This Invention, in general, relates to swingarm assembly for two-wheeler vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to motor integrated swingarm assembly in a twowheeler electric vehicle.

Background of the invention

In the current times, we are facing challenges such as global warming, climate change, deterioration of air quality and reduction in availability of fossil fuels. Electric vehicles have emerged as a solution to these above-mentioned challenges. They emit no pollutants and are eco-friendly. The propulsion of electric vehicles is functioned with the help of an efficient motor and a battery. An electric motor is powered by a battery and thus facilitates the propulsion of electric vehicles. Various designs and arrangements have been proposed by different inventions which suggest mounting of motor to achieve specific objectives.

There are two-wheelers electric vehicles running on the road that have motor mounted with the front wheel or rear wheel or within the frame of the vehicle. There are definitely one or more advantages associated with such motor mounting arrangements but still they deprive vehicles from achieving some essential technical benefits such as proper temperature management of the motor, balanced centre of gravity of the vehicle, uniform vehicle load distribution and efficient utilisation of the available energy. In such two-wheelers electric vehicles, the centre of gravity is disturbed because of the unfavourable positioning of the motor in the vehicle.

Further, the performance of the vehicle is significantly impacted due to the inefficient load distribution and unfavourable centre of gravity of the vehicle, and specially in cases of uphill while ascending, the vehicle is unable to generate sufficient torque so as to run at the desired speed due to the aforementioned factors.

Another problem that persists in the existing electric vehicles is with regard to the complications associated with the assembly and disassembly of the motor. The motor requires a separate structure to be specially made for its mounting and that further requires extra material and space in the vehicle. This leads to complex manufacturing process which in return increases the manufacturing cost.

In the existing motor mounting arrangements, it has been seen that due to mounting of the motor, the complete stress/load is fully transferred either to the swing arms or to the chassis of the vehicle as the motor is directly mounted on the swing arm or on the chassis of the as even a minor change in the design of the motor or swing arm rendered both the components misfit for each other.

There are various other solutions that have been provided according to the existing arts, but all these solutions still have challenges because of their limited applications and inefficient functioning. It is, therefore, important to work on the alternative solution to develop motor integrated swingarm assembly that makes the motor a component independent of the swing arm configuration and minimizes stress on the chassis or swing arms and utilizes motor as functional stress member with simplified and time saving mountings and obviates the complexity and challenges of the prior arts.

Summary of the Invention

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter. Nor is this summary intended to be used to limit the claimed subject matter’s scope.

Both the foregoing summary and the following detailed description provide examples and are explanatory only. Accordingly, the foregoing summary and the following detailed description should not be considered to be restrictive. Further, features or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments may be directed to various feature combinations and sub-combinations described in the detailed description.

It is one of the objectives of the present invention to provide a swingarm assembly for a twowheeler electric vehicle which is having a motor integrated within the swing arm assembly.

It is one of the objectives of the present invention to provide a motor integrated swingarm assembly which is capable of acting as one of the functional stress members for the electric vehicle.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a motor integrated swingarm assembly which is having an optimal weight so as to maintain curb weight of the electric vehicles.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a motor integrated swingarm assembly which enables improving load distribution in the electric vehicle.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a motor integrated swingarm assembly which contributes in balancing of the centre of gravity for optimum running performance of the electric vehicle. assembly which is simple in design and provides easy assembly and disassembly with the electric vehicle.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a motor integrated swingarm assembly which is directly mounted on the vehicle without requiring any housing structure.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide an electric vehicle having a motor integrated swingarm suspension assembly with improved truss structure for uniform vehicle’s load distribution.

As a preliminary matter, it will readily be understood by one having ordinary skill in the relevant art that the present disclosure has broad utility and application. As should be understood, any embodiment may incorporate only one or a plurality of the above-disclosed aspects of the disclosure and may further incorporate only one or a plurality of the above-disclosed features. Furthermore, any embodiment discussed and identified as being “preferred” is considered to be part of a best mode contemplated for carrying out the embodiments of the present disclosure. Other embodiments also may be discussed for additional illustrative purposes in providing a full and enabling disclosure. Moreover, many embodiments, such as adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, will be implicitly disclosed by the embodiments described herein and fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Accordingly, while embodiments are described herein in detail in relation to one or more embodiments, it is to be understood that this disclosure is illustrative and exemplary of the present disclosure and are made merely for the purposes of providing a full and enabling disclosure. The detailed disclosure herein of one or more embodiments is not intended, nor is to be construed, to limit the scope of patent protection afforded in any claim of a patent issuing here from, which scope is to be defined by the claims and the equivalents thereof. It is not intended that the scope of patent protection be defined by reading into any claim a limitation found herein that does not explicitly appear in the claim itself.

