Topic: Mobility scooter design (Diseño de scooter)

[piersdad]

 Mobility scooter design.
my designtheirs 

Most of today’s mobility scooters are built and sold by large multi-corporation.  Businesses.
The design of them  varies from atrocious rip offs designed by a perambulator engineer to  ones designed by a formula one  engineer.
and one thing in common is a very high price for what you get

my concept is made from scrap materials so not as flash but a lot better design

So have they actually asked the users about what they want from a mobility scooter.

Good points-

They have made  very nice seats that swivel  and can be removed to make transport easier.
They have mobility scooters that dismantle to small parts.

There are fast ones and slow ones and even off road 4 wheel drive mobility scooters.
The gearbox design   is  generally good enough for the purpose but not to my knowledge any where near the standard of a cheap motorbike gear box  system.

They also all have one standard feature.
A adjustable steering column that can be moved  back and forward to assist the driver to get in and out of the scooter.
When up right the steering is just like a push bike and very nice  but it means that any thing on the handle bars has to move with the steering so limiting  any load here.

Moving the steering column towards the rider converts it to tiller steering and the very few people I have seen using this mode  find it very disconcerting and uncomfortable.

For goodness sake!  Tiller steering went out in automobiles in 1906.

Have not the designers of mobility scooters gone past this error yet.

The sensible way to go is a light weight frame in the front that supports the top of the steering handle bars and has an adjustable clamp that allows the steering column to move back and forwards to the convenient position to suit the disablement of the driver.
This makes the handle bars so much   sturdier
  for some one using them to pull themselves up on or off the mobility scooter.

As well the lightweight frame will enable many different sorts of attachments  that are not limited to the weight restrictions of a moving handle bar.

Attachments that would then be able to be used are.

Large grocery carrier.
Walking stick holder
Any other heavy disability items even a light weight wheel chair.
Special clip on windshield and other weather protection.
Pet carrier.
Even on the larger ones a grand child carrier.

   This site  has a comprehensive guide to  today's varieties of scooter
well worth a look as it describes most of the varieties available and who should use them.
www.mobility-scooter-solutions.com.


With this sort of frame in front and attached adjustable  steering there is no limit to the accessories that could be attached to the front of the scooter and as well they are in full view of the driver.

So here is my design of the scooter of the future

(please note i am on a pension and have to build my projects from scrap materials)

It opens the way for not only disabled people using them but also able bodied people will enjoy them as well due to the appearance being more that just a disabled persons transport

     
 It is no bigger than a large scooter and would fit through any supermarket entrance or maneuver in the narrow isles.
Groceries can be carried in the front  where the lid opens forward to form a large carrying space

the motor is mounted on the wheel assembly and swung from the chassis.
each side is independent and instead of a roll bar i have used a system in the front suspension to limit the roll this works well as undulations in the road seem to be evened out and the ride is very comfortable.


and the rear suspension

 

 
 
later construction with a motorbike clear windshield set up right

 
the rear part rebuilt to look a lot better
note there are just a pin and a bolt to remove and the entire wheel assembly can be removed  for repair


A VERY comprehensive site about batteries and electric vehicles

BATTERIES
i am looking at using LiFeP04 batteries as wit a potential of 3000 plus cycles i will for what today is a very good tradesman's weeks wages get a battery that will possibly  last me for the next 10-15 years
so here is a site that sells them.

THE ELECTRIC BICYCLE CO

 
 
another design adapted from a standard  scooter frame and motor the windshield not on yet

here is my scooter at a local museum open day with a tram conductor who borrowed it for the day
 

another car i made was a all alloy gull winged commuter car. it was made from 3 sheets of alloy and the basic concept would be still 20 years ahead of its time (50 years ahead   when i built it)
  

more about it here
http://www.storydad.com/forum/index.php/topic,130.0.html

Further links to other  information on scooters  on this site
initial stages of the above scooter

 
rebuilding a scooter transmission from scrap motors cycle gears

electric fuel cell  powered scooter

making an adult tricycle

future development of electric cars

electric cars and batteries(lease them or not)

 
 
 
 article on new breakthrough shows insight to lifep04 battery

    this company will change the goal posts on electric vehicles with their new technology
 

About CHEEVC

CHEEVC, an R&D company based in Scotland, has developed a software configurable battery which can be programmed to provide a variable DC voltage and current output at the battery terminals, a world first.

