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České vysoké učení technické v Praze Fakulta dopravní 1. listopadu 2018 Praha, Česká republika Personal Transporter Safety Luboš Nouzovskýi, Tomáš Foglii, Veronika Kostěncováiii Abstrakt: Článek na téma „Osobní přepravník a bezpečnost jeho provozu“ se zaměřuje především na experiment, kde je ověřována intuitivnost ovládání tohoto dopravního prostředku. Dále je popsán jak osobní přepravník, tak i použitá měřicí technika a její umístění. Každým rokem roste stupeň automobilizace, z toho důvodu bude třeba zavést jistá opatření, která vyřeší přehršel automobilů v ulicích měst, jako například zavedení ekologičtějšího, menšího a efektivnějšího dopravního prostředku, který by mohl být zcela bezpečně využíván v běžném provozu v městských aglomeracích. Tím je právě osobní přepravník. V tomto článku je pak rozebrán vliv věku jezdce na dynamiku jízdy tohoto dopravního prostředku. Klíčová slova: Osobní transportér, bezpečnost, akcelerometr, gyroskop, chodec, chodník, elektromobilita Abstract: The article „Personal transporter safety“ focuses on the study with an aim to evaluate the control intuitiveness and learning speed of the personal transporter. Introduced is the personal transporter, used measuring devices and its placement. Every year, a degree of automation is increasing and some steps need to be done to solve the crowd of cars in city streets, such as the introduction of a greener, smaller and more efficient means of transport that could be safely used in day-to-day operation in urban agglomerations. Solution is the personal transporter. This article analyzes the effect of the rider’s parametres and behaviour on the dynamics of driving this vehicle. Keywords: Personal transporter, safety, dynamic, measurement, electromobility 1. Introduction With every single phase of evolution of society comes a different type of energy which is used as a drive for various objects. Nowadays is the rise of electric motors. They have many advantages over the combustion engines, such as no emissions produced while driving and the drive seem more ecological, more efficient and more economical. Disadvantages of the electric cars are energy and economic demands on production and recycling of the vehicle, which cost more than the produce of common automobile. The highest concentration of automobiles is in cities, where people are often being transported for a short distance. And just for this case there would be great to have some kind of vehicle, which would be small enough to save some space. The main goal is to invent the vehicle, which would be smaller than a car, but have the same feeling of safety and comfort and would be environmentally friendly. Here comes the personal transporter, which is known for about 15 years. In 2001, December 3 was in ABC News show introduced the personal transporter, named Segway PT p133. [1] i Ing. Luboš Nouzovský, CTU in Prague, Horská 2040/3, 128 03 Praha 2, [email protected] ii Ing. Tomáš Fogl, CTU in Prague, Horská 2040/3, 128 03 Praha 2, [email protected] iii Veronika Kostěncová, CTU in Prague, Horská 2040/3, 128 03 Praha 2, [email protected] 1 České vysoké učení technické v Praze Fakulta dopravní 1. listopadu 2018 Praha, Česká republika Personal transporter (PT) works on the principle of dynamic stabilization, when electronic gyroscopes check their position and tilt for many times in every single second. If the PT finds out, that the person, who drives the PT, leaned forward, it will try to “undertake” and put back to the upright position. The same thing will happen while the person driving PT bends back. If we compare the time of reaction between the particular means of transport, the PT should have the best results. The vehicle reacts on the moves of driver´s body, there is no need to control the vehicle with some lever or pedal. PT is much more compact, and its infrastructure requirements are much smaller compared to cars. In the area, where we place one automobile there could be placed about 8 personal transporters. If there was bad weather, it would be necessary to equip the PT with a cover, which could have luggage compartment and bodywork. In a critical state when extreme braking occurs, it would be useful to introduce passive safety features. 