Patent EA-004620-B1 (EA)
Title: Wheel provided with driving means
Inventor: HEINEN ADRIANUS JOHANNES
IPC: B60L11/18
Filed: 2001-01-26
Abstract: 1. Wheel, comprising: electric driving means; control means for controlling the electric driving means; measuring means; operating means connected to the control means and the measuring means for controlling the wheel, and data communication means connected to the control means for transmitting data outside the wheel. 2. Wheel according to claim 1, in which the wheel comprises a rim which coaxially at the inner side is provided with a rotor provided with permanent magnets and which rotor and rim are connected to a central shaft, and a coaxial stator provided with windings which stator is situated between the central shaft and the rotor and being connectable to a vehicle. 3. Wheel according to claim 2, in which the stator is divided into at least two groups of electrically and physically separated windings and each group comprising at least two windings each having its own control and measuring system, which control and measuring systems are operated by an operating system which is also situated in the wheel. 4. Wheel according to claim 1,2 or 3, comprising transmitting means are adapted for exchanging data with the control, measuring and operating means of other, similar wheels. 5. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the means for exchanging data communicate to the outside by means of optical communication means. 6. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the measuring, control and operating means of a wheel communicate via a central processing unit outside the wheel. 7. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the control means comprises means for controlling the amperage through each winding separately. 8. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the control systems of the windings are connected to the operating means. 9. Wheel according to claim 8, in which the measuring means comprise an encoder for measuring the number of revolutions and the angular position of the rotor with respect to the stator, and a current measuring device for measuring the current through each of the windings. 10. Wheel according to claim 9, in which the encoder is connected to the operating means and the control means is connected to the current measuring devices. 11. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the operating means is connected to a central processing unit outside the wheel by means of the data communication means. 12. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, provided with cooling means. 13. Wheel according to claim 12, provided with active cooling means. 14. Wheel according to claim 13, provided with fans in the wheel for cooling the wheel. 15. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the wheel is provided with means for water cooling. 16. Wheel according to any one of clams 2-15, further comprising a cooling body provided with means for holding heat-producing electrical components of the control means and the operating means in heat-exchanging contact with the cooling body, the cooling body being mounted in heat-exchanging contact with the stator. 17. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, further comprising means for measuring the mechanically delivered torque and means for measuring the torque by measuring the electrically accommodated power, and means for comparing the mechanically delivered torque and the electrically accommodated power. 18. Wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the operating systems in the wheel are provided with a "master" setting and a "slave" setting, in which by means of the communication means the central processing unit is able to have the operating system switch from the "master" setting to the "slave" setting and vice versa. 19. Wheel according to claim 18, in which the switch from the "master" setting to the "slave" setting and vice versa is influenced by either the power demand or the speed of the wheel. 20. Wheel according to claim 18 or 19, in which the wheel demanding the lowest power has been set as "master". 21. Assembly of at least two wheels according to one or more of the preceding claims, in which the wheels are connected to a common central data processing unit by means of data communication means. 22. Vehicle comprising a platform for housing a power supply and a central processing unit, at least one wheel according to any one of the preceding claims being attached to said platform, said central processing unit being arranged for controlling said power supply and providing driving instructions to operating means inside said at least one wheel. 23. Wheel strut according to any one of claims 1-20 provided with vehicle attachment means for attaching the wheel strut to the rest of the vehicle, and wheel attachment means for attaching a wheel to a wheel strut, in which the wheel attachment means are rotatable about the longitudinal axis with respect to the vehicle attachment means and in which the wheel strut is provided with driving means for rotating the wheel attachment means. 24. Wheel strut according to claim 23, in which the vehicle attachment means and the wheel attachment means are spring-mounted to each other along the longitudinal axis by means of connection means. 25. Wheel strut according to claim 23 or 24, in which the connection means comprise a splined shaft which at one side is provided with a spline and on the other side is provided with driving means for rotating the splined shaft, and with a spline housing in which the splined shaft is situated and which spline housing at the bottom side is provided with accommodation means for a wheel shaft and attachment means for a wheel, and in which the vehicle attachment means are formed by a sleeve provided with means to connect the sleeve to a vehicle, in which the spline housing with splined shaft is at least partially accommodated in the sleeve, in which the spline housing and the sleeve are spring-mounted to each other by means of spring means, and the driving means are connected to the sleeve. 26. Wheel strut according to claim 25, in which the spline housing is provided with a receiving sleeve for a shaft which is positioned substantially perpendicular to the spline housing. 27. Wheel strut according to claim 25 or 26, comprising spring means for buffing the vertical movement of the wheel attachment means with respect to the vehicle attachment means. 28. Assembly of a wheel and wheel strut comprising a wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims 1-20 and a wheel strut according to one or more of the preceding claims 23-27. 29. Method for coordinating the number of revolutions of at least two wheel provided with electromotors in the wheels according to one or more of the preceding claims 1-20, in which physically separated control systems control the amperage in each winding of the electromotors, the control systems in one wheel are operated by an operating system, a measuring system supplies information regarding the magnetic field strength to the control system and supplies the mutual position of the rotor and stator to the operating system, and the operating systems of the several wheels communicate one to the other by means of data communication means via a central processing unit. 30. Method according to claim 29, in which the central processing unit has the operating system of the wheel demanding the lowest power function as "master", and has the operating systems of the other wheel or other wheels, respectively, operate as so-called "slave", in which each time the operating system of the wheel demanding the lowest power acts as "master" and the operating systems of the other wheels act as "slave". 31. Method according to claim 29 or 30, in which the central processing unit includes data of the wheel struts regarding the angular position when managing the operating systems of the wheels. 32. Vehicle wheel according to any one of claims 1-20 including an electromotor, in which the electromotor is a more than 8 pole, 3 or more phased, DC synchronous motor. 33. Vehicle provided with at least one wheel according to one or more of the preceding claims 1-20, or a wheel strut according to one or more of the preceding claims 23-27. 34. Wheel, comprising: electric driving means inside the wheel; control means inside the wheel for controlling the electric driving means; measuring means inside the wheel; operating means inside the wheel connected to the control means and the measuring means for controlling the wheel, and data communication means inside the wheel connected to the control means for transmitting data outside the wheel.