JPH08127385A - Assist power type vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To eliminate an input detecting means so as to simplify a structure by connecting to an input member one of a sun gear meshed with a planet gear and a ring gear, and connecting to an assist power source the other one, to control by this assist power source a rotational speed of the sun gear and the ring gear so as to be equally generated. CONSTITUTION: A planet gear mechanism 20 is built in a hub 4a of a wheel, to support a planet gear GP of this planet gear mechanism 20 to the hub 4a through a shaft 21, and a sun gear GS meshed with the planet gear GP is connected to a side of a hand rim which is an input member. A ring gear GR is connected to a side of a drive motor 41 which is an assist power source, to provide a controller of controlling the drive motor 41 so as to equally generate a rotational speed of the sun gear GS and the ring gear GR. Thus by eliminating necessity for an input detecting means for detecting an input applied to the hand rim which is an input means, simplifying a structure can be attained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wheelchair, a bicycle, a rowing boat, etc. for driving a propelling means by giving a driving force corresponding to the magnitude of human power intermittently applied to the propulsion means to the propulsion means as a driving force. Auxiliary powered vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a manual electric wheelchair has been conventionally proposed as an intermediate existence between a manual wheelchair and an electric wheelchair. This manual electric wheelchair detects the human power intermittently applied to the wheel and applies auxiliary power corresponding to the human power to the wheel to reduce the physical burden on the user who has difficulty walking. According to this, the user can operate it like a manual wheelchair, and the mental distress is alleviated.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional manual electric wheelchair, since the input detection means for detecting the human power applied to the hand rim is required, the structure thereof becomes complicated. There is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary power vehicle in which the input detecting means can be eliminated and the structure can be simplified.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an auxiliary power for driving a propelling means by adding auxiliary power corresponding to human power intermittently applied to the propelling means via an input member. In a power vehicle, a planetary gear mechanism is incorporated in the propulsion means to support the planetary gear of the planetary gear mechanism on the propulsion means side, and one of a sun gear and a ring gear meshing with the planetary gear is connected to the input member, The other is connected to an auxiliary power source, and a control means for controlling the auxiliary power source is provided so that the sun gear and the ring gear have the same rotational speed.

[0006]

According to the present invention, when the rider applies human power to the input member to rotate, for example, the sun gear of the planetary gear mechanism,
Since the ring gear is rotationally driven at the same speed as this sun gear by the auxiliary power source, the ring gear, the sun gear and the planet gear rotate integrally, and the propulsion means connected to the planet gear is driven by both human power and auxiliary power, This reduces the burden on the rider.

Thus, according to the present invention, since the input detecting means for detecting the human power applied to the input member is not required, the structure of the auxiliary power type vehicle vehicle can be simplified.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a manual electric wheelchair as one mode of the auxiliary power vehicle according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the wheelchair, and FIG. 3 is a rear view showing the folded state of the wheelchair. FIG. 4 is a cutaway front view of a wheel portion showing a human power unit and an auxiliary power unit of the wheelchair, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a drive system and a control system of the wheelchair.

The manual electric wheelchair 1 according to the present embodiment is an auxiliary power unit (Power Assi
st system), and as shown in FIG. 1, the front and rear parts of a pipe frame-shaped frame 2 are supported by a pair of left and right casters 3 and wheels 4.

A cloth seat 5 (see FIG. 2) on which a rider should sit is stretched at the center of the frame 2. The frame 2 has a pair of front and rear cross members 2a, and two X-shaped cross members 2a are pivotally attached at their intersections by a shaft 6. Therefore, the wheelchair 1 can be folded as shown in FIG. 3, and the seat 5 is also bent at this time.

Further, a pair of left and right handle arms 2b are provided upright on the rear portion of the frame 2, and the upper ends of the handle arms 2b are bent rearward, and the grip 7 for a caregiver is provided at the bent portion. Is attached.

A pair of left and right armrests 8 for the rider are attached to the upper center of the frame 2, and the frame 2
A pair of left and right steps 9 are attached to the lower front end of the. Further, another arm 2d is fitted to the rear end portions of the pair of left and right arms 2c extending in the front-rear direction in the lower portion of the frame 2 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction, and each arm 2d has a rear end portion. The roller 10 is rotatably supported.
The arm 2d is movably supported in the front-rear direction by engaging a pin 11 projecting from the arm 2c with a long hole, which is always supported by a spring (not shown) that is compressed between the arm 2d and the arm 2d. It is biased backwards.

By the way, as shown in FIG.
Axle 13 supported by a bracket 12 attached to the
A disk 18 is rotatably supported by ball bearings 14 and 15, and each of the pair of left and right wheels 4 is rotatably supported by the disk 18 by a ball bearing 17. On the outside of each wheel 4, a ring-shaped hand rim 16 that the rider must turn by hand is provided. The hand rim 16 is attached to the disc 18 via three spokes 19, so that the hand rim 16 can rotate independently of the wheel 4.

