Underwater Motor Module For A Water Sports Device

Abstract

An underwater motor module for a water sports device is provided, which forms at least one flow channel each having at least one inlet opening and an outlet opening. The underwater motor module has a motor which is in the form of an internal rotor motor and comprises a hollow rotor, which concomitantly forms the flow channel by way of its inner side. On the outer side of the motor directed away from the flow channel is mounted outside the flow channel, and which bears blades. The motor also comprises an external stator arranged in a housing.

Claims

1. An underwater motor module for a water sports device, the underwater motor module comprising: at least one flow channel, each of said at least one flow channel having at least one inlet opening and an outlet opening; a motor, which is an internal rotor motor, the motor including: a hollow rotor which concomitantly forms the flow channel by way of an inner side of the hollow rotor, and which on an outer side directed away from the flow channel is mounted outside the flow channel, blades bourn by the inner side and an external stator arranged in a housing.

2. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotor has permanent magnets which are arranged next to one another in the circumferential direction (U) and which are retained on the rotor.

3. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stator has a plurality of coils arranged next to one another in the circumferential direction (U).

4. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 1 wherein a module portion, which has at least one guide blade and concomitantly forms the flow channel, is arranged downstream of the rotor in the flow direction, in which module portion, radially from the guide blade as viewed in the flow direction, are arranged motor electronics.

5. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 4, wherein the motor electronics have a plurality of elongate capacitors arranged next to one another in the circumferential direction (U).

6. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 1 wherein the motor electronics and the stator are arranged in the housing.

7. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 5, wherein the stator is potted in at least one of the parts of the housing.

8. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 1 wherein, at the rear in the flow direction, the housing has a widening outer portion, which forms the at least one inlet opening, which is annular or in the form of a segment of a ring.

9. The underwater motor module as claimed in claim 1, further including a front connection region for an energy storage module and/or a control unit.

10. An underwater drive comprising: an underwater motor module as claimed in claim 9; and an energy storage module.

11. The underwater drive as claimed in claim 10, wherein the energy storage module comprises a plurality of battery packs which are arranged in an energy storage module housing, which is detachably connected to the underwater motor module.

12. The underwater drive as claimed in claim 10 wherein the energy storage module has a handle.

13. The underwater drive as claimed in claim 10, wherein the control unit is designed to generate control signals for the motor.

14. The underwater drive as claimed in claim 10, wherein in addition to the flow channel, a flow cooling channel leads through the energy storage module.

15. The underwater drive as claimed in claim 10, wherein further including at least one control element, which influences the alignment of a flow of water produced during operation and which is formed by at least one alignable part of the underwater motor module and/or a nozzle element.

16. The underwater drive as claimed in claim 10, wherein the rotor has blades that can be rotated about a respective blade axis (A).

17. The underwater drive as claimed in claim 16, wherein the rotor has a multi-part form with a blade carrier in the form of an impeller ring and an adjusting ring that can be displaced relative to the blade carrier along an axis of rotation (R) and that acts on respective blade receptacles by way of respective displacing means for the purpose of pivoting the blades.

18. A water sports device comprising: an underwater drive as claimed in claim 10.

19. The water sports device as claimed in claim 18, further including: a floating body; and a hydrofoil device which is fastened to the floating body by means of a retaining device, wherein the hydrofoil device arranged on a link of the retaining device has one or more hydrofoils and via the retaining device can be transferred from a rest and/or starting position close to the floating body into an operating position below the floating body, wherein, in the operating position and during a forward movement, on account of the buoyancy brought about by the hydrofoil device the floating body can be transferred into a position spaced apart from a water surface, wherein the underwater motor module is formed at least partially as part of the hydrofoil device.

20. A method for constructing a water sports device which has a modular structure comprising a floating body module and the one or more modules of which can be connected to one another via interfaces and are connected during operation, as claimed in claim 19, the method comprising the steps of: providing user-defined inputs to a server device via a program-controlled input interface on a terminal, wherein mapping the modules are in a computer program of the server device and/or of the terminal, and wherein at least one outer contour of the floating body module of the water sports device can be freely defined by a user, providing manufacturing information in an automated manner on the basis of the outer contour, and manufacturing the floating body module in accordance with the manufacturing information for connection to a module to complete the water sports device (3).

21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein an automated check is carried out on the server device or the terminal in terms of structural properties of the water sports device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Reference is now made more particularly to the drawings, which illustrate the best presently known mode of carrying out the invention and wherein similar reference characters indicate the same parts throughout the views.

[0035] FIG. 1 shows an overview of an underwater drive according to the invention.

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the underwater drive according to FIG. 1.

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a further longitudinal section of the underwater drive according to FIG. 1.

[0038] FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal section of part of the underwater motor module according to FIG. 1.

[0039] FIG. 5 shows an exploded illustration of a first part of that part of the underwater motor module that is illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0040] FIG. 6 shows an exploded illustration of a second part of that part of the underwater motor module that is illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0041] FIG. 7 shows an exploded illustration of a third part of that part of the underwater motor module that is illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0042] FIGS. 8a to 8c show longitudinal sections of different energy storage modules of an underwater drive according to the invention.

[0043] FIG. 9 shows a side view of a water sports device according to the invention.

[0044] FIG. 10 shows a partial view of a further exemplary embodiment in a longitudinal section.

[0045] FIG. 11 shows a partial view of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 10 in cross section.

[0046] FIG. 12 shows a further partial view of the subject matter according to the invention of FIG. 11 in a longitudinal section.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] The features of the exemplary embodiments according to the invention that are explained below may also be entities of the invention individually or in combinations other than those presented or described, but always at least in combination with the features of either one of claims 1 and 18. If appropriate, parts which act functionally in the same way are provided with identical reference numerals.

