Patent Grant
8950540
The present disclosure relates to an automotive vehicle. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an automotive vehicle design that can be readily adapted to a variety of environments.
The use of automotive vehicles is well known in the art. Current vehicles are designed for operation on conventional highways and require continual manual control. These conventional vehicles must be sufficiently heavy and strong to protect human occupants from accidents. These accidents can come from any direction and at any time.
Conventional vehicles also employ conventional tires with rotating axles. Most conventional vehicles also use some variation of the H chassis design. Both of these features limitation on designing a safe vehicle. It is an object of the present disclosure to improve upon the safety of conventional vehicles by eliminating the use of conventional tires and chassis designs. It is also an object of the present disclosure to provide an automotive vehicle that can be adapted to a wide variety of transportation environments.
The vehicle of the present disclosure introduces an entirely new class of transportation vehicle. The vehicle adapts to its environment much as a human adapts to its environment. The vehicle is not limited to any one environment. The kind of environment that is being referenced is any kind of surface transportation system environment. The vehicle adapts its body parts to the system it is operating in. The vehicle has a computer, multiple sensors, GPS input, odometer, acceleration/velocity measurement controls, an energy source, an internal steering mechanism, receivers and transmitters. These make up the senses, muscles, communications, nervous system, and brains of the vehicle. However, unlike in other vehicles or machines, how all these devices are used depends upon the surface transportation environment it is currently operating within.
It is an object of this disclosure to provide an electric powered vehicle that uses batteries, ultra capacitors, fuel cells or that receives electric energy direct from the guide way. It could also use any other form of energy and engine to power the vehicle.
It is also an object of this disclosure to provide an operating environment for a vehicle that is on a guide way with completely restricted access and that uses a single guiderail or security beam to route the vehicle down the center of the guide way. This provides a totally automated environment.
A further object is to provide a system with a passive guide way (has no moving parts) and that provides a two tiered (double layer) guiderail beam for vehicles to use when they want to exit the guide way to go to another guide way or an interchange or side spur.
An object of this disclosure is to design the physical anatomy of a vehicle around its environment with some additional capabilities for use in other environments.
A still further object is to provide a vehicle that can be adapted to operate as an automobile on conventional roads. The vehicle can also be adapted to operate in a local environment such as a subdivision, apartment complex community or a town center shopping mall or on an automated system that has no conventional automobiles. In such an environment roads are single lane, one way, and flat typically with no other features. This environment could have a lot of variables and could require a variety of adaptations as subdivision, apartments and commercial developments could have considerable variability.
It is also an object of this disclosure to provide a vehicle chassis with a strong backbone or center beam. This permits all vehicles in the system to be aligned over the security beam so in the event of an accident all the vehicles line up along a central axis.
The present disclosure also provides vehicles with bumpers that allow for a wide degree of compression.
These and other objects are achieved by providing a vehicle that is preferably powered with in-wheel motors and that are mounted on non rotating axles. A solid continuous skirt beam protects the perimeter of the vehicle. The vehicle can be an ultra-light vehicle that will sometimes be operating on conventional roads. On-board sensors and controls will adapt to help keep the vehicle safer from accidents, but in the event of a broadside (T-Bone, the most fatal kind of accident and the most common) accident at intersections the vehicle has a tripping device to help neutralize the momentum advantage of the other vehicle due to weight advantage. If the other vehicle is moving fast enough the vehicle will roll and slide rather than take the impact from the most vulnerable situation. The vehicle doors are gull wing and open automatically. This avoids the head room problem and difficulty getting in and out of a smaller vehicle. The doors operate from the center of the vehicle. This allows the extra headroom.
Various embodiments of the invention may have none, some, or all of these advantages. Other technical advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art.
For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following descriptions, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Similar reference numerals identify similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
The foundation or backbone of the vehicle 20 is the chassis or center beam 22. Center beam 22 runs from the tip of the vehicle 20 to the back excluding the compressible bumpers. Beam 22 can be any shape, an I-beam, a square tube, a circle, triangle or U channel. In these figures center beam 22 is a U channel placed upside down. On the guide way the only likely accident would involve vehicle 20 running into a fixed object or into the back of another vehicle. Beam 22 is strong enough that it will not collapse at any impact speed. There is a front bumper assembly 46 and rear bumper assembly 48. In the preferred embodiment, each bumper assembly (46 and 48) allows up to two feet of movement during a collision. Every vehicle 20 has the same hard rubber bumper nose 76 that lines up with and fits into the bumper socket 78 at the rear of vehicle 20.
A skirt beam 24 surrounds the entire vehicle floor and base perimeter in the same plane as the chassis. Skirt beam 24 is a continuous solid rim. Body side braces 26 provide support and bracing from the skirt 24 to the center beam 22. Brace 26 stops at center beam 22 because that is what Brace 26 is being braced off of. A wheel well strut 42 completes the wheel well space 28. Vehicle 20 has air bags 63 stored in front air bag storage area 62. If vehicle 20 has a minor collision (such as a 20 MPH impact, or a force that moves the front bumper 46 in maybe 6 inches) the bumper 46 springs back out via front shock absorber 56 and no airbag has released. In the event of a higher impact collision air bags 63 are activated and inflate. The harder the impact, the more the air bags 63 are compressed and the faster and stronger they will deploy.
