JPH11129970A - Auxiliary power bicycle - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Objective] To provide an auxiliary power bicycle that can be used by a wide range of users by improving getting on and off. The assist power bicycle 1 travels by combining a pedaling force input to a pedal shaft 11 and an auxiliary power generated by an auxiliary power unit 16 and transmitting the resultant force to a rear wheel 20 via a resultant shaft 19. Is disposed below the pedal shaft 11 and the auxiliary power unit 1
6 is supported by the down tube (body frame) 8 in front of the resultant shaft 19. According to the present invention, since the auxiliary power unit 16 is supported by the down tube 8 in front of the resultant shaft 19 disposed below the pedal shaft 11, the auxiliary power unit 16 hinders the passenger from getting on and off. In addition, the auxiliary power bicycle 1 has an improved getting on and off property, and can be used by a wide range of users.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an auxiliary power bicycle that travels by using a stepping force of an occupant and an auxiliary power as driving forces.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An auxiliary power unit including a driving source such as an engine or an electric motor for generating an auxiliary power is provided. A pedaling force input to a pedal shaft and an auxiliary power generated by the auxiliary power unit are combined. Auxiliary power bicycles that travel by transmitting force to the rear wheels at the same time have been developed and are already in practical use.

[0003]

There are some users who desire a high degree of getting on and off the auxiliary power bicycle. However, the conventional auxiliary power bicycle does not always adopt a structure that satisfies the demand. Was. That is, conventionally, since the pedal shaft and the resultant force shaft are coaxially arranged, the auxiliary power unit is disposed above the pedal shaft, which is a factor that hinders the occupant's getting on and off.

[0004] 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 bicycle that can be used by a wide range of users with improved getting on and off.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a rear wheel is formed by combining a pedaling force input to a pedal shaft and an auxiliary power generated by an auxiliary power unit on a resultant shaft. In the auxiliary power bicycle that travels by transmitting to the vehicle, the resultant force shaft is disposed below the pedal shaft, and the auxiliary power unit is supported by the vehicle body frame in front of the resultant force shaft.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a speed increasing mechanism is provided in a transmission path for transmitting the rotation of the pedal shaft to the resultant force shaft.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary power unit is supported by the vehicle body frame in front of the resultant shaft disposed below the pedal shaft, so that the position of the down tube is lowered and the occupant's position is reduced. The foot space is wide, the auxiliary power unit does not obstruct the occupant's getting on and off, and the auxiliary power bicycle is improved in getting on and off and can be used for a wide range of users. In addition, since the auxiliary power unit having a relatively heavy weight is disposed in the lower part of the vehicle body, the center of gravity of the auxiliary power bicycle is reduced, and the running stability thereof is enhanced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the rotation of the pedal shaft is increased in speed by the speed increasing mechanism and transmitted to the resultant shaft, so that the rotation from the auxiliary power unit is not greatly reduced on the resultant shaft. The rotation from the pedal shaft can be combined with an appropriate reduction ratio, and as a result, high power transmission efficiency can be obtained.

[0009]

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

FIG. 1 is a side view of an auxiliary power bicycle according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a drive transmission system of the auxiliary power bicycle, FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

An auxiliary power bicycle 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a head pipe 2 at an upper front part of a vehicle body, and a steering shaft 3 is rotatably inserted through the head pipe 2. A steering wheel 4 is attached to an upper end of the steering shaft 3, and a front fork 5 is attached to a lower end of the steering shaft 3. A front wheel 6 is connected to a front axle 7 at a lower end of the front fade 5. It is rotatably supported by.

A down tube 8 extends obliquely downward from the head pipe 2 toward the rear of the vehicle body (to the right in FIG. 1). The seat tube 9 is attached to the rear end of the seat tube 9 at an obliquely upward direction toward the rear of the vehicle body.

A cylindrical housing 10 integrally formed with a housing 34 of a force unit 17 to be described later is bolted to a lower end of the seat tube 9, and a pedal shaft 11 is rotatable in the housing 10. It is inserted and supported in the left-right direction. And this pedal shaft 11
Cranks 12 are mounted on the left and right sides of the vehicle, and a pedal 13 is rotatably supported at an end of each crank 12. A seat post 14 is fitted and held in the upper end of the seat tube 9 so as to be position-adjustable. A seat 15 is supported on the upper end of the seat post 14.

The auxiliary power bicycle 1 according to the present embodiment includes the auxiliary power unit 16 and the resultant unit 17, and includes the engine 18 included in the auxiliary power unit 16.
The resulting auxiliary power and the pedaling force of the occupant input to the pedal shaft 11 are combined by the resultant shaft 19 of the resultant unit 17 and transmitted to the rear wheels 20.

Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the resultant shaft 19 of the resultant unit 17 is lower than the pedal shaft 11, and
Further, the auxiliary power unit 16 is disposed obliquely rearward of the pedal shaft 11, and is suspended and supported by the down tube 8 in front of the resultant shaft 19.

Here, the support structure of the auxiliary power unit 16 will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, a pair of left and right suspension brackets 21 are welded to the down tube 8, and the upper ends of the left and right support brackets 22 are attached to these suspension brackets 21 by bolts 23, respectively.

On the other hand, brackets 25 in the shape of a letter are attached to the left and right sides of the transmission case 24 of the auxiliary power unit 16 by bolts 26, and these brackets 25 are connected to the right and left support brackets via mount rubbers 27. 22, the auxiliary power unit 16 is connected to the down tube 8 via the support bracket 22.
It is suspended and supported.

As shown in FIG. 1, an air cleaner 28 and a carburetor 29 are connected to the intake system of the engine 18 of the auxiliary power unit 16, and extend downward from the exhaust system of the engine 18. Exhaust pipe 3
0 is connected to the upper front end of an exhaust muffler 31 disposed below the auxiliary power unit 16 and
A tail pipe 32 extends horizontally from the rear end face 1 and opens to the atmosphere.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a rib plate 33 extends obliquely downward toward the rear from the housing 10 which rotatably supports the pedal shaft 11. A housing 34 of the resultant unit 17 is formed integrally with a rear end of the unit 33. The front ends of a pair of left and right chain stays 35, which are arranged obliquely upward and slightly rearward, are attached to the rear end of the housing 34 of the resultant unit 17. The rear wheel 20 is attached to a pair of left and right brackets 36 attached to the rear end of the rear wheel 35.
It is rotatably supported by. And the rear wheel 20
Wheel sprocket 38 and the resultant shaft 1
An endless chain 40 is wound around a sprocket 39 connected to the sprocket 9.

On the other hand, a pair of left and right seat stays 41 extend obliquely downward toward the rear from an intermediate height position of the seat tube 9.
The rear end is connected to the bracket 36 connected to the rear end of the chain stay 35.

Further, a fuel tank 42 disposed above the seat stay 41 is attached to the seat tube 9, and a fuel pipe 44 led out from a fuel cock 43 attached to a lower portion of the fuel tank 42 is provided. The carburetor 29 is connected to the engine 18 of the auxiliary power unit 16.

Next, the configuration of the drive transmission system will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 2, the auxiliary power unit 16
A crankshaft 45 of the engine 18 is disposed in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body, and a transmission shaft 46 is disposed behind the crankshaft 45 in the front-rear direction coaxially with the crank shaft 45. A drum 47 is connected to a rear end of the crankshaft 45 by a nut 48.
Nine shoes 50 are attached.

On the other hand, a connecting shaft 51 is connected to the front end of the transmission shaft 46. The connecting shaft 51 and the drum 4
7, a one-way clutch 52 is interposed. The one-way clutch 52 permits only rotation transmission from the transmission shaft 46 to the crankshaft 45 side. When the engine 18 starts, the rotation of the pedal shaft 11 due to the pedaling force of the occupant is transmitted to the crankshaft 45 via the transmission shaft. To start the engine 18.

A sleeve 53 is rotatably fitted to the front end of the transmission shaft 46. A drum 54 of the centrifugal clutch 49 is attached to the outer periphery of the front end of the sleeve 53. A sun gear 55 is formed integrally with the outer periphery of the rear end. A plurality of planet gears 56 mesh with the sun gear 55, and each planet gear 56 meshes with a ring gear 57 fixed to the transmission case 24.

The sun gear 55 and the planet gear 56
The ring gear 57 constitutes a planetary reduction gear mechanism 58, and a carrier 59 supporting the planetary gear 56 is rotatably supported on the transmission shaft 46.
A one-way clutch 60 is interposed between the transmission shaft 45 and the transmission shaft 45. The one-way clutch 60 is used for the carrier 5
9 to the transmission shaft 46 only.

On the other hand, the resultant unit 17 is disposed behind the auxiliary power unit 16, and the front end of the casing 34 is connected to the rear end of the transmission case 24 of the auxiliary power unit 16 via an elastic ring 61. An input shaft 62 coaxial with the transmission shaft 46 is rotatably supported inside,
The input shaft 62 and the transmission shaft 46 are connected by a coupling 63. The coupling 63 is formed by connecting a clutch member 64 forming a part of a dog clutch 67 described later and a coupling member 65 connected to a front end of the input shaft 62 by an elastic member 66. The member 64 is rotatably supported on the transmission shaft 46.

