Patent Publication Number: US-2015088347-A1

Title: Driving mode switching device for electric gear box

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a driving mode switching device, and more particularly, to a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box used on a bicycle or a motorcycle. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Cycling becomes a popular exercise to people living in the urban areas and the bicycles are developed to have different features for different purposes. There are mountain bikes, folding bicycles, racing bicycles, or lady bicycles. In order to have higher efficiency of performance, some of the bicycles are equipped with a derailleur system so as to adjust the desired speed and save the riders effort. However, the conventional derailleur systems are mechanical systems which require the riders to tread the pedals very hard when the low-speed gear is used, and this is not suitable for elders and kids. Electrical riding system is developed which is cooperated with an electronic gear box and can reach high speed. Nevertheless, the rotation of the cranks is also increased along with the speed, if the rider treads the pedals in reverse direction, the bicycle could flip over and cause injury to the rider. 
     The present invention intends to provide a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box so as to improve the shortcomings mentioned above. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box and comprises a body having a room defined therein and a clutch member located in the room, a first active gear and a second active gear located in the room, the first and second active gears co-axially connected to each other, the second active gear engaged with a passive gear which is co-axially connected with a transmission gear. A motor unit has an output shaft which is located in the room, wherein a toothed portion is defined in an end of the output shaft and engaged with the first active gear. Thereby, the motor unit drives the output shaft and the toothed portion drives the first active gear which drives the second active gear. The passive gear drives the transmission gear. The clutch member shifts the passive gear axially a distance to disengage the passive gear from the second active gear. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the first and second active gears are mounted to a first shaft, the passive gear is mounted to a second shaft which protrudes from the body and is connected to the transmission gear. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the second shaft has a narrow section and a first resilient member is mounted to the narrow section. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the clutch member has a control member and a stop member, the control member is radially connected to the stop member, the control member drives the stop member which contacts the passive gear and moves the passive gear axially. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, a cover is connected to the body and has a through hole, a recess is defined in an inside of the cover. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the clutch member has a control member and a stop member, the control member is radially connected to the stop member, the stop member extends through the through hole of the cover and has an extension portion which is located in opposite to the control member, the extension portion is engaged with the recess in the cover. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the stop member has a second resilient member which is located corresponding to the through hole of the cover. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the body is connected to a bicycle which has a transmission member and a chain which is connected to the transmission member, the transmission gear is connected to the chain. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the body is connected to a motorcycle which has a driving member, the transmission gear is connected to the driving member, the motor unit providing power to the transmission gear to move the motorcycle via the driving member. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the driving member is a speed changing device and the transmission gear is connected to the driving member by a chain. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the motorcycle has an input member which is connected to an engine of the motorcycle and the motor unit respectively so as to switch motorcycle to an engine-driving status or a motor-driving status for the motorcycle. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the motorcycle has a processing unit which is connected to a sensor and a control member respectively, the processing unit defines a pre-set speed, the sensor senses a speed of the motorcycle, the control member is connected to the engine of the motorcycle and the motor unit respectively, when the processing unit judges that a speed of the motorcycle is higher than the pre-set speed, the control member switches the motorcycle to be the engine-driving status, when the processing unit judges that a speed of the motorcycle is lower than the pre-set speed, the control member switches the motorcycle to be the motor-driving status. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the pre-set speed is 60 kilometers per hour. 
     In a driving mode switching device for an electric gear box, the motorcycle has a first handle and a second handle, the first handle controls the motorcycle to be operated under the engine-driving status, the second handle controls the motorcycle to be operated under the motor-driving status. 
     The present invention comprises a clutch member which changes the engagement between the passive gear and the second active gear, and controls the transmission gear. The body is connected to and provides power to a bicycle or a motorcycle to easily control the driving modes thereof. 
     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 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view to show the driving mode switching device of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows that the cover is removed from the driving mode switching device of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of the driving mode switching device of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  shows the operative status of the driving mode switching device of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view, taken along line A-A in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  shows the engagement between the passive gear and the second active gear of the driving mode switching device of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  shows the disengagement between the passive gear and the second active gear of the driving mode switching device of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  shows another operative status of the driving mode switching device of the present invention, and 
         FIG. 9  shows the block diagram of the driving mode switching device of the present invention used to a motorcycle. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the driving mode switching device of the present invention comprises a cover  1  having a through hole  11  and a recess  12  is defined in the inside of the cover  1 . 
     A body  2  is connected with the cover  1  so as to define a room  21  and a clutch member  3  is located in the room  21 . A first shaft  22  and a second shaft  23  are located in the room  21 , and the first and second shafts  22 ,  23  are parallel to each other. A first active gear  221  is mounted to the first shaft  22 , and a passive gear  231  is mounted to the second shaft  23 . The first and second active gears  221 ,  222  co-axially connected to each other. The passive gear  231  is engaged with the second active gear  222 . The second shaft  23  protrudes from the body  2  and a transmission gear  232  is connected to the protruding portion of the second shaft  23 . The second shaft  23  has a narrow section  233  and a first resilient member  234  is mounted to the narrow section  233 . 
     The clutch member  3  has a control member  31  and a stop member  32 , wherein the control member  31  is radially connected to the stop member  32 . The stop member  32  extends through the through hole  11  of the cover  1 , and has a second resilient member  33  located corresponding to the through hole  11 . The stop member  32  has an extension portion  321  which is located in opposite to the control member  31 . The extension portion  321  is engaged with the recess  12  in the cover  1 . 
