ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a cycle or an engine-driven vehicle which moves on a bearing
surface and more particularly on a road. In the case of a motorcycle, the front steering wheel is
fitted with a first crown-shaped roller bearing being comprised of an outer annular element
which supports the rim and an interior annular element which is connected to an arm. The arm
carries at its front end a second crown-shaped roller bearing of which the internal element is
made integral by way of a lug of the interior annular element of the roller bearing and of which
the interior annular element of bearing is made integral with the arm. The device allows to
transmit the steering forces at a point located as close as possible to the contact area between
the tire and the road. In a conventional wheel, batteries are placed above the wheel. In the
present work, an attempt is made to incorporate the motor and battery inside the wheel thereby
bringing down the center of gravity much closer to the ground. In addition to that, the vehicle
becomes more compact. Due to hub mass, it is difficult in steering compare to without hub,
which can be easily steered in manual. The power is transmitted with the aid of gear drive
mechanism which is more efficient than the chain drive mechanism.
 1. History: Invention of the Wheel

We cannot imagine our lives without any kind of movement. Similarly, as we move from one
place to another, either the inanimate objects are forced to move or they have some inbuilt
machine. Wheels are the most ancient discovery for humankind. The wheels on a kid's car, the
different sizes and shapes that we can see around us are always a matter of joy for many.
However, none of us question the fact of how the wheel was discovered?

Wheels have made it easier for all of us to travel. The creation of wheels is perhaps the
significant discovery. It is unbelievable to visualize the globe with no wheels around. As soon as
the wheel was invented, there was a revolt in the manufacturing industry.
The first inventor of the wheel is yet not known to anybody in the world. The first ever wheel was
discovered around 3,000 years ago. However, the fact is that it is still anonymous that in which
year the wheel was actually invented. The weavers and potters were the first ones to use
wheels.

The field of pottery is a crucial discovery for progression of humanity. The containers that were
prepared by the potters are helpful for carrying the essentials of drinking water and nutritious
food. There was yet another enhancement by utilizing the wheels for moving on the vehicles.
The advanced version of these wheels is now being used by the cars, which we use today for
our own convenience.

There was always a regular growth in the advancement of inventing new and innovative designs
of wheels. The wheels that we now see in ships and other heavy vehicles were also invented
during the early centuries, but the differences are huge. The designs earlier were simpler in
comparison to the designs we see today, as they are more advanced and are completely
prepared from the amalgamation of the best of technologies.

Unlike other inventions that took place in around 5000 B.C. or even much earlier, wheels are still
accepted today and are still in demand. It does not matter whether they change the outer and
inner body parts, but the function remains the same even today. Many of the contemporary
discoveries are executed from the ancient and original wheels. It clearly states that if there
would not have been any invention or designs of wheels, there would not have been any vehicle
on this Earth. Our roads would have been empty and aeroplanes and glider crafts would not
have covered up the sky.
As result of wheels, there has been development in the field of industrialization. The different
manufacturing factories and companies are a productive outcome of wheels. If today anybody of
us could have found out the name or the person, who invented wheels, he or she definitely
deserved world recognition and much more than what he or she did not deserve.

2. INTRODUCTION

Natural resources have a role of almost one quarter in a total primary energy
supply. Transport primarily relies on a conventional energy source, petroleum that
supplies 95% of the total energy used by world transport.
This source of energy consists of fossil fuels, hydro and nuclear resources on one
hand, and combustible biomass and wastes on the other, the latter being largely
non-traded the yearly consumption of petroleum, it is estimated that the reserves
may last for less than 100 years. By 2050, there may be as many as 1.5 billion cars
on road compared to 750 million in 2010.
This amounts to a great global concern that necessitates the need to find alternate
sources of energy. Electrification is one of the most viable ways to achieve clean
and efficient transportation. Electric vehicles are of the most promising pathways to
increased energy security and reduced greenhouse gases.
One of the most important components of an electric vehicle is its wheel, as
suspension and steering components are directly connected to the spokes from a
conventional wheel. It affects safety and the durability of tires and all the parts
controlling them. A conventional wheel usually comprises of hub and spokes.
Spokes causes injury when the foot of the passenger is caught in the rotating wheel.
Many investigators have been working on the design of a wheel addressing the
safety of the passenger by eliminating the hub and the spokes in a bicycle, motor
cycles and shopping carts.
In US Patent No 5248019 Franco Sbarro claims to have invented an engine driven
vehicle with hubless wheel.

