Technical Field

The present invention relates to a vehicle with a separable pod (alternatively called as a cabin), and particularly, related to moving the pod into or out of the vehicle, when a hazard is detected, or in a pod transfer between two vehicles (herein below collectively referred to as “pod movement”).

Background

Conventionally, passengers in vehicles are protected by airbags in collisions, however, serious injuries are still unavoidable.

China utility model patent CN205971195U disclose ejecting a cabin out of a vehicle, but this is not practical for obvious reasons.

Summary of Invention

Technical Problem

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide mechanisms for achieving a safe pod movement.

Solution to Problem

According to the first and second embodiments, a pod is connected with a chassis by a cable, for preventing the pod from jumping up or even jump out of the chassis, caused by a collision impact, and the cable can also be used for achieving pod movement.

According to the third and fourth embodiment, all the mechanisms necessary for pod movement are disposed in the pod, thereby reducing the chance of damaging the mechanisms by a collision impact.

The sixth embodiment discloses a wheel recess typically disposed in a pod, is alternatively disposed in a separable part of the pod, i.e. , a tubular element 31 , and by separating them, the pod can be moved laterally out of the chassis, unhindered by a wheel in the wheel recess.

According to the seventh, eighth and ninth embodiments, the pod can be moved longitudinally and laterally, and not be hindered by the wheels, by moving the wheels out of the wheel recesses 9.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig’s is a schematic diagram of an exemplified vehicle with a separable pod, and a chassis with an upward protruding front and back part.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplified vehicle with a separable pod, and a planar upper surface chassis.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an exemplified cable-based moving device according to the first embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an exemplified cable-based moving device according to the second embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of support plane 12, with clamping device 20.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of pod 6, with two tubular elements 31.

Fig. 7 is a 3D schematic view of a tubular element 31 .

Note that the above figures may not be in proportional, and referring to Fig.1 , the gaps between different parts therein, for instance, the pod and the chassis, are greatly exaggerated to avoid confusion, and in real practice, such gaps may exist but should be negligible. Description of Embodiments

This application is related to UK patent application GB 2007051 .2, filed on May 13, 2020, and PCT International application PCT/IB2021/051670 filed on March 01 , 2021 , on the grounds that they contain common subject matter.

The two patent applications, as well as the patent applications from which this application claims priority benefit, are incorporated herein in their entirety, by reference (herein below they are collectively referred to as “patent applications”).

Referring to Figs.1 and 2, a pod 1 or 6 is detachably secured to a chassis 2 or 10, by means of a conventional attachment and detachment device (not shown in the figures), directly or indirectly. If indirectly, then the pod may be detachably secured to the support plane 4 or 12.

As disclosed in the “patent applications” and referring to Figs.1 and 2, the upper surface of chassis may not be planar, and inflatable cushions may be disposed on its upper surface, or the bottom of the pod, in order to enable or facilitate pod movement.

And, support plane 4 or 12, together with telescopic driving devices 5, may be used to raise up the pod above the road-running wheels (and other upward protruding parts, if any), in order to enable or facilitate pod movement.

The present vehicle may be capable of autonomous driving, or driven by a human inside or remotely, and the pod may be used for carrying goods, and/or humans. Further, the present vehicle may have or may not have the above-mentioned inflatable cushions, or support plane.

All functional units in the present vehicle, such as sensors, detectors, driving or moving mechanisms, etc., are under the control of a control system.

The control system uses conventional detectors (including those as disclosed in the “patent applications”) to detect a hazard which may be a collision, an imminent collision, a potential fire risk or a fire takes place on the chassis, and basing on signals received from the detectors, the control system knows there is a hazard and may be able to determine the seventy of the hazard.

The control system may be any conventional computing system comprising at least one processing units, and may be installed in the chassis or the pod, or partly in the chassis and partly in the pod, or partly or completely cloud based, including conventional software and hardware techniques and components such as different memory devices capable of being used for storing program or data necessary for its operation.

According to a first embodiment and referring to Fig.3, there is shown a cable-based moving device.

The cable 15 as shown may be any conventional continuous loop, such as a continuous track or belt.

Alternatively, cable 15 is a rigid chain in which chain members can be interlocked, and once they are interlocked, the chain becomes rigid, and if unlocked, it becomes flexible. The part of the rigid chain exposed on surface 16, is in the rigid state, whereas the part behind surface 16 is in the flexible state, or alternatively speaking, the chain members are interlocked with each other, when moving out of surface 16, and are unlocked when moving under surface 16. And, China patent CN103410934B is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, as merely illustrative, non-limiting examples of rigid chains and related techniques.

