Scooter body and front-wheel drive type electromotive scooter

Abstract: A front-wheel drive type electromotive scooter comprising a body (10) with substantially horizontal foot step plates (103, 104) characterized in that said front wheel (1) is a direct drive type electromotive wheel in which a stator and an armature of a direct drive motor (2) as a traveling motive power source are directly provided between a shaft portion (8) and a disk portion of said front wheel (1), and a power battery (3) and a control device (4) are mounted in said body (10).

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electromotive scooter having a plastics body comprising a hollow construction of fiber reinforced plastics and preferably to a two or three-wheeled type electromotive scooter whose front wheel is driven by a direct drive motor. Some prior art scooter bodies are made of processed steel or cast steel, and a battery case is additionally provided. The GB-A-1510 241 (Adams) discloses a two wheeled electrically powered vehicle comprising a front wheel, a rear wheel, an electric motor coupled drivingly to at least one wheel and supplied by a plurality of batteries, a body composed of an upper part connected to the front wheel, and the rear wheel for supporting the body and a lower part connected to the upper part at a substantially horizontal parting line. But exchange and charging of batteries cannot be done easily. FR-A-2377930 (Siemens) discloses a power device for vehicles comprising an electrical motor mounted into the hub of one of the wheels. It is only disclosed an example of drive shaft by a direct drive motor. FR-A-2617455 (Ligones) describes a hollow body, electromotive scooter (Fig 7) with a frame neck. In another prior art, a direct drive type electromotive wheel is well known in which a stator and a rotor of a direct drive motor as a driving motive source are directly provided between a shaft of the wheel and a disk part. Such a direct drive type electromotive wheel is shown in Figures 4 and 5 wherein Figure 5 is a cross sectional view along lines V-V in Figure 4. A boss opening 33a of an armature core 33 is coupled with a wheel shaft 32, so that the armature core 33 is fixed to the wheel shaft 32 by bolts 34. Motor side plates 36 and 37 are rotatably supported at both sides of the armature core 33 by the wheel shaft 32 through bearings 35. Permanent magnets 38 are fixed between the motor side plates 36 and 37, and a wheel rim 39 is fixed to the outside edges of the motor side plates 37. A wheel 1 provided on the outside surface of the tire rim 39, and the wheel shaft 32 is coupled with the scooter body via suspension rods 7. An electromotive scooter and an electromotive vehicle of two, three of four wheels have been researched and designed or partially implemented wherein such a direct drive type electromotive wheel is used as a driving wheel. A conventional scooter body is often very heavy, because the body is made of processed steel or cast steel. Thus, load on traveling motive power source is very large. In an electromotive scooter, a battery case should be additional provided as a separated construction to the body so that the battery case receives many batteries. Therefore, it is expensive in process and manufacturing. Conventional electromotive scooters are often of a rear-wheel drive type in which a rear wheel is driven. In the rear-wheel drive type electromotive scooter, especially in a three-wheeled scooter having two rear wheels, two electromotive wheels are needed. Thus, it is expensive and complex in a control device. Moreover, electric wiring is complex and troublesome. If such a scooter is improved to be comfortable to drive by using independent suspension type two rear wheels, the independent suspension mechanism is further complex and troublesome. These disadvantages should be resolved. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electromotive scooter which resolves at least some of the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior arts. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to resolve the above discussed disadvantages of the prior arts, a scooter of this invention comprises a body having a a hollow construction and made of fiber reinforced plastics, as defined in claim 1. Moreover, a body of an electromotive scooter according to this invention is a fiber reinforced plastics construction having a hollow, and the lower portion of the body is constructed such that this lower portion can be separated into an upper sub-portion and a lower sub-portion. A hollow of the lower sub-portion receives many batteries. As being described hereinbefore, the body can be separated into the upper and lower portions or an upper part and a bottom part. Foot step plates may be provided in substantially horizontal along separation edges of both sides of the upper and bottom parts. The upper and bottom step plates are removably coupled with each other by bolts and nuts of superposition. Since the hollow construction body is very light, load on traveling motive power source is reduced. Because of the hollow construction body, the hollow of the lower portion can be effectively used as the battery case and many batteries can be effectively mounted in the case. In addition, a centroid of the scooter may be low and the scooter can travel in stable because of the weight of the batteries set on the lower portion of the body. The batteries mounted on the lower portion of the body can be