FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The electric or hybrid vehicle battery charging device will find use in the manufacture of vehicles, including cars and other light- and heavy-duty vehicles.

STATE OF THE ART

From DE 102011085110 Al a hybrid vehicle battery charging device is known with terrain contact wheels, which includes an electric motor connected by a planetary gear with the vehicle clutch. The electric motor is auxiliary and is connected to an internal combustion engine as well as to a rechargeable battery powering the main electric motor. The power of the main electric motor must be the sum of the energy of the auxiliary electric motor and that of the rechargeable battery. It is possible to use as an engine only the main electric motor by connecting with the output shaft of the vehicle to the differential. The auxiliary electric motor is used as a charging device for the battery, and the charging is done by the electric energy generated by it through its propulsion by the internal combustion engine. No specific characteristics are given for the auxiliary electric motor, which means that it is of a commonly used type, namely comprising a rotor and stator, with copper conductor coils whose terminals are connected to at least one rechargeable vehicle battery. In addition, the rotor is driven by an internal combustion engine shaft. The electricity produced is delivered to the rechargeable battery via the wires.

The main drawbacks of the known solution can be found in the fact that it is necessary to use the motor of the vehicle for charging the batteries, which creates significant constraints, and furthermore charging is not possible during movement, which in turn leads to a very short run between two charging at fixed stations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem to be solved by the invention is to provide a device suitable for all types of electric or hybrid vehicles, being independent of the drive elements of the engine, l allowing charging during movement and a long distance ran with no need to charge batteries at fixed stations, respectively.

The problem is solved by an electric or hybrid vehicle battery charging device - the vehicle having terrain contact wheels - including a rotor and a stator with at least one copper wire coil whose terminals are connected to at least one rechargeable battery. According to the invention, the rotor and the stator are mounted on a support shaft of at least one wheel which is in a constant contact with the ground. Furthermore, the rotor includes a toothed ring fixed to the wheel and mounted with bearings on the support shaft. The toothed ring has internal teeth, to which gears are engaged, with guiding shafts bearings in the holes of a carrier fixed to the support shaft. The guiding shafts have an end opposite to the gears, to which end magnetic discs are mounted. The stator is dual and comprises a stationary magnetic disk fixed to the support shaft, and a coil-disk also fixed to the support shaft and disposed between the stationary magnetic disk and the magnetic discs of the rotor. Outside of the toothed ring, a protective casing of solid nonmagnetic material is mounted, encompassing entirely the rotor and the stator.

In an embodiment, the fixed connection of the toothed ring to the wheel is realized by means of a brake disc, also fixed to the wheel.

According to another embodiment, the fixed connection of the toothed ring to the wheel is realized by means of a drum braking mechanism fixed to the wheel.

It is recommended that the magnetic disks be made of non-magnetic material with a plenty of permanent magnets embedded therein.

Furthermore, the permanent magnets of the magnetic disks are disposed with their same- sign poles to the outer surface of the magnetic discs.

Mounting of the magnetic discs to the guiding shafts is provided by means of an integrated motion release mechanism, thereby increasing the efficiency of the device. The integrated motion release mechanism includes a bearing and an inner toothed ring with inclined teeth, where the bearing and the inner toothed ring are located in a mounting opening in each of the magnetic discs. In the guiding shafts of the magnetic disk there is a blind hole with a sub-spring pin, engaged with one of the inclined teeth of the inner toothed ring. According to an embodiment of the invention, the mounting of the magnetic discs to the guiding shafts is realized by a fixed connection.

It is recommended that the coil-disk is a disk made of non-magnetic material in which at least one coil is embedded.

It is preferable that the number of the embedded coils corresponds to the number of the magnetic discs.

The advantages of the invention lie in the possibility of it being used in all types of electric or hybrid drive vehicles. It is independent of the drive components of the main engine and provides charging while in motion and a longer run with no need to charge batteries at fixed stations.

SHORT DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a sectional view along the vehicle wheel shaft fitted with a battery charging device according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial view of A- A section of Fig. 1;

EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The electric or hybrid vehicle battery charging device - the vehicle having terrain contact wheels - includes a rotor R and a stator St, with at least one copper wire coil whose terminals are connected to at least one rechargeable battery 15 of the vehicle. According to the invention, the rotor R and the stator St are mounted on a support shaft 4 of at least one wheel 1, which is in, a constant contact with the ground. The rotor R includes a toothed ring 3 fixed to the wheel 1 and mounted with bearings on the support shaft 4. The toothed ring 3 has internal teeth to which gears 6 are engaged with guiding shafts 61 mounted with bearings in holes of a carrier 5 fixed to the support shaft 4. The guiding shafts 61 have an end opposite to the gears 6, to which end magnetic discs 7 are mounted. They can be made according to known technologies, for example, from a whole piece permanent magnet. Preferably, the magnetic discs 7 are made of nonmagnetic material with a plenty of permanent magnets embedded therein, thereby increasing the efficiency of the device. The permanent magnets are disposed with their same-sign poles, for example N, to the outer surface of the magnetic discs 7. The support shaft 4 of the wheel 1 may also be a drive shaft which does not fall outside the scope of the invention and its application in this case is subject to routine design.

