Inverted pendulum vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10246157-B2
Application number	US-201715665634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2017
Priority date	Aug 5, 2016
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

In an inverted pendulum vehicle, the fore and aft dimension of the vehicle in a forwardly tilted, parked position is minimized. A pivot center line of a base end of a tail wheel arm is located inside a circle centered around a center of a tail wheel and having a radius equal to a distance between the center of the tail wheel and the rotational center line of the drive disks, and with respect to a hypothetical tail wheel arm, a first line is a line extending along the hypothetical tail wheel arm when the vehicle is in the upright position, and a second line is a line extending along the hypothetical tail wheel arm when the vehicle is in the forwardly tilted, park position, the pivot center line being located on or above a bisector of an angle formed by the first line and the second line.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An inverted pendulum vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body frame;
a main wheel combining a plurality of driven rollers arranged along a circle such that rotational center lines of the driven rollers are each directed along a tangential line of the circle;
a pair of drive disks rotatably supported by the vehicle body frame around a laterally extending rotational center line;
a plurality of drive rollers arranged on each drive disk along a circumferential direction and configured to engage the driven rollers of the main wheel in a skewed relationship thereto;
a pair of drive units including a pair of electric motors for individually driving the drive disks under an inverted pendulum control;
a control unit for controlling the drive units so as to maintain the vehicle in an upright position;
a tail wheel arm extending from the vehicle body frame in a rearward direction and having a base end pivotally attached to a part of the vehicle body frame around a laterally extending pivot center line;
a tail wheel rotatably supported by a free end of the tail wheel arm; and
a stand attached to a part of the vehicle body frame for supporting the vehicle in a forwardly tilted, park position by engaging a road surface;
wherein the pivot center line of the base end of the tail wheel arm is located inside a circle centered around a center of the tail wheel in the upright position of the vehicle and having a radius which is equal to a distance between the center of the tail wheel and the rotational center line of the drive disks in side view, and
wherein with respect to a hypothetical tail wheel arm having a base end pivotally attached to the rotational center line of the drive disks and a free end supporting a tail wheel, a first line is defined as a line extending along the hypothetical tail wheel arm when the vehicle is in the upright position, and a second line is defined as a line extending along the hypothetical tail wheel arm when the vehicle is in the forwardly tilted, park position, the pivot center line of the base end of the tail wheel arm being located on or above a bisector of an angle formed by the first line and the second line in side view.

2. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the pivot center line of the tail wheel arm is located below a horizontal line passing through the rotational center line of the drive disks.

3. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein the pivot center line of the tail wheel arm is located on or adjacent to the first line.

4. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein the tail wheel arm is provided with a pair of side members extending along either side of the main wheel, and a bracket connected to free ends of the side members and rotatably supporting the tail wheel.

5. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 4 , wherein the tail wheel arm is provided with an adequate length not to interfere with the main wheel when the vehicle is in the upright position or in the forwardly tilted, park position.

6. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the drive disks are rotatably supported by a lower member of the vehicle body frame via a laterally extending disk support shaft, and the base end of the tail wheel arm is pivotally supported by the same lower member via a laterally extending arm pivot shaft.

7. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 6 , wherein the lower member comprises a pair of lower side plates positioned on either side of the vehicle body frame and each having a major plane facing sideways.

8. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 7 , further comprising a pair of foot rests attached to the respective lower side plates.

9. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle body frame is provided with a stopper that abuts the tail wheel arm when the vehicle is tilted rearward to a maximum extent.

10. The inverted pendulum vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the stand is attached to a front end part of the vehicle body frame and includes a pair of legs each extending in a downward and outboard direction so as to abut a road surface in the forwardly tilted, park position.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kato Seiji
• Inada Jun

Classifications

• B62K1/00

  Unicycles · CPC title

• B62K11/007 Primary

  Automatic balancing machines with single main ground engaging wheel or coaxial wheels supporting a rider · CPC title

• B60B19/12

  Roller-type wheels (B60B19/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B62H1/12

  using additional wheels · CPC title

• B62H1/02

  Articulated stands, e.g. in the shape of hinged arms (B62H1/10 takes precedence) · CPC title