Chain drive is being used to transmit the power from the engine to the rear wheel.
Sbarro claims that hubless wheel is more advantageous than the conventional
wheels. Sbarro further claims that the crown shape bearing whose exterior supports
the rim and whose interior is joined to suspension results in reduction of size of the
lever arm transmitting steering control and braking force. Front wheel is fitted with
a first crown shaped roller bearing being composed of annular element which is
connected to the arm. The arm at its front end also carries a second crown shaped
roller bearing. The second bearing is placed in a plane perpendicular to the plane of
first bearings. The device also allows transmitting forces at a point much closer to
the contact area between tire and the road.

In US Patent No 6224080 Ross claims to have developed a hubless wheel which has
no chain drive unlike Francos Chain driven hubless wheel. The front rim and the
rear rim includes groove which will receive the multiple bearings. Both Franco and
Sbarro proposed a hubless wheel with the space between the wheel void.
The space available at the center of wheel which was not utilized by the previous
two researchers was employed by William Lark in his work on flex city cars, he
proposes different designs of Hubless wheel .William has attempted to incorporate
the suspension system and the motor inside the wheel which makes it more
compact. The power from the motor is transmitted to the wheel through three gears
mounted at the pivots of jointed arm. In addition to that, William put forwards a
design which comprises of three roller bearings arranged in a triangular fashion on a
triangular shaft having surface contact, thereby constraining the angular position
and allowing transmission of power.
Donakowski (US 6839939 B2) discloses a design of a hubless caster assembly
wherein the wheels are not disc shaped, but are rather annular. Moreover, the inner
diameter is provided with toroidal grooves for the roller bearing. Donakowski in his
work mentions that the caster hubless assembly would have higher stiffness than a
conventional wheel. Unlike hubless design by other researchers which employs
either gears or chain to transmit the power, there is no mention of power source in
his proposed design.

Yike Bike has come up with the concept of electric vehicle which can be folded and
has very less weight so that it can be carried [8]. It consists of hubless wheel which
is driven by a gear drive. On the similar lines, Inventist Inc. has developed products
named Orbitwheel and Solowheel both of which is based on hubless wheel design
[9]. Orbit wheel is based on the concept of two wheels, two feet. The space in the
center of the wheel is used to place the feet and the device resembles a ring/orbit.
 Folding yike bike

Further in this account, Hubless wheel product G-Wheel 49cc sideways stance is
similar to surfboards, skateboards and snowboards, where the slender mid-engine
chassis uses two large hub-less ten-inch off-road tyres which surround each foot
making the riders feet the axis of the wheel.
 G-Wheel 49cc sideways stance

In a conventional wheel, batteries are placed above the wheel. In the present work,
an attempt is made to incorporate the motor and battery inside the wheel thereby
bringing down the center of gravity much closer to the ground. In addition to that,
the vehicle becomes more compact. Due to hub mass, it is difficult in steering
compare to without hub, which can be easily steered in manual. The power is
transmitted with the aid of gear drive mechanism which is more efficient than the
chain drive mechanism.
3.DESIGN OF HUBLESS WHEEL

Design of Hubless wheel depends on its application in type of electric vehicle and
that decide room for design modifications particularly. In present work, a detail
design of Hubless wheel and its individual component has been suggested, where
maximum of wheel has been constrain to 40 km/h.
Hubless wheel consists of five main components namely Motor, sun gear, internal
gear ring, bearings, and carbon rim. In this work, an attempt is made to develop a
non-conventional wheel which has center of mass much near to the ground. The use
of spokes is eliminated in the design and hence the space obtained is utilized for
incorporating the entire propulsion unit inside the wheel.

