The present disclosure is generally related to a tri-wheel automobile and
more particularly to a steering lock system of a tri wheel automobile.
5 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Current tri-wheel locking arrangements are very inefficient in a manner that
they can be easily cut or broken using a sudden force. This inefficiency of the
steering locks leaves the tri-wheel vehicles vulnerable to theft.
[0003] Therefore, there is a need of a more efficient mechanism to address this
10 problem in order to provide a better steering lock system for tri-wheel vehicles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] It is a feature of the present invention to provide a vehicle lock arrangement.
The arrangement includes a locking device that includes a locking pin that moves
15 into one of a plurality of holes of a swing and lock unit. Once the locking pin is within
at least one of the holes of the swing and lock unit, a lock sensing unit transmits a
locked state signal to a control unit. On receiving the locked state signal, the control
unit initiates deactivation of a traction motor of the vehicle.
20 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments of systems,
methods, and embodiments of various other aspects of the disclosure. Any person
with ordinary skills in the art will appreciate that the illustrated element boundaries
3
(e.g. boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example
of the boundaries. It may be that in some examples one element may be designed
as multiple elements or that multiple elements may be designed as one element. In
some examples, an element shown as an internal component of one element may
5 be implemented as an external component in another, and vice versa. Furthermore,
elements may not be drawn to scale. Non-limiting and non-exhaustive descriptions
are described with reference to the following drawings. The components in the
figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating
principles.
10 [0006] Fig. 1 illustrates a line diagram of a locking device 100, according to an
embodiment;
[0007] Fig. 2A-2B illustrates a locked and unlocked state of the locking device 100,
according to an embodiment;
[0008] Fig. 3 illustrates a line diagram of a steering system 300 according to an
15 embodiment of the invention.
[0009] Fig. 4 illustrates a traction motor deactivation system 400 according to an
embodiment of the invention.
[0010] Fig. 5 illustrates a method 500 according to an embodiment of the invention.
20 DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described more fully
hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals
represent like elements throughout the several figures, and in which example
4
embodiments are shown. Embodiments of the claims may, however, be embodied
in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments
set forth herein. The examples set forth herein are non-limiting examples and are
merely examples among other possible examples.
5 [0012] Some embodiments of this invention, illustrating all its features, will now be
discussed in detail. The words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,”
and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open
ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be
an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed
10 item or items.
[0013] It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the
singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly
dictates otherwise. Although any systems and methods similar or equivalent to
those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the
15 present invention, the preferred, systems and methods are now described.
[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a line diagram of a locking device100. The locking
device100 includes a swing and lock unit 102 and has multiple lock holes 104. The
swing lock unit 102 further include a couple of swing end stoppers 106 to restrict the
angle of swing of the swing and lock unit 102 to an accepted range for safety
20 reasons. The locking device100 further includes a locking pin 110 connected to a
lock pin runner 112 through a lock pin bolt 114. The lock pin runner 112 is bolted on
an angular block 120 through a fixation hole 118 with the help of a runner bolt 116.
The runner bolt 116 when fixed to the fixation hole 118 grants angular movement to
5
the lock pin runner 112. The lock pin runner 112 moves angularly about the bolt 116
with the help of an actuator (not shown in the figure) placed within an actuator
housing 128. The actuator housing includes an opening 132 through which an
actuator guide rod 134 passes in order to provide linear movement to the lock pin
5 runner 112 that is operably connected to the actuator.
[0015] The lock pin runner 112 is operably connected to a plurality of holding blocks
122, through its rear end 112A from both side ends. The rear end 112A includes at
least 2 rectangular slits 1122, one on each side. The holding blocks 122 include a
holding spring 124 mounted on a cylindrical rod with a diameter lesser than that of
10 each of the holding block 122 having a spring loaded block 126 at each of the
holding blocks 126. The lock pin runner rear end 112A is configured to enter the
actuator housing 128 through a lock slit 138. The lock pin runner 112 is held in its
position by the spring loaded blocks 126 pressing against the rectangular slits 1122
from both sides under pressure from the holding spring 124 from each side.
15 [0016] The actuator is connected to an electric motor (not shown in the figure)
through a wire 136, that enables the movement of the actuator sideways within the
actuator housing 128.
[0017] A fixed locking block placed adjacent to the angular bock 120 to act as a
supporting fixed block for the locking pin 110.
20 [0018] Fig. 2A illustrates locking mechanism of the locking device100.
[0019] A control unit communicably connected to the electric motor is configured to
send a signal wirelessly or through wired connection to the electric motor. For
locking the locking pin 110, the electric motor receives a signal from the control unit.
6
The electric motor moves the actuator to move forward within the actuator housing
128. This movement of the actuator pushes one of the spring loaded block 126 to
press one of the rectangular slits 1122, to which it is connected. The push of the
spring loaded block 126 presses the rectangular slit 1122 and the lock pin runner
5 112 rotates through an angular movement via the runner bolt 116 (not shown in this
figure, however shown and described above). This angular movement of the lock
pin runner 112 moves the locking pin 110 that is connected to the lock pin runner
112, forward onto one of the plurality of locking holes 104. This causes the locking
pin 110 to lock the swing and lock unit 102 in its place after which the swing and
10 lock unit cannot move by a considerable degree. There may be very slight
movement due to an inherent play provided between the locking pin 110 and the
locking holes 104.
[0020] During the actuators’ forward movement, one of the holding spring (proximal
to the moving spring loaded block 126, expands to move the spring loaded block
15 126 forward.
