Hey Guys,
I'm looking for a bit of help on a project I'm building at the moment. I've designed a Velomobile (a mix between a bike and a car) but due to its weight I need a bit of help when it comes to acceleration. This thing is seriously cool and looks like a mini Le Mons car. Made of full carbon fibre it's pedalled like a recumbent bike but due to it's light weight and aerodynamics this bad boy should be able to cruise at about 40-50km/h (around 30mph for our American friends) on just 150 watt of power, what the normal human puts out when they go for a ride on their bike.
The idea is to create a KURS system similar to what the F1 cars use to draw wasted kenetic energy from braking, store it when the vehicles stopped then release it with a simple steering wheel mounted switch.
I'm a bike mechanic by trade so I know a lot about mechanical problems and nothing about electrical. After doing some research I've come up with this plan:
When you want to slow down or stop the vehicle, apply the KURS (a paddle behind the steering wheel) and instead of using a normal disc brake, the KURS system engages and starts to slow the car (theres also a disc brake system on the other paddle so the driver has more control over braking).
The KURS would be an electric motor that is on a clutch system, when the paddle is engaged, the clutch is let out and the motor engages with the rear axle gear and starts generating power (the motor would be a reasonably strong brushless model). The motor draws the energy from the drive shaft, slowing the car and the power generated by the motor would be stored either via a battery (a really light one) or a flywheel (the power would transfer to a second motor that would spin the flywheel).
When the driver needs to accelerate, they simply hit a button on the steering wheel which reverses the cycle, the flywheel motor draws energy from the flywheel and feeds the main motor power so it spins the transmission system linked to the rear axle. The flywheel only needs to store enough power for the motor to run for 10 seconds or so which should be enough for the velomobile to accelerate away accompanied by the driver pedalling it.
The problems I have with this system are:
Best Regards,
Ben
I'm looking for a bit of help on a project I'm building at the moment. I've designed a Velomobile (a mix between a bike and a car) but due to its weight I need a bit of help when it comes to acceleration. This thing is seriously cool and looks like a mini Le Mons car. Made of full carbon fibre it's pedalled like a recumbent bike but due to it's light weight and aerodynamics this bad boy should be able to cruise at about 40-50km/h (around 30mph for our American friends) on just 150 watt of power, what the normal human puts out when they go for a ride on their bike.
The idea is to create a KURS system similar to what the F1 cars use to draw wasted kenetic energy from braking, store it when the vehicles stopped then release it with a simple steering wheel mounted switch.
I'm a bike mechanic by trade so I know a lot about mechanical problems and nothing about electrical. After doing some research I've come up with this plan:
When you want to slow down or stop the vehicle, apply the KURS (a paddle behind the steering wheel) and instead of using a normal disc brake, the KURS system engages and starts to slow the car (theres also a disc brake system on the other paddle so the driver has more control over braking).
The KURS would be an electric motor that is on a clutch system, when the paddle is engaged, the clutch is let out and the motor engages with the rear axle gear and starts generating power (the motor would be a reasonably strong brushless model). The motor draws the energy from the drive shaft, slowing the car and the power generated by the motor would be stored either via a battery (a really light one) or a flywheel (the power would transfer to a second motor that would spin the flywheel).
When the driver needs to accelerate, they simply hit a button on the steering wheel which reverses the cycle, the flywheel motor draws energy from the flywheel and feeds the main motor power so it spins the transmission system linked to the rear axle. The flywheel only needs to store enough power for the motor to run for 10 seconds or so which should be enough for the velomobile to accelerate away accompanied by the driver pedalling it.
The problems I have with this system are:
- Can an electric motor be both a generator and a motor and swap between the two?
- How would I get them to change eg. If the driver hit the KERS release button I want the clutch to engage on the rear axle but have the motor driving, not generating and slowing the car
- Flywheel vs Battery? I like the idea of a flywheel but it requires another motor generator and changing from Mechanical force to electrical all the time I'll surely loose a lot of the energy?
- AC/DC problems? Power regulator?
- Weight - this whole project banks on being light, I need an electric motor that can push 100kg (vehicle plus driver) from a standing start to a reasonably acceptable speed (20km/h?) so the lighter the system, the less powers required to push
- What would I need? I was thinking a motor capable of around 600 watts of power and an energy storage source capable of powering that motor for anywhere from 5-20 seconds?
- And finally, Is this even possible?
Best Regards,
Ben