Abstract:
The automatic gear shifting system for two-wheel electric vehicles includes a detection unit for detecting the status of operation of the two-wheel electric vehicle, a processing unit connected with the detection unit for receiving, analyzing and filtering the detected signals so as to generate a speed-changing signal that is correspondent to the detected signal, and a driving device having a low-power motor unit and control member with multiple nodes. The driving device is connected to the operation cable of the speed changing device. The driving device receives the signals of changing speed so as to change the gears according to the signals of changing speed. A motor unit located at the mediate portion of the vehicle is coupled to the processing unit and the front chainwheel. The gears are automatically changed according to the statuses of the two-wheel electric vehicle to provide sufficient power for climbing, low-speed and high-speed operations.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to an automatic gear shifting system, and more particularly, to an automatic gear shifting system of a two-wheel electric vehicle with the motor system located at the mediate portion of the vehicle. The automatic gear shifting system automatically changes gear position by detecting the operation status of the two-wheel electric vehicle. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The drawbacks for consuming petroleum as the power source of the vehicles are studied and found as one of the main reasons to cause global warming so that the green energy is developed to be used to drive vehicles. Electric vehicles are developed because the knowledge for utilizing electric power to vehicles is mature. 
         [0003]    Taiwan Utility Patent No. M570880 discloses an electric vehicle with a slope detection member which is cooperated with the motor to output suitable torque. When the slope detection member detects the ground is a flat and horizontal ground, the motor works normally. When the slope detection member detects the ground has an upward slope, the motor provides more power to the vehicle to assist the vehicle to move upward. When the slope detection member detects the ground is a downward slope, the motor transfers the electric power into magnetic braking force to reduce the speed. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the slope detection member  10  is cooperated with the motor controller  20  which is electrically connected to a motor  30 . When the slope detection member  10  detects the slope of the ground, the motor controller  20  changes the input current to the motor  30  to change the output torque to drive the vehicle. The vehicle is driven by the front wheel and the rear wheel, rather than by the motor system located at the mediate portion of the vehicle. There is no function to change gears by the speed-changing device so that the change of input current to the motor  30  cannot provide sufficient torque. 
         [0004]    Besides, no matter the vehicle is driven by the motor installed at the mediate portion or by the front and rear wheels, the slope detection member may receive messy and scattered signals because of the roughness of the road so that the motor provides unstable current according to the signals received, and this may cause accident. Taiwan Patent No. 570880 is shown in  FIG. 2  which discloses a slope detection system  10  which has a base  101  with a link  102  which is pivotably connected to a frame  103  and has a mechanic damper. Two magnets  1031  are respectively located on the two ends of the frame  103  and the base  101  has two linear detection members  104  which are located corresponding to the magnets  1031 . The linear detection members  104  are electrically connected to the slope processing circuit. The linear detection members  104  detect the distance between the magnets  1031  and accordingly generate a potential signal which is transferred into slope signal by the slope processing circuit. The slope signal is then sent to the motor controller  20  to change the current of the motor  30 . However, the frame  30  shakes due to the vibration from the road so that the mechanic damper cannot accurately respond to the actual slope. The messy and scattered signals are sent to the motor controller  20  which passes the messy and scattered signals to the motor  30  so that the driving power from the motor  30  is unstable and this can be dangerous to the driver. 
         [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 7,306,531 discloses an electric bicycle derailleur as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , wherein the electric motor of the shifting device  40  is directly connected to the front derailleur  50  or the rear derailleur. The electric motor is connected with a processing unit  60  which does not have a filtering member. The processing unit  60  is electrically connected to a detection device  70  which can be a speed detection member  701  or a torque detection member  702 . After the processing unit  60  receives the signals from the detection device  70 , the shifting device  40  adjusts the gears of the front derailleur  50  or the rear derailleur so as to display the gear on the display unit  80 . However, the processing unit  60  does not have a proper logic control process to be cooperated with the electric motor, and cannot filter the messy and scattered signals from the rough road so that the gear shifting becomes unstable. Furthermore, the connection between the shifting device  40  and the front derailleur  50  or the rear derailleur is so complicated which is a burden for maintenance. The system cannot be cooperated with the internal speed-changing system. 
         [0006]    In addition, the automatic gear shifting system for two-wheel vehicle should be installed corresponding to the motor system located at the mediate portion of the vehicle so as to smoothly shift the gears. The gear-changing signal processing unit of U.S. Pat. No. 7,306,531 B2 (electric bicycle derailleur) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,941 B2 (bicycle shift control apparatus that selectively restricts speed stages) does not have suitable control logic process to be cooperated with the electric motor of the two-wheel electric vehicle so that the two prior arts cannot be used as the automatic gear shifting system of the two-wheel electric vehicles with the motor system located at the mediate portion of the vehicle. 