In this design, hubless wheel comprises of gear drive to transmit power from the
motor to the wheel. Usually, in the conventional power applications, metal gears are
used which tends to make the system bulky. This work focuses on using nylon gears
which is much lighter than their metal counterparts. A brushless DC motor will
enable the vehicle to propel. A sun gear is attached to the shaft of a motor with the
aid of a plastic keyway. The sun gear meshes with the internal gear ring made up of
Nylon material. The required torque by the vehicle and speed is attained by varying
the number of teeth on both the gears. In a conventional electric bike with Hub
motor, the wheel is attached to the vehicle chassis with the aid of axle, but in case
of hubless wheel axle would not be used. Hence, the wheel has to have a stationary
component to which the vehicle body would be attached. The inner gear is not
attached to the rim directly. The power from the inner gear ring is transmitted to the
rim by the bearings. The bearings are held on a bolt whose ends are connected to
the stationary plates. When the inner gear ring rotates it makes only the bearings to
rotate on the bolts as the stationary plate is attached to the vehicle body. The
rotation of bearings makes the rim to rotate and helps the vehicle to move. The sun
gear and motor is assembly is kept as close to the ground to ensure that the
heaviest component of the wheel which is the motor brings down the center of
gravity. The present work focuses on designing of a wheel with propulsion
mechanism contained within it.

The first step involves selection of motor which would enable a vehicle to travel at a
set speed. Once the motor is selected the gear geometry is decided based on the
space available and the torque required at the wheel. The strength calculations for
the selected gears is carried out to check whether maximum bending stress induced
by tangential component of transmitted load at the root of gear is greater than
allowable stress. Then, the bearing geometry is decided, and the power loss during
the transmission is estimated. The next step is to select a standard rim having size
of 12 and to select a standard tire which could be used with this system without
doing any modifications.

Exploded view of Hubless Wheel

1. Bearing Balls

2. Balls with inner ring

3. Ball bearing

4. Bearing Inner and Outer rings

5. Inner Ring

6. Cap
7. Sprocket

8. Sprocket with cap

9. Frame

10.Rim
11.Tyre

12.Front view
13.Right view

14.Left view
15.Top View

16.Back view
17.Assembly -1

18.Assembly-2
19.Assembly-3

20.Assembly-4
IV. BATTERY

In the present work, an attempt is made to study different types of battery used in
electric vehicles. The most widely used battery technologies were identified namely;
Lead-Acid SLA, NiCd, NiMH, Li-ion, Li-polymer battery technologies. The Lead-Acid
batteries are safe, but exhibits lower energy density specifications compared to the
other battery technologies. NiMH battery has a good efficiency and hence can be
seen in most of the electric vehicle applications. Lithium-based battery technology
is more advantageous than the traditional battery technology, but it comes at the
cost of increased monitoring and controls overhead. Li-ion batteries have a high
energy, power density and efficiency specification, but are expensive. While
selecting the battery the trade-off between efficiency and cost needs to be tested.
 Series placement of battery pack

After weighing the pros and cons of each of the battery commonly available in the
market, it was observed that among Li-polymer technologies, the lithium iron
phosphate (LiFePO4) is most appropriate suitable battery technology for large
capacity and high power applications. The LiFePO4 is characterized by two times
faster charging, maximum Depth-of-Discharge of 60%, a large overcharge tolerance,
and has five times longer cycle life. Additionally, it allows for a slight increase in
quantum of energy density compared to conventional Li-ion batteries. However,
these batteries are still comparatively costly, but they are readily available in
market.

In this design, battery has been placed inside the wheel between ring and sun gear.
Once the gear, rim and motor are modelled in CAD Package CATIA, the volume of
available space between ring and sun gear is calculated. In this account, the Li-
polymer battery with nominal characteristics of 6V, 3Ah in a pouch shape with
dimension (53mm20mm14mm) which is readily available in market, has been
selected maintaining clearances with the motor. The configuration of 8 batteries in
series and 8 in parallel is been employed to make resultant of 48V, 6 Ah.

The performance of an electric vehicle is affected by the operating temperature and

the degree of temperature gradient in its battery pack. Researchers have found
that, Li-ion battery pack can be effectively used a cooling agent for constant
discharge rates of up to 5 C .In the current design, silicon as a cooling agent is
proposed for effective performance of the vehicle by maintaining uniform
temperature.
 complete power output from battery

V. BLDC MOTOR

Ordinary electric motors use a mechanical device called a commutator and two
contacts called carbon brushes to reverse the electric current periodically and
ensure the axle keeps turning in the same direction.

