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AssigneeBradley Wayne Bartilson
InventorBradley Wayne Bartilson
Estimating the term…
A “super fuel efficient”, safe, low-cost and yet high performance 4-wheeled vehicle is configured with motorcycle wheels and tires having continuous radius tires and of outside diameter (20-26 inches). A special configuration of the invention permits a 4-wheeled vehicle to naturally camber while engaging a corner, or while maneuvering on a slope. Integration of a “short-cycling”, low storage mass hybrid drivetrain into the vehicle, and further, an exhaust heat energy recovery system, secures the efficiency opportunity.
A four-wheeled vehicle that achieves a total gross vehicle weight of 1,500 lbs. (680 kg) or less, wherein each tire has a continuous radius (a motorcycle-style tire and wheel) and has an outside diameter of twenty to twenty-six inches and has a width of three to eight inches, with said wheels connected to the vehicle's frame by a single-sided support arm, the vehicle employing a thermal-to-electrical conversion system extracting heat energy from an exhaust stream of an internal combustion engine and supplying said energy, in electrical form, to an energy storage system comprising:
A four-wheeled vehicle that achieves a total gross vehicle weight of 1,500 lbs. (680 kg) or less, wherein each tire has a continuous radius (a motorcycle-style tire and wheel) and has an outside diameter of twenty to twenty-six inches and has a width of three to eight inches, with said wheels connected to the vehicle's frame by a single-sided support arm, the vehicle of less than 680 kg mass employing a “short-cycling” serial hybrid drive comprising:
A vehicle comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Superstructures for passenger vehicles: compact cars, e.g. city cars
With two or more pivoted arms, e.g. parallelogram: all arms being rigid
Pivoted suspension arms; Accessories thereof: attaching arms to sprung part of vehicle
Characterised by the architecture of the hybrid electric vehicle: series type
About 2 months of term left · ends 19 Dec 2026 (estimated)
The present invention relates to the general area of improved energy efficiency, performance, driving excitement, and safety and of a four-wheeled vehicle.
In the art of higher efficiency transportation vehicles, vehicle weight is known by elementary physics and experience to be the strongest variable influencing fuel consumption. After losing 75% of the combustion energy to waste heat, current vehicles waste 95% of the remaining energy to moving the vehicle mass, resulting in an overall efficiency of just 2% in performing the desired function of moving the occupants. The waste heat loss is directly coupled to vehicle mass (engine and drivetrain size are proportional to vehicle mass per performance requirements).
In prior efforts to reduce vehicle weight automobile manufacturers developed “body-integral” design methodology, which merges the vehicle frame into the vehicle body structure, industry labeled as the “body-in-white”. This improved on the prior “body-on-frame” methodology that was traditionally used for the design of American-manufactured automobiles and trucks up until the mid 1980s. However, the “body-integral” approach appears to have reached a threshold at approximately 2800 pounds, explaining the minor increase in fuel efficiency offered by currently advertised “high efficiency” vehicles. This may be understood in the current automobile manufacturer's method and use of continuous thickness sheets of metal which are then stretched into shape by molds, incurring use of material where the strength is not needed. Use of lighterweight materials offer some advantage, however, this impacts cost, negatively impacting the ultimate goal of lower total cost-of-ownership. Further, automobiles continue to be designed for 4-5 occupants negatively impacting vehicle weight. The wheels and tires of present 4-wheeled vehicles limit the extent of vehicle weight reduction and suspension options.
FIG. 1 is a crossection view of the large diameter, constant radius tire and accompanying wheel (motorcycle-type), with attached single-sided support structure consisting of upper and lower control arms, wheel spindle and hub.
FIG. 2 is a 3-dimensional view of the entire lightweight, super efficient, safe and low-cost vehicle.
FIG. 3 describes an example frame for the vehicle, presented to demonstrate function and confirm the overall vehicle weight contention.
Vehicle power consumption is expressed as the sum of inertial, rolling, grade, and air drag resistances, accompanied by accessories power usage: Pload=Pinertia+Ptires+Pgrade+Pdrag+Pace
Where,
Pinertia=0.5 M [Δv2/Δt]