Power assisted manually powered vehicle
First Claim
1. An electric power assisted, manually propelled vehicle, said vehicle having a manually operated propulsion device for propelling said vehicle by an operator of said vehicle, an electric motor for driving said propulsion device for providing electric power assist for said vehicle, a battery for supplying electric power to said electric motor, means for sensing the voltage of said battery, means for providing a signal to the operator when said battery voltage falls below a first predetermined value, means for precluding the transmission of electrical power from said battery to said electric motor when the battery voltage falls before a second predetermined value, and means for changing at least one of said predetermined values in response to the amount of current flowing from said battery to said electric motor during at least a range of current flow when said battery is powering said electric motor to assist in the operation of said vehicle.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A number of embodiments of an electrically assisted manually powered bicycle that utilizes a control means whereby the operation of the electric power assist is curtailed when the battery voltage drops below a lower threshold value. Means are also provided to gradually reduce the electrical power assist prior to this so as to more smoothly transition to a nonpower assisted operation.
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Citations
30 Claims
- 1. An electric power assisted, manually propelled vehicle, said vehicle having a manually operated propulsion device for propelling said vehicle by an operator of said vehicle, an electric motor for driving said propulsion device for providing electric power assist for said vehicle, a battery for supplying electric power to said electric motor, means for sensing the voltage of said battery, means for providing a signal to the operator when said battery voltage falls below a first predetermined value, means for precluding the transmission of electrical power from said battery to said electric motor when the battery voltage falls before a second predetermined value, and means for changing at least one of said predetermined values in response to the amount of current flowing from said battery to said electric motor during at least a range of current flow when said battery is powering said electric motor to assist in the operation of said vehicle.
- 26. An electric power assisted, manually propelled vehicle, said vehicle having a manually operated propulsion device for propelling said vehicle, an electric motor for driving said propulsion device for providing electric power assist for said vehicle, a battery for supplying electric power to said electric motor, means for sensing the voltage of said battery, means for providing a signal to the operator when said battery voltage falls below a first predetermined value, and means for changing said predetermined value in response to the current flow to said electric motor during at least a range of current flow when said battery is powering said electric motor to assist in the operation of said vehicle.
Specification