Thus, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the planetary gear mechanism 20 is provided in the hub 4a of the wheel 4. This planetary gear mechanism 20 has the disk 1
8, a sun gear G _{S connected} to the outer circumference of the inner end portion of the ring 8, a large-diameter ring gear G _R that is freely rotatably fitted to the hub 4a, and a plurality of planetary gears G having a small diameter that mesh with the sun gear G _S and the ring gear G _{R. P} is composed of, the planetary gear G _P is the shaft 21
It is rotatably supported by the hub 4a.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, an auxiliary power unit (only one is shown in FIG. 4) 40 is provided inside each of the pair of left and right wheels 4.

In the auxiliary power unit 40, reference numeral 41 is a drive motor for generating auxiliary power.
Is fixed to a gear case 42 held by the axle 13, and a small diameter gear G1 is bonded to the output shaft end thereof.

The gear case 42 has a counter shaft 4
3 and a drive shaft 44 are rotatably supported in parallel with the axle 13, and the counter shaft 43 has gears G2 and G3 of different sizes.
And a large-diameter gear G4 is rotatably supported on the drive shaft 44, and a small-diameter gear G4 is attached to the end thereof.
5 are bound together. The gears G1 to G5 are the reduction mechanism 4
5 (see FIG. 5).

The large-diameter gear G2 meshes with the small-diameter gear G1, the small-diameter gear G3 meshes with the large-diameter gear G4, and the gear G5 is the ring gear G _{R of the} planetary gear mechanism 20. Meshes with.

On the other hand, in the gear case 42, a rotation sensor 46 for detecting the rotation speed of the gear G5 and a rotation sensor 4 for detecting the rotation speed of the sun gear G _S.
7 is attached.

The configuration of the auxiliary power unit 40 provided on one wheel 4 side has been described above, but the other wheel 4
The configuration of the auxiliary power unit 40 provided on the side is also the same,
The mass production effect can be obtained by sharing the parts. However, the pair of left and right auxiliary power units 40 are arranged in a point-symmetrical relationship as shown in FIG. 2, and therefore the pair of left and right drive motors 41 are arranged with a step in the vertical direction. When the wheelchair 1 is folded as shown in FIG. 3, both drive motors 41 do not interfere with each other,
As a result, the wheelchair 1 can be folded compactly.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, controllers 50 for controlling the driving of the left and right auxiliary power units 40 are attached to the left and right front portions of the frame 2, and a battery is provided above the controller 50. 60 is attached. The controller 50 may be attached to the cross member 2a of the frame 2 as shown by the chain line in FIG.

The structure of the controller 50 will be described with reference to FIG.

The controller 50 uses the rotation sensor 4
An input interface (input I / F) 51 that receives the detected rotational speed of the sun gear G _S by 7, and the rotational speed calculating means 52 for calculating the rotational speed of the hand rim 16 from the rotational speed of the sun gear G _S, the rotational speed calculation Based on the rotation speed of the hand rim 16 calculated by the means 52, a command value of the rotation speed of each drive motor 41 (that is, the drive motor 41
The drive motor 4 when the rotation speed of the ring gear G _R driven by the rotation speed becomes equal to that of the sun gear G _S.
Command speed calculation means 53 for calculating the rotation speed of 1 and an input interface (input I / F) 5 for receiving the rotation speed of the gear G5 detected by the rotation sensor 46.
It has a motor actual speed calculation means 55 for calculating the actual speed of each drive motor 41 from the number of revolutions of the gear 4 and the gear G5.

Further, the controller 50 compares the command speed of the drive motor 41 calculated by the command speed calculation means 53 with the actual speed of the drive motor 41 calculated by the motor actual speed calculation means 55 to compare them. The deviation calculation means 56 for calculating the deviation, the control amount calculation means 57 for calculating the control quantity of the drive motor 41 based on the deviation calculated by the deviation calculation means 56, and the output of each drive motor 41 are adjusted to rotate the rotation. It has an output adjusting means 58 for setting the speed to a command value.

Next, the operation of the manual electric wheelchair 1 will be described.

When the rider turns the pair of left and right hand rims 16, the sun gear G _S rotates integrally with the hand rims 16 in the same direction.
Then, the rotational speed of the sun gear G _S is detected by the rotation sensor 47, the ring gear G _R so that the rotational speed and the same speed of the sun gear G _S is rotated by a drive motor 41 of the auxiliary power unit 40.

That is, when the drive motor 41 is driven, its rotation is reduced by one stage by the gears G1 and G2 shown in FIG. 4 and transmitted to the counter shaft 43, and the rotation of the counter shaft 43 is transmitted by the gears G3 and G4. Drive shaft 44 is decelerated by 2 steps
Is transmitted to The rotation of the drive shaft 44 is further reduced by the gear G.
It is transmitted to the ring gear G _R of the planetary gear mechanism 20 by 5, and the ring gear G _R is decelerated by three stages and rotationally driven.

