Automatic on, off, and recharging vehicle wheel lighting device

[0001] Not Applicable

[0002] Not Applicable

[0003] Not Applicable

[0004] The present invention relates to providing decorative lighting to vehicle wheels. Specifically, the present invention sets forth a new, useful, and practical application of wheel lighting using rechargeable batteries which are automatically recharged using the vehicles existing power supply, and lights which automatically turn on when the vehicle starts, and off when the vehicle is shut off.

[0005] Automobile makers offer, more or less, mass-produced generic vehicles because in this way they are able to make, and sell them cheaper. Of course, everyone is different and wants to be unique, so manufacturers profit off this by offering accessories to customize the vehicles to a particular customers preference. One field of these accessories is lighting, and while it is relatively easy to attach a stationary light to the vehicles stationary battery and body, it is quite difficult to attach lights on the rotating and exposed wheels of the vehicle. While several attempts have been made, they all falter in practicality and consumer desirability.

[0006] One such example is the solution provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,979 to Byrd who describes attaching insulated conductive bands to the inside of a wheel and allowing current to flow from the vehicles battery to the bands by contact with electrical brushes. This cumulator is the acting means of electrical motors and works well in that application, but on wheels it falls short for several reasons. Number one is the surface speed contact between the brushes and the bands. In an electrical motor the bands and brushes are placed as close to the centre of the spinning axis as possible to reduce the surface speed, and are also covered to prevent foreign elements from destroying the contacts. Byrd's system has none of these qualities and because the wheels are exposed to constant dirt, high temperatures, and high surface speeds, system failure is certain. Also, the inventor does not take into account the usual need for tire changes and how inconvenient and difficult it becomes with a solid brush holder that must be precisely positioned to operate. There is also the certainty of failure from short circuits caused by water mixed with salts that conduct electricity across the brushes and bands.

[0007] Other solutions described by U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,726 to Goodt and U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,839 to Lee describes lights affixed to the body of the vehicle, which shine thru the openings in the rotating wheels. Neither solution is practical, though, as dirt, brake dust, and grime soon covers the lights rendering them unfunctional. Also, because of the proximity to the heat from the brakes that the lights are exposed to, they can actually melt or catch on fire.

[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,928 to Strepak, U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,431 to Park, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,763 to King all describe another typical solution to the problem in which they convert the rotational energy of the moving vehicle wheel to the electrical energy, which powers the lights by means of a generator. These systems are all bulky and complicated mechanisms, which rely on the motion of the vehicle for light. Since the vehicle stops frequently, and the lights shut off, there is a detrimental effect to the overall desired effect.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,230 to Cummins, U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,144 to DiMaggio, U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,431 to Ellis. Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,733 to Gordon, U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,243 to Cheung, U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,913 to Deutsch, U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,164 to Chien, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,251 to Huang all describes battery powered lighting systems for wheels. A major downfall of these devices is the dying of the batteries, and while it is easy to imagine them with rechargeable batteries, the batteries would still have to be manually replaced. Many also require manual switching “on” of the devices, while others require motion sensors for activation and do not function on a stationary vehicle.

[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,238 to Terada describes a solar cell that is attached to the outside of the wheel to catch sunlight in order to recharge the batteries. Unfortunately, because solar cells produce very little energy unless they have a great surface area, this is impractical. Solar cells only work well when facing the sun or other light source. Being attached to the wheel, they are parallel to the suns rays and ineffective. Solar cells are also quite expensive and fragile which would be of great concern to a consumer considering that they are attached to the wheels, which are made durable because of the harsh conditions that they encounter.

[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,762 to Kutlucinar sums up all the problems of the battery-operated systems. Most notable is that it describes a kit, which comes with a portable re-charger to recharge one set of batteries while the user uses another set until they are dead. One must assume that the user would have to change the batteries every couple of days. Also, this system only works while the vehicle is in motion.