And, clamping devices 20, 21 are disposed at a positon on surface 17, for use to clamp a part of cable 15 which being exposed on surface 16. By using motor-driven pulleys 13, 14 to move cable 15, the control system causes surface 16 to move in relative to surface 17, in the backward or forward direction.

And if eventually, one of clamping devices 20 and 21 is moved very close to hole 18 or 19, then the control system causes the one to unclamp cable 15, so as to allow the part of cable 15 which being previously clamped, to be released and can move into hole 18 or 19.

In order to do this, the control system has to determine the distance between the clamping device and the hole, by conventional techniques, basing on the relative position between the two surfaces 16, 17, the position of the clamping device on surface 17, and the position of the hole on surface 16 which is unchangeable by design and may be programmed into the control system.

As to the position of the clamping device on surface 17, it may be also unchangeable by design and programmed into the control system, but if it is movable, as will be discussed herein below, then it would be dependent on how the control system cause it to move, and therefore, the control system has the information itself, such as the speed and time duration of the movement being made, for determining the position.

The relative position between the two surfaces 16, 17, can be determined by using a laser distance measuring device to determine the distance of a reference point on one surface between another reference point on another surface, or by using Global Positioning System (GPS) devices for providing GPS positions of the two reference points.

Note that one of surfaces 16, 17 may be the lower surface of the pod, and the other one will be the upper surface of the chassis (or support plane 4, or 12, if exists).

According to a second embodiment which is a modification of the first embodiment, and referring to Fig 4, cable 15 may alternatively be understood to be formed of two inseparable parts, that is, cable 15a and 15b, and they coil around pulleys 13 and 14 respectively.

And, there are immovable clamping devices 22, 23 behind (or may alternatively be in front of) holes 18 and 19 of surface 16, respectively, for clamping cable 15, for preventing movement of cable 15, and this can also prevent pod movement, when clamping devices 20, 21 are also clamping cable 15.

Accordingly, clamping devices 20-23 can be a supplementary to the above-mentioned attachment and detachment device, but they may also be used to replace it.

Alternatively, two braking devices basing on conventional vehicle wheel braking techniques, may be used to apply a variable or non-variable braking force, to pulley 13 and 14, respectively, for preventing movement of cable 15.

Regardless of which of the above-mentioned devices is being used to prevent pod movement, desirably if a collision impact exerting on the pod exceeds a limit, pod movement should happen, to reduce the damage suffered by the pod.

As an improvement, each of the clamping devices 20, 21 can move on a respective parallel rail (or groove, not shown in the Figures), by using a respective electric motor driven wheel for engaging with the rail.

The rail is disposed on surface 17, in a direction perpendicular to cable 15 on surface 16, if cable 15 is lying between holes 18 and 19 as a straight line, and also, the two surfaces are aligned properly. If there is any misalignment between surfaces 16 and 17 along that direction, clamping device 20 or 21 can move on its rail, to a right position for clamping cable 15, under control of the control system, basing on the misalignment as determined by the control system itself, which is actually a determination of relative position between the two surfaces, as has been discussed above.

Such misalignment may happen in a pod transfer, or may be caused by a collision impact.

The right position is a relative position between holes 18, 19 and the clamping device, therefore is also depending on their positions on their respective surfaces 16, 17, and both positions have been discussed herein above.

To facilitating the clamping of cable 15 by clamping devices 20, 21 , the part of cable 15 exposed on surface 16, should be held under a tension. The tension is created and maintained by rotating one or at least one of pulleys 13, 14 in a direction for withdrawing cable 15, whereas the other one may be forced not to release cable 15 by a braking device, but may still be forced to release cable 15 by a more powerful withdrawing force of said one.

Alternatively, the tension is maintained, by using immovable clamping devices 22, 23 to clamp cable 15 when it is under the tension.

After successfully clamping cable 15 by clamping devices 20, 21 , any further movement of clamping devices 20, 21 on the rail, will force movement of surface 17 in relative to surface 16.

The tension on cable 15 is always crucial, for causing relative movement between surfaces 16, 17, or maintaining their relative position.