         [0007]    The conventional two-wheel electric vehicles are driven by the front wheel or the rear wheel, the motor system is not located at the mediate portion of the vehicle, so that the conventional two-wheel electric vehicles do not have gear shifting functions. The only way to change the speed is to change the input current to change the torques. This cannot provide sufficient torques. 
         [0008]    When the conventional two-wheel electric vehicles are operated on slopes, due to the roughness of the road, the slope detection member cannot verify the actual road condition and affected by messy and scattered signals. Therefore the motor provides unstable current according to the signals received, and this may cause accident. 
         [0009]    The speed-changing device of the conventional two-wheel electric vehicles is connected to the front or rear speed-changing members, which is complicated and has high maintenance fee, and cannot be cooperated with internal speed-changing system. There is no proper control logic process provided for the electric motor of the conventional two-wheel electric vehicles so that the existed speed-changing device is not suitable for being cooperated with the two-wheel electric vehicles with the motor system located at the mediate portion. 
         [0010]    The present invention intends to provide an automatic gear shifting system of a two-wheel electric vehicle with the motor system located at the mediate portion of the vehicle, the automatic gear shifting system improves the shortcomings of the conventional ones. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    The present invention relates to an automatic gear shifting system of a two-wheel electric vehicle with the motor system located at the mediate portion of the vehicle, and the automatic gear shifting system comprises a detection unit for detecting operation status of the two-wheel electric vehicle and the detection unit sends a detected signal. A processing unit is connected to the detection unit, a driving device and a motor system located at mediate portion of the vehicle. The processing unit receives, analyzing and filtering the detected signal and generates a speed-changing signal, corresponding to the detected signal, to the driving device and the motor system so as to shift gears by cooperation of the driving device and the motor system. 
         [0012]    The driving device has a motor unit which is connected to the processing unit and has an output shaft which is connected to a disk and a control member which has multiple nodes. The disk is connected to a speed-changing device by an operation cable. The speed-changing device has multiple gear positions. The interior of the disk is fixed to the output shaft and the operation cable is connected to outside of the disk. The operation cable is connected to the speed-changing device. The motor unit receives the speed-changing signal to drive the output shaft to change the node of the control member and to rotate the disk so that the operation cable is driven to change the gear position of the speed-changing device. 
         [0013]    The motor system is mechanically connected to a chainwheel of the two-wheel electric vehicle. The motor system provides power to the two-wheel electric vehicle by the speed-changing signal and the shifting of the speed-changing device. 
         [0014]    The driving device generates a feed-back signal to the processing unit when the gear shifting to the speed-changing device is completed. The processing unit is acknowledged the gear position of the speed-changing device. The processing unit receives and analyzes the detected signal to the feed-back signal, and filters the detected signal and generates a speed-changing signal, corresponding to the detected signal and the feed-back signal, to the driving device. 
         [0015]    A display unit is connected to the processing unit which generates a display signal to the display unit when receiving the feed-back signal. The display unit receives the display signal to display the gear position of the speed-changing device. 
         [0016]    The operation status includes driving force, driving speed, power consumption, electric-assistance level, present gear position and slope. The detection unit comprises a slope detection member, a speed detection member, a torque detection member and a pressure detection member, wherein the slope detection member has a gravity sensor (G-sensor) or a leveling device. 
         [0017]    The processing unit is electrically connected to the driving device and the motor system. The processing unit filters messy and scattered signals to provide stable control signals. 
         [0018]    The speed-changing device is a front speed-changing device, a rear speed-changing device or an internal speed-changing device. 
         [0019]    Alternatively, the present invention provides an automatic gear shifting system and comprises a motor unit, a disk and a control member. The motor unit has an output shaft which is mechanically connected to the disk and the control member. The interior of the disk is fixed to the output shaft and an operation cable is connected to outside of the disk. The operation cable is connected to the speed-changing device which has multiple gear positions. The control member has an inner ring and an outer ring, wherein the outer ring is fixed to the frame of a two-wheel electric vehicle and the inner ring is connected to the output shaft. The inner ring has multiple nodes relative to the outer ring. The nodes are located corresponding to the gear positions of the speed-changing device. When the motor unit receives gear-shifting commands, the inner ring is rotated to change the node and the disk drives the operation cable to shift the gear position of the speed-changing device. 
         [0020]    The outer periphery of the inner ring has at least one resilient member fixed thereto and the at least one resilient member has a contact portion. The outer ring has multiple recesses defined in the inner periphery thereof and the recesses are located corresponding to the contact portions which are engaged with the recesses to form the nodes. 