[0012] The present inventor understands that the common consumer desires devices that are automatic. They do not wish to switch on the wheel lights before they travel. They do not wish to switch the lights off at the end of their trips. They do not wish to perform maintenance every couple of days. In regards to a wheel lighting device, they want to get in their car and start the engine and have the lights turn on. They want to shut their cars off and have the lights switch off as well. While, because rechargeable batteries cannot be recharged infinitely, and the present invention relies on rechargeable batteries, it also needs maintenance like other devices, those devices produce a small amount of light on the magnitude of hours before servicing, while the present invention produces a large amount of light on the magnitude of years before servicing.

[0013] Another feature of the present invention is its ease of installation and universal application to all existing and future vehicles.

[0014] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wheel lighting device for vehicle wheels, which is installable by the average driver.

[0015] It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an automatically activated, deactivated, and recharging wheel lighting device for vehicle wheels.

[0016] It is also an object to provide a virtually maintenance free wheel lighting device which requires very little modification of a vehicle and is universally applicable.

[0017] It is yet further an object to provide a wheel lighting device, which accents original stock production vehicle wheels.

[0018] It is also an object to provide wheels produced with the wheel lighting device to add decorative wheel lighting, which matches custom paint jobs.

[0029] FIG. 1 is a block view of the invention which shows the stationary battery (3) of the vehicle, which is constantly being recharged by the charging system of the vehicle, electrically connected to the wheel lighting device (2) by a retractable connector (1). Basically, the invention has two forms of operation. In one form the wheel lighting device (2) is connected to the vehicles battery (3) and the wheel lighting device (2) produces no light and is being recharged. In the other form of operation the wheel lighting device (2) is disconnected from the vehicles battery (3) at the retractable connector (1) and the wheel lighting device (2) produces light to illuminate the wheel (12).

[0030] FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of the preferred embodiment of the retractable connector (1), which is operated by using the vacuum produced from the running engine of the vehicle. The retracting means can certainly be accomplished in different ways, but by using the available vacuum the device may be made especially light and, therefore, does not need an especially solid means of affixing it to the vehicle. This helps in making the entire invention easy to install as the retractable connector (1) can be glued at any number of places, which can be done by most anyone.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 3 we see a sectional cross-section of the retractable connector (1). The metal tube (4) would typically have a mounting surface as part of its form, and would be attached to a non-rotating, stationary, and convenient part of the vehicle. The spring (6) is used to produce a small pressure on the electrical connector (7) and holds it in place. When a vacuum is applied to the open end of the metal tube (4) the rubber diaphragm (5) is evacuated and outside air pressure collapses the rubber diaphragm (5) and the spring (6) inside. This accomplishes the disconnection of the vehicles battery (3) from the wheel lighting device (2). When the vacuum ceases, as when the vehicles engine is no longer running, the spring (6) expands the rubber diaphragm (5). This accomplishes reconnection of the vehicles battery (3) to the wheel lighting device (2).

[0032] FIG. 4 is an isometric view showing the conductive ring (10) attached to the insulating material (9) and is depicted so that it may be seen that the combination is extremely flexible. This combination can, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, be made as one unit. One long stretch could be manufactured and cut so that it will fit in innumerable positions, and on any wheel.

[0033] FIG. 5 shows a cross sectional view of a typical installation of the invention. On the inner side of the wheel (12) the insulating material (9) and conductive ring (10) are affixed so that the conductive ring (10) is electrically insulated from the wheel (12), which is grounded electrically to the vehicles battery (3) by the metal-to-metal contacts of the bearing, bolts, and brackets. The insulating material (9) would typically be glued onto the wheel (12) and would be placed in a convenient position so that the retractable connector (1) can be affixed to the backing plate (20) and made to make contact of the electrical connector (7) to the conductive ring (10). In the charging mode, as shown, there is no vacuum received from the vehicles engine (14) by the rubber hose (13) and, therefore, electrical current can pass thru the insulated wire (8) to the electrical connector (7), the conductive ring (10) and insulated wire (11) to the wheel lighting device (2). While there are typically holes which are part of a typical wheel (12) by which the insulated wire (11) could be passed to the wheel lighting device (2), a hole could be drilled, or a wheel could be manufactured with such a hole. Surrounding the wheel lighting device (2) would typically be a protective transparent cover (19), which would be affixed to the wheel. As the means of affixing covers to wheels are too numerous to innumerate, and not part of the present invention, I will not elaborate on the means for affixing the protective transparent cover (19), to the wheel (12).