[0048] FIGS. 1 to 3 show an underwater drive 64 composed of an underwater module 2 and an energy storage module 46. The underwater motor module 2 has a flow channel 6 with multiple inlet openings 8 and an outlet opening 10 (cf. FIG. 3). The underwater motor module 2 has a motor 11 which is in the form of an internal rotor motor and comprises a hollow rotor 16, which concomitantly forms the flow channel 6 by way of its inner side 12 (cf. FIG. 4). The rotor 16 bears blades 18 which protrude into the flow channel 6. During operation, the rotor 16 rotates about an axis of rotation R. On its outer side 14 directed away from the flow channel, the rotor 16 is mounted outside the flow channel 6 by way of two bearings 68. In addition, the underwater motor module 2 comprises an external stator 22 arranged in a housing 20.

[0049] As is shown in FIG. 6, the rotor 16 comprises a total of ten permanent magnets 24 arranged next to one another in the circumferential direction. These permanent magnets 24 are retained via a bearing ring 26 of the rotor 16. As is shown in FIG. 5, the stator 22 has a total of twelve coils 28 which are arranged next to one another in the circumferential direction U and have a positionally fixed arrangement in relation to the housing 20. A module portion 34, which concomitantly forms the flow channel 6 and has a plurality of guide blades 32, is arranged upstream of the rotor 16 in the flow direction 30 or downstream of the rotor in the direction of travel. Motor electronics 36 having a motor controller are arranged in the module portion 34 spaced apart radially from the guide blades 32.

[0050] The motor electronics 36 comprises a plurality of elongate and cylindrical capacitors 38 which are arranged next to one another in the circumferential direction U and the longitudinal axes of which run parallel to the axis of rotation (cf. FIG. 7). The housing 20, in which the motor electronics 36 and the stator 22 are arranged, comprises the housing parts 20.1, 20.2 and 20.3 (cf. FIG. 4). The stator 22 is potted inside the housing 20 in the same way as the motor electronics 36.

[0051] At the rear in the flow direction or at the front in the direction of travel, the housing 20 has a widening outer portion 40, which forms the multiple inlet openings 8 in the form of a segment of a ring or an annular inlet opening 8 interrupted by webs (cf. FIGS. 2 and 3, which show longitudinal sections of the same underwater drive 64 at different rotational angles). Flow arrows S illustrate the path of the water from the inlet opening out of the downstream outlet opening. Between the inlet openings 8 and offset to the front, the underwater motor module 2 has a front connection region 44 for the energy storage module 46. The energy storage module 46 comprises eight battery packs 48 which are arranged one behind another in the longitudinal direction L in an energy storage module housing 50 which is connected to the underwater motor module 2 in the connection region 44. Alternative energy storage modules 46 have four or ten battery packs 48 (cf. FIGS. 8a to 8c). Regardless of the number of battery packs 48, the energy storage module 46 has a handle 52 in the region which is at the front in the direction of travel F.

[0052] The water sports device 3 according to FIG. 9 has an underwater drive 64. In addition, the water sports device 3 has a floating body 56 in the form of a floating board and a hydrofoil device 58 with two hydrofoils 66. The hydrofoil device 58 is fastened to the floating body 56 by means of a retaining device 60. The retaining device 60 comprises two links 62, by way of which the hydrofoil devices 58 are arranged on the floating body 56 so as to be able to move indirectly. The retaining device 60 allows the hydrofoil device 58 to be transferred from a rest and/or starting position close to the floating body 56 into an operating position below the floating body 56. In the operating position and during a forward movement of the water sports device 3, on account of the buoyancy brought about by the hydrofoils 66 the floating body 56 can be transferred into a position spaced apart from the water surface. The underwater motor module 2, which is shown only schematically in FIG. 9, is formed as part of the hydrofoil device 58.

[0053] FIGS. 10 to 12 schematically show an advantageous embodiment of an underwater motor module 2 provided with an impeller 53, in which underwater motor module blades 18 can be rotated about a blade axis A—preferably by at least +/−10°—and therefore can be adjusted in their angle of attack. In this respect, the individual blades 18 are connected to one another only indirectly. For this purpose, the underwater motor module 2 has a motor 11 which is in the form of an internal rotor motor and has a stator 22 and a rotor 16. On its outer side directed away from the flow channel, the rotor 16 is mounted by way of two radial bearings 68, which in the present case are in the form of magnetic bearings, and an axial bearing 208, which in the present case is likewise in the form of a magnetic bearing. The multi-part rotor 16 has an impeller ring 210 which has rotatable blade receptacles 211. A blade 18 is arranged on each of the blade receptacles 211. The propulsion device 50 has an adjusting ring 212 arranged coaxially along an axis of rotation R in relation to the rotor 16 or to the impeller ring 210. The adjusting ring 212 is likewise hollow, concomitantly forms the flow channel and is mounted on its outer side directed away from the flow channel. The spacing between the adjusting ring 212 and the impeller ring 210 in the axial direction (axis of rotation R) can be modified in this respect. In the present case, this is achieved by an actively electromagnetically actuable adjusting means in a magnetic bearing 214 of the adjusting ring 212. The adjusting ring 212 engages with cylindrical outer portions of the blade receptacles 211 via individual adjusting pins 216. When the axial spacing between the adjusting ring 212 and the impeller ring 210 is modified via the magnetic bearing 214, the interaction of the adjusting pins 216 and the blade receptacles 211 converts this translational movement into a rotational movement of the blades 18, via which rotational movement the blades 18 can be pivoted. As a result, the angle of attack of the blades 18 can be set and likewise be defined.