JP3311592B2 - Electric bicycle - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric bicycle that uses the power of an electric motor such as a motor to assist manual driving. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electric bicycle using a specific locking device that securely locks a battery case when a battery case housing a battery for driving an electric motor is fixed with a simple structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electric bicycle, a wheel driving motor for assisting manual driving is mounted, and a battery for driving the motor is mounted on the bicycle.
This battery does not get in the way of the bed,
In addition, it must be installed so that it does not interfere with pedaling during running. For this reason, recently, it is housed in a battery case and attached to a frame tube such as a down tube or a seat tube which is a main frame of the bicycle. The frame tube is a round pipe and is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane.The battery case is almost 4 kg and is heavy, so a sturdy resin case is attached to the frame tube. It is configured to hold.

That is, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-32985
The mounting structure of the conventional battery case disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-1995 has a complicated V-shaped side cover which covers the down tube and the seat tube and is divided into left and right sides and a center cover provided on the front surface of the seat tube. It is formed in a shape, and is structured to support the lower end of the battery case with the center cover. Also, the upper end of the battery case is configured to be detachable by allowing a lock pin of a lock device fixed to a support bracket provided on the front end side of the side cover to enter and exit, and switching between lock and release. I have.

[0004]

As described above, a battery case of a conventional electric bicycle is mainly held by a resin cover case attached to a main frame of the bicycle. Therefore, the cover case made of resin has a robust and complicated structure, and is expensive and hinders cost reduction of the electric bicycle. On the other hand, in order to make the battery case detachable, the front end side of the battery case is locked and released by inserting and removing the lock pin,
The battery case is quite heavy, about 4 kg, and must be sufficiently resistant to vibrations during running of the bicycle. Therefore, high reliability of the lock device is required.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and the mounting strength of the battery case is increased by independently holding the battery case with a metal fitting mounted on a frame tube of the bicycle. Further, an electric bicycle having a highly reliable locking device while reducing costs with a simple structure is used as a cover for covering the periphery of the metal fittings as a mounting base for the battery case and for hiding the metal fittings. The purpose is to:

Another object of the present invention is to provide a specific structure to which a safety device which requires an external force when removing the battery case is added so that the lock device is not accidentally released. is there.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a specific structure in which a key operation of a lock device has a function of turning on and off a power switch.

[0008]

Bicycle according to the present invention SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION, the first and provided to a frame tube of the bicycle
Attach to a second fitting and one of the first and second fittings
A locking device, the locking device , the first and
The battery is stored by being fixed by the other of the second metal fittings.
And a battery case that is, the locking device,
A resin housing in which a box can slide inside, a lock housing that slides inside the housing and has a lock pin fixed to one wall surface in the sliding direction and protruding from the housing, and irregularities formed on the outer periphery A cam rotatable intermittently when a stopper is pressed against the concave portion of the concave and convex, and the cam having one end fixed to the cam and the other end inserted into a gap in the wall surface of the lock housing. And a crank pin that slides the lock housing by rotation of the lock housing.

With this configuration, the locking device can be directly attached to the first metal fitting fixed to the frame tube, and the battery case, which is heavier than when a resin cover case or the like is interposed, is securely locked. be able to. Furthermore, since the housing serving as a guide on which the lock housing in which the lock pin is fixed slides is made of resin, a smooth locking operation is performed without squeezing between metals during sliding. As a result, the detachable battery case can be held with a simple configuration mainly using the metal fittings, and the heavy battery case with severe vibration can be held with high reliability.

The stopper for pressing the concave portion on the outer periphery of the cam is integrally formed with the resin housing, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the contact of the rotating portion with the metal can be achieved. Since it can be made of resin, it is preferable because no friction noise is generated.

An arm is formed on the cam, and a stopper pin for restricting the rotation of the cam by contacting the arm is further provided. The stopper pin is an elastic member so that the rotation is released by an external force. It is preferable that the battery case is provided via a simple structure and that the lock device is not accidentally released and the battery case is not dropped.

A twisted portion is formed at the tip of the arm. When the lock is released, the tip of the arm comes into contact with the stopper pin to restrict the rotation. It is preferable that the twisted portion is formed so that the distal end of the arm can rotate while avoiding the stopper pin, because it can be easily mounted when the battery case is mounted.