The axle assembly 34 is comprised of an axle pocket 92 attached to the center beam 22 on one end and the wheel well strut 42 on the other end. Axle arm and wheel mount 94 support the wheel assembly 38. One end is pinned into the axle pocket 92, with axle mounting pin 96. The axle arm 94 can swivel down around pin 96. The other end of the axle arm 94 is mounted in a shock absorber 36 Shock absorber 36 is mounted to the skirt beam 24. Axle arm 94 preferably does not rotate.
Wheel assembly 38 comprises an in-wheel motor 98 that fits on over axle arm 94 and is secured in place and is able to pivot in a horizontal plane around the steering pin 102 The wheel 38 rotates around an in-wheel motor hub.
One embodiment of the vehicle steering mechanism is shown in
Screw gear and motor 144 are mounted on the precision steering worm mounting rod 134 which is attached by the hinge bracket for fine steering worm 136 to the steering yolk 126. Steering yolk 126 is made up of three rods connected on their ends with steering yolk hinge brackets 128. The center rod of the steering yolk 126 supports a corrective steering cog 138. Cog 138 can be moved quickly in either direction by the corrective steering cog gear and motor 142 based on instructions from the computer 146 which receives electronic input from saddle sensors 110 if vehicle 20 is operating on a guide way. In normal driving conditions the rods of the steering yolk 126 would be all squared up. Precision steering worm gear 132 would be centered up and the front wheels 38 would be perfectly lined up for straight ahead movement. As vehicle saddle 104 tracked the direction of the guide way guide beam it would send electronic data to computer 146 which would operate the precision screw gear and motor 144. This operates vehicle 20 smoothly. In the event something requires rapid adjustment such as vehicle 20 losing traction due to something slippery on the guide way then the first precision steering assembly is disengaged and the second corrective steering cog gear and motor 142 are activated. This dual-mechanism configuration allows vehicle 20 to make steering corrections more rapidly.
If vehicle 20 is operating on a conventional street and bumper sensors 152 can detect an approaching vehicle on a collision path. If this occurs, then the corrective steering cog gear and motor 142 may be activated along with acceleration of the in-wheel motors 38 so as to avoid collision or move the impact away from vehicle occupants.
Continuing now with the vehicle descriptions. The reason the axle assembly 34 is fastened on its ends into the skirt beam 24 without a disruption is for maintaining the integrity of skirt beam 24. Another objective is to support the axle arm 94 on both sides of vehicle 20. In current vehicles 20 the wheels are mounted on the very end of a rotating axle. There is no support for the axle at the end. This places more bending moment on the axle. By placing skirt beam 24 on one end and the axle pocket 92 on the other, wheel 38 is supported on both ends of the axle arm 94. Wheel well 72 provides adequate clearance for the wheels 38 to turn in either direction. If vehicle 20 is a heavier vehicle, such as a mass transit vehicle or a heavy freight vehicle, then this support of the end of the axle with the skirt beam 24 could make a big difference and allow the vehicle 20 to be much lighter. The in-wheel motor 38 rotates about the axle arm 94.
For further protection of vehicle occupants a shoulder height skirt beam 82 creates a cage at the upper level of a person's body and head. It is interrupted by the gull wing door 86 but is reinforced by a door mounted shoulder height skirt beam 88. The gull wing door 86 is hinged from the center head beam 84. The figures illustrate how the vehicle can have a lot of head room for getting in and out of vehicle 20. Vehicle 20 would automatically open and close the doors. The vehicle occupant doesn't have to touch a thing. The center head beam 84 is another significant structural frame member. Additional protection is provided by front roll guard (or bar) 120 and rear roll guard (or bar) 122. Together the chassis center beam 22, skirt beam 24, axle assembly (92, 94, 96, and 36), body side braces 26, shoulder height skirt beam 82, center head beam 84 and roll bars (120 and 122) provide occupant protection and can create a faraday cage effect to protect against lightning.
The bottom or floor of vehicle 20 is a floor deck 32 that fills in between all these horizontal chassis and axle structures. Floor deck 32 must provide thermal insulation, road noise insulation, and especially electromagnetic field and electric radiation insulation. The transfer of electric through the saddle 104 into capacitors 114 will create strong fields beneath vehicle 20. Saddle 104 will provide a significant shield. Floor deck 32 also serves as a reinforcement plate to stiffen skirt beam 24. Floor deck 32 will be made of layers of honeycomb structures filled with urethane and diaelectric compounds. Wheel well 72 covers the upper half of the tire to complete the sound, thermal, field and radiation protective insulation.
