Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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5 IMOTORIZED VEHICLE ON ICE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a motorized vehicle on ice designed to move on an ice
o surface, and comprising:
~ a driving station supported by a chassis,
- a drive system with a geared motor unit coupled to at least one drive wheel,
~ an in-board ener!3y source to supply the motor of the geared motor unit,
- a steering mechanism mechanically connected to a guide wheel,
- means for controlling the geared motor, and the steering mechanism,
- and slide skates arranged under the bottom part of the chassis to be in
permanent contact with the ice surface.
Propulsion of a motorized vehicle on ice is generally achieved by a gripping
action in the superficial layer of the ice, produced by a drive part made to move
by the motor and equipped either with a pneumatic tire with crampons or studs
or with a caterpillar track with articulated metallic shoes. This type of vehicle is
generally used on !arge outdoor stretches of ice or snow, and uses an internal
combustion engine whose operation is relatively noisy. The use of such a
vehicle on a skating rink or on any other regulated surface or indoor space is
not conceivable because of the noise generated by the engine and the
premature wearin~3 of the ice surface.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to achieve a motorized vehicle on ice having a
silent operating mode, and whose movement takes place in total safety and
comfort, without damaging the state of the surface of the ice rink.
35 The motorized vehicle according to the invention is characterized in that each
slide skate is securedly united to the chassis by a telescopic mechanical link to
achieve the suspension of the vehicle, and that shock absorption means
protrude out beyond the periphery of the chassis to absorb the shocks in case
of a collision, said shock absorption means comprising at least one lateral
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5 damper having a rocker arm mounted with limited pivoting on the chassis by
means of a flexible torsion device.
According to one feature of the invention, the rocker arm is equipped opposite
the flexible torsion device with a wheel with a pneumatic tire mounted with freeo rotation on a spindle and coming into engagement with the obstacle in the
event of a collision to absorb a part of the energy.
The flexible torsion device comprises a bar securedly united to the rocker arm
and arranged between a plurality of buffers made of deformable material fixed
in a tube joined to the chassis, the material of each buffer being compressible
by the action of the collision force causing pivoting of the rocker arm to a shock
absorption position, disappearance of the force automatically bringing said
rocker arm back to an initial rest position.
According to a preferred embodiment, the shock absorption means comprise
four torsion dampers arranged at the four corners of the chassis protruding out
beyond the guide wheel and drive wheels, and being located in a horizontal
plane parallel to the ice surface and separated from the latter by a gap of small
thickness. The four slide skates extend longitudinally between the guide wheel
25 and the drive wheels, and symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal mid- plane of the vehicle.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
30 Other advantages and features will become more clearly apparent from the
following description of an embodiment of the invention, given as a non-
restrictive example only, and represented in the accompanying drawings in
which:
- figure 1 is a schematic profile view of the motorized vehicle on ice according35 to the invention;
- figure 2 is a top view of the vehicle of figure 1;
- figure 3 is a rear view of the vehicle of figure 1;
- figure 4 shows an exploded perspective view of the chassis of the vehicle of
figure 1;
- figure 5 represents a cross-sectional view of a rocker arm of a torsion damper;
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- figure 6 is an elevational view of figure 5 showing the rocker arm in different
positions;
- figures 7A, 7B, 7C show different phases of operation of the torsion damper inthe event of the vehicle colliding with an obstacle;
- figure 8 shows a cross-sectional view of a slide skate with telescopic
o mounting;
- figure 9 represents an elevational view of the geared motor unit arranged
between the two drive wheels;
- figure 10 is a cross-sectional view along the line 10-10 of figure 9;
- figure 11 represents the diagram of the steering mechanism associated to the
guide wheel of the vehicle;
- figure 12 shows an embodiment of the mechanism of figure 11.
DETAILED DESC:RIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to figures 1 to 3, a motorized vehicle 10 is designed to move on
an ice surface 12, for example of a skating rink or a frozen lake. The vehicle 10
comprises a chassis 14, the base 16 of which acts as support for the different
means of propulsion, sliding, steering and shock absorbing.
The means of propulsion comprise a pair of drive wheels 18, 19 arranged at the
rear of the chassis 14 and driven by an in-board geared motor comprising an
electric motor 22 coupled to a speed reducer 24. The geared motor unit 20is
located to the rear of the driving station 26 and appreciably in the longitudinal
plane of the chassis 14. The motor 22is a DC motor supplied by a bank of
batteries (not represented) and via an electronic control and regulating circuitplaced on a platform 30 of the chassis.
The means for sliding of the vehicle 10 on the ice surface 12 are constituted byfour skates 32 disposed at the four corners of the base 16 of the chassis. Each
skate 32 presents a slightly convex shape in permanent contact with the ice
surface 12 and made of a hard material having a good sliding coefficient.