Hub motors are typically brushless motors (sometimes called brushless direct
current motors or BLDCs), which replace the commutator and brushes with half-a-
dozen or more separate coils and an electronic circuit. The circuit switches the
power on and off in the coils in turn creating forces in each one that make the motor
spin. Since the brushes press against the axle of a normal motor, they introduce
friction, slow it down, make a certain amount of noise, and waste energy. That's
why brushless motors are often more efficient, especially at low speeds. Getting rid
of the brushes also saves having to replace them every so often when friction wears
them down.

In a normal motor, you'd expect the inner coil to rotate (it's called the rotor) and the
outer magnet to stay static (that's called the stator). But in this motor, the roles are
reversed: the inner part with the coils is static and the gray magnet spins around it.
Now look inside and you can see exactly how it works: the electronic circuit sends
power round the nine copper coils in turn, making the gray outer case (which is a
magnet split into a number of sections, bent round into a circle) spin around the
copper coils and circuit board (which remain static).
How does the circuit know which of the nine coils to switch on and offand when?
You can't really see in this photo, but there are several tiny magnetic field sensors
(known as Hall-effect sensors) positioned between some of the coils. As the
permanent magnets on the outer rotor sweep past them, the Hall-effect sensors
figure out where the north and south magnetic poles of the rotor are and which coils
to activate to make it keep spinning. The trouble with this is that it means the motor
does need an electronic circuit to operate it, which is something you don't need for
an ordinary DC motor.

Advantages:

It depends on whether you're talking about an electric bicycle or an electric car.

Adding a hub motor and batteries to a bicycle is a mixture of pro and con: you
increase the bicycle's weight quite considerably but, in return, you get a pleasant
and effortless ride whenever you don't feel like pedaling. Where electric cars are
concerned, the benefits are more obvious. The weight of the metal in a typical car
(including the engine, gearbox, and chassis) is perhaps 10 times the weight of its
occupants, which is one reason why cars are so very inefficient. Swap the
heavy engine and gearbox for hub motors and batteries and you have a lighter car
that uses energy far more efficiently. Getting rid of the engine compartment also
frees up a huge amount of space for passengers and their luggageyou can just
stow the batteries behind the back seat!
Vehicles powered by hub motors are a whole lot simpler (mechanically less
complex) than normal ones. Suppose you want to reverse. Instead of using
elaborate arrangements of gears, all you have to do is reverse the electric current.
The motor spins backward and back you go! What about four wheel drive? That's
quite an expensive option on a lot of vehiclesyou need more gears and
complicated driveshaftsbut it's very easy to sort out with hub motors. If you have
a hub motor in each of a car's four wheels, you get four-wheel drive automatically.
In theory, it's easy enough to make the four motors turn at slightly different speeds
(to help with cornering and steering) or torque (to move you through muddy or
uneven terrain).

Disadvantages:

(i)Handling

Hub motors are bigger, bulkier, and heavier than ordinary wheels and change the
handling of an electric car or bike: they increase the unsprung mass (the mass not
supported by the suspension), giving more shock and vibration, poorer handling,
and a bumpier ride.
(ii)Torque

Another problem is delivering just the right amount of torque (turning force).
A gasoline engine works best turning over quickly (making lots of revolutions per
minute), no matter what speed you're actually doing on the road. You use
a gearbox to convert the engine's high revs into high torque (and low speed) or high
speed (and low torque) depending on whether you're starting off from a standstill,
racing along the freeway, driving slowly uphill, or whatever. Hub motors have to be
able to produce any combination of speed and torque without a gearbox; they
usually work by "direct drive." But here's the snag: they sit inside the hub, at the
very center of a relatively large bike wheel. If you turn the center of a wheel, its
diameter works as a lever, multiplying the speed at the rim but reducing the
torque by the same amount (see our article on how wheels work for an
explanation). To get enough torque, you need quite a powerful motorbut not so
powerful that it accelerates you too quickly and jerkily or snaps your spokes!