exchanged by using the bottom part of the body as the battery case or battery tray wherein the bottom part can be moved toward ground by separating it from the upper portion. Moreover, in order to resolve the above discussed disadvantages of the prior arts, a front-wheel drive type electromotive scooter of this invention is characterized by the features of the second part of claim 1. The front wheel may be a direct drive type electromotive wheel in which a stator and a rotor of a direct drive motor as a traveling motive power source are directly provided between a wheel shaft and a disk part of the front wheel. Batteries and a control device thereof are set on the body. A body of the electromotive scooter is a hollow construction made of fiber reinforced plastics. A control device may be set in the hollow adjacent to a frame neck which extends from a steering shaft of the front portion of the body to a step portion. The batteries and the front wheel are then electrically connected to each other via the control device. A power cable may be connected to the front wheel through an opening adjacent to the steering shaft and through a extension portion of the steering shaft. The electromotive scooter travels by using the front wheel as the drive wheel of producing thrust. Since the power cable may be wired through the opening near the steering shaft and the extension portion of the steering portion into the front wheel, the cable does not affect the steering control. The present invention is pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a front view of a front-wheel drive type electromotive motor according to this invention in which a main portion is cut; Figure 2 is a cross sectional view along lines II-II of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a cross sectional view along lines III-III of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of a conventional electromotive wheel; and Figure 5 is a cross sectional view along lines V-V of Figure 4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be discussed by reference to the attached drawings. An electromotive scooter shown in Figure 1 is a front-wheel drive type in which a front wheel 1 is a drive wheel (electromotive wheel) and a rear wheel 14 is a dependent wheel (free wheel). The front wheel 1 is a well known electromotive wheel as a direct drive type wherein a stator and a rotor of a direct drive motor 2 as a traveling motive power source are directly provided between a wheel shaft and a disk portion of the front wheel 1. This well know electromotive wheel has been discussed hereinbefore by reference to Figures 4 and 5. The both ends of the wheel shaft are supported by a front fender 5. The front fender 5 is large and strong such that it can act as a suspension arm for the front wheel 1. An arm portion 5a extended from the lower portion of the front fender 5 to the rear portion thereof is coupled with a lower portion of a link arm 6 by a pin 17. An upper portion of the link arm 6 is coupled with an upper portion of a suspension rod 7 by a pin 18, and a lower portion of the suspension rod 7 is coupled with a part of the front fender 5 adjacent to a wheel shaft by a pin. Thus, a triangle shaped suspension mechanism is constructed as shown in Figure 1. The upper portion of the link arm 6 is coupled with a lower portion of a steering shaft 8. A reference number 16 represents a steering controller. A body 10 of the electromotive scooter is a hollow construction which is strong and made of fiber reinforced plastics (FRP). Thus, a weight of the body 10 is very light. However, such a hollow construction type scooter body can be applied to the front-wheel type electromotive scooter as well as a rear-wheel type electromotive scooter. A lower portion of the body 10 is constructed such that it can be separated into an upper portion and a lower portion as shown in Figures 2 and 3. A bottom part 102 can be removed from an upper part 101 which constructs a large part of the body 10, and the separation surfaces are substantially horizontal. The bottom part 102 is used as a battery case or a battery tray. Foot plates 103 and 104 are extended horizontally from both the sides of the upper part 101 and the bottom part 102. These upper and lower step plates 103 and 104 are overlapped with each other and are assembled as one body by bolts 20 and nuts 21. Many batteries 3 are mounted in a lower hollow portion 10a of the body 10 by providing the batteries 3 on the bottom part 102. When the bolts 20 and the nuts 21 are removed, the bottom part 102 and the batteries 3 can be downed vertically on ground in order to exchange the batteries or charge them. After charging the batteries, the bottom part 102 and the batteries 3 are are lifted up vertically, and the bottom part 102 and the upper part 101 are coupled with each other again by the bolts and nuts to set the batteries. Of course, additional charged batteries 3 may be previously set on the bottom part 102 as the battery tray and may be exchanged. A control device 4 for controlling the direct drive motor 2 of the front wheel 1 is mounted in a hollow portion 10b near a frame neck 105 which extends from a steering shaft portion at the front of the body 10 to the step plates 103 and 104 at the lower center. The steering shaft 8 extends through the steering shaft portion. The power batteries 3 and the direct drive motor 2 of the front wheel 1 are connected to each other through the control device 4 by a power cable 