The means for steering the vehicle 10 are equipped with a guide wheel 34
placed in the longitudinal plane at the front of the chassis 14, and movable
angularly from the driving station 26 by a steering wheel 36 securedly united to
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a rotary crank 38. The front guide wheel 34, rear drive wheels 18, 19 and
skates 32 remain in permanent contact with the ice surface 12.
The means for absorbing the shocks to which the vehicle 10 is subjected
comprise four dampers 40 fixed laterally to the base 16 and protruding out from
o the chassis 14 in the transverse direction. The end of each damper 40 is
provided with a wheel 42 on which a pneumatic tire is fitted. All the wheels 42 of
the four dampers 40 are situated in a horizontal plane parallel to the ice surface
12 and separated from the latter by a gap 44 of small thickness.
15 The electronic circuit 28 is housed in a special compartment above the platform
30 and essentially comprises electrical power supply and control equipment, a
device 48 for regulating the motor 22, a radioelectric wave transceiver
transmission device 50, and a battery charger 52. The vehicle 10 can be put
into operation from the facia of the driving station, for example by means of a
20 token or a credit card. The user can then operate a switching device to choose
the direction of rotation of the motor 22 (forward or reverse), and an adjustment
device to adjust the speed. The transmission device 50 can receive at any time
a remote control order causing either interruption of the power supply in case or
a disable order resulting in stopping of the motor 22, or putting the power
25 supply of the motor 22 into operation in case of a validation order. The battery
charger 52 is designed to be connected to an external connector to recharge
the batteries, and a charge monitor (not represented) is provided on the
instrument facia to monitor the autonomy of the vehicle 10.
30 In figure 4, the chassis 14 is formed by a metallic structure of steel tubes
assembled by welding. The base 16 of the chassis 14 comprises two
longitudinal members 53, 55 provided at the front with a bracket 54 for support
of the guide wheel 34, and with two protuberances 56 for fixing the supports 58
of the rear dampers 40. At the rear, the longitudinal members 53, 55 are joined
35 by a spacer 60 acting as support for the assembly formed by the drive wheels
18, 19 and geared motor unit 20, and for the supports 58 of the rear dampers
40. The base 16 ensures the mechanical rigidity of the chassis 14, which is
moreover reinforced by a lateral girdle 62 onto which two rollbars 64, 66 are
welded to constitute the driving station 26.
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With reference to figures 5 and 6, each lateral damper 40 comprises a rocker
arm 68 mounted with limited pivoting on the support 58 of the base 16 of the
chassis 14 by means of a flexible torsion device 70. At the opposite end of the
rocker arm 68 there is located the wheel 42 with pneumatic tire mounted with
o free rotation on a spindle 72. The torsion device 70 comprises a bar 74 of
square cross-section securedly united to the rocker arm 68. The consecutive
sides of said bar 74 cooperate with buffers 76 made of deformable and
compressible material, in particular rubber, arranged at the four corners of a
steel tube 78 forming the support 58 of the base 16 of the chassis 14.
The operation of a lateral damper 40 is illustrated in figures 7A, 7B, 7C:
In the event of the vehicle 10 colliding with an obstacle 80, for example another
vehicle, or the boards skirting a skating rink, the damper 40 involved first
undergoes a crushing effect of the wheel 42 (fig. 7B) after flexible deformationof the pneumatic tire, followed by a free rotational movement of the wheel 42
around the spindle 72 of the rocker arm 68. Deformation of the flexible torsion
device 70 then takes place (fig. 7C), resulting in pivoting of the rocker arm 68which supplies a progressive deceleration torque of the vehicle 10 by energy
absorption.
In figure 8, each slide skate 32 is mounted on the base 16 of the chassis 14 by
means of a telescopic mechanical link 82 making use of a compression spring
84 fitted between the base part 86 of the skate 32 and the base 16. Telescopic
fitting of the four skates 32 provides the suspension of the vehicle and
30 guarantees a uniform distribution of the contact pressure of the wheels 34, 18,
19 and skates 32 on the ice surface 12.
In figures 9 and 10, the geared motor unit 20 is located between the two drive
wheels 18, 19 in the longitudinal plane of the chassis 14. The motor 22 is fitted
overhanging the speed reducer 24 which drives the two drive wheels 18, 19
directly. The circumference of each drive wheel 18,19 is covered with a special
coating made of a polymer material having a good mechanical strength and a
high friction coefficient on ice, enabling both propulsion and sliding of the
vehicle 10 on the ice surface 12.
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With reference to figures 11 and 12, the guide wheel 34 with angular travel
placed at the front of the vehicle 10 is connected to the steering wheel 36 by asteering mechanism 90 comprising a crank 38 articulated on a transmission rod
92. The support 94 of the guide wheel 34 is guided in rotation by means of a
o guiding part 96 coupled to a king-pin 98 of the rod 92. The guide wheel 34 is
covered with the same peripheral coating as that of the drive wheels 18,19.
The four slide skates 32 are located at the four corners of the rectangular
chassis 14, extending longitudinally between the guide wheel 34 and drive
wheels 18,19, and symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal plane of the
vehicle 10.
