Human Powered Bike

Other Unique Engineering Ideas
The Power-Assisted Bicycle is an emerging form of transportation that attemptsto merge the health and environmental benefits of a bicycle with the convenience of a motorized vehicle. According to recent amendments to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, a power-assisted bicycle may have up to 500 watts of electrical output and still be legally equivalent to a human-powered bike on the road.

1. Description

2. Why

3. How

4. Future Trends

5. Related Links

Useful Links How to guide, electric bikes

Description

In the modern age, there are more and more electrical devices which do the work that human beings once had to do physically. The bicycle stand keeps the user aerobically fit while creating power that may be used to power lights and/or other small appliances.  This device is compatible with standard plugs and includes enough outlets for all the sundry computer peripherals.It is connected to a stationary bicycle in such a way as the circular rotation of the front wheel rotates the coils of wires inside the generator. Between the poles of the magnets inside the generator. The resulting direct current (DC) is channeled to the attached power strip, into which a number of electrical appliances could be connected. A generator powered by a stationary bicycle for the purposes of generating electricity for personal electronics.

Why 

Computer workers sit for long periods of each day in front of a computer terminal and do not get the exercise they need for healthful living. Computers, at this point in time, are operated by electricity through traditional electric lines. By having the electricity supplied to the computer through physical energy created by the computer worker, the computer is powered, essentially, by the physical effort and cardiovascular exercise of the worker.

  • The bicycle may also be used to charge a battery so that the power may be used at a later.
  • The battery may then be tapped at a later time, after dark for example, when the energy is needed to power lights or appliances. 
  • It is an excellent addition to an existing battery system that may already be charged from the photovoltaic panels, 120 VAC grid power or wind power. 

The concept behind is that electricity can be created from human effort and then stored in batteries.

How 

The total energy that can be extracted from a battery is equal to its capacity in watt-hours times the number of complete charge and discharge cycles it can deliver. The mechanical energy delivered to a bike is simply this total energy multiplied by the motor efficiency.The total energy consumed by the battery pack through the recharging process is higher than the energy delivered to the motor because of various inefficiencies at each conversion stage from the utility grid to the pack. In the world of pedal-power devices, most devices fall into two categories: 

1. Electrical devices

2. Mechanical devices. 

Electrical Devices

  • Electrical devices often have limited input current tolerance and can get damaged easily. 
  • Electrical elements such as diodes and inverters are necessary to convert the current created into a current that your device can use. 
  • Configuration loses more energy in translation than a mechanical device, especially if a battery is needed between the generator that creates your energy and your device. 
  • In other words, these systems are less efficient as pedal-power devices than mechanical devices. 

Mechanical devices

  • They have to be modified, possibly to the point that it may be impossible to return it to its original condition. 
  • These devices include blenders, drills, washing machines, etc. 
  • All of the energy put into pedaling is translated directly into the action the device's motor would have performed.  

The total energy that can be extracted from a battery is equal to its capacity in watt-hours times the number of complete charge and discharge cycles it can deliver. The mechanical energy delivered to a bike is simply this total energy multiplied by the motor efficiency. The total energy consumed by the battery pack through the recharging process is higher than the energy delivered to the motor because of various inefficiencies at each conversion stage from the utility grid to the pack. Lithium-ion is the most energy efficient chemistry, due to it’s light shipping weight, low manufacturing costs, and high charging efficiency. The NiCad cells are close behind because the large number of charging cycles compensates for high manufacturing and shipping expenses. Lead acid fared the worse, requiring a full 17MJ of primary energy for each MJ of mechanical output. Most of the energy is tied to the shipping cost for these heavy cells. In spite of this, the lead acid battery still consumes over 1/3rd less energy than a human rider.

Future Trends

From a sustainability perspective, the best battery chemistry for electric bicycles is the lithium-ion cell. In the optimum scenario it can deliver nearly 1/3rd of all the energy put into manufacturing and charging to the wheels of a bike. Since lithium batteries have a high energy density, they are also desirable from a rider’s perspective because only a lightweight pack is required. Unfortunately, the current high-cost of lithium batteries generally makes them less favorable then other chemistries from an economic perspective.One of the key challenges when designing a pedal-powered device is bicycle stability. Despite the intuitive sense that electric bikes would require more resources than regular bikes, life-cycle analysis shows that they actually consume 2-4 times less primary energy than human riders eating a conventional diet. This conclusion is largely due to the considerable amount of transportation and processing energy that is associated with our western food system. 

Keywords

Pedal-power, lead acid battery, Human Powered, Banana Bike, Power-play, Pedal-A-Watt

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