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US 10,300,753 B2Granted
Vehicle drive unit and remotely controllable vehicle therewith
AssigneeOntario Drive & Gear Limited
InventorPeter Visscher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle drive unit and land vehicle comprising the drive unit are disclosed. Each drive unit comprises a pair of longitudinally spaced apart rotatable drive structures. The land vehicle comprises a pair of drive units on opposite sides thereof. The drive units comprise an electric motor for powering the rotatable drive structures and a gear drive assembly comprising structure for disengaging the electric motor. The drive units may be remotely controllable, may be water-tight and may be floatable. The vehicle comprising the drive unit may be amphibious.
Claims30
A vehicle drive unit comprising:
- an electric motor operatively coupled to a pair of longitudinally spaced apart rotatable drive structures by a gear drive assembly, the gear drive assembly comprising a planetary gear arrangement having a single drive gear and a pair of driven gears corresponding to the pair of rotatable drive structures;
- and,
- a housing enclosing the rotatable drive structures, gear drive and motor.
A land vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body;
- a pair of drive units pivotally attached on opposite sides of the vehicle body, each drive unit comprising a pair of longitudinally spaced apart rotatable drive structures, an electric motor operatively coupled to the pair of rotatable drive structures by a gear drive assembly, a housing enclosing the rotatable drive structures, gear drive and motor, and structure located on the housing configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to the vehicle;
- an electrical power supply;
- an electrical supply cable passing from each drive unit to the vehicle body;
- and,
- remote control structure for the vehicle configured to permit differential operation of the drive units,
- wherein the structure configured to pivotally mount each drive unit to the vehicle is hollow and contains the electrical supply cable.
4 more elements
A land vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body;
- a pair of drive units pivotally attached on opposite sides of the vehicle body, each drive unit comprising a pair of longitudinally spaced apart rotatable drive structures, an electric motor operatively coupled to the pair of rotatable drive structures by a gear drive assembly, a housing enclosing the rotatable drive structures, gear drive and motor, and structure located on the housing configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to the vehicle;
- an electrical power supply;
- remote control structure for the vehicle configured to permit differential operation of the drive units;
- and,
- a vehicle suspension configured to cause the vehicle drive units to pivotally move in opposite directions to one another, the vehicle suspension comprising a pair of suspension links, each link being pivotally attached at one end to a respective drive unit and at an opposite end to a suspension cross member that is pivotally mounted to the vehicle body for movement about a central vertical pivot axis, the vehicle suspension configured such that pivoting movement of one drive unit in a first direction about the structure configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to the vehicle causes the other drive unit to move in a second direction opposite the first direction via pivoting movement of the suspension cross member about the central vertical pivot axis.
3 more elements
A land vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body;
- a pair of drive units pivotally attached on opposite sides of the vehicle body, each drive unit comprising a pair of longitudinally spaced apart rotatable drive structures, an electric motor operatively coupled to the pair of rotatable drive structures by a gear drive assembly, a housing enclosing the rotatable drive structures, gear drive and motor, and structure located on the housing configured to pivotally mount the drive unit to the vehicle;
- a drive unit bushing between each drive unit and the vehicle body, each drive unit bushing configured to engage both the vehicle body and the drive unit during operation of the vehicle;
- an electrical power supply;
- and,
- remote control structure for the vehicle configured to permit differential operation of the drive units.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.