Straddle-Type Vehicle Battery Layout for Lower Center of Gravity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing straddle-type vehicles face challenges in improving driving feeling due to the distribution of heavy components, which affects the vehicle's center of gravity and operability.
Innovation Solution
The battery case is inclined obliquely upward and rearward, with its lower end positioned in front of the drive source, allowing the battery to be disposed low and closer to the drive source, thereby lowering the vehicle's center of gravity and improving the operability and driving feeling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the battery is positioned in a conventional location, then the vehicle structure is simple, but the center of gravity is high and heavy objects are far from the center of gravity, worsening operability
Solution Approach 1:
The battery case is positioned at an inclination relative to the vertical direction, with the opening facing obliquely upward and rearward. This dimensional reorientation allows the battery to be placed lower than the drive source while maintaining accessibility, thereby lowering the center of gravity and bringing heavy objects closer to the vehicle's center of gravity without excessive structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The inclined battery case configuration acts as an intermediary solution between the drive source and the vehicle frame, enabling optimal positioning of the battery to improve weight distribution and operability while maintaining a manageable structural design
2Ease of operation
If the battery case is inclined rearward, then heavy objects are closer to the center of gravity improving operability, but the battery insertion and removal becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The battery case is designed with localized inclination specifically at the opening portion, which faces obliquely upward and rearward. This local quality approach allows the battery to be positioned for optimal weight distribution while maintaining a relatively simple overall case structure that is easier to manufacture
Solution Approach 2:
By orienting the opening at an angle rather than vertically or horizontally, the design achieves a compromise between lowering the center of gravity and maintaining manufacturing simplicity, as the inclined configuration can be integrated into existing manufacturing processes
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a straddle-type vehicle including: a vehicle body frame; at least one wheel; a drive source configured to generate power to be transmitted to the wheel; and a battery case including an accommodation space in which a battery for storing electric power is accommodated and an opening that opens the accommodation space upward for inserting and removing the battery. The battery case is inclined with respect to a vertical direction such that the opening faces obliquely upward and rearward. A lower end of the battery case is disposed in a front space of the drive source and located lower than an upper end of the drive source.