FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to mounting assembly for mounting various components of a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a prime mover mounting assembly, to be fitted in a vehicle, wherein the mounting assembly itself acts as a chassis member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In any vehicles, be it a conventional, a hybrid or an electric, various components operate in a systematic manner to facilitate seamless working of the vehicle. Of all the components, the chassis plays a critical role in the overall functioning and efficiency of the vehicle. The chassis represents a frame like structure or skeleton of the vehicle on which other vehicle components are mounted. While it provides strength and stability to the vehicle under different conditions, it is desired to keep the overall weight of the chassis on a lower side, since the same would adversely affect the stability and strength of the chassis or vehicle. Various vehicle components on the chassis adds to the overall weight and acts against the overall objective of reducing the weight of the vehicle. Further, of all the components, mounting assembly of any vehicle is also critical to the 'weight factor', since the same is adapted to mount a prime mover or engine in an electric, hybrid or conventional vehicle, thereby significantly increasing the overall weight of/on the chassis. The undesired weight of the chassis adversely affects the operability of the vehicle.

Further, there is drawback inherent in the existing mounting assembly which are built from a single pace of cast metal, there by compromising on the weight factor of the mounting assembly. Also, the unicast body of the mounting assembly/structure leads to non-modularity of the mounting assembly/structure. Therefore, in a scenario, a slight damage of the mount assembly/structure may lead to changing the whole mounting assembly/structure.

Further, the conventional motor mounts require additional moving components such as separate moving shaft which results in increase in power loss. For e.g., in the existing arts, a lubrication system is required to be installed for providing lubrication to a shaft and gears, which results in increase in the additional moving parts.

Furthermore, the size of the conventional motor mount/housing is large due to requirement of different mount arrangement for accommodation of different components such as swing arm and driven pulleys e.g., there are different mounts for the swing arm and the drive train.

Accordingly, there is a need in to provide a multipurpose mounting arrangement and/or a system for providing appropriate mount assembly/structure for a vehicle without compromising on the weight and size requirements, and thereby overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks inherent in the existing arts.

OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION

This section is provided to introduce certain objects and aspects of the disclosed methods and systems in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a structural member that is adapted to mount various components of a vehicle.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the overall weight of the vehicle by providing a less weight, yet a rigid mount assembly. Yet another objective of present the invention is to provide an integral mount assembly/structure that itself acts as a structural member and do not require a separate conventional chassis, thereby reducing the overall weight of the vehicle. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a modular chassis having a plurality of modules, where prime mover mounting assembly is one such module.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above and other objects, one aspect of the present disclosure relates to a modular mount assembly/structure adapted to mount various components of a vehicle. The modular mount assembly for housing the least one component of a vehicle comprising a mount assembly for a vehicle, the mount assembly comprising: a first set of cavity, wherein the first set of cavity is configured to attach at least one component of a vehicle, at least one shaft and combination thereof.

Further, the at least one component comprises one of, a driver pulley, a driven pulley and combination thereof connected to the corresponding shaft, a suspension system connected though the suspension mount, a rear upper sub- frame connected though the upper frame mount, and a rear lower sub-frame connected though the lower frame mount, wherein the rear lower sub-frame is extended towards the shaft in one of a lateral arrangement, horizontal arrangement and combination thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Some drawings may indicate the components using block diagrams and may not represent the internal circuitry of each component. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that disclosure of such drawings include disclosure of electrical components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.

FIG. la illustrates an exemplary modular mount assembly [100] with a suspension system.

FIG. lb illustrates an exemplary modular mount assembly [100] with a pulley system. FIG.2a and 2b illustrates an exemplary modular mount assembly [100] with sub- frames attached.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that the disclosed embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. However, any individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only some of the problems discussed above in the background section. Some of the problems discussed above might not be fully addressed by any of the features described herein. Although headings are provided, information related to a particular heading, but not found in the section having that heading, may also be found elsewhere in the specification. Further, information provided under a particular heading may not necessarily be a part of only the section having that heading. The present invention relates to modular mount assembly for mounting of various vehicle components which may include but not limited to a prime mover, a suspension system, and a box casing for housing electrical wires, wherein the vehicle may include but not limited to an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle or a combination thereof.

