Personal mobility device, system for steering personal mobility device, and method of controlling personal mobility device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12325484-B2
Application number	US-202217972280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2022
Priority date	Jun 20, 2022
Publication date	Jun 10, 2025
Grant date	Jun 10, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a personal mobility device including a personal mobility device body including a first wheel mounted at a front portion and a second wheel mounted at a rear portion with respect to a longitudinal direction of the personal mobility device body. The personal mobility device may include a steering rod that includes an operable handle, and mountable on any one of steering apparatus connectors at the front portion or the rear portion. A load cell assembly may be provided on each of the steering apparatus connectors, and each including a plurality of load cells. The personal mobility device may enable steering control using a low-cost load cell, and facilitate steering in either direction of the personal mobility device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A personal mobility device comprising:
a personal mobility device body comprising:
a first wheel mounted at a front portion with respect to a longitudinal direction of the personal mobility device body, and
a second wheel mounted at a rear portion with respect to the longitudinal direction of the personal mobility device body;

a first steering apparatus connector disposed at the front portion;
a second steering apparatus connector disposed at the rear portion;
a steering rod comprising an operable handle, wherein the steering rod is mountable on any one of the first steering apparatus connector or the second steering apparatus connector;
a load cell assembly provided on each of the first steering apparatus connector and the second steering apparatus connector, wherein the load cell assembly comprises a plurality of load cells; and
a connection rod connected to a lower portion of the steering rod, wherein displacement of the connection rod occurs by an operation of the steering rod,
wherein at least some of the plurality of load cells are disposed at a top, a bottom, a left side, and a right side of the connection rod to detect the displacement of the connection rod.

2. The personal mobility device of claim 1 ,
wherein the steering rod is inserted into and mounted on a rod mount having an opening at an upper end of the rod mount.

3. The personal mobility device of claim 1 ,
wherein the first wheel or the second wheel is driven by an electric motor.

4. The personal mobility device of claim 3 ,
wherein one of the first wheel or the second wheel is driven by the electric motor, and another one of the first wheel or the second wheel is a caster wheel.

5. The personal mobility device of claim 3 , further comprising:
a steering controller embedded in the personal mobility device body, and configured to calculate a steering direction and a steering velocity based on one or more voltage measurements of the plurality of load cells; and
a drive controller configured to drive the electric motor based on a signal indicating the steering direction and the steering velocity, wherein the signal is transmitted from the steering controller.

6. The personal mobility device of claim 5 , wherein the steering controller comprises:
a distributor configured to receive the one or more voltage measurements of the plurality of load cells;
an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert an analog signal received by the distributor into a digital signal; and
a controller configured to calculate the steering direction and the steering velocity based on the digital signal converted by the analog-to-digital converter.

7. The personal mobility device of claim 6 ,
wherein the controller is further configured to calculate the steering velocity by dividing a sum of the one or more voltage measurements by a quantity of the plurality of load cells.

8. The personal mobility device of claim 5 , wherein the load cell assembly includes:
a first load cell assembly provided in the first steering apparatus connector disposed at the front portion; and
a second load cell assembly provided in the second steering apparatus connector disposed at the rear portion.

9. A method comprising:
sensing, by a personal mobility device comprising a first load cell assembly provided at a front portion of the personal mobility device and further comprising a second load cell assembly provided at a rear portion of the personal mobility device, a voltage of the first load cell assembly and a voltage of the second load cell assembly;
determining whether the voltage of the first load cell assembly is greater than or equal to a minimum voltage threshold;
determining whether the voltage of the second load cell assembly is greater than or equal to the minimum voltage threshold; and
transmitting a stop signal to a drive controller of the personal mobility device based on the voltage of the first load cell assembly and the voltage of the second load cell assembly being less than the minimum voltage threshold,
wherein the minimum voltage threshold corresponds to a voltage value indicating whether a steering rod is not mounted at the front portion or the rear portion of the personal mobility device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sensing one or more voltage values of a plurality of load cells included in the first load cell assembly based on the voltage of the first load cell assembly being greater than or equal to the minimum voltage threshold;
calculating a steering direction based on the one or more voltage values of the plurality of load cells included in the first load cell assembly;
calculating a steering velocity based on the one or more voltage values of the plurality of load cells included in the first load cell assembly; and
transmitting the steering direction and the steering velocity to the drive controller.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the personal mobility device further comprises a first wheel mounted at the front portion and a second wheel mounted at the rear portion, and
wherein one of the first wheel or the second wheel is driven by an electric motor, and another one of the first wheel or the second wheel is a caster wheel.

12. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein the calculating of the steering velocity comprises dividing a sum of the one or more voltage values of the plurality of load cells included in the first load cell assembly by a quantity of the plurality of load cells included in the first load cell assembly.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sensing one or more voltage values of a plurality of load cells included in the second load cell assembly based on the voltage of the second load cell assembly being greater than or equal to the minimum voltage threshold;
calculating a steering direction based on the one or more voltage values of the plurality of load cells included in the second load cell assembly;
calculating a steering velocity based on the one or more voltage values of the plurality of load cells included in the second load cell assembly; and
transmitting the steering direction and the steering velocity to the drive controller.

14. The method of claim 13 ,
wherein the personal mobility device further comprises a first wheel mounted at the front portion and a second wheel mounted at the rear portion, and
wherein one of the first wheel or the second wheel is driven by an electric motor, and another one of the first wheel or the second wheel is a caster wheel.

15. The method of claim 13 ,
wherein the calculating of the steering velocity comprises dividing a sum of the one or more voltage values of the plurality of load cells included in the second load cell assembly by a quantity of the plurality of load cells included in the second load cell assembly.

16. A personal mobility device comprising:
a personal mobility device body comprising:
a first wheel mounted at a front portion with respect to a longitudinal direction of the personal mobility device body, and
a second wheel mounted at a rear portion with respect to the longitudinal direction of the personal mobility device body;

a first steering apparatus connector disposed at the front portion;
a second steering apparatus connector disposed at the rear portion;
a steering rod comprising an operable handle, wherein the steering rod is mountable on any one of the first steering apparatus connector or the second steering apparatus connector;
a first load cell assembly provided on the first steering apparatus connector;
a second load cell assembly provi

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Kim Do-Kon

Classifications

• B62K5/007

  power-driven · CPC title

• B62J43/10

  for propulsion · CPC title

• B62K21/00

  Steering devices · CPC title

• B60Y2200/91

  Electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60Y2400/3086

  Electric voltages sensors · CPC title