International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181 Vol. 2 Issue 11, November - 2013

An Innovative Design of Regenerative System for Bicycle Indian Patent Application No- 1205 / KOL / 2007 dated 30.08. 2007

Sankha Subhra Datta

Senior Section Engineer (Mechanical) N.F. Railway. Diesel Loco Shed. Siliguri Junction- 734 003. West Bengal. India

Abstract stationery gear housing (6). On the outside circumference of a freewheeling device (7), drive In a bicycle, great amount of energy is lost when gear hub is press fitted and this freewheeling braking. In this paper a new design of regenerative device is mounted on the driveshaft (8) through brake system is discussed in which threaded joint. The hollow loosely of the bicycle is captured during braking and this enclosed the (9) and freely passed through the stored energy is released either just after braking or large bore of the gear. One end of the later as desired by the rider to move the bicycle driveshaft is splined and a brake disc (10) is splined forward and thus it will be possible to eliminate the over the driveshaft. Splined brake disc hub(11) is loss of muscle energy for braking. passed through the bore of the narrowed diameter portion of stepped brake housing(12) and extended 1. Introduction up to the larger diameter portion of brake housing where brake disc operating mechanism(13), like Regenerative brake system is generally toggle lever etc are provided. A pulley(14) is implemented in electric bikes, electric and hybrid mounted on the other end of driveshaft and a set of . These all are completely electrical three compression springs(15) are compressed or regenerative brake systems in which driving motor decompressed through a wire(16) during driveshaft of the bike/ acts as generator during braking and forward or backward rotation for winding or the captured energy is redirected to the battery for unwinding of wire on the pulley. Springs are kept charging. IJERT IJERTinside of a corrugated shape common spring cage (17) as shown in Fig.2 which is secured diagonally Provision for electrical regenerative brake is by clamps with the bicycle mainframe (18) in left naturally, not possible in man powered typical side as shown in Fig.3 and supported at its bottom bicycle. Few initiatives however, taken by some on stepped lower diameter portion of gear housing other peoples to arrange the mechanical on a support block (19). The cage has a clearance regenerative brake system for bicycle but all these with mainframe pipes to keeps align the pulley are complicated and not accepted in practical field. with drive wire in the same plain. The spring actuating wire is fastened at its one end with the The proposed brake system is designed for rear driveshaft pulley and after two or three turns it wheel only. Front wheel is to be equipped with passes through the axis of the middle spring of the conventional brake as usual. Regenerative brake spring set and attached with common spring mechanism is not appropriate for front brake actuating plate (20). Set of three springs are used to application. reduce the diameter of springs to avoid obstruction during pedaling of the bicycle. A ratchet wheel (21)

is mounted on the drive shaft and a spring loaded 2. Constructional Details pawl (22) pivoted in gear housing unlatched the ratchet tooth when it is pulled by the release wire The mechanism is shown in Fig.1. A wheel gear (1) through a thumb operated release lever located in is fitted inside of stepped wheel hub (2) through tap bicycle handle. A locking slot is provided in bolts (3) and rotated with the hub. While rotates, it bicycle handle to keep the release lever in pulled drives drive gear (4) through pinion (5). All these position when desired. Gear housing and brake gears are bevel gear type. Pinion is fitted inside of housing are fitted with the chain stay pipe fork end

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(23) through axle, i.e. position of these housings is in between rear wheel forks (24) also. Stoppers (25) located at rear wheel fork legs prevent any undesirable rotation of these housings. Wheel hub is mounted over these end housings through ball bearing (26). Bore of the ratchet pinion (27) for normal is to be fitted on the stepped smaller diameter portion of wheel hub. spokes (28) are attached with the wheel hub at larger diameter portion. To provide the whole mechanism in between chain stay pipes and in between rear wheel fork legs, the distance in between the fork end of chain stay pipes and in between rear wheel fork legs will be more than conventional type. Chain stay pipes will be made L-shaped at its fork end after spring cage, adjacent to gear housing. Diameter of sprocket and pinion of chain drive are to be made larger than the sprocket and pinion of the typical bicycle. Bicycle mainframe will also to be built robust to bear the load safely during spring actuation. Fig.2: Corrugated Spring Cage with Springs in Spring Chambers