2. Foreign Researches There are several safety studies that were made for Segway company. All studies conclude that people driving the PT are not dangerous. In 2004, Centre for Electric Vehicle Experimentation in Québec tested the Segway HT in real terms and concluded that the Segway PT is very stable and gives users a sense of control. It states that Segway PT can be considered as a replacement for cars. In the second phase of the entire test, 143 users travelled more than 9,000 km on pavements and roads in three major cities in the province of Québec. No serious injury or collision with pedestrians occurred during the whole test. [2] In 2005, Victoria Transport Policy Institute checked driving of passenger transport devices (electric scooters, power-driven wheelchairs and Segway PT) in a public area, and concluded that the pedestrians were not jeopardized. For comparison, cyclists are more dangerous than drivers of the personal transporter. [3] In 2004, U.S. Department of Transportation – Federal Highway Administration conducted an analysis of new traffic participants on pedestrian roads and their safety and the result was that Segway PT users had the best braking performance, best visibility and the fastest reaction time. Hereby Segway PT meets all the recommendations of the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO). [4] An interesting publication in 2017 of The Journal of Emergency Medicine is a study in which a systematic review of the literature was conducted to assess injuries associated with the PT. From the full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences literature PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus and CINAHL, personal transporter injury data were collected during 1990-2017. The study includes 135 patients’ information. Their average age was 48 years. The results of the study are that there are serious injuries, especially when falling off the PT. Injuries are mostly of orthopedic and neurological nature. Most prevalent are fractures of the lower limbs, hip, spine, internal bleeding and loss of consciousness. It also concludes that PT is an innovative, comfortable and environmentally friendly method of transport, but it is associated with the wide range of injuries. Many of these require hospitalization and surgery, which is very costly. [5] 2 České vysoké učení technické v Praze Fakulta dopravní 1. listopadu 2018 Praha, Česká republika 3. Description of The Personal Transporter and Installation of the Measuring Technique 3.1. Description of the personal transporter Within the Student grant competition project by CTU (number SGS16/255/OHK2/3T/16 “Two- wheeler - measurement of dynamic of motion“) was bought a new personal transporter by Airwheel company, model Airwheel S3. The personal transporter, which is described, might seem like Segway PT. It has all functions and the same principles of control like Segway PT. However, Airwheel S3 is cheaper than Segway PT. Its driving characteristics are similar with Segway PT and also the reactions to movements of the human body are immediate. Maximal speed is limited by 18 kmph. Maximum plane angle is 15 ° and the highest possible weight of person, who can drive the PT is 120 kg. Total weight of the PT is 22,4 kg. [6] If we compare Airwheel S3 with the PT by Segway, Airwheel S3 is slower, accuracy of control is worse and at higher speed the Airwheel S3 becomes uncontrollable, so person, who drives it has to jump off. The next bad attribute of the S3 model is its software, because while its battery runs out, the PT turns off and the driver might fall. Airwheel S3 is powered by one lithium battery, which has capacity 520 Wh. The battery is charged about 180 minutes and is placed from below of the foot platform. The service life of the battery is about 65 000 km. Tires have the size of 14 x 2,8 inches (35,6 x 7,1 cm) and are adapted for paved roads. Tires are constructed for pressure about 28-31 psi. For blowing the tire there is a tiny vent, which is also used in cars. The tires are strung onto aluminium discs. [6] The PT has aluminium construction, which has the plastic covers. In front of the foot platform there are two white lights and at the back of it there are two red lights. The part of the aluminium construction are also two engines, which have power about 1000 W and directly on them are mounted discs with tires. [6] Fig. 1 PT Airwheel S3 3 České vysoké učení technické v Praze Fakulta dopravní 1. listopadu 2018 Praha, Česká republika 3.2. Installation of the measuring technique In order to be able to record individual driving characteristics, it is necessary to place the measuring technique on the PT. For this purpose, there has been designed a holder which firmly holds the inertial unit in place. For the record driving characteristics was chosen the sensor of the French company SBG Systems. The inertial unit Ellipse2-N was also obtained from the SGS CTU grant (SGS16/255/OHK2/3T/16). The inertial unit integrates 4 measuring units, namely a three-axis gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnetometer and the measurement GNSS technologies. These outputs are subjected to a Kalman filter, which consists of two parts (filtration and prediction). The sensor was attached on the PT and connected to a specially designed computer where the measured values were recorded throughout the experiment. The computer was firmly placed in the handlebar bag to not hinder the person in the movement. The sensor location was selected as close as possible to the centre of gravity while occupying a horizontal position in the resting state and its X-axis was oriented in the direction of travel.