[0034] FIG. 6A is a block diagram depicting the wheel lighting device (2) in the charging mode. The vehicles engine (14) is shown in its non-operating function and does not create a vacuum in the rubber hose (13) so that the retractable connector (1) allows a circuit to be maintained from the vehicles battery (3) via the insulated wire (8), electrical connector (7), conductive ring (10), and insulated wire (11), to the wheel lighting device (2).

[0035] In FIG. 6B the vehicles engine (14) is operating and creating a vacuum, which, via the rubber hose (13) collapses the rubber diaphragm (5) which disconnects the electrical connector (7) from the conductive ring (10) thereby isolating the vehicles battery (3) from the wheel lighting device (2). The wheel lighting device (2) is now in the “ON” mode and illuminates.

[0036] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the internal circuitry of the wheel lighting device (2). In the “ON” mode electrons flow from the negative terminal of the rechargeable battery pack (18) thru the resistor (19), which reduces the voltage, and then the electrons flow thru the forward biased light emitting diode (16), and then back to the positive terminal of the rechargeable battery pack (18). Since no electrons are being introduced to the voltage regulator (17) it does not affect the circuit, and the diode (15) is reverse biased to the current flow and does not allow current to flow across it. In the “CHARGE” mode voltage is introduce to the voltage regulator (17) which regulates the electron flow such that the light emitting diode (16) is now reverse biased to the flow and does not allow electrons to flow across it, and does not illuminate. However, the diode (15) is now forward biased to the electron flow and allows electrons to flow thru it, which recharges the rechargeable battery pack (18).

[0037] FIG. 8 is a detailed circuit diagram of the internal circuitry of the preferred embodiment of the wheel lighting device (2). The rechargeable batteries (B1), (B2), and (B3) are connected in series and, with typical Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries, have a combined voltage of between 3.6 volts to 4.5 volts when fully charged. When 12 volts from the vehicles battery (3) is put across the voltage regulator (17), which would typically be a I.C.7805 positive, a regulated current at 5 volts is initiated. As the light emitting diode (16) is now reverse biased to the electron flow, no electrons are allowed to flow across it and it does not illuminate. However, the diode (15) is now in a forward biased position to the electron flow and allows electrons to pass. The diode (15) also drops the voltage in the circuit, usually by 0.6 volts for the typical silicon diode, which leaves a regulated circuit at 4.4 volts across the rechargeable batteries (B1), (B2), and (B3). The batteries are now being recharged by the vehicles battery (3) up to the maximum voltage of 4.4 volts, at which point the electrons will stop flowing. All the time the batteries are recharging the lights stay off. Although the circuit diagram only shows one light emitting diode (16) it should be obvious to anyone skilled in the art that many more light emitting diodes (16) could be entered in parallel with the first to provide greater lighting. Similarly, it should be obvious that only the current flow from the vehicles battery (3) needs to be interrupted for the wheel lighting device (2) to go into the “ON” mode. This could be easily accomplished with a switch between the vehicles battery (3) and the retractable connector (1).

[0038] FIG. 9 is the same as FIG. 8 except for the addition of diodes (21a), (21b), (21c), (21d), (21e), and (21f). This drops the voltage at the input of the voltage regulator (17) to about 7.8 volts and is done to limit power consumption (and loss) in the voltage regulator (17).