[0013] The lock housing is made of a non-magnetic material, and a magnet is provided on an outer surface of a wall surface of the lock housing opposite to a wall surface into which the crankpin is inserted,
It is preferable to configure a reed switch that is turned on and off by the magnet because the combination switch becomes a combination switch and the number of components can be reduced.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an electric bicycle according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of an electric bicycle according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 32 is a head pipe, 3
Reference numeral 3 denotes a seat tube, which is provided with a down tube (covered by a battery stand 10 in the figure) which is inclined from the head pipe 32 and is connected to the root of the seat tube 33, and these frame tubes constitute a main frame of the bicycle. are doing. In this example, the battery stand 10 is mounted on the down tube, and the battery case 20 containing the battery is mounted thereon, but it may be mounted on the seat tube 33. 1
Reference numeral 55 denotes a key insertion slot of the lock device, into which a key (not shown) is inserted, a power switch is turned on and off, and a lock pin for holding and fixing the upper end of the battery case 20 is slid. 29 is the battery case 20
It is a handle for carrying. Reference numeral 41 denotes a brake for applying a brake to the rear wheel, and reference numeral 40 denotes a casing having a rotating side and a fixed side. A torque sensor for detecting human torque, a motor, a reduction mechanism, and a control board are incorporated in the fixed side casing. , And is driven according to the torque. In addition,
The structures and functions of other front wheels, rear wheels, steering wheels, saddles, pedals, chains, brakes, etc. are the same as those of a normal bicycle and have the same functions, and a description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a case where the battery stand 10 of the electric bicycle of the present invention is attached to the down tube 31. FIG. 2A shows a state in which the first and second fittings 11 and 12 are attached to the down tube 31. (B) is a plan view showing a state in which the divided casings 16 and 17 are further attached to cover the down tube 31 and the first and second fittings 11 and 12, respectively. FIG. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the first metal fitting 11 is attached to the upper side of the slanted down tube 31, that is, the head pipe 32 by brazing or welding. The second metal fitting 12 is similarly attached to the lower side, that is, to the seat tube 33 side. A gap D is formed between the second metal fitting 12 and the pedestal of the second metal fitting 12 by the fixing pins 123 attached to the side walls 124 and 125, and as shown in FIG. Is inserted and fixed. On the other hand, the first metal fitting 11 is provided with a lock device 15, which locks or unlocks the tip side of the battery case 20 by inserting and removing the lock pin 152 into and out of the fitting hole of the lock metal fitting 22 of the battery case 20. Then, the battery case 20 can be removed, and the battery case 20 can be easily attached and detached. The plastic casings 16 and 17 are screwed with screws 18 so as to cover the metal fittings 11 and 12 and the down tube 31, thereby forming the battery stand 10.

The battery case 20 is mounted on the casings 16 and 17, and the second metal fitting 1 is mounted as described above.
It is fixed by the second fixing pin 123 and the lock device 15 attached to the first metal fitting 11. The output terminal 24 of the battery provided on the battery case 20 and the contact pin 14 provided on the battery base 10 are connected, and the output of the battery is transmitted to the drive unit. In addition, in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lock pin 15 is raised by lifting the battery case 20 upward.
An elastic member such as a spring for securely fixing the battery case 20 together with 2 is provided, and 23 is an arrangement portion of the battery.

Next, the structure and function of the lock device 15 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the battery case 20 is locked to the battery stand 10, FIG. 5 is a similar top sectional view, FIG. 6 is a similar front sectional view, and FIG. It is sectional drawing in the back surface of a cam.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, the lock device 15 used in the electric bicycle according to the present invention has a first metal fitting 11.
A housing 153 made of resin such as polyacetal is fixed by screws 61 or the like, and a box-shaped lock housing 157 made of a non-magnetic material such as brass or aluminum is formed in the housing 153 so as to be slidable.
A lock pin 152 is fixed to a wall surface of the lock housing 157 in the sliding direction. The lock pin 152 slides into and out of the lock hole 22 of the battery case 20 as the lock housing 157 slides. To lock and remove the battery case 20,
It has a detachable structure. Locking device 15 of the present invention
In this case, since the resin housing 153 is used as the guide for sliding the lock housing 157 to which the lock pin 152 is fixed, it is necessary to use a resin having rigidity and slidability. In this case, no friction noise is generated, and smooth sliding can be performed.

Lock pin 15 of lock housing 157
A gap 157a is provided on the wall surface orthogonal to the wall surface provided with
And one end of the crankpin 158 is inserted, and the other end of the crankpin 158 is fixed to the cam 159. The cam 159 is located on the back of the battery stand 1
As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 7, irregularities are formed on the outer periphery, the stopper 150 is pressed in the concave part, and the key is inserted intermittently by the key inserted into the key slot 155. . As a result, the crank pin 158 fixed to the cam 159 also moves in the horizontal direction by the rotation of the cam 159, and the lock housing 157, which is restricted by the housing 153 from moving in the linear direction, moves to the housing 153.
Slide inside.

In this example, the stopper 150 is made of resin integrally formed of the same material as the housing 153 described above.
It is pressed against the concave portion of the cam 159 by using the elasticity of the resin. Therefore, although this resin is slidable and elastic, it is used. However, by integrally forming the housing 153 and the stopper 150, the number of parts is reduced, assembling is facilitated, and cost is reduced. Can be lowered.

