Recumbent Electric Motorcycle with Direct Drive DC Motors

Aimed at the commuter market to ease pollution and parking concerns. This Electric motorcycle has been designed for both comfort and performance. The recumbent seating position lends itself to greater comfort. The electric drive is designed for performance, allowing for a use up to and exceeding highway speeds. The standard indicators and gauges are replaced with a single LCD screen.

The Brushless Direct Drive DC Motors are to be manufactured as an internal part of the tire rim. Shown in figure 2, the wheel assembly consists of 5 components. The permanent magnets shown in yellow are attached to the rotating inner hub shown in green. This inner hub has the brake rotor assembly along with the tire mounting rim which attaches to the tire shown in black. The outer rim shown in grey is stationary and houses the electronics and coils shown in purple. The outer rim mates with the inner hub through roller bearings and seals not shown here. The ideal combination prevents foreign matter from entering the motor and offers low friction and resistance to turning.

The drive assembly shown in figure 3 illustrates how the wheel assembly is attached to the swing arm suspension component. The brake caliper and electronics box shown in dark orange attaches to the outer rim of the wheel and to the swing arm. The swing arm is then attached to the frame. A similar assembly is used for the front wheel and suspension. Slow speed turning is accomplished VIA mechanical linkage to the swing arm.

The Motor design is such that it can function as both a motor and generator allowing for two wheel drive or enabling one wheel to be used for generating system power like lights, and some comfort items like heat and radio. The DC power is supplied from two internal Li-Ion packs. These packs alternate between charging and storage of electricity depending upon need. The generating wheel can charge one pack while the drive wheel draws on the other. While the wheels are not being driven they can be used to regenerate some power to the battery packs. Ideally the system would have a 150 mile plus range depending upon the system efficiency and electrical storage capacity.

The battery packs are removable from the motorcycle to enable remote charging like at the office or hotel room. The batteries are located under the center console and feature an integrated charger in each pack. That way the pack can be plugged into any regular outlet for charging without having to carry a separate charging device wherever you go. Alternately the motorcycle features a receptacle for charging without having the remove the battery packs.

There is a trunk space located behind the seat for storage and small item transport.

The electric motors and battery technology could be used to retrofit existing motorcycles as the need arises.

Battery-less Remote Controller Device

This device represents a modification of existing remote control devices for consumer gadgets such as a TV, music systems etc. All such consumer devices need a remote control, usually based on Infra-red signaling. All these remote control devices need an 'AA' or 'AAA" size batteries.

My modification provides for a remote control device that operates without any batteries at all. Instead it uses a muscle powered voltage generator, based on the Faraday's principle, to power the remote control device. The voltage generator consists of a tube of perspex with magnets inside and a coil of copper wire wound over the tube. The magnets are sealed inside the tube. The coil induces voltage when the magnets are shaken back and forth inside the tube. The voltage so generated is stored on a large capacitor. The capacitor voltage is regulated with a 3V low drop out regulator to provide the operating voltage required by the remote control device.

The advantage of such a battery-less device is not that it saves money by not having batteries. The more important contribution is that since there are no batteries at all, there would not be any hazardous waste that these batteries represent when disposed in the garbage or even through any recycling procedure.

Imagine billions of such remote control devices existing in this world, using millions and millions of batteries that contribute to huge amount of hazardous and polluting waste that gets dumped in our ecosystem. Now imagine the world using my battery-less remote control device operating without any batteries and what you see is a much cleaner planet.

To operate the device is very easy, just shake the modified remote control device a few times, back and forth and its ready to use for many key presses.

I have built a prototype (photographs included in this document) using an ordinary TV remote control device to operate without batteries. This principle can be used for any remote control device, whether it uses Infra Red or wireless for operation.

It would be extremely easy to manufacture the battery-less remote control device, as an add on for existing remotes or to make a new design with an integrated voltage generator.