US 12,440,403 B2
Small electric vehicle
Gopinath Raja, Hamamatsu (JP)
Assigned to SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION, Hamamatsu (JP)
Filed by SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION, Hamamatsu (JP)
Filed on Jan. 20, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/580,253.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-012217 (JP), filed on Jan. 28, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0233377 A1, Jul. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. A61G 5/10 (2006.01); A61G 5/04 (2013.01); B62D 11/04 (2006.01)
CPC A61G 5/1051 (2016.11) [A61G 5/04 (2013.01); B62D 11/04 (2013.01); A61G 2203/14 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A small electric vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body that has a forward and backward direction, and a width direction;
left and right driving wheels provided apart in the width direction of the vehicle body;
free wheels provided apart from the left and right driving wheels in the forward and backward direction of the vehicle body;
left and right motors connected so as to respectively transmit power to the left and right driving wheels;
left and right rotation speed sensors detecting rotation speeds of the left and right motors;
an operation unit that comprises an operation element as a joystick; and
a control unit that controls the left and right motors according to an amount of operation on the operation element,
wherein the control unit is configured to calculate target rotation speeds of the left and right motors, based on a target vehicle speed provided by an operation position of the operation element, and on a target vehicle angular velocity provided by a left and right direction component of the operation position of the operation element and by an actual speed of the vehicle, and control the left and right motors such that actual rotation speeds of the left and right motors follow the respective target rotation speeds.