Hub motors typically achieve more torque by increasing the hub size quite
significantly (a bigger stator and rotor make more torque than smaller ones); you
can see from the electric bike photo up above that the powered hub in an electric
bike is considerably bigger than the unpowered hub in an ordinary bike. Some hub
motors boost their torque with internal gearboxes (typically an arrangement
of planetary (epicyclic) gears in between the stator and the rotor), but since that
adds weight, cost, mechanical complexity, and potential unreliability, many do not.
Bigger torque brings an added problem: you need to be sure the rest of your wheel
is strong enough to cope with the twisting forces a hub motor can deliver,
particularly if you're converting something like an ordinary bicycle wheel into a
powered wheel. The spokes on an electric bike are shorter and leave the hub at a
tighter angle, which can stress them further. Suppose you mount an electric motor
on the hub of a basic bike and switch on the power. Since you weigh quite a lot and
there's plenty of friction between the tire and the ground, the motor could simply
bend the spokes instead of moving you along the ground! So an electric bicycle
typically needs stronger wheels (perhaps with stronger and more elastic spokes,
different positioning of spoke holes, a thicker rim, or some other fix) than an
ordinary one.

Although the hub motor of the present invention has been found to have particular utility in
conjunction with electrically operated bicycles, the motor is also deemed to have utility of other
applications such as operating of a scooter, moped, tricycle, wheelchair and other types of
manually operated wheeled vehicles as well as within other environments that are unknown to
the inventor at this particular time. This invention will be discussed primarily in conjunction with
bicycles for description purposes only.

Electric motors have been used in the past to operate bicycles electrically. The electric motors of
the prior art have been rather large in size and are of relatively heavy weight. It is desirable to
have the electric motor to be as small as possible and also to have the motor be as light in
weight as possible to thereby keep the overall weight of the bicycle as low as possible. Also,
electric bicycles of the prior art have exposed internal components. Bicycles are frequently
ridden through adverse weather conditions which can result in water and foreign material, such
as mud, contaminating the internal components of the electric motor.

Electric motors require the use of an electronic controller which controls the different speeds
that the motor is being operated. In the past, it has been common to use a controller that is
mounted separate from the motor. This requires an additional structure and requires separate
mounting in conjunction with a bicycle being preferable to eliminate the use of this separate
structure.

The present invention concerns a motorized or engine driven vehicle designed to

travel on a particular surface, said vehicle comprising at least two hubless wheels,
at least one of which is a drive steering wheel, each of said wheels comprising a
central portion connected to a base structure of the vehicle and a peripheral portion
concentric to the said central portion and disposed to rotate around the latter, the
said central portion and the said peripheral portion being interconnected by at least
a first ring shaped bearing, said first bearing comprising at least one interior annular
element joined to the said central portion of the tire and at least one peripheral
annular 15 element concentric to the said interior annular element and joined to the
said peripheral portion, said latter portion having a contact means adapted to the
nature of the surface with which the vehicle will be in contact, and the said central
wheel portion being connected to the base structure of the vehicle at at least one
off-center anchoring point on the wheel.
These vehicles offer considerable advantages over conventional vehicles which
have wheels with a strong, heavy central hub on which are mounted the rim and all
transmission and braking elements. Construction of wheels without a hub, such as
those described in this patent application, comprising a crown shaped bearing
whose exterior element supports the rim and whose interior element is joined to the
suspension arms, results in considerable reduction of the size of the lever arm
transmitting steering control and braking forces, permits the articulation points for
vehicle suspension to be positioned quite close to the vehicle's center of gravity,
and requires far fewer connections to the vehicle base. However, in these vehicles,
articulation of the steering control wheel is effected in the standard fashion around
a pivoting axle passing through the wheel center. In the case of a two wheeled
vehicle, this embodiment imposes a more or less standard steering means acting on
the suspension arm to which the exterior element of the bearing is attached.

The present invention proposes a novel construction allowing conventional

connections between the handlebar and the steering wheel to be eliminated.

This goal is achieved by the vehicle according to the invention, characterized in that
the said steering wheel is joined to the base structure of the vehicle by at least one
second bearing disposed in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the first bearing
and comprising an interior element joined to the interior annular element of the first
bearing and an exterior element joined to the base structure of the vehicle.
 Hubless wheels lack a central hub and an axle which form the major part of
conventional wheels. The concept behind this is to reduce the number of rotating
parts in the wheel to a bare minimum. Many scientists argue that the efficiency of
the wheel is compromised by using hubless and spoke less wheels but others see its
advantages as it claims to make the bike lighter and striking in appearance, not
many prototypes have actually become commercially viable.
It consists of 3 parts
1) A bearing with a thin section and a large diameter,
2) Rotating part consisting of a tyre, a centre free rim and a brake ring all integrated
with each other to form a rotating outer ring of the bearing.
3) Fixed part consisting of the non rotating inner ring of the bearing on which the
vehicles steering system is connected. With this arrangement we get an empty
wheel that is free from midwheel structural constraints.