         [0021]    The inner periphery of the outer ring has at least one resilient member fixed thereto and the at least one resilient member has a contact portion. The inner ring has multiple recesses defined in the outer periphery thereof. The number of the recesses is larger than that of the at least one resilient member. The recesses are located corresponding to the contact portions which are engaged with the recesses to form the nodes. 
         [0022]    The present invention uses the detection unit to detect the operation status of the two-wheel electric vehicle and the operation status includes the driving force, the driving speed, the power consumption, the electric-assistance level, the present gear position and the slope where the vehicle is operated. The processing unit filters the detected signal to avoid the system from providing incorrect speed-changing signal to make the motor system to respond unstably. The processing unit receives, analyzing and filtering the detected signal and generates a speed-changing signal, corresponding to the detected signal, to the driving device and the motor system so as to shift gears smoothly by cooperation of the driving device and the motor system. The correct gear shifting avoids unnecessary electric power consumption. 
         [0023]    The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  shows the control method of the conventional electric vehicle on slope and the detection system of the conventional electric vehicle; 
           [0025]      FIG. 2  shows the conventional slope detection system; 
           [0026]      FIG. 3  shows that the conventional gear-shifting device is directly connected to the front speed-changing device of the conventional electric vehicle; 
           [0027]      FIG. 4  shows the electric gear shifting device of the conventional non-electric, non-electric assistance bicycle; 
           [0028]      FIG. 5  shows the block diagram of the first embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of the present invention; 
           [0029]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view to show the first embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of the present invention; 
           [0030]      FIG. 7  is an exploded view to show the first embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of the present invention; 
           [0031]      FIG. 8  is a cross sectional view, taken along line A-A of  FIG. 5 ; 
           [0032]      FIG. 9  shows that the first embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of the present invention is applied to the front speed-changing device and the rear speed-changing device of the two-wheel electric vehicle; 
           [0033]      FIG. 10  shows that the first embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of the present invention is applied to the internal speed-changing device of the two-wheel electric vehicle; 
           [0034]      FIG. 11  is an exploded view to show the second embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of the present invention, and 
           [0035]      FIG. 12  shows the cross sectional view of the second embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0036]    Referring to  FIGS. 5 to 10 , the first embodiment of the automatic gear shifting system of a two-wheel electric vehicle with the motor system located at the mediate portion of the vehicle comprises a detection unit  1  for detecting operation status of the two-wheel electric vehicle and sending a detected signal. The operation status includes the driving force, the driving speed, the power consumption, the electric-assistance level, the present gear position and the slope where the vehicle is operated. The detection unit  1  comprises a slope detection member  11 , a speed detection member  12 , a torque detection member  13  and a pressure detection member  14 , wherein the slope detection member  11  has a gravity sensor (G-sensor) or a leveling device. 
         [0037]    A processing unit  2  is connected to the detection unit  1 , a driving device  3  and a motor system  4  located at mediate portion of the vehicle. The processing unit  2  receives, analyzes and filters the detected signal and generating a speed-changing signal, corresponding to the detected signal, to the driving device  3  and the motor system  4  so as to shift gears by cooperation of the driving device  3  and the motor system  4 . The processing unit  2  filters the detected signal to avoid the system from providing incorrect speed-changing signal to make the motor system  4  to respond unstably. 
         [0038]    The driving device  3  has a motor unit  31  which is connected to the processing unit  2  and has an output shaft  32 . The output shaft  32  of the motor unit  31  is connected to a disk  33  and a control member  34  which has multiple nodes. The disk  33  is connected to a speed-changing device  6  by an operation cable  5 . The speed-changing device  6  has multiple gear positions. The interior of the disk  33  is fixed to the output shaft  32  and the operation cable  5  is connected to outside of the disk  33 . The operation cable  5  is connected to the speed-changing device  6 , so that the driving device  3 , the operation cable  5  and the speed-changing device  6  are mechanically connected to each other. The driving device  3  replaces the conventional manual shifting device. The motor unit  31  receives the speed-changing signal to drive the output shaft  32  to change the node of the control member  34  and to rotate the disk  33  so that the operation cable  5  is driven to change the gear position of the speed-changing device  6 . The driving device  3  and the speed-changing device  6  have different nodes. The driving device  3  receives the speed-changing signal from the processing unit  2  so as to shift the gear position according to the speed-changing signal. The speed-changing device  6  is a front speed-changing device  6   a , a rear speed-changing device  6   b  or an internal speed-changing device  6   c . The driving device  3  generates a feed-back signal to the processing unit  2  when the gear shifting to the speed-changing device is completed. The processing unit  2  is then acknowledged the gear position of the speed-changing device  6 . 
