Vehicle control system

Abstract

A vehicle with omni-directional wheels, each wheel having its own wheel hub motor 1, the speed and direction of rotation of the wheel is independently controlled by a central core controller 6 and the power requirement for a manoeuvre determined. Control signal may be received remoted from external to the vehicle via Bluetooth(RTM) or WiFi(RTM). Each motor 1 may have its own battery, or the pair of motors 1 on the same side of the vehicle may share a battery 7. Controller 6 may have its own battery 4. Controller may also control the steering motors. Potentiometers 5 independently operated by the controller 6 may control the power supplied to the motors 1. The vehicle may have a standard platform chassis, the motors 1 being mounted on the corners of the chassis. The vehicle may be manually driven using an accelerator pedal.

Description

The present invention relates to vehicle control systems and in particular to electronic control systems which enable independent control of each of the wheels of the vehicle. In a particularly preferred system the control can be implemented from a location that is remote from the vehicle. The invention has been found to provide efficient remote control of the vehicle. Additionally independent movement of the wheels provided by this invention can enable a vehicle to be moved in a small space including rotation about its own axis thus enabling mobility in a confined space. Electronic vehicle control systems are known as are systems comprising a separate motor dedicated to each wheel of a vehicle to enable the speed and direction of each wheel to be independently controlled. This invention provides an improved version of such systems and further provides a system wherein the control can be implemented from a remote location; the invention further requires fewer components than current drive systems providing a more economic vehicle to both operate and maintain. The present invention therefore provides a system for the control of a vehicle comprising at least three and preferably at least four wheels wherein each wheel is provided with an electrically powered motor, preferably a hub motor and the activity of the motors is independently determined by a central processor which is provided with the information concerning the desired speed and direction of rotation of each wheel. In a preferred embodiment the central processor is capable of functioning in response to remotely generated signals such as by Wi-Fi or Bluetooth although the drive could be operated manually. It is preferred that the entire system is electronic and it is further preferred that the entire system is battery driven. Each motor may be provided with its own battery or several motors may be driven by a single battery. In a preferred vehicle which is provided with pairs of wheels one pair on each side of the vehicle it is preferred that all the motors on each side of the vehicle are powered by a single battery and that each motor is a hub motor. This is particularly preferred with four wheeled vehicles as found in typical automotives. The central processor is preferably provided with its own battery power source. The system of the present invention preferably includes a remote communication device such as a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth module which can generate instructions for the central controller from a remote location whereby the controller is provided remotely with instructions to independently operate each of the motors which drive the wheels of the vehicle. In operation the central controller determines the power required by the various motors in order to move the vehicle in the desired manner. For example the controller can activate all four motors in a similar manner so as to drive the vehicle forwards or backwards as may be required. Alternatively and according to the circumstances the controller can activate one pair of motors one on each side of the vehicle to allow the vehicle to be driven but using less power. Additionally, the motors may be activated in a manner that causes the vehicle to turn corners, to relocate itself or to rotate on its own axis. The system of the present invention can be incorporated into a standard platform onto which a vehicle body of any particular design can be secured. Such a standard platform comprising a chassis upon which the wheels with their individual motors are mounted typically at the corners of the chassis with appropriate circuitry to enable the independent electrical operation of each of the wheels of the vehicle. It is preferred that the motors are securely located within the hub of the wheel. The central controller preferably comprises a microcontroller containing software that enables the controller to determine the power required for each of the wheel motors according to the particular manoeuvre of the vehicle that is required. Once the desired manoeuvre has been established the microcontroller can act to provide the appropriate power to the motors of the wheels to enable the selected manoeuvre to be accomplished. In a preferred embodiment potentiometers such as hall effect potentiometers are provided for each wheel hub motor, these potentiometers can be independently operated by the central controller in order to control the power that is supplied to each of the wheel hub motors. The core processor sends signals to a motor controller unit which can be dedicated to the steering motor only. The steering motor is already a part of the power steering system and the dedicated motor controller receives signals from the core processor, and decides the direction in which the motor turns and for what duration it spins. This spinning of the steering motor causes the steering rack to move in the desired direction (either left or right) which causes the car to steer either left or right. Where the remote operation employs the Wi-Fi module the operation is the same as with the Bluetooth module, only this time a Wi-Fi chip receives the signals from a Wi-Fi compatible device; use of Wi-Fi can enable operation over a longer range and can also be used to provide additional security. The power required for operation of the vehicle will depend upon the nature of the vehicle and the activities it is required to perform. For example the power required to drive a golf cart may be less than the