Three-Wheel Lean Control Shaft for Stable Cornering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Three-wheel vehicles, or trikes, are notoriously unstable and have poor turning capabilities due to their inability to lean into turns, leading to safety concerns, especially at high speeds, as existing solutions like complex sensor systems and front wheel assemblies provide only minor improvements.
Innovation Solution
A novel three-wheel motor vehicle design featuring a chassis with a rotational control shaft, a front wheel assembly with lean control motors and a worm drive gear assembly, and a lean control system that includes sensors and control circuitry to align the chassis with the resultant force, allowing for improved lean characteristics and stability during turns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If traditional three-wheel vehicle design is used, then the structure is simple, but the vehicle is unstable and has poor turning capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by enabling the chassis to lean into turns through active rotation about a longitudinal axis. The lean control system dynamically adjusts the chassis orientation during cornering, allowing the vehicle to adapt its posture to maintain stability and improve turning capability, transforming a static unstable structure into a dynamically stable system
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary lean control system that mediates between the steering input and the chassis response. This intermediate control mechanism (including the rotational control shaft, lean control motors, and control circuitry) translates steering commands into controlled chassis leaning, bridging the gap between simple steering input and complex stability management
2Ease of operation
If complex sensor systems and front wheel assemblies are used to improve cornering, then turning capability is slightly improved, but the system becomes overly complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a multi-functional lean control system that handles multiple tasks: it provides active lean control during turns, maintains vehicle stability, and works across different driving conditions. The single integrated system performs what would otherwise require multiple separate complex subsystems, achieving cornering improvement without proportional increases in overall system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential function of cornering improvement from complex sensor suites and specialized front wheel assemblies, isolating the core capability to the lean control system. By taking out only the necessary lean control functionality and eliminating unnecessary complexity from other components, the system achieves improved cornering with minimal added complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A three-wheeled vehicle having a front wheel assembly attached to a chassis. The chassis includes a rotational control shaft having a rotational axis that is generally directed in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The rotational control shaft is integrated with or secured to the chassis in a non-rotational manner and passes through the front wheel assembly in a rotationally-free manner, such that the rotational control shaft can rotate about its rotational axis. The front wheel assembly includes one or more lean control motors, which are operably configured to rotate the rotational control shaft about its rotational axis thereby causing the chassis to lean from side to side to improve the handling ability of the vehicle. Some embodiments include a lean control system configured to automatically control the degree of rotation of the chassis.