Due to the lack of a central hub this wheel is more advantageous than the
conventional wheel. Steering becomes all the more easier due to the elimination of
effects of deformation of stub axles and forks of the motorbikes and it is that kind of
design that allows for more rational steering systems to be attached in the future.
An automobiles stability is dependent on its roll angle, the greater the angle, the
more stable the vehicle. But the maneuverability will be reduced on turns and tight
bends. The hubless wheel comes with a roll angle variator. The greater the speed,
the higher the roll angle and hence maximum stability is maintained at all times and
when the speed is reduced, the roll angle is reduced thus increasing
maneuverability. For any vehicle, be it an automobile or a railway car braking is a
major source of concern. Conventionally braking occurs at the centre of the wheel
which requires a complex braking system. As the hubless wheel has no central hub,
braking power is applied close to the ground by using large diameter brake rings or
discs and also the braking system has excellent ventilation.
In a traditional wheel, the dynamic forces acting on the wheel at the road-tyre
interface passes through the midwheel causing damage to the forks of the wheel.
But with the advent of hubless wheels, these forces are transmitted directly to the
suspensions. As vibration and jarring are reduced by 50%, the driver is much more
comfortable and can drive longer. Goods can be carried in better conditions as they
undergo less vibration. There is less strain on the straps used for fastening the
goods so road safety is also increased. As each tyre is subjected to the same load,
the wear is evenly spread and is greatly reduced and hence its useful life is
increased. Thus newer and cheaper tyres with an equal performance level can be
used.
Although hubless wheels are striking in appearance and advantageous compared to
the conventional wheel, their numerous practical disadvantages have impeded their
widespread use as an alternative to conventional wheels. They are difficult and
expensive to manufacture and require a great deal of precision while machining.
And the design also leaves the bearings and other mechanical parts exposed, the
drive system is also very difficult to design and is problematic hence conventional
wheels are preferred to hubless ones though they are more efficient.

Hubless wheels work by fixing the rotating parts (brake ring, bearings, hubless rim)
onto the outer side of a non-rotating inner ring that attaches to the motorcycle's
swingarm or forks.
Advantages include decreased unsprung weight, reduced structural stress (no
spokes to transmit forces through), increased braking leverage, more accurate
steering, reduced vibration and a lower center of gravity.
 Conclusion

Hubless wheel is a next generation wheel which eliminates the short comings of any
conventional hub motored vehicle. In the current scenario, where safety, quality,
and accessibility are prime concern, it provides solution to each of them. The
current wheel design exhibits its uniqueness in terms of mode by which the power is
getting transmitted. The elimination of hub and spokes introduces safety in the
device and ride experience enhances as the use of hubless wheel provides better
vehicle stability .The presence of non-complex components in the design makes it
more serviceable and accessible.

This wheel design has capabilities to be employed any type of electric vehicle with
correct synchronization. An attempt is made to communize wheel with different
vehicles by making a MATLAB Simulink model and studying different gradient
conditions. Present work utilizes the open space near rim by strategically placing
the battery packs. Motor is selected considering its size and its ability to provide
suitable torque of to maintain a speed of 40kmph. Calculation is carried out to
check the strength of sun gear and ring gear. Further development in this wheel
generates large scope for improvements in the present design, such as reducing the
frictional losses between bearing and rim through design alterations and change in
material. Better quality of battery can actually enhance the graded speed of
vehicle. Similarly, material and design of gears can make a big impact in its
workability.
 References

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[2] Franco Sbarro. Hub-less cycle or engine-driven vehicle. US Patent No
5248019.28 Sep 1993
[3] Bennett Ross. Spokeless bicycle system. US6224080 B1. 1 May 2001
[4] William J Donakowski. Hubless caster. US6839939 B2. 11 Jan 2005
[5] www.yikebike.com
[6] http://www.inventist.com/
[7] http://www.wheelmanskateboard.com/
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