Motor vehicles – Power – Electric
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-18
2001-04-24
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Motor vehicles
Power
Electric
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220380
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric vehicle, including a battery box which has batteries accommodated therein and which is mounted below a floor panel at a central portion of a vehicle body, wherein the supply of electric current from the batteries to a motor mounted at a front portion of the vehicle body is controlled by a control unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8
shows a conventional electric vehicle. A power unit
01
mounted at a front portion of a vehicle body is integrally provided with a motor
02
, a reduction device
03
and a differential
04
, and front wheels
08
,
08
are driven for traveling of the vehicle by supplying power of batteries
05
mounted at a central portion of the vehicle body through a control unit
06
and an inverter
07
to the motor
02
.
The above conventional electric vehicle suffers from problems in that lowering of the center of gravity of the vehicle is obstructed by the relatively high weight of the control unit
06
and the inverter
07
, because the control unit
06
and the inverter
07
are disposed above the motor
02
, and in that power lines
09
and
010
connecting the batteries
05
and the motor
02
to each other are disposed to extend via the control unit
06
and the inverter
07
, above the motor
02
. For this second reason, the lengths of the power lines
09
and
010
are extended, thereby making it difficult to provide an efficient layout of same.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to lower the center of gravity of the electric vehicle and to reduce the lengths of the power lines connecting the batteries and the motor to each other.
To achieve the above object, according to a first aspect and feature of the present invention, there is provided an electric vehicle comprising a battery box which has batteries accommodated therein and which is mounted below a floor panel at a central portion of a vehicle body, wherein the supply of electric current from the batteries to a motor mounted at a front portion of the vehicle body is controlled by a control unit, and wherein the control unit is disposed in a space provided within the battery box in front of the batteries.
With the above arrangement, the control unit is supported in the front portion of the battery box mounted below the floor panel at the central portion of the vehicle body and hence, the position of the control unit is lowered to contribute to the lowering of the center of gravity of the vehicle, and moreover the power lines extending from the batteries via the control unit to the motor can be disposed at very short distances given the disposition of the control unit longitudinally between the batteries and the motor, whereby the lengths of the power lines can be suppressed to the minimum. Moreover, the battery box is efficiently used for supporting both the batteries and the control unit, thereby reducing the number of parts and reducing the cost and weight.
According to a second aspect and feature of the present invention, in addition to the arrangement of the first feature, an inverter is mounted to a rear end of the motor for converting DC current provided by the batteries into AC current to drive the motor.
With the above arrangement, since the inverter is mounted to the motor, the length of an AC power line connecting the inverter and the motor to each other is shortened. Thus, it is possible to reduce the weight of the power line, and to suppress the generation of heat due to an electric resistance of the power line and to reduce the amount of noise generated by the power line. Moreover, since the inverter is mounted to the rear end of the motor, the length of a DC power line connecting the batteries mounted at the central portion of the vehicle body and the inverter to each other can be suppressed to the minimum.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5487438 (1996-01-01), Kinoshita
patent: 5513719 (1996-05-01), Moroto et al.
patent: 5641031 (1997-06-01), Riemer et al.
patent: 5713425 (1998-02-01), Buschhaus et al.
patent: 5734238 (1998-03-01), Yanagisawa et al.
patent: 5771478 (1998-06-01), Tsukamoto et al.
patent: 5994789 (1999-11-01), Ochiai
patent: 6087874 (2000-07-01), Nishikawa
patent: 6105696 (2000-08-01), Chen
patent: 6109380 (2000-08-01), Veenstra
Anazawa Makoto
Mita Yoshinori
Takeuchi Akishiro
Blackman William D.
Carrier Joseph P.
Carrier Blackman & Associates P.C.
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Johnson Brian L.
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