power required for goods carrying trucks and vans or people carrying highway vehicles. However it is preferred that separate battery packs are provided on each side of the vehicle, each wheel hub motor may have its own battery pack or alternatively one battery pack may be provided to supply power to the wheel hub motors on each side of the vehicle and the distribution of the appropriate level of power to the wheels on that side of the vehicle is controlled by signals from the central controller which are implemented by the potentiometers associated with each of the motor control systems. The present invention is useful in a range of vehicles ranging from passenger car vehicles to goods delivery vehicles such as trucks and vans. Additionally, it may be used in recreational vehicles such as golf carts, vehicles for the disabled and commercial vehicles such as fork lift trucks used in storage facilities. The system of the invention may be created as a selfstanding chassis comprising the wheels of the vehicle and the electronics required by the invention mounted on a weight bearing platform and the upper section of the vehicle as required for the particular application can then be mounted on the chassis. The present invention is concerned with the vehicle driving system, a chassis comprising the vehicle driving system mounted on a weight bearing platform and the finished vehicle comprising an upper section mounted on the chassis. Additionally the invention comprises the core processor provided with software that enables both independent control of power supplied to each of the wheel motor control systems of the vehicle and the receipt and implementation of operational instructions from a remote location. In one embodiment the system of the invention therefore comprises a drive system for a vehicle comprising providing independent instructions to power sources driving each of the wheels of the vehicle to thereby provide independent control of the wheels. In a preferred system the provision of the independent instructions may be activated from a location remote from the vehicle. In a yet further embodiment the system includes a feedback mechanism from the independently operated wheels to indicate that the instructions have been implemented. If the vehicle is driven manually the manual drive mode can be controlled using a simple accelerator (a potentiometer) which could be placed in the pedal of the accelerator. This would once again provide signals to the core processor, which in turn would provide signals to the potentiometers as previously discussed. In a preferred embodiment the system also includes an electrically controlled power steering motor which is preferably also controlled by the central controller. In the embodiment where the central controller is operated remotely then the power steering motor can also be operated remotely and in this way the operation of the vehicle can be completely controlled by the user of the vehicle when not being present in the vehicle. The present invention is illustrated but in no way limited to the accompanying Figures in which Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a system according to the present invention. Figure 2 shows a chassis incorporating a system according to the present invention. Figures 3 and 4 show a vehicle mounted on the chassis of Figure 2. Figure 5 shows a system for manual drive. Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of the vehicle driving system of the present invention suitable for use as a chassis of a four wheeled vehicle and provides a circuit diagram. The system comprises four wheels (not shown) each of which is provided with a wheel hub motor (1). Each wheel hub motor is controlled by a motor control system (2) and the left hand pair of motor control systems are connected to a battery pack (3) and the right hand pair of motor control systems are connected to a battery pack (4). The left hand side of Figure 1 being the front of the vehicle and the right hand side being the back of the vehicle. The power supplied from the battery packs (3) and (4) to the wheel hub motors (1) is controlled by the potentiometers (5) which are assigned to each of the wheel hub motors and which receive signals from the core processor (6). 5a is a potentiometer for control of the supply of power to the accelerator. These signals are provided independently to each of the motor controller / potentiometer components. The core processor itself is powered by its own battery pack (7) and is configured to receive instructions from a remote location such as via a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi module (8). Figure 2 shows a chassis of a vehicle including the driving system illustrated in Figure 1 and the references used in Figure 2 are for the same components of Figure 1. Figure 2 shows the system including the wheels (9) and shows how the system can be operated remotely by the module (8). An example of the operation of the system is that it can be caused to rotate about its own central axis (10) by a remote command. Figures 3 and 4 show how a vehicle upper body (11) can be mounted on a chassis such as that shown in Figure 2. Figure 5 shows how the system can be operated manually with a steering wheel (12) linked to a motor (13) and controller (14) which provides direction to the front wheel motors (15) of the vehicle. As mentioned previously the systems of the present invention can be applied to a variety of vehicles the invention is particularly useful to enable the manipulation of vehicles in confined spaces where they can be turned around on their own axis requiring little more space that the largest dimension of the vehicle. When this manipulation is envisaged we prefer to provide sensors on the vehicle itself to ensure that the space required for the manipulation is free and collisions are avoided. The invention is particularly useful in vehicle parking; vehicle manipulation in tight spaces such as warehouses, car parks, vehicle transportation such as ferries and trains, sports arenas etc. A further benefit of this invention is that the drive system employs a smaller number of components compared to existing vehicle drive systems. This enables the drive to be more efficient both in terms of the energy required to drive the vehicle and in requiring less maintenance and the need to replace components.