Note that the structure of the present vehicle may go through a rapid deformation in a collision impact, and the distance between holes 18 and 19, may become closer, and cable 15 may become slack. Therefore, the control system creates or maintain a tension on cable 15, in the same or a similar manner, as mentioned above, when or after a collision, as detected by conventional impact detectors, or techniques as disclosed in the “patent applications”.

In case the distance between holes 18 and 19 becomes longer, caused by the deformation, the pulleys 13, 14 will be forced to uncoil to provide the extra cable 15 needed.

According to a third embodiment which is a modification of the second embodiment, and referring to Fig.5, clamping device 20 is disposed on and movable on a rail which is itself also movable, that is, movable rail 26, and clamping device 21 may also be similarly disposed on rail 26.

And, surface 17 is the lower surface of the pod 6, whereas surface 16 is the upper surface of chassis 10, or support plane 12.

The movable rail 26 has two movable ends 27, 28, they are movable respectively along another rails 24, 25 perpendicular to rail 26, by using a respective electric motor driven wheel (not shown in the Figures) engaging with rails 24, 25, under control of the control system.

Thereby, the control system can cause clamping devices 20, 21 to move in all horizontal directions on surface 17, and causing a corresponding relative movement between surfaces 16, 17.

In this way, relative movement between surfaces 16, 17 can take place without movement of cable 15. And therefore, cables 15 can be short and immovable.

According to a fourth embodiment which is a modification of the third embodiment, surface 16 has no cable 15, but has ring-shaped devices disposed at respective fixed positions instead.

And, clamping device 20 and 21 are each formed of two clamp members, and when clamping the ring-shaped device, the two clamp members form a ring, for passing through the center hole of the ring-shaped device.

Further, other linear motion actuators may be used instead of the rails and motor-driven wheels. For instance, referring to Fig.5, rail 24 with two ends 29 and 30, is replaced with two telescopic shafts with conventional driving mechanisms under control of the control system.

One telescopic shaft is disposed between the fixed position of end 29, and movable end 27, whereas the other one disposed between the fixed position of end 30, and movable end 27, both for pushing movable end 27 backward and forward respectively, within a movable distance which is in between the two ends 29 and 30.

According to a fifth embodiment and referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the present vehicle has a support plane for raising the pod up from the chassis, as disclosed in the “patent applications”, but this has an undesirable effect that the center of gravity of the vehicle is also being raised up.

As an improvement, the control system uses a tilt sensor, for e.g., a pendulum or MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) type, to detect the degree of tilting of the vehicle, which may be caused by a distortion of the chassis by an accident, and/or an unevenness and tilting of the lane on which the vehicle is moving, etc.

One remedial solution is to tilt the pod by using the support plane, in a direction opposite to the tilting detected. The control system determines an extent of the opposite direction tilting needed for counteracting the instability, basing on the degree of tilting of the vehicle as detected by the tilt sensor, and desirably, also the tendency of overturning of the vehicle, which is dependent on the rate of increase/decrease of tilting, moving speed and steering angle of the vehicle.

Another solution is to move the pod on the support plane, in a direction opposite to the tilting detected, and a part of the pod may even be moved out of the vehicle, by using the above-mentioned or any conventional moving mechanism.

The tendency of overturning and other unstable situations of the moving vehicle may be determined by conventional skills in the art. For instance, US patent application US2015/232074A1 , discloses a “Vehicle Rear Wheel Lift Tendency Judgment Device”, and both Chinese patent application CN105517863A, US patent US8437950B2 disclose methods for determining overturning risk. And, their entire contents are incorporated herein by reference, as illustrative, non-limiting examples only.

The control system may use one of the two solutions, or both. And, once the vehicle is stabilized, the control system stops the opposite direction tilting, and/or move the pod back to its original position.

According to a sixth embodiment, in the present vehicle, there are wheel wells for accommodating the wheels, so that the outer surface of the wheels are flush with the outer surface of the vehicle.

Each wheel well is formed of two wheel recesses, one is disposed in the pod and the other one is disposed in the chassis. And, the present invention is focused on the former one, as only it is related to pod movement.

Referring to Figs. 2, 5 and 6, pod 6 has two tubular elements 31 inside. Each tubular element 31 lies laterally on chassis 10, with two wheel recesses 9 at its two ends, each for accommodating an upper portion of a wheel.

The tubular element 31 may be of any uniform or substantially uniform cross-section, as long as its two ends are large enough to have a respective wheel recess 9 therein, and may be of any shape such as trapezium, semicircle, etc., and is not restricted to the rectangular shape as shown in Fig. 6.