Additionally, it is important to note that each term used herein refers to that which an ordinary artisan would understand such term to mean based on the contextual use of such term herein. To the extent that the meaning of a term used herein — as understood by the ordinary artisan based on the contextual use of such term — differs in any way from any particular dictionary definition of such term, it is intended that the meaning of the term as understood by the ordinary artisan should prevail. “at least one,” but does not exclude a plurality unless the contextual use dictates otherwise. When used herein to join a list of items, “or” , 7” denotes “at least one of the items,” but does not exclude a plurality of items of the list. Finally, when used herein to join a list of items, “and” denotes “all of the items of the list.”

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a swingarm assembly for a two-wheeler vehicle, comprises of a pair of swingarms mounted on either side of the vehicle and provided with a plurality of fastening means on its inner side, a motor supportably situated between the pair of swingarms and provided with a plurality of mounting points radially on its circumference and one or more multi-directional connectors designed to integrate the pair of swingarms with the motor by way of affixing into the mounting points and the fastening means.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a swingarm assembly for a two-wheeler vehicle, comprises of a pair of swingarms mounted on either side of the vehicle and provided with a plurality of fastening means on its inner side, a motor supportably situated between the pair of swingarms and provided with a plurality of mounting points on its surface and one or more multi-directional connectors designed to integrate the pair of swingarms with the motor by way of affixing into the mounting points and the fastening means, wherein said swingarm assembly comprises of a gearbox securely housed in its structure.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a swingarm assembly for a two-wheeler vehicle, comprises of a pair of swingarms mounted on either side of the vehicle and provided with a plurality of fastening means on its inner side, a motor supportably situated between the pair of swingarms and provided with a plurality of mounting points on its surface and one or more multi-directional connectors designed to integrate the pair of swingarms with the motor by way of affixing into the mounting points and the fastening means, wherein said swingarm assembly further comprises of a kinematic link connected directly or indirectly to the motor between the pair of swingarms.

In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a swingarm assembly for a two-wheeler vehicle, comprises of a pair of swingarms mounted on either side of the vehicle and provided with a plurality of fastening means on its inner side, a motor supportably situated between the pair of swingarms and provided with a plurality of mounting points on its surface and one or more multi-directional connectors designed to integrate the pair of swingarms with the motor by way of affixing into the mounting points and fastened with the connectors along width axis of the vehicle.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a swingarm assembly for a two-wheeler vehicle, comprises of a pair of swingarms mounted on either side of the vehicle and provided with a plurality of fastening means on its inner side, a motor supportably situated between the pair of swingarms and provided with a plurality of mounting points on its surface and one or more multi-directional connectors designed to integrate the pair of swingarms with the motor by way of affixing into the mounting points and the fastening means, wherein said connectors are mounted on to the mounting points along the circumference of the motor.

In accordance with any of the above embodiments of the present invention, wherein said multidirectional connectors maintain perpendicular axial relation between mounting of the swingarms and the connectors on to the motor.

In accordance with any of the above embodiments of the present invention, wherein said mounting points are configured to mount vehicle’s suspension.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a swingarm assembly for a two-wheeler vehicle, comprises of a pair of swingarms mounted on either side of the vehicle and provided with a plurality of fastening means on its inner side, a motor supportably situated between the pair of swingarms and provided with a plurality of first set of mounting points on its surface and second set of mounting points on one of its sides, one or more multi-directional connectors designed to integrate the pair of swingarms with the motor by way of affixing into the mounting points and the fastening means, a gearbox securely mounted on to the motor between the pair of swingarms, and a kinematic link connected directly or indirectly to the motor between the pair of swingarms.

Brief Description of the accompanying drawing

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of the motor integrated swing arm assembly.

Figure 2 illustrates an exploded view of the swing arm assembly for electric vehicles.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While many embodiments of the disclosure may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the disclosure. Instead, the proper scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims. The present disclosure contains headers. It should be understood that these headers are used as references and are not to be construed as limiting upon the subjected matter disclosed under the header.

In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a swingarm suspension assembly for an electric vehicle, comprising a left and a right arm on lateral sides of the vehicle for holding frame and rear wheel of the vehicle, a motor integrated between the left and right, wherein the motor is provided with one or more mounting points for coupling with the left and right arms and vehicle’s suspension.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a motor integrated swingarm assembly for an electric vehicle, comprising a left and a right arm each provided with one or more mounting structure on its inner lateral sides, and a pair of bidirectional connectors designed to mount on to the mounting structure of the swingarms, wherein the motor is provided with one or more mounting points which are complimentary to the one or more mounting structure of the inner lateral sides of the left and right arms and swing arms for coupling with each other so as to enable motor function as partial stress member, wherein the motor integrated swingarm suspension assembly may be symmetrical or asymmetrical along the length of the electric vehicle.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a twowheeler electric vehicle comprising a chassis, a front wheel, a rear wheel and a motor integrated double sided swingarm assembly connected to the chassis from its front portion and rear wheel from its rear portion, wherein the motor integrated double sided swingarm assembly comprising a left and a right arm each provided with one or more mounting structure on its inner lateral sides and a pair of bidirectional connectors connected to motor and the swingarm by way of mounting points on the motor and two mounting structure on the inner lateral sides of the swing arms for supporting the motor,

In accordance with one of the above embodiments of the present invention, wherein the motor integrated swingarm assembly is provided with one or more connecting points in its front and rear portion for holding frame and rear wheel of the vehicle which are coupled by way of fastening.