IJERTIJERT Fig.3: Spring Cage in Bicycle Mainframe

2.1. Operation

While wheel gear is rotated with wheel hub it

drives drive gear in opposite direction through Fig.1: Regenerative Brake Mechanism pinion. As drive gear assembled with drive shaft through freewheeling device so the gear freely rotated on the shaft. When brake lever is pulled, the splined brake disc hub slides over the splined portion of drive shaft and pressed against the wall of the wheel gear disc, which acts as driving plate of the brake disc. As a result, drive shaft rotated along with wheel gear and springs are compressed for winding of spring actuating wire on driveshaft pulley which resists the motion of wheel gear, i.e. motion of wheel hub. Thus, brake is applied and kinetic energy of the bicycle is stored in the springs. During this time, rotary motion of the drive shaft does not impose any effect on drive gear for freewheeling device and this gear freely rotated

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in backward direction as before until bicycle comes a cage which is conveniently secured with the to rest. After braking when brake lever is released, frame of the bicycle and supported on the housing strain energy of the springs is released to impart of the mechanism. forward motion to the bicycle because during decompression of springs, drive shaft rotated in 2. In other designs, only one compression spring is backward direction and as freewheeling device is implemented to store the energy but in that case, to jammed in this direction of drive shaft motion, so store the same amount of energy as designed to this time drive gear is rotated by the drive shaft store in the proposed brake mechanism either which in turn, impart rotary motion to wheel gear, length of the spring will be so long or the diameter i.e. to wheel hub in forward direction. of the spring will be so large that it cannot be conveniently arranged in the limited space within A ratchet mechanism is provided in the system for the bicycle frame. convenient use of stored energy. When release of stored energy immediate after release of brake 3. In the proposed mechanism, a ratchet and pawl lever is not desirable then before releasing of brake mechanism is applied in addition for which it is lever, rider should release the thumb operated possible to retain the stored energy in springs even release lever located at bicycle handle to prevent after release of brake when rider wants to keep the the rotation of drive shaft in reverse direction by bicycle in rest position after braking. Later he can locking of ratchet wheel through engaged pawl. use this stored energy when he again wants to start When again to move, rider can pull the release cycling. This necessary provision is not provided in lever to pull the spring loaded pawl to unlatch the other systems for which the rider cannot be able to ratchet tooth for releasing stored energy. If desire, release the brake lever even he does not want to this release lever can also be remained always in move just after braking and it is very inconvenient pulled position for which locking slot is provided during actual riding of the bicycle. in bicycle handle. 4. In regenerative brake arrangement described by Normally brake disc will work as like as but Michael Rescinity and others [1], a set of pulleys are when total kinetic energy of the bicycle exceeds the used in drive which is complicated, affected by design value then after compression of springs up high loss and also occupied an to the limit, frictional force in between the brake extended space. energy storage system is disk and driving plate will be less than the force implemented by Sreevalsan S Menon and others [2], required for further compression of springs and though the arrangement is simple but the brake disc will be slipped over the driving plate mechanism is able to store a part of kinetic energy during remaining part of brake application and IJERTduring braking phase and when the brake is to be proposed brake will work as like as conventionalIJERT applied fully then after flywheel rotations, the during this period. conventional brake also to be applied. Spiral spring is used in regenerative brake system invented by 3. Merits of Proposed Mechanism over Dunkley, Jason [3], Spiral spring is not at all other Designs suitable for sufficient energy storage. Weight of the spiral spring will be 14.8kg if to store the 1. The main problem associated with all the equivalent amount of energy as designed to store in existing designs is that, these are inconvenient for compression springs of the proposed brake system. actual implementation in a bicycle for the lack of compactness. In all other existing designs, a set of 4. Engineering Design pulleys or gear train is implemented to transfer the energy of wheel to the spring. So, these Design is based on 20inch. Hero Jet Master bicycle mechanisms consist of numbers of rotating parts of Hero Cycle Ltd of India. Total weight of the with high rate of transmission loss. For the same bike including rider is considered 90kg and braking reason, all these mechanisms occupied an extended distance selected 2.5mt at a speed of 12kmph by space also. Proposed mechanism is most compact the application of rear brake only. with fewer components. In this design, energy transmission is made possible without the use of Nomenclature of the bicycle: intermediate drive and unique feature of the system is that, except compression springs, the whole Self weight-18kg. mechanism is conveniently arranged in between the Load with rider-90kg. space of chain stay pipes. Springs are kept inside of Wheel diameter-65cm.

