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Electrical system for gyroscopic stabilized vehicle

  • US 8,918,239 B2
  • Filed: 09/02/2010
  • Issued: 12/23/2014
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2010
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A system comprising:

  • a drive wheel motor-generator to transfer energy to and from a drive wheel of a vehicle, the drive wheel comprising one of a front or a rear wheel of the vehicle having a first axis of rotation;

    a gyroscope stabilizer comprising a flywheel having second axis of rotation different from the first axis of rotation, a flywheel motor-generator to transfer energy to and from the flywheel to increase and decrease a rotational speed of the flywheel, and a precession motor to generate an inertial moment for stabilizing the vehicle by precessing the flywheel from the second axis of rotation, the inertial moment further based on the rotational speed of the flywheel;

    a power storage unit including a capacitor bank and a battery, the capacitor bank to store power from power surges exceeding a capacity of the battery; and

    a power controller to transfer energy between the drive wheel motor-generator and the gyroscope stabilizer, comprising;

    circuitry configured to, in response to detecting a user input to increase a speed of the vehicle, increase the speed of the vehicle and decrease the inertial moment generated by the precession motor of the gyroscope-stabilizer by transferring energy, via a switching circuitry, from the flywheel motor-generator of the gyroscope stabilizer to the drive wheel motor-generator, and transferring energy not required by the drive wheel motor-generator to the power storage unit; and

    circuitry configured to, in response to detecting a user input to decrease the speed of the vehicle, decrease the speed of the vehicle and increase the inertial moment generated by the precession motor of the gyroscope-stabilizer by transferring energy, via the switching circuitry, from the drive wheel motor-generator to the flywheel motor-generator of the gyroscope-stabilizer, and transferring energy not required by the flywheel motor-generator to the power storage unit.

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