Control for electric power assisted vehicle
First Claim
1. A power assisted vehicle comprising a body forming a rider'"'"'s area, a manually operated device for receiving a manual force from a rider in said rider'"'"'s area, a propulsion device for propelling said vehicle, a transmission for transmitting power from said manually operated device to said propulsion device for manual propulsion of said vehicle, a prime mover system for providing power to said propulsion device for at least power assist to the propulsion of said vehicle, said prime mover system including a prime mover that is controllable between at least two different operational drive modes each of which has a different power and speed output curve so that at a given prime mover speed different power will be developed by said prime mover for driving said, and control means for sensing an operating condition of said vehicle and the rider'"'"'s manual force application to said manually operated device for selecting both the amount of power assist supplied by said prime mover and its operational drive mode.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A power assisted manually operated vehicle wherein the power assist is capable of providing different power and speed curves depending upon the operating condition. The operator may also select one of these conditions for manual operation such as to obtain an assist when pushing the vehicle. The variable speed and power curves are obtained with a permanent magnet electric motor with the variations being obtained by varying the field strength of the permanent magnet through an augmenting coil.
57 Citations
22 Claims
- 1. A power assisted vehicle comprising a body forming a rider'"'"'s area, a manually operated device for receiving a manual force from a rider in said rider'"'"'s area, a propulsion device for propelling said vehicle, a transmission for transmitting power from said manually operated device to said propulsion device for manual propulsion of said vehicle, a prime mover system for providing power to said propulsion device for at least power assist to the propulsion of said vehicle, said prime mover system including a prime mover that is controllable between at least two different operational drive modes each of which has a different power and speed output curve so that at a given prime mover speed different power will be developed by said prime mover for driving said, and control means for sensing an operating condition of said vehicle and the rider'"'"'s manual force application to said manually operated device for selecting both the amount of power assist supplied by said prime mover and its operational drive mode.
- 2. A power assisted vehicle comprising a body forming a rider'"'"'s area, a manually operated device for receiving a manual force from a rider in said rider'"'"'s area, a propulsion device for propelling said vehicle, a transmission for transmitting power from said manually operated device to said propulsion device for manual propulsion of said vehicle, a prime mover system for providing power to said propulsion device for at least power assist to the propulsion of said vehicle, said prime mover system including a prime mover that is controllable between at least two different operational modes each of which has a different power and speed output curve so that at a given prime mover speed a different power will be developed by said prime mover, control means for sensing the operating condition of said vehicle and the rider'"'"'s manual force application to said manually operated device for selecting both the amount of power assist supplied by said prime mover and its operational mode, and manually operated control means for selecting the operational drive mode of said prime mover by the operator and independently of said control means.
Specification