A dog clutch 67 is provided on a rear portion of the transmission shaft 46. The dog clutch 67 is a slider 68 spline-fitted to the clutch member 64 on the transmission shaft 46 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. This is turned on / off by rotating the lever 69 to slide the slider 68 on the transmission shaft 46 to disengage the clutch member 64.

Here, the internal structure of the resultant unit 17 will be described with reference to FIG.

The hollow resultant force shaft 19 and the treading force transmission shaft 70 are rotatably supported coaxially in the casing 34 of the resultant force unit 17, and one end of the treading force transmission shaft 70 extending outside the casing 34. An endless chain 73 is wound around the sprocket 71 and a large-diameter sprocket 72 connected to the pedal shaft 11.

A sleeve 74 is supported on the treading force transmission shaft 70 so as to be freely rotatable. An actuator 75 constituting output control means, which will be described later, is connected to the outer periphery of the outer end of the sleeve 74. A sun gear 76 is formed integrally with the outer periphery of the inner end of the sleeve 74. A plurality of planet gears 77 mesh with the sun gear 76, and a carrier 78 that supports these planet gears 77 is
0 is attached to the outer periphery of the inner end.

On the other hand, the sprocket 39 is attached to the end of the resultant shaft 19 extending outside the casing 34, and the sprocket 39 rotates integrally with the rear wheel 20 shown in FIG. Is wound with the chain 40 as described above.

A large-diameter bevel gear 79 and a ring gear 80 are formed integrally with a portion of the resultant shaft 19 facing the inside of the casing 34. The bevel gear 79 is provided at the rear end of the input shaft 62 shown in FIG. And a small-diameter bevel gear 81 integrally formed therewith.

The planetary gear 77 meshes with the ring gear 80, and the ring gear 80, the planetary gear 77 and the sun gear 76 constitute a planetary gear increasing mechanism 82.

The output control means is configured as shown in FIG.

That is, the sleeve 74 in which the sun gear 76 constituting a part of the planetary speed increasing gear mechanism 82 is integrally formed.
Is connected to the actuator 75. The actuator 75 has two lever portions 75a and 75b projecting therefrom, and one end of a throttle wire 83 is connected to one lever portion 85a. The other end of the throttle wire 83 is connected to the carburetor 29 (see FIG. 1).
Are connected to a throttle valve opening / closing mechanism (not shown).

A roller 84 is rotatably supported at the end of the other lever portion 75b of the actuator 75. A spring seat 86 urged downward by a spring 85 is provided above and below the roller 84. The piston rod 87a of the hydraulic damper 87 is in contact.

Next, the operation of the auxiliary power bicycle 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

When the engine 18 of the auxiliary power unit 16 is driven and the rotation speed of the crankshaft 45 reaches a predetermined value or more, the shoe 50 of the centrifugal clutch 49 which rotates integrally with the crankshaft 45 expands by centrifugal force. Drum 54
, The centrifugal clutch 49 is turned on, and the rotation of the crankshaft 45 is transmitted to the planetary reduction gear mechanism 58 via the sleeve 53. In the planetary reduction gear mechanism 58,
Since the ring gear 57 is fixed, when the sun gear 55 formed integrally with the sleeve 53 rotates, the planetary gear 5
6 revolves around the sun gear 55 while rotating, and the carrier 59 supporting the planetary gear 56 is reduced in speed and the transmission shaft 46 is rotated.
The carrier 59 rotates upward, and the rotation of the carrier 59 is transmitted to the transmission shaft 46 via the one-way clutch 60.

Here, since the dog clutch 67 is ON, the rotation of the transmission shaft 46 is transmitted to the input shaft 62 of the resultant unit 17 via the coupling 63, and the input shaft 62
Is transmitted through the bevel gears 81 and 79, the direction thereof is changed to a right angle, and at the same time, the speed is reduced and transmitted to the resultant shaft 19. Note that the dog clutch 67 is turned off by operating the lever 69 when the engine 18 is stopped and the auxiliary power bicycle 1 travels only with the stepping force of the occupant.

On the other hand, when the occupant rows the pedals 13 alternately and drives the pedal shaft 11 to rotate, the rotation of the pedal shaft 11 is increased by the sprocket 72, the chain 73 and the sprocket 71, and the pedaling force transmission shaft 70 of the resultant unit 17 is rotated. , And further transmitted by the planetary speed increasing gear mechanism 82 to the resultant shaft 19. That is, when the treading force transmission shaft 70 rotates, the carrier 78 attached thereto rotates integrally, and the planetary gear 77 supported by the carrier 78 revolves around the sun gear 76 while rotating around itself. Here, the rotation of the sun gear 76 is restricted by the rotation of the planet gear 77 because the rotation of the lever portion 75 b of the actuator 75 is controlled by the spring 85 of the output control means.
The rotation of the pedal shaft 11 is transmitted to the resultant shaft 19 via the above-described path.