And, the tubular element 31 is detachably secured to pod 6 and/or chassis 10, by a conventional locking and unlocking device, under control of the control system.

In order for pod 6 to be moved laterally with respect to the chassis, and not be impeded by the wheels inside the wheel recesses 9 of tubular elements 31 , tubular elements 31 have to be detached from pod 6, if they are attached to pod 6, and electrical connections between pod 6 and tubular elements 31 , if exists, will also have to be disconnected, by the unlocking device.

Then, pod 6 can be moved.

As a modification, pod 6 is shorter than the one as shown in Figs. 2 and 6, and it is about half the length of chassis 10. The modified pod 6 has only two front, or two rear wheels below it, and has only one tubular element 31 with two wheel recesses 9 to accommodate them.

The chassis 10 may also be modified in such a way that, only a part of it where the modified pod 6 rests on, has a planar or substantial planar upper surface, and the other part may be upward protruding. For examples, referring to Fig.1 , the chassis front 2a and chassis back 2b are upward protruding parts of chassis 2.

And, lateral movement of modified pod 6, in relative to modified chassis 10, can be enabled and performed in just the same manner as the above- mentioned unmodified one.

According to a seventh embodiment which is a modification of the sixth embodiment, the wheels of the present vehicle are each directly or indirectly attached to an end of a lateral telescopic shaft.

The extension of telescopic shafts can be driven by any conventional mechanical, hydraulic or pressurized fluid device(s), under control of the control system, for pushing the attached wheels, with or without other associated parts, entirely out of wheel recesses 9, so as to allow pod 6, with tubular elements 31 inside, be moved longitudinally with respect to chassis 10, unhindered by the wheels.

In order to do so, if tubular elements 31 are attached to or connected with chassis 10 physically and/or electrically, they have to be detached or disconnected from chassis 10, by an unlocking device.

Those "other associated parts" may be a shield for protecting a part of a wheel.

Other conventional telescopic techniques for varying the spacing between two (front or rear) wheels, may be used or applied herein, including those as disclosed in U.S. patents 6,199,769 and 9,527,536, as well as China patent application 201911055763.5, and the three documents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, as illustrative, non-limiting examples only.

Note that if the present vehicle has a modified chassis 10 (as mentioned in the sixth embodiment) with a front upward protruding part, then only the rear wheels have to be moved out entirely of their respective wheel recess 9, in order to allow backward movement of the modified pod 6. As an alternative, tubular element 31 is an inseparable part of pod 6.

When facing a side impact, the wheels of the vehicle at the other side not facing the side impact, may be moved laterally in the above-mentioned manner. Thereby, a freedom of lateral movement to the pod, is provided and also is limited by the distance of lateral movement of the wheels.

And, the pod may be moved laterally away from the side impact, by the moving mechanisms disclosed herein above, or other conventional moving mechanism, and/or by the side impact.

As another alternative, the control system causes a wheel to be moved out of wheel recess 9, if it determines this movement will not cause an impact risk to or from external objects.

The impact risk may be determined basing on a presumption that no external objects would exist in a position, or be very close to a position where a running vehicle, is going to occupy, or has just left.

Accordingly, if a wheel is to be moved outward of a wheel recess 9, the control system determines the positions of the present vehicle, in a period of time, says, 1/20 of a second, before and/or another period of time after the intended movement of the wheel.

And if the control system determines that, if the wheel is moved, it will be within those positions of the vehicles, or as a more flexible alternative, it will be within a short distance (says, 1 meter) from those positions of the vehicles, then the control system causes the wheel to be moved.

Note that the above-mentioned time periods and distance may also be dependent on a potential risk detected or determined, as will be discussed herein below, and if the potential risk is low, then the time periods and/or the distance can be longer. This innovative impact risk determination technique, may also be used for determining whether a movable part of the present vehicle, such as, the pod, an impact absorbing/resisting device, should be moved partly or completely out of the present vehicle.

Basing on the determination of the impact risk, the wheels at both sides of the vehicle, may have to be moved laterally for different distances, in order for allowing pod 6 to move in relative to chassis 10 longitudinally.

If so, the control system has to cause pod 6 (with tubular elements 31 inside) to move laterally, in relative to the chassis, towards the more outwardly moved wheels at one side of the vehicle, and at the same time, away from the wheels at the other side of the vehicle, which is less outwardly moved, or may be not being moved at all. And the result is, all wheels of both sides are out of their respective wheel recesses 9.

