Vehicle which is operable by a motor and by muscular energy and has an improved torque sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9855991-B2
Application number	US-201414888063-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2014
Priority date	May 17, 2013
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle which is operable by a motor and/or muscular energy, in particular an electric bicycle, which includes an electric motor, a crankshaft drive having a first crank, a second crank, and a crankshaft, a torque sensor for detecting a torque applied by a rider at the crankshaft drive, and a control unit, which is set up to actuate the electric motor based on at least the values acquired by the torque sensor to drive the vehicle, the torque sensor being situated at the crankshaft drive and the torque sensor including at least one surface acoustic wave sensor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle which is operable using a motor and/or muscular energy, comprising:
an electric motor;
a crankshaft drive having a first crank, a second crank, and a crankshaft;
a torque sensor to acquire a torque applied by a rider at the crankshaft drive; and
a control unit for actuating the electric motor, based on at least the values acquired by the torque sensor to drive the vehicle;
wherein the torque sensor is disposed on the crankshaft drive, and
wherein the torque sensor includes at least one surface acoustic wave sensor;
wherein the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor performs, via a direct measurement of a torque using surface waves, a direct measurement of a torsional load due to a torque introduced by a rider and using a time delay in a reflection of a high-frequency query pulse as a measure for the torsion of the surface wave.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor is situated on a sleeve, which is connected to the crankshaft.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor is situated directly on the crankshaft, and is a printed surface acoustic wave sensor or a surface sensor applied on a foil.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor is a separate component, and includes a piezoelectric substrate, an interdigital transformer having a first electrode and a second electrode, and an antenna structure.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein components of the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor or the entire surface acoustic wave sensor are/is disposed directly on a surface on which the torque is to be measured.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor includes a reflector unit, which is situated on the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor or directly on a surface on which a torque is to be measured.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the reflector unit has grooves and/or projections on a surface.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a circuit board, wherein an antenna of the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor is situated on the circuit board or is integrated into the circuit board.

9. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one surface acoustic wave sensor includes a first surface acoustic wave sensor and a second surface acoustic wave sensor.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the first surface acoustic wave sensor and the second surface acoustic wave sensor each have a longitudinal axis, and the longitudinal axes of the surface acoustic wave sensors are not running parallel to a longitudinal axis of the crankshaft.

11. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the first surface acoustic wave sensor and the second surface acoustic wave sensor are disposed so that the longitudinal axes of the surface acoustic wave sensors intersect at an angle of 90°.

12. The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the first surface acoustic wave sensor and second surface acoustic wave sensor are positioned symmetrically relative to one another about the longitudinal axis of the crankshaft.

13. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the torque sensor includes a separate transceiver unit, which is situated on a housing of the crankshaft drive or a housing of the electric motor.

14. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the electric motor is situated directly at the crankshaft drive.

15. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle is an electric bicycle.

16. A vehicle which is operable using a motor and/or muscular energy, comprising:
an electric motor;
a crankshaft drive having a first crank, a second crank, and a crankshaft;
a torque sensor to acquire a torque applied by a rider at the crankshaft drive; and
a control unit for actuating the electric motor, based on at least the values acquired by the torque sensor to drive the vehicle;
wherein the torque sensor is disposed on a sleeve connected to the crankshaft between the first crank and the second crank;
wherein the torque sensor includes only a single surface acoustic wave sensor and no other torque sensor is disposed on the sleeve; and
wherein the single surface acoustic wave sensor has two reflectors situated in such a way that longitudinal axes of the two reflectors intersect at an angle of 90°, the two reflectors providing two predefined propagation paths for reflection of surface acoustic waves.

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Bendel Karl
• Kimmich Peter
• Hinterkausen Markus
• Liebler Marko

Classifications

• B62M6/55

  power-driven at crank shafts parts · CPC title

• B62M6/50 Primary

  characterised by detectors or sensors, or arrangement thereof · CPC title

• B62J45/421

  at the pedal crank · CPC title

• B62J45/411

  Torque sensors · CPC title

• G01L1/165 Primary

  with acoustic surface waves · CPC title