Thus, the rotation speed of the gear G5 is detected by the rotation sensor 46, and its signal is sent to the controller 5
It is sent to the motor actual speed calculating means 55 through the input interface 54 of 0, and the motor actual speed calculating means 55, as described above, based on the rotation speed of the gear G5, each drive motor 41
Calculate the actual speed of.

On the other hand, the rotation speed of the sun gear G _S detected by the rotation sensor 47 is sent to the rotation speed calculation means 52 via the input interface 51 of the controller 50, and the rotation speed calculation means 52 determines the rotation speed of the sun gear G _S. The rotation speed of the hand rim 16 is calculated and the result is sent to the command speed calculation means 53. Then, the command speed calculation means 53 causes the hand rim 1 calculated by the rotation speed calculation means 52.
Command value of the rotational speed of each drive motor 41 from the rotational speed of 6 (i.e., the rotational speed of the drive motor 41 when the rotational speed of the ring gear G _R which is rotated by the drive motor 41 is equal to the rotation speed of the sun gear G _S ) Is calculated.

Then, the deviation calculating means 56 of the controller 50 calculates the command speed of the drive motor 41 calculated by the command speed calculating means 53 and the actual speed of the drive motor 41 calculated by the motor actual speed calculating means 55. The difference between the two is calculated by comparison, and the result is sent to the control amount calculation means 57. Then, the control amount calculation unit 57 calculates the control amount of the drive motor 41 based on the deviation calculated by the deviation calculation unit 56, and the output adjustment unit 58 adjusts the output of each drive motor 41 based on the control amount. To set the rotation speed to the command value. As a result, the ring gear G _R is rotationally driven by the drive motor 41 at the same speed as the sun gear G _S.

[0032] As described above, are rotated sun gear G _S is the human power, when the ring gear G _R is rotated by the sun gear G _S the same speed by a drive motor 41, the sun gear G _S and the ring gear G _R and a plurality of planet gear G _P is rotated integrally by the human power and the auxiliary power, it is driven to rotate the wheel 4 connected via a shaft 21 to the planetary gear G _P by the rotation of the planetary gear G _P is by both the auxiliary power and manpower,
This reduces the burden on the rider.

Thus, according to this embodiment, the hand rim 1
Since the input detection means for detecting the human power applied to 6 is unnecessary, the structure of the manual electric wheelchair 1 can be simplified. Further, since the rotation sensors 46 and 47, the controller 50, and the battery 60 are all provided on the fixed side, the problems of signal transmission and power supply between the rotation side and the fixed side are eliminated.

Although the sun gear G _S is connected to the hand rim 16 side and the ring gear G _R is connected to the drive motor 41 side in the above embodiment, conversely, the sun gear G _S is connected to the drive motor 41 side. The ring gear G _R may be connected to the hand rim 16 side. Further, in the present embodiment, the rotation speed of the gear G5 provided in the middle of the transmission system is detected by the rotation sensor 46, but any rotation speed of the other gears G1 to G4 may be detected. The rotation speed of the drive motor 41 may be detected by an optical or magnetic encoder installed on the output shaft itself of the drive motor 41.

By the way, although the example in which the present invention is applied to the manual electric wheelchair has been mentioned above, it goes without saying that the present invention also includes other vehicles such as a bicycle and a rowing boat.

[0036]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, auxiliary power corresponding to human power intermittently applied to the propulsion means via the input member is added to the propulsion means to drive the auxiliary power. In a power vehicle, a planetary gear mechanism is incorporated in the propulsion means to support the planetary gear of the planetary gear mechanism on the propulsion means side, and one of a sun gear and a ring gear meshing with the planetary gear is connected to the input member,
Since the other means is connected to the auxiliary power source and the control means for controlling the auxiliary power source is provided so that the sun gear and the ring gear have the same rotational speed, the input detecting means is eliminated and the structure of the auxiliary power vehicle is simplified. The effect that can be obtained is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a manual electric wheelchair according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a manual electric wheelchair according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing a state in which the manual electric wheelchair according to the embodiment of the present invention is folded.

FIG. 4 is a cutaway front view of a wheel portion showing a human power unit and an auxiliary power unit of a manual electric wheelchair according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a drive system and a control system of the manual electric wheelchair according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Manual Electric Wheelchair (Auxiliary Powered Vehicle) 4 Wheels 16 Hand Rim (Input Member) 20 Planetary Gear Mechanism 40 Auxiliary Power Unit 41 Drive Motor (Auxiliary Power Source) 50 Controller (Control Means) G _P Planetary Gear G _R Ring Gear G _S Sun gear

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An auxiliary power vehicle in which auxiliary power corresponding to human power intermittently applied to the propulsion means via an input member is added to the propulsion means to drive the auxiliary power, and a planetary gear mechanism is incorporated in the propulsion means. The planetary gear of the planetary gear mechanism is supported on the propulsion means side, and one of a sun gear and a ring gear meshing with the planetary gear is connected to the input member, and the other is connected to an auxiliary power source, and the number of rotations of the sun gear and the ring gear. An auxiliary power vehicle, characterized in that a control means for controlling the auxiliary power source is provided so that the same.