[0021] Fig. 2B illustrates unlocking mechanism of the tilting mechanism 100. The
user may signal through a physical button or a touch screen gesture to the controller
that the locking device100 needs to be unlocked. The controller sends a signal
wirelessly or through wired connection to the electric motor. The electric motor
20 moves the actuator to retract backwards within the actuator housing 128. This
movement of the actuator pulls one of the spring loaded block 126 to press one of
the rectangular slits 1122, to which it is connected. The push of the spring loaded
block 126 presses the rectangular slit 1122 and the lock pin runner 112 rotates back
7
through the angular movement via the runner bolt 116 (not shown in this figure,
however shown and described above). This angular movement of the lock pin
runner 112 moves the locking pin 110, that is connected to the lock pin runner 112,
backward and out from one of the plurality of locking holes 104. This causes the
5 locking pin 110 to unlock the swing and lock unit 102 so that the swing and lock unit
102 is free for swinging movement along a horizontal axis.
[0022] During the actuators’ backward movement, one of the holding spring (distal
to the moving spring loaded block 126, expands to move the spring loaded block
126 forward.
10 [0023] Fig. 3 illustrates the placing of the locking device 100 on a vehicle 300, that
is a tri-wheeled vehicle. The vehicle 300 is a multipart chassis vehicle. The vehicle
300 includes a front chassis part 302 and a rear chassis part 304. The rear part 404
of the vehicle 400 is connected to the front part 402 through the swing shaft 306.
[0024] Referring to Fig. 4 a line diagram illustrating a traction motor deactivation
15 system 400 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The traction motor
deactivation system 400 includes the lock sensing unit 404 connected to the locking
device 100. The lock sensing unit 404 determines if the locking device (as described
above) is in the locked state. Once it is determined that the locking unit 100 is in a
locked state the lock sensing unit 404 communicates this to the control unit 402.
20 The control unit is communicably connected to motor deactivation module 406 and
the lock sensing unit 404. The control unit 402 on final determination of the locked
state checks the ignition status of an engine of the vehicle 300. In case the engine
is also off, the control unit 402 sends a motor deactivation signal to the motor
8
deactivation module 406. The motor deactivation module 406 deactivates a traction
motor 408 by either cutting power supply temporarily till the locked state is changed
to the unlocked state. In other embodiment of the invention, the traction motor 408
may be deactivated by providing reverse polarity to the motor rotor.
5 [0025] Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart depicting a method 500 for locking safety
enhancement of a tri-wheel automobile. At step 502, the lock sensing unit 404
determines the locked state of the locking device 100. Further, at step 504, the lock
sensing unit 404, transmits a locking announcement (signal) to the control unit 402
to initiate a motor deactivation the traction motor 408. At step 506, the control unit
10 402, transmits a motor deactivation signal to the motor deactivation module 406.
Also, at step 508, the control unit 402 determines engine ignition status. In case the
engine ignition is not off, the method moves back to step 502 and no deactivation of
traction motor 408 is performed. However, in case the engine ignition is off, the
method at step 510 deactivates the traction motor 408.
15 [0026] It is to be appreciated that only the essential components of the system have
been described above. The locking arrangement may further include various other
parts like a housing and support mechanisms for various parts as described above.
As also disclosed, the locking arrangement may be placed within a single housing
or may be provided as an open arrangement in a waterproof arrangement.
20 [0027] Moreover, although the present invention and its advantages have been
described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and
alterations can be made herein without departing from the invention as defined by
the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended
9
to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture,
composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As
one will readily appreciate from the disclosure, processes, machines, manufacture,
compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be
5 developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the
same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized.
Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such
processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or
steps.

Claims
We claim:
5 1. A locking safety enhancement system for a tri-wheel automobile comprising:
A steering module, configured to control steering of the tri-wheel automobile;
A locking device, operatively connected to the steering module, configured to
connect the independent front part and the independent rear part, wherein the
locking device includes;
10 A swing and lock unit, wherein the swing and lock unit includes a
plurality of lock holes;
An unlocking actuator, wherein the unlocking actuator is configured to
move forward and backwards; and
A locking pin, wherein the locking pin is operatively connected to the
15 unlocking actuator and moves in or out of any one of the plurality of lock holes
to initiate a locked or an unlocked stated of the locking device;
A lock sensing unit, wherein the lock sensing unit is configured to identify the
locked state or the unlocked state;
A control unit, communicatively connected to the locking device and the lock
20 sensing unit; and
A motor deactivation module communicatively connected to the control unit
wherein the motor deactivation module is configured to deactivate a traction
motor of the tri-wheel automobile when the steering module is determined to
be in locked state.
11
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the locking module further comprising an
upper casing and a lower casing to house the locking unit.
3. The tri-wheel automobile of claim 1, wherein the unlocking actuator is
operatively connected to a motor configured to function based on a user input.
5 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the traction motor is deactivated by
disconnecting power to the traction motor or providing negative polarity t the
traction motor.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the lock sensing unit is a laser device, a touch
sensor, a proximity sensor, or a light sensor.
10 6. A method of locking safety enhancement of a tri-wheel automobile, method
comprising;
Determining, by a locking sensor, a locked state of a swing and lock unit of a
locking device;
Transmitting, by the locking sensor, a locking announcement to a control unit
15 communicatively coupled to the locking sensor,
Activating, by the control unit, a motor deactivation signal; and
Deactivating a traction motor, by a motor deactivation module, on receipt of
the motor deactivation signal.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the locking module further comprises:
20 An unlocking module; and
A locking pin, wherein the locking pin is operatively connected to the
unlocking module and configured to move in or out of any one of a plurality of
12
lock holes of the locking cylinder to initiate a locked or an unlocked stated of
the locking module.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the locking pin is moved in or out using a
motor.
5 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the traction motor is reactivated once the
locked state of the locking cylinder ends.
10.The method of claim 9, further comprising checking engine status before the
deactivation of the traction motor.