According to a eighth embodiment, basing on potential risk of the present vehicle, such as its speed, traffic conditions (for e.g., whether there is high speed moving vehicles nearby), weather conditions, road conditions, vehicle conditions, vehicle component conditions, visibility on the road, etc., the control system causes the wheels to be moved completely out of their wheel recesses 9, so as to permit longitudinal movement of pod 6, in the above-mentioned manner, as a proactive measure against an unanticipated frontal collision.

The control system detects and/or determines the potential risks, by use of conventional techniques and sensors, including those as disclosed in U.S. patents 5,809,437 and 7,082,359 and their entire contents are incorporated herein by reference, as illustrative, non-limiting examples only.

As an alternative, the wheels are only moved partly out of wheel recesses 9, to reduce the time for moving the wheels completely out of wheel recesses 9, when a collision or imminent collision is detected, by the control system, using the above-mentioned detectors.

And, if the potential risk becomes less serious, or no longer exists, the control system causes the wheels to move partly or completely back into wheel recesses 9.

As a second alternative, the control system has a device for receiving user commands, for moving the wheels partly or completely out of/back into wheel recesses 9.

But the control system may refuse a user command for moving the wheels backward into wheel recesses 9, if it detects or determines an above- mentioned potential risk exists, or carry out the command but issues a warning signal with information of the potential risk, to the user.

The control system may similarly refuse a user command for moving the wheels outward of wheel recesses 9, if it detects an impact risk exists.

As a third alternative, the above-mentioned sensors and techniques for detecting and/or determining the potential risks, are being used by an autonomous vehicle friendly infrastructure (AVFI) installed at roadside, and the control system receives potential risk related information from the AVFI and controls movement of the wheels in the above-mentioned manner accordingly.

According to a ninth embodiment, an initial backward movement of pod 6, which may be caused by, says, a frontal collision impact, is being used by a mechanical device to cause the wheels to move laterally out of wheel recesses 9, so that the wheels will not prevent further backward movement of pod 6. Specifically, the initial backward movement of pod 6 causes a rack attached to it, to be moved, which further cause an associated pinion to rotate, and the rotations of the pinion is used as an input to a gear box, and the output rotations of the gear box is used to turn another pinion, for causing another rack to move laterally, so as to move a shaft and its attached wheel, out of a wheel recess 9.

As an alternative, the initial backward movement of pod 6 causes a wedge attached to it, to be moved. The wedge has a surface inclined at 45° to the vertical plane passing through the horizontal longitudinal axis of the present vehicle, and the surface is pressing against another surface of another wedge, to force wedge to move away.

Thereby, the another wedge which is being attached to an extendable portion of a lateral telescopic shaft, is forced to move laterally, and at the same time, pushes the extendable portion, with an attached wheel, to move out of a wheel recess 9.

As a second alternative, a conventional locking pin is disposed on the telescopic shaft, for preventing its extension.

And, as in a manner similar to the above-mentioned, the initial backward movement of pod 6 is converted as a driving force, to move the locking pin to an unlock position, and the extension of the telescopic shaft is enabled. Thereafter, the telescopic shaft is extended by a pressure supplied by a storage of pressurized fluid or the likes, or by spring action, which may be in an automatic manner as the pressure for the extension may have existed before the impact.

Note that a forward movement, instead of the backward movement of pod 6, which may be caused by, says, a rear impact, may also be used in the same manner to move the wheels or locking pin.

Further, a movable element may replace the role of pod 6, for to be moved forward or backward by an impact. The movable element is a lengthy rigid element lying longitudinally in the present vehicle, and its forward end is desirably positioned at the foremost part of the vehicle, within a “crush zone” for absorbing a frontal impact by metal deformation, whereas its backward end is desirably positioned at the rearmost part of the present vehicle.

The chassis and/or the pod may provide a lengthy hole for accommodating the movable element.

Other conventional mechanical devices and techniques may be alternatively used instead.

Note that the forward or backward movement of pod 6 or the movable element, may be enabled, or caused by the control system, in the above- mentioned manner, or a similar manner respectively, but such movements of pod 6 or the movable element may also be caused by an impact forcibly and unexpectedly.

It should be noted that the above embodiments/examples/modifications/alternatives/methods are given by way of examples only, and it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications on any one or any combination of them, may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.