Patent Publication Number: US-2010127840-A1

Title: Tilt sensing and safeguarding mechanism of an electric scooter cart

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     NAMES OF PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     REFERENCE TO AN APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON COMPACT DISC 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to an electric scooter cart, and more particularly to an innovative scooter cart with a tilting sensing and safeguarding mechanism against tilting. 
     2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98 
     There is a growing trend that electric scooter carts are commonly used because of their advantages of being lightweight, having an ease-of-operation, and lowering oil consumption and cost, etc. 
     As the electric scooter carts are mostly used by the aged or handicapped, the safety is a crucial concern in the scooter. Hence, endless efforts have been made to explore a way of how to prevent technically any possible hazard and ensure optimum operating condition of the electric scooter cart. 
     However, the safety issues of an electric scooter cart to be considered are reflected in many aspects, such as a brake system, shock absorber and seat&#39;s rotation and positioning structure, as well as hazards arising from tilting of the cart body on a rugged road. Though a structure has been developed to decelerate the motor in tune with the downward slope, the possible tilting conditions are still neglected, leading to hazardous accidents if a high-speed running state is maintained in a rough area or at a sharp curve. 
     Thus, to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it would be an advancement in the art to provide an improved structure that can significantly improve efficacy. 
     Therefore, the inventor has provided the present invention of practicability after deliberate design and evaluation based on years of experience in the production, development and design of related products. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Based on the unique structure of the present invention that the tilt sensing and safeguarding mechanism of the electric scooter cart mainly comprises a central processor, gravity sensor, light control module, light display screen and speed control module. The tilt sensing and safeguarding mechanism can detect the tilting states of the electric scooter cart and convert into light signals for sending alarming message to the drivers. Moreover, when the tilting state of the electric scooter cart exceeds the preset threshold, the motor is decelerated automatically for real-time deceleration. It is thus clear that, when the electric scooter cart runs on a steep slope or in a tilting state, the present invention enables alarming and automatic deceleration, thus preventing efficiently overturning accident of the electric scooter cart for an improved performance and applicability. 
     Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a schematic view of a block diagram of the tilt sensing and safeguarding mechanism of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of the present invention that the light display screen is mounted onto the electric scooter cart. 
         FIG. 3  shows an elevation view of the present invention that the light display screen is mounted onto the electric scooter cart. 
         FIG. 4  shows a schematic view of the comparison of the present invention between the light display state of the light display screen and the tilting state of the electric scooter cart. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The features and the advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIG. 1  depicts a preferred embodiment of tilt sensing and safeguarding mechanism of electric scooter cart of the present invention. The embodiments are only provided for explanatory purposes with respect to the patent claims. The tilt sensing and safeguarding mechanism A is used to sense the tilting of the electric scooter cart and generate automatically alarming and deceleration effect. 
     This tilting sensing and safeguarding mechanism A comprises a central processor  10 , which is electrically connected with the throttle controller  05  of the electric scooter cart  02 . 
     A gravity sensor  20  (G-sensor) is used to sense the tilting state of the electric scooter cart  02  and transmit the sensing signals to the central processor  10 . 
     A light control module  30  is electrically connected with the central processor  10 . The central processor  10  enables the light control module  30  to execute the respective command according to the tilting sensing signal of the gravity sensor  20 . 
     A light display screen  40  contains the preset lights  41  (shown in  FIG. 2 ). The light display screen  40  is controlled by the light control module  30  to determine the ON/OFF state of the lights  41 . The light display screen  40  is arranged on the panel  04  of the head  03  of the electric scooter cart  02  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . The lights  41  on the light display screen  40  can be arranged at interval from the middle section to both sides, and the colors of the lights  41 , i.e. green, yellow, orange and red colors, are displayed to send warning signals depending on the degree of danger. Referring to  FIG. 4 , the flashing states of green, yellow, orange and red lights  41  represent the degree of danger specific to the gradient of the electric scooter cart  02 . A speed control module  50  is electrically connected with the central processor  10 . According to the tilt sensing signal of the gravity sensor  20 , the central processor  10  allows the speed control module  50  to generate a control signal for controlling the motor controller  06  of the electric scooter cart  02 , so as to adjust automatically the operating speed/state of the motor  07  of the electric scooter cart  02 . With this deceleration control mode, the central processor  10  could control a programmable variable resistor module. A bigger resistor signal represents slower speed, otherwise, a smaller resistor signal represents higher speed. 
     The tilting sensing and safeguarding mechanism A comprises an acoustic control module  60  and a loudspeaker  61 . The acoustic control module  60  is electrically connected with the central processor  10 . According to the tilting sensing signal of the gravity sensor  20 , the central processor  10  allows the acoustic control module  60  to generate a control signal, and then the loudspeaker  61  to generate preset warning sound (e.g. humming or beeping), music or voice. 
     The gravity sensor  20  (G-sensor), available with tilting detection functions of X, Y and Z axles, can detect the output changes by converting 20°˜160° into 10%˜90% voltage variations. When the gravity sensor  20  is mounted onto the electric scooter cart  02 , the X-axle is defined with left and right tilting angles, and the Y-axle is defined with front and rear tilting angles. In the event of occurrence of left and right tilting, the X-axle signal will vary relatively, or in the event of occurrence of front and rear tilting, the Y-axle signal will also vary relatively. After the gravity sensor  20  is mounted onto the electric scooter cart  02 , the central processor  10  (MCU) will define the tilting angle into a horizontal state and memorize the horizontal signal by pressing and holding RESET button for several seconds. This data can be memorized even if power supply is removed, and the tilting data thereafter can be compared with the horizontal data to acquire the tilting state of the scooter cart. When the scooter cart is running, the central processor  10  can detect the throttle signal via a terminal, thereby judging the forward or backward state of the electric scooter cart  02 , and enabling proper light display or acoustic warning and deceleration control depending on the tilting angle. 
     Based on above-specified structure, the key of the present invention is to detect the tilting angle variations from X-axle/Y-axle voltage change of gravity sensor  20  (G-sensor). When the tilting angle grows gradually, warning signals are sent to the driver by the lights  41  or acoustic warning modes, making it possible to brake the scooter cart automatically and prevent the upside-down for the personal safety of drivers.