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Wheel base-108.5cm. (2.5mt braking distance at 9kmph speed), stored Height of the -84cm. energy when released to accelerate the bike, front C.G. point taken-95cm from the ground. wheel will spin freely for loss of gripping on road surface as product of dynamic load on front wheel Static Load Distribution: during acceleration and coefficient of will be less than acceleration force. Arrangement of low Static load distribution was measured by the help brake power in front wheel is not desirable because of portable weigh machine keeping both in front brake should be strong enough to stop the the same level. It has been observed that 58kg load bicycle within a short distance in case of is distributed to rear wheel and rest 32kg load emergency. distributed to front wheel i.e. nearly 65% of load is taken by rear wheel and rest 35% load is taken by 4.1. Component of Materials and front wheel. During test, 170cm tall rider of 72kg analytically derived Specifications weight was chosen to select total weight of 90kg of the bicycle. Same test was also performed with Axle Rod: other riders. Test also performed in a typical 22inch BSA bicycle but percentage of static load Material-Carbon steel, hardened and tempered. distribution in all the cases found almost same. Actually, the percentage of weight distribution on Diameter of axle-1.3cm. rear wheel will be more than 65% when the proposed brake implemented because, the Drive Shaft: mechanism will be arranged at the location of rear wheel hub of present day bicycle. Self weight of Material-Carbon steel, case hardened. the bicycle will also be increased with this brake system. Inside diameter-1.4cm. Outside diameter-2.1cm. During Checking for suitability of 2.5mt braking No. of splines-4. distance by the application of rear brake for a bike Distance in between two opposite splines-2.6cm. of 90kg weight running at the speed of 12kmph Height of spline-0.25cm. (3.33mt/sec) the following measurements are found Width of spline-0.65cm. from design calculations: Designed length of the spline-5.5cm, ultimate length of the spline is approximately 7cm as Braking force-20.34kg. splined portion of the driveshaft is extended Due to inertia, weight transferred to front wheelIJERT IJERTthrough the narrowed bore of the brake housing up during braking-17.8kg. to the larger bore. Dynamic load on front wheel during braking- 49.8kg. Brake Disc: Dynamic load on rear wheel during braking- 40.2kg. Lining material-Asbestos in rubber compound, compressed, on metal. Both brake disc and wheel In order to avoid skidding during braking phase, gear disc facing brake disc provided with friction the maximum braking force must not exceed the lining. Brake disc is be made of carbon steel and product of dynamic load and of coefficient of thickness of the plate will be 3mm. Brake disc friction in between wheel tyre and road. operating toggle lever is made of carbon steel.

Taking the lower value of coefficient of friction 0.6 Outer radius of friction lining-5.3cm. (µ ranges from 0.5-0.8 between rubber tyre and Inner radius of friction lining-4.1cm. asphalt road), product of dynamic load on rear Face width of lining-1.2cm. wheel during braking and coefficient of friction is Diameter of the brake disc hub-3.9cm. found 24.12kg, which is higher than braking force Length of the hub extended from brake disc-6.5cm. and so rear wheel will not skid during braking. Brake operating lever provided in bicycle handle is to be pulled by 11kgforce. Regenerative brake mechanism will be less complicated if implemented in front wheel for the Toggle Lever: absence of sprocket pinion for chain drive in front wheel hub. But, unless braking force is fairly low Length of the power arm of lever from pivot-10cm.

