ATTITUDE CONTROL DEVICE

• US 20110016996A1
• Filed: 12/06/2007
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yoshihiro Suda
• Original Assignee: Yoshihiro Suda
• Inventors: Kotani, Manabu, Suda, Yoshihiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,973,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 74/5.1
• CPC Class Codes: B61C 17/06 Power storing devices
• CPC Class Codes: B61F 5/22 Guiding of the vehicle underframes with respect to the bogies
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 37/00 Stabilising vehicle bodies without controlling suspension arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 37/06 using gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/02 Rotary gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 19/065 Means for measuring or controlling of rotors' angular velocity
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 30/00 Transportation of goods or passengers via railways, e.g. energy recovery or reducing air resistance
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/1204 with caging or parking means

Abstract

The present invention controls rolling motion of a vehicle by eliminating the detrimental influence of gyro moment on the motion of the vehicle and actively using gyro moment generated by a flywheel constituting an energy storing device. The invention relates to an attitude control device for a vehicle mounted with a flywheel as an energy storage device, the flywheel being pivotally supported about first and second axes mutually orthogonal with each other, the flywheel being mounted on a body of the vehicle such that the first axis extends in a front-rear direction of the body, the attitude control device comprising locking means for locking movement of the flywheel about the first axis, wherein a rolling motion of the vehicle is controlled by locking the movement of the flywheel about the first axis using said locking means.

Claims

1. An attitude control device for a vehicle mounted with a flywheel as an energy storage device,

said flywheel being pivotally supported about first and second axes mutually orthogonal with each other,

said flywheel being mounted on a body of the vehicle such that said first axis extends in a front-rear direction of the body,

said attitude control device comprising locking means for locking movement of the flywheel about said first axis,

wherein a rolling motion of the vehicle is controlled by locking the movement of the flywheel about said first axis using said locking means.

2. The attitude control device of claim 1, wherein said attitude control device comprises actuating means for moving the flywheel about said second axis.

3. The attitude control device of claim 2, wherein said actuating means moves the flywheel about said second axis in the state where the movement of the flywheel about the first axis is locked by said locking means.

4. The attitude control device of claim 1, wherein said attitude control device comprises locking means for locking movement of the flywheel about the second axis.

5. The attitude control device of claim 1, wherein an intersection of said first and second axes coincides with the center of gravity of the flywheel.

6. The attitude control device of claim 1, wherein said attitude control device comprises one or more flywheel sets comprised of two flywheels rotating in different directions, and the second axes of said two flywheels are operatively connected such that said second axes rotate in different directions.

10. The attitude control device of claim 1

said attitude control device further comprising

detecting means for detecting the risk of rollover of the vehicle;

wherein a rolling motion of the vehicle is controlled by locking the movement of the flywheel about said first axis using said locking means based on detection of said detecting means.

11. The attitude control device of claim 10, wherein said attitude control device comprises actuating means for moving the flywheel about said second axis, and said actuating means moves the flywheel about said second axis in the state where the movement of the flywheel about the first axis is locked by said locking means so as to control the rolling motion of the vehicle.

7. An attitude control device for a vehicle having a tilting function and mounted with a flywheel as an energy storage device,

said flywheel being pivotally supported about first and second axes mutually orthogonal with each other,

said flywheel being mounted on a body of the vehicle such that said first axis extends in a front-rear direction of the body,

said attitude control device comprising:

locking means for locking movement of the flywheel about said first axis; and

actuating means for moving the flywheel about said second axis,

wherein a rolling motion of the vehicle is controlled by locking the movement of the flywheel about said first axis using said locking means, and the vehicle body is tilted by moving the flywheel about said second axis using said actuating means.

8. The attitude control device of claim 7, wherein said attitude control device comprises locking means for locking movement of the flywheel about the second axis.

9. The attitude control device of claim 7, wherein said attitude control device comprises one or more flywheel sets comprised of two flywheels rotating in different directions, and the second axes of said two flywheels are operatively connected such that said second axes rotate in different directions.

12. A support structure for a flywheel, said flywheel being pivotally supported about a first axis and a second axis,

said support structure comprising:

locking means for locking movement of the flywheel about said first axis or/and said second axis; and

actuating means for actively moving the flywheel about said first axis or/and said second axis.