11. In addition, the control device 4 and the direct drive motor 2 are connected to each other by a control wire positioned along the power cable 11 in order to control a speed or a brake. The power cable 11 or the like is wired from the body 10 to the front wheel 1 through an opening 12 of the body 10 near the steering shaft 8 and an extension part 11a of the steering shaft 8. Thus, the steering control does not pull or damage the cables. A length of the power cable 11 or the like can be short as much as possible. In the front wheel 1, the power cable 11 or the like takes a long way around the outside of the pin 17 along the link arm 6 and is positioned at the bottom side of the front fender 5 in substantially horizontal. Then, the power cable 11 or the like is connected to the wheel shaft portion of the direct drive motor 2. A reference number 15 represents a driver seat. As being described hereinbefore, the scooter body of this invention is the hollow construction made of FRP, so that it is very light and can reduce the load on traveling motive power. Moreover, there is a space to receive the batteries 3 in the hollow portion 10a of the lower portion of the hollow constructed body 10, so that an additional battery case is not needed and it is inexpensive in cost and is light in body weight. Thus, this is useful for the electromotive scooter. Since the batteries are mounted at the lower portion of the body, the electromotive scooter of this invention can run in stable because of the low centroid. The lower portion of the body 10 can be separated into the upper and lower parts and the battery can be mounted, so that it is easy to exchange the batteries at a high speed. Thus, it is convenient to handle. In addition, according to the front-wheel drive type electromotive scooter variant of the present invention, the front wheel 1 can be used as the electromotive wheel (drive wheel) to produce traveling thrust, so that it is inexpensive to manufacture the three-wheeled scooter having two rear wheels. Moreover, it is easy in traveling control, and an electric power consumption can be saved so that the distance covered can be long for one charge. The two rear wheels can be accomplished as the independent suspension type in easy and inexpensive, and this is the comfortable scooter to ride in.

Claims: An electromotive scooter comprising a front wheel (1) rear wheel means composed of at least one rear wheel (14) an electric motor (2) coupled drivingly to at least one wheel and supplied by a plurality of batteries (3) a plastics scooter body (10) composed of an upper part (101) that is connected to the front wheel (1) and the rear wheel means for supporting the scooter body characterized in that a lower part (102) is connected to the upper part (101) at a substantially horizontal parting line said upper and lower parts are fibre-reinforced and releasably connected and said upper part (101) has a horizontal portion extending between the front wheel (1) and the rear wheel means, a frame neck (105) that extends upwardly from a forward region of said horizontal portion towards the front wheel, and an upsurge portion toward the rear of said horizontal portion, at least the horizontal portion of the scooter body defining a cavity (10a), containing said plurality of batteries (3) while resting on said lower part of the scooter body. A scooter according to claim 1, wherein the motor (2) is a direct drive motor incorporated in the front wheel (1). A scooter according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that it further comprises a control device (4) mounted in the frame neck (105). A scooter according to any one of the preceding claims characterized in that it further comprises a steering shaft (8) extending through the frame neck (105) to the front wheel (1). A scooter according to claims 3 and 4 characterized in that it further comprises a power cable (11) connecting the control device (4) to the motor (2), said power cable (11) extending through an opening (12) in the frame neck (105) near the steering shaft (8). A scooter according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein at least one of the upper part (101) and the lower part (102) of the scooter body (10) comprises horizontal footrest plates (103, 104) that project from the scooter body. A scooter according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the upper part (101) of the scooter body includes horizontal footrest plates (103) that extend from the scooter body at the parting line,the lower part (102) of the scooter body includes horizontal plates (104) that extend immediately beneath the horizontal footrest plates and in contact therewith, and the lower part of the body is attached to the upper part of the body by fastening elements (20, 21) that extend through the horizontal footrest plates and the horizontal plates of the lower part of the body. A scooter according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the front wheel (1) comprises a shaft, an annular disk portion, and bearings supporting the annular disk portion for rotation relative to the shaft, and the motor (2) comprises a stator attached to the shaft of the front wheel (1) and a rotor attached to the annular disk portion of the front wheel.

Inventors: ONO MASAO C O YOKOHAMA LABORAT, ONO, MASAO, C/O YOKOHAMA LABORATORY
Applicants: TOKYO R & D KK, TOKYO R&D CO., LTD.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B62K11
IPC codes: B62K11, B60K7, F02B61, B62M7