the usual fishing operation. The drive device can be effectively employed as well as a brake in a targeted manner in both directions for dealing with too strong wind or too strong a current, which would cause drifting of the float tube away from the fishing spot. Also in case the fishing hook gets stuck in the subsoil or in case the person using the float tube in a side arm of the body of water, without the option of backward motion, would only be able to realize the change of the travel direction at great time expense, are situations in which controlling the drive device in both travel directions are of utmost importance. Obviously, also landing and departing is considerably easier with targeted changes of travel directions. Practising fishing, which otherwise is only reserved to large boats or vessels, namely pelagic fishing, can be performed with the combination of float tube and the inventive drive device.
In the following, the invention will be illustrated in more detail based on different exemplary embodiments in the drawings.
In
The mount 10 has curved side lines 11, which in the flow-optimized embodiment thereof taper towards the drive propeller 7.
Said above-described embodiments according to the
According to the view of drawing 6, the upper housing part 12 is illustrated in a frontal view. Said illustration particularly clearly reveals that the outlet openings 30, provided in the connecting supports 25, are connected in a flow-optimized manner to an interior space 55 of the housing 3. Stabilizing sections 32, which lend the embodiment of the drive 1 a steady placement in the water, are conformed at the lower end of the connecting supports 25, laterally to the protective device 5.
In an individual illustration according to
With the intention to clarify the housing structure, which prevents blocking the drive propeller 7 the housing 3 by means of vegetable matter, it is referred to the detail A of
A pin 40, which engages into a recess 48 of the reception 43, passes through the drive shaft 31. On account of said embodiment, the reception 43 with the drive propeller 7 is torque-proof attached on the drive shaft 31. A thread 41 is located at the end of the drive shaft 31, onto which thread a nut 42 is screwed for securing the reception 43. For example, the electric motor 17 is secured with screw connections 39 to a gear, which is not designated in detail.
While the preceding drawings essentially described the exterior area of the housing,
With the intention to prevent turbulences of the entering cooling water, projections 51 with a rounding 52 are provided in the area of the intake openings 27. The projection 51 is conformed to the webs 46. With said formation, the entering cooling water is guided into the housing 3 in such a manner that the electric motor 17 experiences a very efficient cooling. An open free space 50 is provided in the rear area of the lower housing part 33. Furthermore, discharge bores 54 are located in the interior space of the housing 3 for the available cooling water to drain.
The cable connector 18 supplies the drive with electric energy from the power supply module 67, which can be seen in
Moreover, a remote control 70 in the standby position thereof is inserted into the receptacle 83 by means of a plug-in connection. Said plug-in connection is simultaneously designed as a power supply 79 for the remote control in the standby position thereof. When in use, i.e. when employing the power supply module 67, the remote control 70 is removed from the holder thereof, and, based on the sender and receiver device 80 contained therein, it can communicate with a non-illustrated sender and receiver device within the receptacle 83. In this case, it is possible for the remote control 70 in particular to gradually adapt the speed, as well as the direction of movement of the drive 1, 26 can be changed. A change of direction, i.e. a sternway is given when currents have made the float tube 64 drift into an area, from which it has difficulties to manoeuvre its way out. Furthermore, the remote control 70 allows for reading the charge state of the energy accumulator 68. Simultaneously, the charge state is an indicator or characteristic for having travelled a certain distance and/or a certain period of time. Said parameters are permanently calculated via an open-loop/closed-loop control unit 77. Said permanent calculation ensures that the available energy of the energy accumulator is always measured in such a manner that the angler can safely return to a shore or a coast with the energy still available in the energy accumulator 68.
The open-loop/closed-loop control unit 77 is illustrated in a block diagram 74 according to
As shown in the exemplary embodiment of a preferred embodiment of both the drive 1 and the open-loop/closed-loop control unit 77 in conjunction with the power supply module 67, energy-saving use in terms of optimizing the available energy is possible with the particularly designed housing 3 in conjunction with an efficient cooling.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2019 132 275.8 | Nov 2019 | DE | national |
| 10 2020 101 237.3 | Jan 2020 | DE | national |
