ECE.10 – Pedal Charger
Team Members Heading link
- Sadik Froukh
- Tom Nguyen
- Ledio Pappa
- Manuel Patino
- Cain Vazquez
Project Description Heading link
Bicycles are becoming more and more popular as a form of transportation. In 2023, some European countries began to reward people with tax reduction when they travel by bicycle. Not only that, bicycles can be used to decrease the number of vehicles on the road for short to medium trips as they can move more freely in dense traffic.
Dime Design Engineering is in the process of developing an electric bicycle conversion kit called Pedal Charger, to allow the user to turn their pedaling into electricity and use that energy to assist with cycling uphill or from a total stop. This system is fully detachable and can be used on any bike to make it electric. Our goal is to give the cyclist a boost of speed using the motor when they start from a stopped position, because that is when the cyclist has to pedal the hardest. The conversion kit will have a DC machine that will act as a generator to collect the mechanical energy that is generated by the user’s pedaling motion, and act as a motor to spin the back wheel when the user turns the throttle to engage the assistive function. A 48V battery pack will be used to store the electricity and can also be charged externally. Users will also be able to track battery level and the state which the motor is in through a display.
Through our testing the system managed to provide enough electricity after a short biking distance to help the cycler take off from a stop position, but was unable to sustain the assistive motor for long. The display shows the battery level, the state of the motor – whether it is generating electricity or assisting – and the velocity of the bike.