The cam 159 is provided with an arm 159a on the end side of the outer peripheral unevenness.
When the cam 159 is rotated in the direction in which the cam 2 is retracted into the housing 153, and the lock pin 152 comes off from the battery case 20, the arm 159a comes into contact with the stopper pin 151 and does not rotate. In other words, when the lock pin 152 comes off, the battery case 20 comes off.
This is a safety device that can be rotated by pressing 51 and moving a contact portion with the arm 159a. Therefore, the stopper pin 151 is attached via an elastic body such as the spring 151a, so that contact with the arm 159a can be avoided by human power.

Further, a twisted portion is formed at the tip of the arm 159a. When the lock pin 152 comes off, it does not rotate unless the stopper pin 151 is pressed, but when the lock pin 152 is inserted, it does not rotate. 1
Even if 51 is not pushed, it rotates. That is, when the lock pin 152 rotates in a direction in which the lock pin 152 is completely removed from the battery case 20, the distal end of the arm 159a contacts the stopper pin 151 as described above.
When the lock pin 152 is completely removed, the lock pin 1
The torsion portion is formed so that when rotating in the direction in which the 52 is inserted, the stopper pin 151 is rotated to avoid the stopper pin 151 without pressing the stopper pin 151. As a result, the battery case can be easily mounted.

The lock device 15 of the electric bicycle of the present invention
It also has the function of a power switch. That is, the magnet 154 is provided on the outer surface of the wall of the lock housing 157 opposite to the wall where the crankpin 158 is inserted.
The reed switch 63 provided on the substrate 62 on the opposing surface is turned on and off by the movement of the lock housing 157 due to the rotation of the key. Thus, the number of components can be reduced by using the lock device 15 and the power switch together.

[0027]

According to the present invention, since the lock device is mounted on the metal fittings while the mounting structure of the battery case of the electric bicycle is performed mainly with the first and second metal fittings, the locking device is strong and reliable. It is possible to securely fix a heavy battery case with a small number of parts. As a result, a low-cost electric bicycle can be obtained in which the battery case can be easily attached and detached and the battery case can be held with high reliability.

Furthermore, a safety device for the lock device can be obtained with a simple structure, and can also be used as a power switch, which greatly contributes to cost reduction of the electric bicycle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an electric bicycle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a mounting portion of a battery stand of the electric bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state where a battery case is further mounted on the battery stand of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of a side of a locking device of the electric bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of an upper surface side of a lock device portion of the electric bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory front sectional view of a lock device of the electric bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of a side surface of a back surface of a cam of the lock device of the electric bicycle according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Battery stand 11 1st metal fitting 12 2nd metal fitting 15 Lock device 151 Stopper pin 152 Lock pin 153 Housing 154 Magnet 157 Lock housing 158 Crank pin 159 Cam 159a Arm 20 Battery case

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-10-45075 (JP, A) JP-A-9-216588 (JP, A) JP-A-9-188289 (JP, A) JP-A-9-104379 (JP, A) JP-A-8-207854 (JP, A) JP-A-7-329857 (JP, A) JP-A-5-319104 (JP, A) JP-A-56-60698 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B62J 11/00 B62M 23/02

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. The bicycle is provided on a frame tube of a bicycle.
First and second fittings, and one of the first and second fittings;
A locking device mounted towards the and the locking device
The battery is fixed by the other of the first and second metal fittings.
And a battery case Lee is accommodated, said locking device includes a resin housing box body inside can slide, slides within the housing, is fixed to one wall of the sliding direction the A lock housing having a lock pin protruding from the housing, a cam that is formed with irregularities on its outer periphery and can be rotated intermittently by pressing a stopper in the concave part of the irregularities, and one end fixed to the cam and the other end And a crank pin that is inserted into a gap in the wall surface of the lock housing to slide the lock housing by rotation of the cam. 2. The electric bicycle according to claim 1, wherein a stopper for pressing a concave portion on an outer periphery of the cam is formed integrally with the resin housing. 3. An arm is formed on the cam, and a stopper pin for restricting the rotation of the cam by contacting the arm is further provided, and the stopper pin is released from the restriction of the rotation by an external force. The electric bicycle according to claim 1, wherein the electric bicycle is provided via an elastic body. 4. A twisted portion is formed at the distal end of the arm, and at the time of rotation for unlocking, the distal end of the arm comes into contact with the stopper pin to restrict the rotation, and the rotation of the lock pin protrudes. 4. The electric bicycle according to claim 3, wherein the torsion portion is formed so that a tip portion of the arm can rotate while avoiding the stopper pin. 5. The lock housing is made of a non-magnetic material, and a magnet is provided on an outer surface of a wall surface of the lock housing opposite to a wall surface into which the crankpin is inserted,
5. The electric bicycle according to claim 1, wherein the reed switch is turned on and off by the magnet.