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Width of lever-1cm. e. Face width-2cm. Depth of lever-2cm. f. Exact gearing ratio-3.529:1 Freewheeling Device: Compression Springs: Type-Over running clutch type. Material- Manganese steel. Material-Forged steel hardened steel ball in recess. Corrugated shape Spring Cage is made from 2mm Diameter of balls-0.48cm. thick aluminium sheet. To avoid the wear of No. of balls-8Nos. aluminium cage due to friction, another cage made Angle between tangents to the cam contour and to from 0.5mm thick stainless steel sheet is push fitted the ball surface at the point of contact-30degree. inside of aluminium cage. Outside diameter of driving member-5.5cm. Diameter of driven member shell-6.9cm. Number of springs in spring cage-3Nos. Width of freewheeling device-1.7cm. Mean diameter of each spring coil-2.5cm. Diameter of the wire SWG-7. Bevel Gear and Pinion: Driveshaft pulley diameter-7cm. Total deflection of springs-26.83cm. Material-0.4% carbon steel hardened and tempered. Stiffness of the spring-2.34kg/cm. Spring index-5.59 Pressure angle-20 degree. Number of active turns-116.83, squared and ground Circular pitch- 0.63 ends. No. of teeth in pinion-17 Solid length of the spring-52.22cm. P.C.D of bevel pinion at the large end-3.4cm. Free length of the spring-83cm. No. of teeth in bevel gearwheel-60 Weight of each spring-1.12kg. P.C diameter of gear at large end-12cm. Pinion semi pitch cone angle-16o12/ In conventional bicycle, distance of bicycle Wheel semi pitch cone angle-73o48/ mainframe from right side and left side food pedal Face width-2cm. cranks are 5cm and 4cm respectively. The spring Pitch cone distance-6cm. cage is to be arranged in left side of the bicycle Check for Gear Wheel: frame and so left side crank gap from mainframe of Wheel semi pitch cone angle-73o48/ the bicycle with the proposed brake system will be Wheel pitch cone distance-6cm. IJERT5cm to avoid any obstruction during pedaling of IJERTthe bicycle. Information required for gear cutting and tooth proportions: Steel Wire Rope:

a. Tooth proportions at large end: Diameter of wire-3.175mm.

Addendum-2mm. Driveshaft Pulley: Clearance-0.3mm. Dedendum-2.3mm. Material-Carbon steel. Whole Depth of Tooth-4.3mm. Diameter of the pulley-7cm. b. Information for pinion: Blank diameter-37.8mm. Ratchet and Pawl Mechanism: Pinion addendum angle-1o54/ Semi face angle-18o6/ Material-Carbon steel, hardened and tempered

c. Information for wheel: Diameter of root circle of ratchet wheel-4.2cm. Addendum circle diameter of the wheel-6.3cm. Blank diameter D-12cm. Height of the high end of each tooth-1.05cm. Semi face angle-75o42/ Mean radius-2.6cm. Length of the tooth-2.4cm. d. Dedendum angle for both pinion and wheel-2o12/ Base width of the tooth-1.57cm.

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Wheel Hub and Stationary Housings:

Wheel hub and other two stationary housings are made of die cast aluminium alloy. Diameter of wheel hub at larger portion-16cm. Diameter of stepped smaller portion-6.5cm. Thickness of the hub shell-3mm. Thickness of stationery housings-3mm.

Sprocket and Ratchet Pinion:

Ratchet pinion of chain drive-1.5times of conventional bicycle pinion. Diameter of the sprocket-1.5times of conventional bicycle sprocket. Teeth dimensions of sprocket and pinion is same as conventional bicycle chain drive but number of teeth will be increased.

Rear Wheel Fork and Chain Stay Pipes:

Material-Carbon steel.

Spacing in between legs of rear wheel fork and chain stay pipes of the mainframe-19cm.

Conclusion

Prototype formation is presently required for detailed tests to promote this conceptualized innovation into actual implementation in bicycles to avoid loss of muscle energy during braking.

Reference IJERT IJERT

[1] Michel Resciniti, Adi Peshkess and Peter Leonard, Regenerative Braking System for Bicycles ME 599- 2003-02, dated- 15/12/2003.

[2] Sreevalsan S Menon, Sooraj M S, Sanjay Mohan, Rino Disney, Suneeth Sukumaran. Design and Analysis of Kinetic System in Bicycles, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology- Vol. 2, Issue 8, August 2013.

[3] Dunkley, Jason. Regenerative Braking and Driving Apparatus, United States Patent 6557877

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