Gyroscopic rider assist device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11027786-B2
Application number	US-201816196067-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2018
Priority date	Nov 20, 2018
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

A tilting vehicle includes a frame and a front wheel coupled to the frame. A rear wheel is coupled to the frame and positioned rearward of the front wheel in a longitudinal direction. A seating area includes at least one seat positioned to support a rider between the front wheel and the rear wheel. A gyroscopic rider assist device is provided within an enclosure behind the seating area and above the rear wheel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tilting vehicle comprising:
a frame;
a front wheel coupled to the frame;
a rear wheel coupled to the frame and positioned rearward of the front wheel in a longitudinal direction;
a seating area including at least one seat positioned to support a rider between the front wheel and the rear wheel; and
a gyroscopic rider assist device provided within an enclosure behind the seating area and above the rear wheel, the gyroscopic rider assist device including:
a gimbal support frame fixed with respect to the frame,
a gimbal rotatably supported by the gimbal support frame for rotation about a roll axis, and
a flywheel supported for rotation about a flywheel axis by a bracket, wherein the bracket is rotatably supported by the gimbal about a precession axis.

2. The tilting vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising an actuator coupled to the gimbal through a force transmission mechanism and operable to drive the gimbal relative to the gimbal support frame to trigger a precession reaction of the flywheel relative to the gimbal so that a corrective moment is generated on the vehicle.

3. The tilting vehicle of claim 2 , further comprising a clutch to decouple the force transmission mechanism to selectively deactivate the gyroscopic rider assist device by allowing the gimbal to move freely within the gimbal support frame to remain level as the vehicle leans during operation.

4. The tilting vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the clutch is a toothed clutch.

5. The tilting vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the actuator is a linear actuator and the force transmission mechanism includes a lever arm, wherein the clutch is positioned between the lever arm and the gimbal.

6. The tilting vehicle of claim 3 , further comprising a controller programmed to actuate the clutch to decouple the force transmission mechanism when the vehicle exceeds a threshold speed stored in a memory.

7. The tilting vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the threshold speed is user adjustable.

8. The tilting vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the controller is programmed to disregard the threshold speed and maintain the gyroscopic rider assist device in the deactivated state in response to a user input to toggle the gyroscopic rider assist device off.

9. The tilting vehicle of claim 3 , further comprising a second actuator between the bracket and the gimbal and operable to reorient the flywheel with respect to the bracket, and a second clutch to decouple the second actuator.

10. The tilting vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the actuator is a rotary actuator.

11. The tilting vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the flywheel is the one and only flywheel of the gyroscopic rider assist device.

12. A tilting vehicle comprising:
a frame;
a front wheel coupled to the frame;
a rear wheel coupled to the frame and positioned rearward of the front wheel in a longitudinal direction;
a gyroscopic rider assist device operable to output a corrective moment on the vehicle in response to an input from an actuator; and
a clutch provided between the actuator and the gyroscopic rider assist device to selectively deactivate the gyroscopic rider assist device upon transition from a first condition of the vehicle to a second condition of the vehicle,
wherein the gyroscopic rider assist device includes
a gimbal support frame fixed with respect to the frame,
a gimbal rotatably supported by the gimbal support frame for rotation about a roll axis, and
a flywheel supported for rotation about a flywheel axis by a bracket, wherein the bracket is rotatably supported by the gimbal about a precession axis.

13. The tilting vehicle of claim 12 , further comprising a second actuator between the bracket and the gimbal and operable to reorient the flywheel with respect to the bracket, and a second clutch to decouple the second actuator.

14. The tilting vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the flywheel is the one and only flywheel of the gyroscopic rider assist device.

15. The tilting vehicle of claim 12 , further comprising a controller and a memory, the controller programmed to actuate the clutch to deactivate the gyroscopic rider assist device in response to the transition from the first condition to the second condition in accordance with instructions stored in the memory.

16. The tilting vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the transition to the second condition of the vehicle occurs upon the vehicle exceeding a threshold speed value stored in the memory.

17. The tilting vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the threshold speed value in the memory is user adjustable.

18. A tilting vehicle comprising:
a frame;
a front wheel coupled to the frame;
a rear wheel coupled to the frame and positioned rearward of the front wheel in a longitudinal direction;
a gyroscopic rider assist device operable to output a corrective moment on the vehicle in response to an input from an actuator; and
a toothed clutch provided between the actuator and the gyroscopic rider assist device to selectively deactivate the gyroscopic rider assist device upon transition from a first condition of the vehicle to a second condition of the vehicle.

19. A tilting vehicle comprising:
a frame;
a front wheel coupled to the frame;
a rear wheel coupled to the frame and positioned rearward of the front wheel in a longitudinal direction;
a gyroscopic rider assist device operable to output a corrective moment on the vehicle in response to an input from a linear actuator; and
a clutch provided between the actuator and the gyroscopic rider assist device to selectively deactivate the gyroscopic rider assist device upon transition from a first condition of the vehicle to a second condition of the vehicle.

20. A tilting vehicle comprising:
a frame;
a front wheel coupled to the frame;
a rear wheel coupled to the frame and positioned rearward of the front wheel in a longitudinal direction;
a gyroscopic rider assist device operable to output a corrective moment on the vehicle in response to an input from an actuator;
a clutch provided between the actuator and the gyroscopic rider assist device to selectively deactivate the gyroscopic rider assist device upon transition from a first condition of the vehicle to a second condition of the vehicle; and
a controller and a memory, the controller programmed to actuate the clutch to deactivate the gyroscopic rider assist device in response to the transition from the first condition to the second condition in accordance with instructions stored in the memory.

21. The tilting vehicle of claim 20 , wherein the transition to the second condition of the vehicle occurs upon the vehicle exceeding a threshold speed value stored in the memory.

22. The tilting vehicle of claim 21 , wherein the threshold speed value in the memory is user adjustable.

Assignees

• Harley Davidson Motor Co Inc

Inventors

• Brendelson James C
• Del Rosario Mason
• Karagianes Sean
• Lowen Sean
• Searing Michael
• Smith Ben
• Titchener Paul

Classifications

• B62D37/06 Primary

  using gyroscopes · CPC title