8/28/2012

Empowering the comman man’s ride | kundan giri Rajiv ranjan kumar

Ratnesh Chandra srivastava Ruchika singh

PROJECT THE E-KIT

The rise and rise of e-bikes

It can no longer be disputed across the globe that electric bicycle numbers are on the rise.

Nowhere has the rise of e-bikes been more prevalent than in China where units-sold have risen

from the tens of thousands in the late 1990’s to over ten million in 2005. In the US also, electric

bikes are becoming popular for short trips to the grocery store or leisurely rides. Meanwhile, in

India, the young and moneyed call center workers lean heavily toward scooter-like e-bikes as

their vehicle of choice. The reasons for this increase are many, and vary from nation to nation.

In China, a country renowned for its push-bike culture, the shift to e-bikes has been influenced

by the following changes in urban form that have rendered trip distances too long for ordinary

bicycles and too slow by other means of transport; national and local government policies

targeting pollution; rising income levels with an increased proportion of income spent on

transport; and the improvement of e-bike battery and motor technologies. Meanwhile, in

countries like the US and Australia, rising oil prices, the adoption of a green lifestyle ethic and

the fact that e-bikes are suitable for elderly or physically impaired riders has seen numbers

increase significantly over the last two decades.

The origin of the idea… The greats of the cycling world and the gods of mechanics had already given the verdict that

“the most usable and the most successful of the bicycles would be the simplest ones.” The

necessity of improvement and the vision to add something more valuables to this segment of

bikes keeping in mind the environmental benefits which would be a sidekick of the forthcoming

cycling economy are one of the baits that lured the young minds of the current generation to

constantly improve the design and modify the various basic designs available in the market.

Looking forward to the options available, the first thing which came into our heads was to

fabricate a new foldable two-wheeler which could have been carried as backpacks (basically for

students ); the additional features could have been a wirelessly controlled, electrically

powered, i-pad docking and regeneratively chargeable multitasker. But as it appears, the idea

was a little out dated (a lot of these were available in the market), plus we also required a little

coding and programming for the operating software to run through i-pad. Then what next, we

brainstormed for thing that would be more practical while keeping in mind the third world

economy of our nation and the dearth of the common man. Conclusively the result of it

compelled us to ask a question to ourselves…

Why these e-bikes are not so popular in India?

The answer to which is obvious:

-high cost

-design complexity

-average durability

If we put an eye on the market statistics and the use of cycles in Indian market, we can easily

see that it prefers cheap, simple and rugged bicycle which can go through any terrain, could

carry many times more load than its recommended capacity and still be reliable. Gandhi Ji once

said “If you want to develop India, start from the villages” and truly so. Most of the cycling

population of India constitutes of farmers, labors, students and the forces. In fact every single

person in India would have once tasted the ride of a bicycle in his life whether it’s a king size

figure like siddharth mallya who rides the lavish Firefox Colarado or a common layman who

prefers the “Hero jet”. Since hero jet is the most popular bike of India we have decided to make

it our test specimen for the design consideration.

Abstract

The essence of whole elaborated discussion is that we will try to give the local population an

alternative to the mainstream cycles. This is to be done by designing from scratch a kit which

will basically transform the ‘hero’ into a electrified vehicle while keeping it cheap, simple and

most importantly-“the motor would be easily attachable and detachable to the standard

sprocket”. The mechanism is basically a clutching /declutching system to affix the electric

motor steadily and quickly. We are actually dealing with design parameters of making this

installation faster, sturdy and efficient.

Main components hypothesized to be designed:-

1. Annular gear type arrangement for connecting to sprocket

2. Clutch plate arrangement

3. Motor housing

4. Control wires

Goals:-

To make the cycle more usable…

The motor could be engaged and disengaged at any time by user’s will in no time.

The bike must harvest energy through braking and pedaling by choosing one of three

modes:-

i. off

ii. Motor Assist

iii. Pedal Assist (Regeneration/exercise mode)

All components, including the motor, gears, locking mechanism, should be integrated into a

hub in the back wheel or at the pedals.

The mechanism must be easily retrofittable into any standard bicycle.

The weight should be no more than a ‘heavy bike’ when fitted into a regular bike.

The cost of the kit should be viable for the general public.

The kit should not require any technical assistance at the time of installation.

The Copenhagen wheel…

The project is basically inspired by The Copenhagen Wheel – the wheel that turns ordinary

bikes, quickly and easily into electric hybrids with regeneration and real-time environmental

sensing capabilities. An innovative electric bicycle system that harnesses the power of real-time

information and crowd sourcing. The system was developed by MIT’s SENSEable City Lab for the

City of Copenhagen, with support from the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Ducati

Energia s.p.a. The Copenhagen Wheel not only represented a leap-frog technical solution for

the electric bike market – that includes the development of a regenerative braking system and

innovative motor control – but also uses real-time sensing and the powers of crowd sourcing to

improve the cycling experience; get more people riding bikes; and to aid in the design and

development of cities. The initial prototype of The Copenhagen Wheel was presented at the

Mayor’s Summit at the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen,

December 2009. It went commercial in 2010.

Drawbacks of the Copenhagen wheel:-

Adds rotating mass to the cycle which becomes very unbalancing and hard to carry in

comparison to a much larger static load.

The design is too complex and fragile mechanically.

The cost of the wheel is high.

Budget and requirements

Requirements:-

CAD software

Bicycle Gears, clutch plates, chains and sprockets

Control wires

Batteries and motor (230 KVA) on loan

Cost estimate:- 6000/- INR.

References

MIT’s paper on the Copenhagen wheel.

Hero motor corp.

Wikipedia

Outlook survey on the bicycles used in Indian market