JP4407645B2 - Rigid suspension system for motorized vehicles - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a rigid suspension device for a motor-equipped vehicle using a structure for connecting a wheel driving motor and an axle member.

  Electric motors that use electric motors as wheel drive power and hybrid cars that use a combination of electric motors and other power sources as power (both motorized vehicles) are located near the left and right wheels respectively. Thus, there is a structure in which the left and right wheels are driven by the outputs of the left and right electric motors, respectively. A vehicle using an in-wheel motor has a typical structure.

  By the way, in an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, a suspension device having a rigid structure in which left and right electric motors and wheels are connected to each other is known because of its simple structure.

Many rigid suspension devices have an axle structure in which an electric motor with a wheel attachment portion is connected to both ends of an axle tube extending in the vehicle width direction as disclosed in Patent Document 1 and the connection is made. A structure is used in which the part is supported on the vehicle body by a suspension device such as a spring or a shock absorber.
JP 2005-289324 A

  By the way, in the suspension device, it is required to provide a bump stopper in order to suppress an excessive upward movement of the wheel.

  In a rigid suspension device (without an electric motor; a structure in which a wheel is fixed to an axle tube) used in a gasoline vehicle or a diesel vehicle, a bump stopper is usually disposed above the axle tube. In many cases, bump stoppers are arranged above the axle tube using other devices, such as shock absorbers and coil spring seats that suspend the axle tube.

  For this reason, even in the case of a rigid suspension device having an electric motor, the bump stopper has a similar structure and is provided above the axle tube.

  By the way, when this electric motor is present, there is an electric motor between the wheel and the end of the axle tube, so that the bump stopper is shifted from the wheel position in the vehicle width direction as compared with the case without the electric motor. Placed in.

  However, with the same structure, when the axle tube receives the reaction force of the bump stopper (the axle tube stops with the bump stopper), the moment input to the axle tube increases by the distance that the bump stopper moves away from the wheel. For this reason, the burden of an axle tube is large, and there exists a tendency for the reinforcement structure which bears the moment separately to be calculated | required.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a rigid suspension device for a vehicle with a motor that has a simple structure and that can suppress a moment generated in an axle member when subjected to a reaction force of a bump stopper.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a configuration in which a bump stopper is provided above the electric motor to restrict excessive movement of the axle structure portion from contact with the outer member of the motor. Adopted.

  With this configuration, the distance from the wheel to the bump stopper is kept short, and the moment of the axle member generated by the bump stopper reaction force is thereby reduced.

In addition to the above-mentioned object, the invention described in claim 2 further secures both the supporting strength of the bump stopper that can withstand the applied impact and the receiving strength that can withstand the reaction force of the bump stopper by utilizing existing components. Thus, the bump stopper is provided on the frame member constituting the vehicle body, and the receiving portion for receiving the bump stopper is constituted by the peripheral wall portion of the outer member facing the tip of the bump stopper.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, since the distance from the wheel to the bump stopper can be kept short, the moment of the axle member caused by the bump stopper reaction force can be reduced. In addition, the same effect can be obtained simply by disposing the bump stopper above the electric motor.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to withstand the strength of supporting the bump stopper and the reaction force of the bump stopper with the frame of the vehicle body and the motor housing of the electric motor having excellent rigidity and strength without providing a separate reinforcing structure. The strength of the part can be ensured. Thereby, the increase in the weight of the vehicle accompanying installation of a bump stopper is suppressed.

[One Embodiment]
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on an embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

  FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a rigid suspension device that suspends a motor-equipped vehicle, for example, a rear wheel (drive wheel) of an electric vehicle, and FIG. 2 shows the structure of one side of the suspension device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cabin constituting the vehicle body 2, and 3 denotes a frame member that receives both lower sides of the cabin 1, for example, a pair of left and right side frames extending in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body 2. A rigid type axle structure portion 4 is provided below the pair of side frames 3 so as to cross the side frames 2.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the axle structure portion 4 includes a pair of in-wheel motors 6 at both ends of a rigid body extending along the vehicle width direction, for example, a metal axle tube 5 (corresponding to the axle member of the present application). (Corresponding to an electric motor for driving wheels of the present application) and a braking unit 9 (equipment incorporating a brake shoe or the like) with a wheel mounting portion 8 are sequentially connected. Both end portions of the axle tube 5 are supported on the vehicle body 1 by a suspension device (such as a shock absorbing member or a shock absorbing component for buffering shock or vibration), for example, a pair of coil springs 11 or a pair of shock absorbers 12. The part 4 is suspended from the vehicle body 1. Reference numeral 11 a denotes a coil cradle for receiving the end of the coil spring 11 by the axle tube 5. Reference numerals 13 and 14 denote rod members that restrict the posture of the axle structure portion 4 so as to be movable, for example, a pair of upper rods and lower rods that extend from the left and right in-wheel motors 6 toward the front of the vehicle body.