A single passenger seat 66 is also shown, but there could be any number of passengers. Passenger seat 66 rests on shock absorbers 68 that further isolate the occupant from roadway bumps or potholes.
On the guide way vehicle 20 is guided by the saddle 104. Saddle 104 is supported by a saddle piston 106 that is moved down for switching purposes by a solenoid 112 sliding in piston bearings 108. The saddle 104 sees the guide way beam with sensors 110.
When a passenger wants to get into a vehicle the process is reversed. Obviously, passengers must request a vehicle equipped with the stand up/sit down handicap assist seat. For a passenger to use the seat it is outside the vehicle and standing extended upright. The passenger stands with their back to the chair 66. Thereafter, they fasten the seat and chest belts (184 and 186). Seat cushion rotator 168 rotates back while the back support rotator 174 rotates forward. Finally the passenger adjusts the leg support 166 up or down to get comfortable leg room.
When vehicle 20 is being driven on conventional streets it will be vulnerable to collisions that can not occur on an elevated guideway. The most frequent and fatal type of collision is caused at intersections when vehicles might run a light and hit another vehicle broadside. Since vehicle 20 is likely to be a lightweight vehicle, this kind of collision could be much worse than in traditional automobiles. In order to give the vehicle 20 some resistance and to equalize the momentum it is equipped with crash guards.
This creates the effect of a much heavier vehicle. If the colliding vehicle strikes on the driver side and is going fast enough then the crash guards 116 on the passenger side dig in on prong 116(b) and on the driver side they dig in on prong 116(a). This causes the driver side to lift and flip the vehicle into a roll. This is the preferred result. Instead of vehicle 20 and the left side of the driver's head having to absorb the momentum of the other vehicle on the side window the energy is converted into lifting vehicle 20 and rolling it over. The goal is to absorb the energy over a longer distance. In
These are all physical characteristics. What kind of controls does the vehicle have? How does a customer communicate with and operate the vehicle? Vehicle customers will come in contact with many vehicle variations, different instrument panels, different looking gauges and controls, different sizes, and different types. It could be very confusing to someone who does not own their own vehicle. First of all, the vehicle 20 would have few instruments if any at all. There may be a touch screen, a panic button, emergency button, and a joystick 190 (
The EAEV is an environmentally adaptive vehicle. This means a single physical embodiment equipped with some basic equipment for receiving and sending data from devices such as: GPS receiver and transmitter, sensors, video cameras, radar, wireless receiver, transmitter, odometer, equipped with some sort of information processing; a computer, and basic control output devices; steering, throttle and braking can use that same input, process it or interpret it in different ways and provide different output to controls based upon the kind of surface transportation infrastructure it is on.
When vehicle 20 is on an elevated guideway infrastructure it sets its speed at 120 mph. When it gets off on a public street with manually powered cars vehicle 20 monitors its speed according to speed limits provided by the GPS. When vehicle 20 gets off of the guideway into a single family subdivision it sets its speed at 10, 12, 15, or 17 mph just depending on what it is told by the local wireless information. Observe that in all three instances the velocity information originates from the same device, but the information is applied differently depending on the system it is on. On the elevated guideway vehicle 20 receives directional information from sensors 110 in the saddle 104. On a highway with manually operated vehicles, vehicle 20 receives directional control from a joystick 190 operated by a vehicle occupant. On a local single family paved street perhaps only six feet wide vehicle 20 receives its directional control from GPS input or instructions from land based devices. In this instance the instructional message is received from three different sources, but execution on the information is performed by the same steering device. There is another way the vehicle 20 could be controlled in a single family residential subdivision which is by memorizing the plat or road layout. As a vehicle exited the elevated guideway into a subdivision a device at the entrance could transmit all the local subdivision information. That information could come from a scheduling operations center just as well. Vehicle 20 is notified whenever it moves onto a different surface transportation infrastructure and makes the appropriate adjustments.
The scheduling operations control center is also gate keeper. Let's say someone gives an address into an exclusive community. Unless the gate keeper has authorization for that vehicle to enter that community it will not allow the access. The Gatekeeper also decides access based on the type of vehicle, the width, or height of the vehicle. In a Town Center Shopping Mall the freight delivery guideways are restricted to use by delivery vehicles and no private vehicles would be allowed. There is no need for a physical gate. Weight restrictions are also enforced by the gatekeeper. An overweight vehicle will not be allowed to move onto the system.
Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodiments and generally associated methods, alterations and permutations of these embodiments and methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the above description of example embodiments does not define or constrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterations are also possible without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure.
This application claims priority to provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/546,144 filed on Oct. 12, 2011, and entitled “Environment Adaptive Electric Vehicle with Lock On Security and Control Saddle.” The contents of this application are fully incorporated herein for all purposes.
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| 5004061 | Andruet | Apr 1991 | A |
| 5251680 | Minezawa et al. | Oct 1993 | A |
| 5921338 | Edmondson | Jul 1999 | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130153324 A1 | Jun 2013 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61546144 | Oct 2011 | US |
