Motor vehicles – With fluid or mechanical means to accumulate energy to power...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-02
2004-03-30
Morris, Lesley D. (Department: 3618)
Motor vehicles
With fluid or mechanical means to accumulate energy to power...
C060S413000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06712166
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an energy management system, in particular an automotive regenerative propulsion system for generating and accumulating propulsion energy by retardation of movement. The system has particular application to heavy land haulage vehicles, such as prime movers, and it will be convenient to describe the invention in relation to that particular application. However, it is to be understood that the invention has wider application such as to other types of automotive vehicles, such as light trucks, buses and cars.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Regenerative propulsion systems are known and have been applied to trucks and buses in the past. Such systems harness energy by retarding the vehicle under braking conditions and accumulating that energy for later use to propel the vehicle. The known systems have however lacked flexibility in their operation, as they principally have been arranged to dump accumulated energy all at once, for example when a vehicle is accelerating from a standing start, while those systems that have allowed for more controlled release of stored energy, have not done so to optimum efficiency. The use of the energy in the known systems is therefore somewhat inefficient and the known systems therefore have not met with widespread use. Additionally, known systems are time consuming and labor intensive to install.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved regenerative propulsion system. It is a further object of the invention to provided a system that can be controlled to generate and release retarding energy more efficiently than known systems. It is a further object to provide a system that is relatively easy and quick to fit to a vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided an energy management system operable in three modes of operation to either drive or retard the drive shaft of a vehicle, or in a neutral mode, to have no driving or retarding influence on the drive shaft, said, system including energy accumulating means which is operable to store and release energy through receipt and release of fluid, pumping means in fluid communication with said energy accumulating means, a reservoir fluid in communication with said pumping means, and coupling means for coupling said pumping reads to said drive shaft, whereby in said retarding mode of said system, said drive shaft drives said pumping means to pump fluid to said energy accumulating means, and whereby in said driving mode of said system, said energy accumulating means releases fluid to drive said pumping means which drives said drive shaft, and whereby in said neutral mode of said system, said pumping means is inoperative to exert any driving or retarding influence on said drive shaft.
As defined above, the system is applicable to or forms a replacement of the drive shaft of a vehicle. However, it is envisaged that the system could also be applied to a shaft that is not directly or indirectly driven, by the engine of a vehicle, but instead, the shaft may be the axle of a trailer and as such, the term “drive shaft” is therefore to be understood as embracing other such shafts to which the invention could be applied.
The drive shaft, or other shaft to which the system is applied, can operate independently of the system when appropriate by choosing the neutral mode of the system, however, rotation of the shaft can be assisted by system propulsion or retardation when appropriate. Thus, the system can exert greater control over the accumulation or dissipation of energy, by accumulating or releasing that energy when it is most desirable to do so, and not simply when it is possible to do so, such as in the prior art.
The system is coupled to the relevant shaft in any suitable manner, and in one arrangement, that coupling is made intermediate two sections of the shaft. For such an arrangement, the drive shaft may be provided in part, by two sections which are spaced apart to define opposed shaft ends and the system is provided between and connected to those two sections. For connection, the system may include a main shaft that is connectable to the opposed shaft ends by suitable means such as yoke connectors which are commonly employed between the drive shaft and the differential and gearbox described above, or it may include a full length drive shaft so that the system may be fitted to an existing vehicle simply by removing the existing drive shaft and replacing that with the drive shafts of the system. However other arrangements may also be employed.
In either arrangement described above, the drive shaft of the system can be driven or retarded so that the driving or retarding force applied thereto is transferred to the vehicle drive line and consequently the vehicle is driven or retarded accordingly. That drive or retard force is provided as an assistance to any drive and retarding systems which already form part of the vehicle, namely engine drive and braking systems and mechanical braking systems. Thus, the drive or retard force applied by the system may only be a portion of the overall drive or retard force applied to the vehicle.
It is however possible that the system apply the full drive or retard force, if the force required is within the available limits of the system. For example, the retard force available to be provided by the system may be sufficient to provide the sole retarding force to the vehicle, particularly in such situations when the vehicle is being retarded only slightly to maintain a constant speed on a downhill decline. In the reverse, it is not envisaged that the vehicle will be driven solely by the propulsion energy stored by the system, but that could occur if necessary.
In a first form of the invention, the coupling means of the energy management system includes an auto sequential gearbox that can drive the drive shaft of the system or which can be driven by the drive shaft depending on the mode in which the system is operating. This gearbox includes at least a pair of gears mounted on a second shaft that mesh with gears fitted to the main shaft. The pairs of meshed gears provide different ratios of drive and a selector facility is provided for manual or automatic selection of gear engagement depending on the ratio of drive or retardation required. The selector facility is preferably controlled electro-pneumatically, such as by a selector shaft controlled by a solenoid operated pneumatic actuator which moves laterally to the rotational plane of the gears and which includes means selectively engagable with one of the two pairs of meshed gears for transmitting drive. That engagement means may take any suitable form although it preferably includes a clutch mechanism, such as a dog clutch
The auto sequential gearbox is connected to pumping means comprising a pump/motor arrangement that is driven by the second shaft and that operates as a pump in system retard mode and as a motor in system drive mode. The connection between the second shaft and the pumping means can be made by any suitable connection arrangement. The pump arrangement preferably employs a hydrostatic pump with variable displacement, so that the output of the system can be manually or automatically adjusted. For this purpose, the pump is preferably an axial piston pump which employs a tiltable swash plate that can be manually or automatically manipulated.
In an alternative form of the invention, the energy management system includes a complete drive shaft and connecting means, such as a pair of yokes disposed at either end of the drive shaft for connection of the drive shaft, between the gearbox and the differential of a vehicle. In this form of the invention, when the system is installed, the drive shaft of the system forms the drive shaft of the vehicle. This arrangement therefore differs from the first form of the invention, in which the system employs a main shaft that forms a section of the overall drive shaft. Between the yokes on the drive shaft, one or more pump assemblies are coupled to the shaft by couplin
Kerr Colin
Perry Michael
Rush Allan
Campbell Kelly E
Morris Lesley D.
Permo-Drive Research and Development Pty. Ltd.
Wolf Greenfield & Sacks P.C.
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