CHEEVC’s patented new technology provides controlled access to individual cells in the battery chain allowing them to be switched on or off under software control. Besides providing variable power control, this facility allows the implementation of a range of new features previously not available within a battery.
Our Technology
The Basics

The basic hardware enables the cells to be switched off or bypassed for short periods, so called “rest periods”, during charging and discharging cycles, providing time for the chemical transformations in the cells to stabilise. This in turn reduces the stress on the cells which enables a longer cell cycle life to be achieved. At the same time, the round trip efficiency losses during the charge-discharge cycle are also reduced.

The rest periods also allow the cell voltage to be monitored in the open circuit condition, enabling a more accurate estimation of the state of charge of the battery.

Implicit in the system is cyclic redundancy which provides immunity to single cell failures and also facilitates lossless cell balancing, during both charging and discharging cycles, thus enhancing the battery safety, increasing the reliability and extending the cycle life.

The electronics and associated software are applicable to any type of cell chemistry or cell construction.
Quiescent Recovery

Chemical action in the cell cannot take place instantaneously, and reactions can therefore take between several seconds to several hours to be completed. Longer reaction times are even more noticeable in large, high capacity cells.

The introduction of “rest periods” during charging and discharging allows more complete transformation of the active chemicals.
   
 

Allowing the time for the ion transportation to be completed and the chemical reactions to stabilise, reduces the stress on the cells and allows increased cycle life or increased instantaneous charge/discharge rates.

The cyclic redundancy is a process where one or many cells are bypassed, while remaining cells carry the load. The bypassed cells have rest periods but can be switched in to provide a time limited power boost.
The Benefits

Software configuration can improve the battery through cell isolation, quiescent recovery, cyclic redundancy, lossless cell balancing and variable power output.

The benefits of such optimisation can be summarised as follows:

Increase in battery lifetime

Increase in battery capacity

Variable power control (no need for external controllers)

Immunity to single cell failures

Lossless cell balancing

More accurate SOC estimation

Press Release 7th May 2010
Innovative battery technology providing unique features and benefits
Press Release 27th Oct 2010
Scottish Enterprise SMART award approved for CHE EVC

[piersdad]

Having a wheelchair is great for mobility, but getting from your bed to one isn't exactly something most wheelchair users can do autonomously.  The Rodem is a next-generation wheelchair that aims to make sliding into it something that everyone can perform all by themselves.

rodem wheel chair

well at last the wheel chair that has advanced design from the 100 year old concept
the batteries are in the front with the wheels and the passenger balances the rear wheels.
the rear part is open to all sorts of devises that can assist the rider onto it.
winches,rotating chairs,any sort of support frame can be hung from the rear part  there is no end of innovations to suit the disability of the rider.
this is a hybrid between the scooter and the chair.
often i see partially disabled people with wheel chairs that ideally would more suit a scooter with the modem design.

and at last  some bright spark has put a frontal bib from which all sorts of attachments and even luggage holders or wind screens  and do away with th eugly wire basket in the front, a remanent of 100 years ago


 

as can be seen here there is ample frame work in the rear to accommodate any devise that will assist or hold a disabled person to get on and remain in the seat

must get to my work shop soon and try this design out

[piersdad]

At last after shifting 3 times and developing my section and building 2 granny flats i have a decent workshop again. it is heated and has the sun all day--woopee-
the scooter has a complete overhaull and a special motor from the 1980s had 4 poles of permanent magnets each pole has 2 magnets glued to the stator.
the winding are such that it is really two motors in one with a diameter that has the same circumference as two ordinary 360 watt dc motors.
 the result is a very gutsy motor with the losses of one motor and  the torque and back emf of two.
so with discarding one transmission and installing the restored motor i get a free running current of 2 amps and a 10 km speed  with current of 8 amps on smooth flat ground.
with cog belt drive and chain the drive is almost inaudible and heaps of acceleration.
when i throttle off to 6 km the current drops to 6 amps and a potential range of 30 plus km.
am now investigating the use of new lifepo4 batteries that were used on the mars explorers and with the right choice of battery could potentially last me for the next 20 years.
the price of between $1000 and $2000 with charger etc is a lot cheaper than buying new $500 batteries every 2 years

the electric bike NZ christchurch

so today i am off to find out more about these new batteries