Claims

1. A system for the control of a vehicle comprising at least three and preferably at least four wheels wherein each wheel is provided with an electrically powered hub motor and the activity of the motors is independently determined by a central processor which is provided with the information concerning the desired speed and direction of rotation of each wheel wherein the central controller determines the power required by the various motors in order to move the vehicle in the desired manner.

2. A system according to Claim 1 in which the central processor is capable of functioning in response to remotely generated signals.

3. A system according to Claim 2 in which the remotely generated signals are by Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

4. A system according to any of the preceding claims in which each motor is provided with its own battery.

5. A system according to any of Claims 1 to 3 in which the vehicle is provided with pairs of wheels one pair on each side of the vehicle and all the motors on each side of the vehicle are powered by a single battery.

6. A system according to any of the preceding claims in which the central processor is provided with its own battery.

7. A system according to any of the preceding claims wherein the central controller comprises a microcontroller containing software that enables the controller to determine the power required for each of the wheel motors according to the particular manoeuvre of the vehicle that is required.

8. A system according to Claim 7 wherein once the desired manoeuvre has been established the microcontroller acts to provide the appropriate power to the motors of the wheels to enable the selected manoeuvre to be accomplished.

9. A system according to any of the preceding claims wherein potentiometers are provided for each wheel hub motor and are operated by the central controller in order to control the power that is supplied to each of the wheel hub motors.

10. A vehicle comprising a system according to any of the preceding claims incorporated into a standard platform onto which the vehicle body is mounted.

11. A vehicle according to Claim 10 wherein the standard platform comprises a chassis upon which the wheels with their individual hub motors are mounted with appropriate circuitry at the corners of the chassis to enable the independent electrical operation of each of the wheels of the vehicle.

12. A vehicle according to Claim 10 to Claim 11 wherein the wheels with their individual motors are mounted at the corners of the chassis.

13. A vehicle according to any of Claims 10 to Claim 12 selected from passenger car vehicles, goods delivery vehicles such as trucks and vans; recreational vehicles such as golf carts, vehicles for the disabled and commercial vehicles such as fork lift trucks used in storage facilities.

14. A vehicle according to any of Claims 10 to 13 which is manually driven wherein the power to the wheel motors is derived from a pedal based accelerator.

15. A vehicle according to any of Claims 11 to 14 in which the provision of the independent instructions is activated from a location remote from the vehicle.

16. A vehicle according to any of Claims 11 to 15 comprising an electrically controlled power steering motor also controlled by the central controller