As a result, the pedaling force of the occupant input to the pedal shaft 11 and the auxiliary power generated in the engine 18 of the auxiliary power unit 16 are combined on the resultant shaft 19, and the rotation of the resultant shaft 19 is controlled by the sprocket 39, the chain 40 and Transmitted to the rear wheel 20 via the wheel sprocket 38,
The rear wheel 20 is rotationally driven by the stepping force of the occupant and the auxiliary power, and the auxiliary power bicycle 1 is driven. in this way,
Since the auxiliary power bicycle 1 bears a part of the driving force by the auxiliary power, the physical load on the occupant is reduced.

Incidentally, since the torque reaction force received by the sun gear 76 constituting the planetary speed-up gear mechanism 82 is proportional to the pedaling force of the occupant inputted to the pedal shaft 11, the actuator 75 constituting the output control means increases as the pedaling force increases. Turns counterclockwise in FIG. 2 to pull the throttle wire 83. Then, the throttle valve of the carburetor 29 is opened and the output of the engine 18 is increased, so that an auxiliary power corresponding to the magnitude of the pedaling force of the occupant is obtained.

When the pedaling force of the occupant decreases, the output of the engine 18 (auxiliary power) decreases because the actuator 75 returns to the original state and the throttle valve is throttled.
If the actuator 75 immediately returns to the original state, the auxiliary power is sharply reduced and the traveling is jerky and a sense of stability cannot be obtained. Therefore, the return speed of the actuator 75 is slowly reduced by the hydraulic damper 87.

Thus, in the auxiliary power bicycle 1 according to the present embodiment, the resultant shaft 19 is connected to the pedal shaft 1 as described above.
1 and the auxiliary power unit 1
Since the down tube 8 is supported by the down tube 8 in front of the resultant force shaft 19, the position of the down tube 8 is lowered to allow a wide space for the occupant to walk, and the auxiliary power unit 16 does not hinder the occupant from getting on and off. The powered bicycle 1 is improved in getting on and off and can be used by a wide range of users.

Further, since the auxiliary power unit 16 having a relatively high weight is arranged at the lower part of the vehicle body, the auxiliary power bicycle 1
The lowering of the center of gravity is realized, and the running stability is improved.

Further, the rotation of the pedal shaft 11 is transmitted to the resultant shaft 19 at a speed increased by two stages, so that the auxiliary power unit 16
The rotation from the pedal shaft 11 can be merged with the rotation from the pedal shaft 11 at an appropriate reduction ratio on the resultant shaft 19 without greatly decelerating the rotation from the shaft, and as a result, high power transmission efficiency can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, the auxiliary power bicycle using the engine output as the auxiliary power has been described. However, the present invention also relates to an auxiliary power bicycle and a self-propelled bicycle using the output of the electric motor as the auxiliary power. Of course, it is included in the application object.

[0050]

As is apparent from the above description, claim 1
According to the invention described above, the auxiliary power unit is supported by the vehicle body frame in front of the resultant force shaft disposed below the pedal shaft. The power unit does not hinder the getting on and off of the occupant, and the auxiliary power bicycle has an advantage that its getting on and off property is improved and that it can be used for a wide range of users. Further, since the auxiliary power unit having a relatively heavy weight is disposed at the lower part of the vehicle body, the effect of lowering the center of gravity of the auxiliary power bicycle and improving the running stability can be obtained.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the rotation of the pedal shaft is increased by the speed increasing mechanism and transmitted to the resultant shaft, so that the rotation from the auxiliary power unit is not greatly reduced on the resultant shaft. The rotation from the pedal shaft can be combined with an appropriate reduction ratio, and as a result, high power transmission efficiency can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an auxiliary power bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a drive transmission system of the auxiliary power bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view of a resultant unit of the auxiliary power bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 auxiliary power bicycle 8 down tube (body frame) 11 pedal shaft 16 auxiliary power unit 19 resultant force shaft 20 rear wheel

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An auxiliary power bicycle that travels by combining a pedaling force input to a pedal shaft and an auxiliary power generated by an auxiliary power unit with a resultant shaft and transmitting the resultant to a rear wheel, wherein the resultant shaft is connected to the pedal shaft. An auxiliary power unit, wherein the auxiliary power unit is arranged below the auxiliary power unit and the auxiliary power unit is supported by a body frame in front of a resultant shaft. 2. The auxiliary power bicycle according to claim 1, wherein a speed increasing mechanism is provided in a transmission path for transmitting the rotation of the pedal shaft to the resultant shaft.