  As shown in FIG. 2, each of the in-wheel motors 6 includes a hermetically sealed motor housing, specifically, a motor housing including a bottomed cylindrical housing 16 and a cover 17 that closes the opening of the housing 16. A structure in which various devices including a motor element, for example, a stator 19, a rotor 20, a speed reduction mechanism 21, and the like are housed in 15 (outer member) is used. That is, a lateral motor structure is used. The braking unit 9 is assembled to the output portion of the in-hole motor 6. Thus, the in-wheel motor 6 has a structure in which when the stator 19 is excited, the rotor 20 rotates, and this rotation is decelerated by the speed reduction mechanism portion 21 and output to the wheel mounting portion 8 through the braking unit 9. ing. The end of the motor housing 15 on the cover 16 side is connected to the end of the axle tube 5 via the axle plate 18. By this connection, a lateral in-wheel motor 6 is laid out immediately below the side frame 3. Both the braking unit 9 and the wheel mounting portion 8 at the opposite ends are directed outward in the vehicle width direction. A rear wheel 22 (wheel: shown by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. 1 and 2) is assembled to the hole mounting portion 8, and the rear wheel 22 is driven by a driving force (rotational force) output from the in-hole motor 6. Or a braking force is applied from the braking unit 9 to the rear wheel 22.

  On the other hand, 25 indicates a pair of left and right bump stoppers. The bump stopper 25 is a part formed from, for example, a conical rubber block. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, these bump stoppers 25 are installed directly above (upper side) the lateral in-wheel motor 6. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the bump stopper 25 is attached at a point facing the upper portion of the peripheral wall 16 a of the housing 16, for example, in the lower surface portion of the side frame 3. Of course, the bump stopper 25 is attached in a posture in which the tip portion is directed downward. This attachment ensures high support strength. A concave receiving surface 26 (corresponding to the receiving portion of the present application) is formed on the upper portion of the peripheral wall 16a facing the tip of the bump stopper 25, and if the rear wheel 22 moves excessively upward, the bump stopper The structure is abutted against the tip of 25. With this structure, the motor housing 15 is used as it is to receive the bump stopper reaction force. Here, since the motor housing 15 is provided with high rigidity by the housing 16 having the cylindrical peripheral wall 16a having a diameter larger than that of the axle tube 5 and the cover 17, the motor housing 15 itself is provided by the same structure. The strength that can withstand the bump stopper reaction force is obtained. In the present embodiment, the peripheral wall portion (point near the cover 17) close to the cover 17 abuts against the bump stopper 25 so as to ensure higher strength.

  Next, the operation of the rigid suspension device thus configured will be described.

  For example, it is assumed that one side of the rear wheel 22 gets over the step while the vehicle is traveling, and the rear wheel 22 moves excessively upward at this time.

  Then, as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, the receiving surface 26 of the motor housing 15 abuts against the bump stopper 25 immediately above it and restricts the behavior of the rear wheel 22 attempting to move excessively.

  At this time, a bending moment is generated in the axle tube 5 and the in-wheel motor 6 due to the load and impact input from the rear wheel 22 and the reaction force of the bump stopper 25 acting on the receiving surface 26.

  Here, the bump stopper 25 has a structure that abuts against the in-wheel motor 6 at the end of the axle tube 5 unlike a structure that abuts the bump stopper against a normal axle tube. The distance S (shown in FIG. 2) from the rear wheel 22 (wheel) to the bump stopper 25 can be short.

  Therefore, the bending moment input to the axle structure 4 when the bump stopper 25 is abutted can be reduced. In addition, the moment can be easily reduced because the bump stopper 25 is simply disposed above the in-wheel motor 6.

  In addition, the support strength of the bump stopper 25 is obtained by the frame of the vehicle body 2 having high rigidity strength, and the strength that can withstand the reaction force of the bump stopper is obtained by the motor housing 15 having high rigidity strength. Without using the existing parts, it is possible to secure rigidity at the time of bumps by utilizing existing parts. Thereby, the weight increase of the vehicle accompanying installation of the bump stopper 25 can be suppressed.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in one embodiment, the tube member is used as the axle member, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a structure using a beam member may be used. Moreover, in one Embodiment, although the in-wheel motor was used for the electric motor, not only this but another electric motor may be sufficient. In one embodiment, an electric vehicle has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a hybrid vehicle in which an electric motor and an engine are combined may be used. Of course, the present invention may be applied not to the rear wheel of the vehicle but to a suspension device that supports the front wheel.

1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of a rigid suspension device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Sectional drawing for demonstrating the attachment structure of the bump stopper in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  2 ... Vehicle body, 3 ... Side frame (frame member), 4 ... Axle structure part, 5 ... Axle tube (axle member), 6 ... In-wheel motor (electric motor), 11, 12 ... Coil spring, shock absorber (suspension device) , 15 ... motor housing, 19 ... stator, 20 ... rotor, 21 ... deceleration mechanism, 22 ... rear wheel (wheel), 25 ... bump stopper, 26 ... receiving surface (receiving portion).

Claims (2)

An axle structure configured by connecting an electric motor for driving a wheel to each end of an axle member extending along the vehicle width direction;
A suspension device for supporting the axle structure on the vehicle body;
A rigid suspension for a motor-equipped vehicle, comprising: a bump stopper that is disposed above the electric motor and that restricts movement of the axle structure portion from contact with an outer member of the motor. apparatus. The electric motor is configured to house various devices inside the outer member ,
The bump stopper is provided on a frame member constituting the vehicle body,
The rigid suspension device for a motor-equipped vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a peripheral wall portion of the outer member facing the tip portion of the bump stopper is a receiving portion that receives the bump stopper.

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