BEV Motorcycle Frame

Battery Electric Motorcycle Frame to Dispose a Novel Battery Arrangement

3/4 view of main structural elements of the frame

The headstock and subframe

Symmetrical halves of the main frame

The Functions of the Invention

The frame is a semi-monocoque design which may incorporate a removable headstock.
The battery arrangement allows the monocoque frame to support the pilot cockpit and ergonomic features removing the need for a sub frame.
Distributing the weight more evenly in the longitudinal direction places the motorcycle’s center of gravity near the geometric center thereby increasing performance and stability under braking.
The location of the batteries also places the vertical cog component in a preferable range. A taller cog can help in changing direction laterally.
Reference patent figure 8b(below) shows how locating inverters under the batteries creates a frontal profile that can attain a significant lean angle even under full compression of the suspension. Something which cannot be equaled by the other battery arrangements referenced without having to sacrifice onboard battery capacity.
This smaller front profile also reduces drag which is currently important for electric motorcycles as they are energy constrained so finding any efficiency increases is notable.
The location of the inverters also functions as a safety consideration. As inverters are the most prone to causing injury upon failure, placing them below the batteries creates a barrier to protect the pilot in such an event. This placement also reduces wiring needed as the systems are neatly located in an organized manner. The high voltage wiring can also run under the batteries to provide the same barrier effect as for the inverters

Patent Figure 1

Patent Figure 2

I discussed what I have learned in using SolidWorks for both projects in the dirt bike project page. Link

In addition to SolidWorks I have experience using Inventor in which I modeled the batteries individual parts to create an assembly for the battery module. In Inventor I focused on learning work flow features such as iLogic, and making use of parameters to modularize assemblies. For instance with the battery modules I used tables and parameters to quickly mock up different configurations. I also used iLogic to create a rule for part files to read in data from an excel file to define the parts physical properties like weight, density, and appearance colors. I also made use of customizations to the right click menus in different environments to be more efficient and similar to how I would operate when using SolidWorks.

Inventor battery model

In my attempt to complete a comprehensive search of related patents I used the USPTO public pair and patent database to find relevant and comparable patents from Mission Motorcycles, Saietta, Alta, Kawasaki, Energica, and Honda.

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Click on the images below to be taken to the corresponding patent page on the USPTO website.

Mission Motorcycles

Saietta

Alta

Kawasaki

Energica

Buckeye Current Racing(OSU)/Honda Fireblade

Other electric motorcycle designs that are not patented include Sarolea, Amarok, EMUS, Brammo/Vicotory, Motoczysz, Mugen.

Sarolea

Amarok P1

EMUS

Sarolea, Amarok, and the EMUS are derivatives of the 'fuselage' design.

Brammo/Vicotory Empulse

2011 Motoczysz

Mugen

Mission motorcycles, Energica, and Mugen all subscribe to a similar design philosophy of a vertical monolithic battery pack that is supported by an external frame with a drive unit assembly mounted contiguous to the rear face of the battery pack.

The Empulse and Saietta can be grouped as well since they orient the battery at a similar inclination. A difference between the two is that Saietta uses a monocoque and the Empulse relies on an external frame.

Ommiting part of the frame to view the assembled battery orientation

Ommiting a part of the frame to view wiring path and battery mounting surfaces

3/4 view of frame assembled complete with batteries and cooling system