         [0039]    The motor system  4  is mechanically connected to the chainwheel  7  of the two-wheel electric vehicle. The motor system  4  provides power to the two-wheel electric vehicle, it also cooperates with the driving device  3  by the speed-changing signal so shift the gear positions of the speed-changing device  6  smoothly. The motor system  4  is a co-axle motor, an assembled motor or a tilt motor. 
         [0040]    A display unit  8  is connected to the processing unit  2  which generates a display signal to the display unit  8  when receiving the feed-back signal, the display unit  8  receives the display signal to display the gear position of the speed-changing device  6  accordingly. 
         [0041]    The present invention uses the detection unit  1  to detect the operation status of the two-wheel electric vehicle and sends a detected signal to the processing unit  2 . The operation status includes the driving force, the driving speed, the power consumption, the electric-assistance level, the present gear position and the slope where the vehicle is operated. If the detection unit  1  is the slope detection member  11 , the detected signal is the slope of the road. If the detection unit  1  is the speed detection member  12 , the detected signal is the speed of the two-wheel electric vehicle. If the detection unit  1  is the torque detection member  13  or the pressure detection member  14 , the detected signal is the driving power of the two-wheel electric vehicle. If the detection unit  1  has multiple detection members which can be the slope detection member  11 , the speed detection member  12 , the torque detection member  13  and the pressure detection member  14 . The slope detection member  11  has a gravity sensor (G-sensor) or a leveling device. The processing unit  2  receives the detected signal from the detection unit  1  and analyzes the detected signal to decide the proper gear position. For example, if the detection unit  1  is the slope detection member  11 , the processing unit  2  filters the messy and scattered information from the detected signal and controls the driving device  3  to shift to a proper gear position relative to the slope of the road. The motor system  4  is connected to the processing unit  2  which changes the input current to the motor system  4  according to the speed-changing signal. By the cooperation between the driving device  3  and the motor system  4  according to the speed-changing signal, the gear shifting is smooth and precisely to provide proper torque to the two-wheel electric vehicle. Therefore, the driving performance is enhanced and the electric power consumption is improved. 
         [0042]    As shown in  FIG. 5 , the driving device  3  generates a feed-back signal to the processing unit  2  when the gear shifting to the speed-changing device is completed. The processing unit  2  is then acknowledged the gear position of the speed-changing device  6 . The processing unit  2  receives, analyzes and filters the detected signal from the detection unit  1  and generates a speed-changing signal, corresponding to the feed-back signal and the detected signal, to the driving device  3  and the motor system  4 , so that the two-wheel electric vehicle is operated by a proper gear position. The display unit  8  receives the display signal to display the gear position of the speed-changing device  6  so that the current gear position is acknowledged by the users. 
         [0043]      FIGS. 6 to 10  disclose a driving device  3  which comprises a motor unit  31 , a disk  33  and a control member  34 . The motor unit  31  is connected to the processing unit  2  and has an output shaft  32  which is mechanically connected to the disk  33  and the control member  34  by a bearing  35 . The interior of the disk  33  is fixed to the output shaft  32  and an operation cable  5  is connected to outside of the disk  33 . The operation cable  5  connected to a speed-changing device  6  which has multiple gear positions. 
         [0044]    The control member  34  has an inner ring  341  and an outer ring  342 , the outer ring  342  is fixed to a frame  9  of a two-wheel electric vehicle and the inner ring  341  is connected to the output shaft  32  by a bearing  35 . The inner ring  341  has multiple nodes relative to the outer ring  342 . The nodes are located corresponding to the gear positions of the speed-changing device  6 . The outer periphery of the inner ring  341  has at least one resilient member  343  fixed thereto and the at least one resilient member  343  has a contact portion  3431 . The outer ring  342  has multiple recesses  344  defined in the inner periphery thereof and the number of the recesses  344  is larger than the number of the at least one resilient member  343 . The recesses  344  are located corresponding to the contact portions  3431  which are engaged with the recesses to form the nodes. 
         [0045]    The motor unit  31  receives gear-shifting signal, the inner ring  341  is rotated to change the node of the driving device  3  corresponding to the speed-changing signal and the disk  33  drives the operation cable  5  to shift the gear position of the speed-changing device  6 . 