     A motor unit  4  has an output shaft  41  which is located in the room  21 . A toothed portion  411  is defined in one end of the output shaft  41  and engaged with the first active gear  221 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4 to 7 , the body  2  is connected to a bicycle  5  which has a transmission member  51  and a chain  52  connected to the transmission member  51 . The transmission gear  232  is connected to the chain  52 . The transmission member  51  is a gear cluster which can be directly connected to the control unit of the bicycle  5  so as to switch the gears. The motor unit  4  drives the output shaft  41  and the toothed portion  411  drives the first active gear  221  which drives the second active gear  222  simultaneously. The passive gear  231  drives the transmission gear  232  as shown in  FIG. 5 . The first and second active gears  221 ,  222  rotate in the same direction. The rotation direction of the passive gear  231  is opposite to that of the first and second active gears  221 ,  222 . Because the transmission gear  232  is connected to the chain  52  so that the bicycle  5  is driven to move forward. When the clutch member  3  shifts the passive gear  231  axially, the passive gear  231  is disengaged from the second active gear  222 , so that the transmission gear  232  is not under action. In other words, the rider controls the clutch member  3  to let the control member  31  to drive the stop member  32 . The present invention utilizes torque principle to save the user&#39;s effort. When the stop member  32  contacts the passive gear  231  and pushes the passive gear  231  a distance axially, the first resilient member  234  is compressed. The passive gear  231  and the second active gear  222  are disengaged from each other, so that the transmission gear  232  cannot drive the bicycle  5  to move forward. 
     As shown in  FIG. 8  which shows another embodiment of the use of the driving mode switching device, the body  2  is connected to a motorcycle  6  wherein the motorcycle  6  can be the regular motorcycle, a tri-wheel vehicle, or even an abandoned motorcycle. The motorcycle  6  has a driving member  61  which is a speed changing device which can be directly connected to the switch member  62  of the motorcycle  6  to change the gears manually. The transmission gear  232  is connected to the driving member  61  by a chain  63  so that the motor unit  4  provides power to the transmission gear  232  to move the motorcycle  6  via the driving member  61 . 
     The motorcycle  6  has an input member  64  which is connected to the engine  65  of the motorcycle  6  and the motor unit  4  respectively so as to switch to an engine-driving status or a motor-driving status for the motorcycle  6 . The input member  64  can be a touch screen device. 
     When the driving mode switching device is used to the motorcycle  6 , the motorcycle  6  has two driving modes so that the rider can switch the two modes manually by the input member  64 . As shown in  FIG. 9 , the present invention has an auto-mode to switch the two driving modes of the motorcycle  6 . The auto-mode further comprises a processing unit  66  which is connected to a sensor  67  and a control member  68  respectively. The processing unit  66  defines a pre-set speed which is 60 kilometers per hour (km/hr). The sensor  67  senses the speed of the motorcycle  6 . The control member  68  is connected to the engine  65  of the motorcycle  6  and the motor unit  4  respectively. When the processing unit  66  judges that the speed of the motorcycle  6  is higher than the pre-set speed, the control member  68  switches the motorcycle  6  to be the engine-driving status. When the processing unit  66  judges that the speed of the motorcycle  6  is lower than the pre-set speed, the control member  68  switches the motorcycle  6  to be the motor-driving status. 
     Under the auto-mode, the sensor  67  detects and the processing unit  66  judges the speed of the motorcycle  6  relative to the pre-set speed. When the processing unit  66  judges that the speed of the motorcycle  6  is higher than the pre-set speed, the control member  68  switches the motorcycle  6  to be the engine-driving status. In other words, when the actual speed of the motorcycle  6  is higher than 60 km/hr, the control member  68  automatically switches the motorcycle  6  to be the engine-driving status which means the engine uses gas to generate power to drive the motorcycle  6 . 
     When the processing unit  66  judges that the speed of the motorcycle  6  is lower than 60 km/hr, the control member  68  automatically switches the motorcycle  6  to be the motor-driving status which means that the driving power is supplied by electric power. In other words, the motorcycle  6  is powered by either gas or electric power. 
     It is noted that the motorcycle  6  has manual switching mode by the input member  64 , and the auto-mode by the processing unit  66 , the motorcycle  6  has a first handle and a second handle. The first handle controls the motorcycle  6  to be operated under the engine-driving status, the second handle controls the motorcycle  6  to be operated under the motor-driving status. In this embodiment, the first handle is the right handle of the motorcycle  6  and the second handle is the left handle of the motorcycle  6 . The rider can operates either the left or the right handles to operate the motor-driving status or the engine-driving status. 
     When compared with the conventional switching device, the clutch member  3  of the present invention has a control member  31  and a stop member  32 , wherein the control member  31  controls the stop member  32  to contact the passive gear  231  so as to move the second shaft  23  move axially along the narrow section  233  so as to simultaneously move the passive gear  231  to change the engagement status between the passive gear  231  and the second active gear  222 , and to control the operation of the transmission gear  232 . Furthermore, the present invention can also be used to a bicycle  5  and the transmission gear  232  is connected to the chain  52 . By the clutch member  3 , the operation status of the transmission gear  232  can be changed according to the practical needs to control the movement of the bicycle  5 . The body  2  can also be connected to the regular motorcycle, the tri-wheel vehicles or even abandoned motorcycle to provide power to those vehicle or motorcycles, such that these vehicle or motorcycles have two different operation modes which are the engine-driving mode and the motor-driving mode. The operation modes to the motorcycles or vehicle can be made by manual operation of the input member  64 , the auto-mode from the processing unit  66 , or the operation to either the left or right handle. 
     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.