The fixed connection of the toothed ring 3 to wheel 1 is made directly or according to various embodiments, one of which is shown in Fig. 1, where the fixed connection is realized by means of a brake disk 2 also fixed to the wheel 1. According to another embodiment (not shown),, the fixed connection is realized by means of a drum brake mechanism also fixed to the wheel 1.

The mounting of the magnetic discs 7 to the guiding shafts 61 is accomplished according to two embodiments: through an integrated motion release mechanism or through a fixed connection (not shown).

When an integrated motion release mechanism is used as shown in Fig. 1 and in more detail in Fig. 2, the magnetic disks 7 continue their rotation in inertia, even though the vehicle has stopped.

When a fixed connection is used, the magnetic discs 7 stop rotating when the vehicle stops. The integrated motion release mechanism includes a bearing 8 and an inner toothed ring 9 with inclined teeth next to it. The bearing 8 and the inner toothed ring 9 are located in the mounting hole of each of the magnetic discs 7. Furthermore, in the guiding shaft 61 of the magnetic disk 7 there is a blind hole 10 with a sub-spring pin 11 engaged with one of the inclined teeth of the inner toothed ring 9. It is envisaged that the inner toothed ring 9 is formed by the magnetic disc 7 itself, which does not exclude the possibility of using a separately made toothed ring 9 driven in.

For better efficiency, the magnetic discs 7 have a diameter greater than the diameter of the gears 6. Their diameter is determined by the overall space occupied by the device according to the invention, usually limited by the diameter of the brake disk 2 of the vehicle and the diameter of the shaft 4 of wheel 1. The diameter of the magnetic discs 7 is also dependent on the number and size of the magnets N embedded therein.

The stator St is dual comprises a stationary magnetic disk 12 fixed to the support shaft 4 and a coil-disk 13 also fixed to the support shaft 4 and disposed between the stationary magnetic disk 12 and the magnetic disks 7 of the rotor R. The stationary magnetic disk 12 can be manufactured according to known technologies, for example, from a whole- piece permanent magnet or, preferably, from a non-magnetic material with a plenty of permanent magnets embedded therein, with their same-sign poles, for example S, to its inner surface - to the coil-disc 13.

The coil-disk 13 is preferably a disk of non-magnetic material in which at least one copper wire coil is embedded, the terminals 14 of which are connected to the rechargeable battery 15, typically through a control block. It is suitable, as an option, the number of embedded coils to correspond to the number of magnetic discs 7.

It is possible that the coil-disk 13 is formed of a multilayer core of lamellae on which the copper coil windings are made in accordance with the conventional technique used in the art. In this case, the coil-disk 13 is isolated from the copper wire and from the wheel shaft.

Outside of the toothed ring 3, a protective casing 16 of solid non-magnetic material is mounted encompassing entirely the rotor R and stator St. The material of the protective casing 16 may be, for example: aluminium, plastic or other suitable material.

The toothed ring 3 can be filled with different teeth depending on the particular design and the choice of the particular type does not limit the scope of the invention.

The device according to the invention can be used to charge batteries during movement both with pure electric vehicles and with all types of hybrid vehicles. The number of the devices installed is determined depending on the energy to be obtained, the power of the vehicle, and the number of batteries to be recharged. The use of the device according to the invention allows a considerably longer run without charging the batteries at fixed stations.

The battery charging device of an electric or hybrid vehicle works as follows:

In rotation, each of the wheels 1 of the vehicle, which are in constant contact with the ground and have a mounted device according to the invention, transmits its rotary motion directly to the toothed ring 3 or, in various embodiments, to the brake disk 2 or the drum brake mechanism which rotates simultaneously with the wheel 1 and, respectively, rotates the toothed ring 3. The rotating movement is transmitted by the toothed ring 3 to the gears 6, which by means of the guiding shafts 61 transmit the rotating motion, but with much greater rotational speed, to the rotating magnetic discs 7. They, in turn, interact with the magnets of the stationary magnetic disk 12 to create varying magnetic fields which generate electrical impulses in the coils of the coil-disk 13. These electrical impulses charge the vehicle's battery 15 during its movement. The device according to the invention can be mounted on one or more wheels of the vehicle as well as on the wheels of a trailer towed by the vehicle, if these wheels contact the ground during their movement. When in operation, the device according to the invention results in the vehicle running a longer distance with no need to stop to recharge the batteries.

The device can be used with passenger cars - electric or hybrid, as well as with buses and trucks in urban environments that have restrictions for the movement of vehicles with internal combustion engines. When the device is attached to a truck, the truck will use its engine when moving over long distances, and at the same time it will charge its batteries as a result of this movement, and in urban conditions it will move on the basis of the accumulated electricity.

In the multiple short stops during traffic congestion, the rotating magnetic discs 7 in the embodiment of an integrated motion release mechanism shown in Fig. 2, will continue to rotate for a while and provide charging for battery 15 also when the vehicle has stopped, thus increasing the battery charging time. The protective casing 16, made of solid nonmagnetic material, protects the device from penetration of dust and water, as well as from possibly present on the roadway metal particles falling into the spaces between the discs.