Mobility vehicle and power-assisting system

• US 9,604,697 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2015
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Tsing Hua University
• Original Assignee: National Tsing Hua University
• Inventors: Dai, Bang-Hao, Yeh, Ting-Jen, Huang, Chun-Feng
• Primary Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US14/818,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20160059928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• Field of Search: 701/22
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 2203/38 for torque
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 5/022 acting on wheels, e.g. on tires or hand rims
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 5/041 having a specific drive-type
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 5/10 Parts, details or accessories
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/018 Control or drive mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/52 characterised by DC-motors
• CPC Class Codes: B62M 6/45 Control or actuating devices therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B62M 6/50 characterised by detectors or sensors, or arrangement thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

A mobility vehicle includes a personal mobility vehicle having at least one wheel body and a power-assisting system. The power-assisting system includes an actuation unit, a sensing unit and a signal processing unit. The actuation unit has a motor and a power amplifier geared with the motor. The sensing unit includes a motor rotation speed sensor, a multi-axis accelerometer and a multi-axis gyroscope, so as to sense the velocity, acceleration and the absolute angular velocity of the mobility vehicle in motion in real time. The signal processing unit is connected to the actuation unit and the sensing unit, so as to process the signals of the sensing unit. Then, the actuation unit performs inertia compensation, damping compensation and gravity compensation to the mobility vehicle through a dynamic signal-conditioning algorithm. When the mobility vehicle is actuated by human-power, the power-assisting system assists the power automatically to save human labor.

Claims

1. A power-assisting system providing at least an assisting power to a personal mobility vehicle that itself is human-powered, the power-assisting system comprising:

at least one actuation unit comprising a motor and a power amplifier geared with the motor;

a sensing unit comprising a rotating speed sensor, a multi-axis accelerometer and a multi-axis gyroscope and configured for sensing acceleration of the personal mobility vehicle, an angular velocity of the personal mobility vehicle and a rotating speed of the motor; and

a signal processing device unit connected to the actuation unit and the sensing unit to process signals of the sensing unit, so as for the actuation unit to generate damping compensation, inertia compensation, and gravity compensation in accordance with the processed signals.

2. The power-assisting system of claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit is connected to the power amplifier.

3. The power-assisting system of claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit is digital, so as to convert the signals of the sensing unit into digital signals.

4. The power-assisting system of claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit uses the multi-axis accelerometer and the multi-axis gyroscope to calculate an inclination signal and an acceleration signal by a method of nonlinear complementary filtering.

5. The power-assisting system of claim 1 further comprising a regulator used for transmitting an electrical signal to the signal processing unit by a method of wired transmission or wireless transmission, so as to adjust the damping compensation, the inertia compensation and the gravity compensation.

6. The power-assisting system of claim 1, further comprising at least one power supply unit electrically connected to the actuation unit, the signal processing unit and the sensing unit, wherein the power supply unit serves as a power supply of the actuation unit, the signal processing unit and the sensing unit.

7. A mobility vehicle, comprising:

a personal mobility vehicle, comprising at least one wheel body, wherein the personal mobility vehicle itself is human-powered; and

the power-assisting system of claim 1, in which the actuation unit is connected to the wheel body, and the rotating speed, the angular velocity and the acceleration, which includes a gravitational acceleration, of the vehicle sensed by the sensing unit correspond to a velocity, an absolute angular velocity and an acceleration of the personal mobility vehicle in motion, and are processed by the signal processing unit to produce a vehicle velocity, an inclination angle and a motion acceleration of the personal mobility vehicle.

8. The mobility vehicle of claim 7, wherein the acceleration sensed by the sensing unit is a combination of the motion acceleration of the mobility vehicle in motion and the gravitational acceleration, and the signal processing unit processes the signal of the sensing unit to calculate the motion acceleration, which does not include gravitational acceleration, of the personal mobility vehicle in motion.

9. The mobility vehicle of claim 7, wherein the signal processing unit is connected to the power amplifier to provide damping compensation, inertia compensation and gravity compensation to the personal mobility vehicle.

10. The mobility vehicle of claim 7, wherein the motor is disposed on the wheel body, such that the motor and the wheel body constitute a wheel hub motor.

11. The mobility vehicle of claim 7, wherein the signal processing unit is digital.

12. The mobility vehicle of claim 7, wherein the signal processing unit uses the multi-axis accelerometer and the multi-axis gyroscope to calculate a signal of inclination angle and a signal of acceleration by a method of nonlinear complementary filtering when the mobility vehicle tends to lean laterally.

13. The mobility vehicle of claim 7 further comprising a regulator used for transmitting an electrical signal to the signal processing unit with a method of wired transmission or wireless transmission, so as to adjust the damping compensation, the inertia compensation and the gravitational compensation.

14. The mobility vehicle of claim 7, further comprising at least one power supply unit electrically connected to the actuation unit, the signal processing unit and the sensing unit, wherein the power supply unit serves as a power supply of the power unit, the signal processing unit and the sensing unit.