         [0046]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , when the driving device  3  is located at the initial node, the resilient member  343  is engaged with the recess  344   a , when the driving device  3  receives the speed-changing signal to increase the gear position, the motor unit  31  rotates the output shaft  32  counter clockwise. The resilient member  343  of the inner ring  341  is compressed and rotates toward the top position of the recess  344   b  to engage the resilient member  343  with the recess  344   b . In the meanwhile, the disk  33  rotates counter clockwise to retract the operation cable  5  so that the speed-changing device  6  changes its speed. On the contrary, when the driving device  3  is located at the final node, the resilient member  343  is engaged with the recess  344   d , when the driving device  3  receives the speed-changing signal to decrease the gear position, the motor unit  31  rotates the output shaft  32  clockwise. The resilient member  343  of the inner ring  341  is compressed and rotates toward the top position of the recess  344   c  so that the disk  33  releases the operation cable  5  so as to change the speed of the speed-changing device  6 . 
         [0047]      FIG. 9  shows that the two-wheel electric vehicle has the front speed-changing device  6   a  and the rear speed-changing device  6   b . The outer ring  342  is connected to the frame  9  and one of the driving devices  3  is connected to the front speed-changing device  6   a  by the operation cable  5 , and the other one of the driving devices  3  is connected to the rear speed-changing device  6   b . As shown in  FIG. 10  which shows the two-wheel electric vehicle has an internal speed-changing device  6   c . The driving device  3  is connected to the internal speed-changing device  6   c  by the operation cable  5 . The driving device  3  is not restricted by the front speed-changing device  6   a , the rear speed-changing device  6   b  or the internal speed-changing device  6   c . The driving device  3  has a simple structure, low manufacturing cost and is easily be maintained. The driving device  3  can be conveniently installed to any two-wheel electric vehicle. 
         [0048]      FIGS. 11 and 12  show the second embodiment of the present invention and which differs from the first embodiment is that the inner periphery of the outer ring  342  has at least one resilient member  343  fixed thereto and the at least one resilient member  343  has a contact portion  3431 . The inner ring  341  has multiple recesses  344  defined in the outer periphery thereof. The number of the recesses is larger than that of the at least one resilient member  343 . The recesses  344  are located corresponding to the contact portions  3431  which are engaged with the recesses  344  to form the nodes. 
         [0049]    The detection unit  1  detects the operation status of the two-wheel electric vehicle and sends a detected signal to the processing unit  2 . The operation status includes the driving force, the driving speed, the power consumption, the electric-assistance level, the present gear position and the slope where the vehicle is operated. The operation status includes the driving force, the driving speed, the power consumption, the electric-assistance level, the present gear position and the slope where the vehicle is operated. By the adjusting the proper gear position and the driving power of the motor system  4 , the two-wheel electric vehicle is operated at proper torque and has higher performance. 
         [0050]    The motor system  4  provides the driving power to the two-wheel electric vehicle. The driving device  3  and the motor system  4  are cooperated by the speed-changing signal to allow the gear shifting to be operated smoothly so as to provide the proper torque to the two-wheel electric vehicle and avoid unnecessary electric power consumption. 
         [0051]    The processing unit  2  filters the messy and scattered information detected from the detection unit  1  and accurately calculates the slope of the road so that the proper gear position can be shifted. The filtering of detected signal can also avoid from providing incorrect speed-changing signal which makes the motor system  4  to respond unstably to affect the safety of the user. 
         [0052]    The driving device  3  generates a feed-back signal to the processing unit  2  when the gear shifting  6  to the speed-changing device is completed. The processing unit  2  is acknowledged the gear position of the speed-changing device  6 . The processing unit  2  receives, filters and analyzes the detected signal to the feed-back signal, and generates a speed-changing signal, corresponding to the detected signal and the feed-back signal, to the driving device  3  and the motor system  4  so as to precisely adjust the gear position. The display unit  8  receives the display signal and displays the gear position of the speed-changing device  6  so that the user is acknowledged the current gear position. 
         [0053]    The driving device  3  is connected to the front speed-changing device  6   a , the rear speed-changing device  6   b  or the internal speed-changing device  6   c . The outer ring  342  is connected to the frame  9  of the two-wheel electric vehicle as shown in  FIGS. 9 and 10  so that the driving device  3  is not restricted by the front speed-changing device  6   a , the rear speed-changing device  6   b  or the internal speed-changing device  6   c . The driving device  3  has a simple structure, low manufacturing cost and is easily be maintained. The driving device  3  can be conveniently installed to any two-wheel electric vehicle. 
         [0054]    The motor system  4  can be a co-axle motor, an assembled motor or a tilt motor. The users may use any of the motors, according to needs, to be installed to the two-wheel electric vehicle. The present invention can be used in wide range of applications. 
         [0055]    While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.