As illustrated in FIG. la and FIG. lb, the embodiments of the present invention encompasses having a modular mount assembly [100] for a vehicle, wherein the modular mount assembly [100] is adapted to house/clamp components which may include but not limited to a prime mover, at least one driver pulley [162, 163], at least one driven pulley [167], a rear upper sub-frame [170], and a rear lower sub-frame [190]. Further, the modular mount assembly [100] itself acts as a part of chassis of the vehicle. In particular, the modular mount assembly [100] is one of the modules of the chassis; thereby the modular mount assembly [100] acts as a structural member of the vehicle chassis. In one embodiment, a first driver pulley [162] powered by a prime mover, is configured to rotate a first driven pulley [167] and a second driver pulley [163] configured to rotate a wheel of a vehicle. The second driver pulley [163] is being rotated by a second driven pulley which draws power from the first driver pulley [162].

Further, the structure of the modular mount assembly [100] comprises a first side wall [110] and a second side wall [120] having a first set of cavity [130] and a second set of cavity [140]. The first set of cavity [130] is configured to attach the components of the vehicle though at least one sub-mount, at least one shaft [160, 165] and combination thereof, wherein the sub-mount comprises an upper frame mount, a lower frame mount, a suspension mount [150], a swing arm axle mount, and a drive mount. Similarly, the second set of cavity [140] is configured to attach at least one connecting means for connecting the first side wall [110], a second side wall [120], an upper sub frame [170], a lower sub-frame [190] and a combination thereof. As illustrated in FIG. la and FIG. lb, the driver pulley [162, 163], first driven pulley [167] are connected to the at least one shaft [160, 165]; the rear upper sub- frame [170] connected though the upper frame mount, and the rear lower sub- frame [190] is connected though the lower frame mount, wherein the rear lower sub-frame [190] is extended towards the at least one shaft [160, 165] in one of a lateral arrangement, horizontal arrangement and combination thereof.

Further, in one embodiment, a first driver pulley [162] may be driven by the prime mover configured at the modular mount assembly [100], wherein the first driver pulley [162] and a first driven pulley [167] are connected through a first drive belt. Further, the first driven pulley [167] may power a second driven pulley which is configured to rotate the wheel coupled to the same.

Moreover, the modular mount assembly [100] comprises a fin surface area [125] configured for ventilation and cooling down the prime mover and thereby maintaining the heat ration for seamless operation of the prime mover. Also, modular mount assembly [100] comprises a belt tensioner mechanism, wherein said belt tensioner mechanism comprises a tension adjustor mechanism and at least one idler pulley. Further, the idler pulley is connected to a first drive belt. The modular mount assembly [100] further comprises a connector rod for connecting the rear upper sub-frame [170] and the rear lower sub-frame [190]. The suspension system [155] is aligned with the suspension mount [150] by means of at least one bolt inserted between them. The modular mount further comprises a swing arm axle mount configured outwardly from the rotational shafts [160, 165]. The swing arm axle mount has inserts that protrude from both the ends of prime mover housing at the swing arm axle mount. The swing arm axle is inserted in the swing arm axle mount through the inserts. The swing arm axle protrudes from the mount at both the ends. Further, the first driven pulley [167] and the second driver pulley [163] are inserted on to the swing arm axle and are supported by bearings. The swing arm is mounted on the swing arm axle.

In one embodiment, the cavities [130, 140] for upper and lower sub frames [170, 190] are aligned with the cavities of the upper and lower frame mount on the prime mover housing at their respective locations. Once, all the cavities (i.e. upper frame cavity, lower frame cavity and upper and lower frame mount cavity on the prime mover housing) are aligned, a bolt is inserted from one end and threaded end protrudes from the other end. The bolt is fixed by one of fastening by a nut or by press fitting the bolt through the cavities.

In yet another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG.2a and FIG.2b, side channel of the vehicle is mounted to a front fork at one end and lower sub-frame [190] [at the other end. The side channel, for this exemplary embodiment, is not mounted on the prime mover mount. However, in yet another embodiment, the side channel may be mounted on the prime mover casing directly without being mounted on the rear lower sub frame [190]. The application of the side channel is to provide a foot space by separating front fork from rear frames (upper and lower); to provide a mount to mount battery casing and also to provide (elevated) foot space for the pillion rider. However, a person skilled in the art may be cognizant of the fact that for conventional vehicles or hybrid vehicles, the structural arrangement, connections and positions of various vehicle components in the modular mount assembly [100] or with respect to the chassis may vary to achieve maximum vehicle efficiency. The modular mount assembly [100] being a part of the vehicle chassis, the present invention does not account as a separate mounting member/assembly thereby considerably reducing the overall weight of the chassis. While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. Further, a person having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the system and modules/units thereof, discussed herein above are exemplary and are not limiting in any manner. Furthermore, the modules/ units and steps described herein above may be replaced, reordered or removed to form different embodiments of the present disclosure.