Electropneumatic propelling system for vehicles

Claim 2

An electropneumatic propelling system for a vehicle comprising a source of compressed air, a turbine driven by air supplied under pressure from said source, a generator driven by said turbine, a storage battery adapted for storing electrical energy produced by said generator, an electric motor driven by electrical energy supplied from said storage battery, a pneumatic motor driven by air supplied under pressure from said source, valve means adapted for the control of air flow from said source to said pneumatic motor, and transmission means to which are connected both said electric motor and said pneumatic motor, and which is coupled to the driving wheels of the vehicle.

Claim 3

An electropneumatic propelling system according to claim 1, wherein said transmission means comprises an input shaft coupled to said electric motor, an output shaft coupled to the driving wheels of the vehicle, an intermediate shaft between said input shaft and said output shaft, first planet differential means at one end of said input shaft associated with said valve means and with said electric motor, and second planet differential means at one end of said output shaft to which is conveyed the rotation of said pneuMatic motor.

Claim 4

An electropneumatic propelling system according to claim 2, wherein said first planet differential means comprises a ring gear loosely mounted on said input shaft, a sun wheel fixedly mounted on said input shaft, and a plurality of planet wheels meshing with both said ring gear and said sun wheel and respectively mounted on shafts fixed to an integral disk of said intermediate shaft, said ring gear being also in mesh with a rack adapted for actuation of said valve means.

Claim 5

An electropneumatic propelling system according to claim 3, wherein said rack is coupled to one of two separable portions of a spool member of said valve means, the other portion thereof being linked to an accelerator pedal of the vehicle, and said two separable portions being interconnected by means of an elastic member.

Claim 6

An electropneumatic propelling system according to claim 2, including means for causing said pneumatic motor to rotate in the same direction as a preselected rotational direction of said electric motor, said means comprising a disk fixedly mounted on said input shaft of said transmission means, a displaceable carriage adjacent the rim of said disk, a pair of rollers fixedly mounted on said carriage with a spacing therebetween, a manually actuable control lever linked to said carriage thereby to cause either one of said rollers to be wedged in between said carriage and said disk and hence to permit said input shaft to rotate only in the preselected direction, a movable contact actuated in coordination with the movement of said control lever to close the corresponding one of contact pairs respectively inserted in circuits for forward and backward rotations of said electric motor, said circuits respectively having electrical switches the corresponding one of which is closed by a member associated with said first planet differential means upon rotation in the preselected direction of said input shaft by the power supplied by said pneumatic motor.

Claim 7

An electropneumatic propelling system according to claim 1, including pneumatic shock-absorbing installed between the vehicle body and wheels, and an accumulator connected between said source of compressed air and said valve means, said buffer means being communicated with said accumulator in order to supply pneumatic pressure produced therein to the latter.