In accordance with one of the above embodiments of the present invention, wherein the motor is provided with one or more mounting points for coupling with the left and right arms and configured to act as truss member for withstanding load of the vehicle.

In accordance with one of the above embodiments, wherein the integration of motor within the swingarm assembly i.e. between the left and right arms, enables motor to act as one of the functional stress member for withstanding vehicle’s load and contribute in reducing the load on other members of the vehicle for achieving a uniform load distribution in the vehicle.

In accordance with one of the above embodiments, the left and right swingarms are designed to be structurally identical which forms lateral outer sides of the two-wheeler vehicle between the chassis and rear wheel, wherein the motor is mechanically coupled between the left and right swingarms arms through the mounting structure of the arms and mounting points on the motor for maintaining favourable centre of mass of the vehicle for optimum running performance of the vehicle.

In accordance with one of the above embodiments, the configuration of motor integrated swingarm assembly and the functional arrangement of the motor within the swing arm enable the vehicle to generate required torque as desired for maintaining a particular vehicle’s speed irrespective of whether the road is uphill.

In accordance with one of the above embodiments, wherein the mounting points on the motor may be provided on its sides according to the requirement and similarly the mounting structure on the left and right arms are provided on its inner sides and positioned across the length of the arms.

In accordance with one of the above embodiments, wherein the configuration of motor integrated with swingarm assembly at lateral inner side of left and right arms in such a way that the motor is open from both sides enabling dissipation of heat generated by motor through the truss structure of the arms by way of ventilation and air circulation by allowing passage of air for effective heat management.

Referring to the Figure 1 , in accordance with one embodiment, a swingarm assembly (1 ) comprising of double-sided swing arms (3,4) to connect the chassis and rear wheel of the vehicle and a motor (2) integrated on the inner lateral sides of double sided swing arms (3,4) between the rear and front portion of the arms by way of plurality of mounting points (8) for uniformly distributing load of the vehicle and balancing the centre of mass, hence maintaining the curb weight of the electric vehicles.

The motor (2) is integrated with swing arms (3,4) in such a way that it is open from front and rear side of swing arms for exposure to air during propulsion of vehicle and the swing arms which allows efficient thermal management of motor.

The left (3) and right swing arms (4) are provided with extensions (10) upwardly and backwardly extended from almost middle portion of the swing arms (3 and 4) for mounting the motor at mounting point (9) which enable the motor to act as a functional stress member for the electric vehicles by reducing the load on the other members of the vehicle through uniform load distribution mechanism. The swing arm assembly (1 ) extend along the length of the electric vehicle and is designed to hold the frame or chassis of the electric vehicle from its fixing bracket (6) on its front portion and the rear part of the swing arms (3 and 4) are provided with grooves (11 ) to hold the rear wheel by employing fasteners.

The motor (2) is vertically mounted in front of the rear wheel at the front portion of the doublesided swing arms (3 and 4) in order to minimise space constraints, to provide plurality of mounting points on its sides or circumference according to the requirement and also to effectively mount the suspension unit.

Referring to Figure 2, there is disclosed an exploded view of the swingarm assembly, wherein one side of the swingarm attachment is illustrated. There is provided a right swingarm (4) having mounting structure (5 and 15) on it inner lateral sides which are configured to get fastened to the multi-directional connecter (12) by affixing coupling points (16 and 18) into each other through fastening means, wherein said connecter (12) is provided with complementary mounting holes (14) configured to get fastened on their respective mounting points (13) of the motor (2). The swingarm is provided with fixing bracket (6) designed to connect to chassis of the vehicle towards front side and also provided with grooves (11 ) to hold the rear wheel by employing fasteners. The swing arm is provided with joiners (19 and 21 ) on its upper periphery so as to enable firm attachments with vehicle. An identical set (20) of multi-directional connecter (12) and mounting points (13) on motor (2) is provided on lower circumference of the motor (2) and configured to mate with mounting structure (5) through coupling point (17) of the right swing arm (4).

While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, some embodiments have been illustrated by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail above. The intention, however, is not to limit the invention by those examples and the invention is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives to the embodiments described in this specification. description in each embodiment is the difference from other embodiments. For same or similar parts of each embodiment, reference may be made to each other.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above description was in respect of preferred embodiments and that various alterations and modifications are possible within the broad scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention with the necessary modifications.

Based on the description of disclosed embodiments, persons skilled in the art can implement or apply the present disclosure. Various modifications of the embodiments are apparent to persons skilled in the art, and general principles defined in the specification can be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments in the specification but intends to cover the most extensive scope consistent with the principle and the novel features disclosed in the specification.