इलेक्ट्रिक बाई साइकल

What's with the funny looking bike?

Oh, the recumbent? In the earliest days of this design, I envisioned a large, flat solar panel with the rider sitting in a hole in the middle. Here's a sketch of that idea. I though I would need a low, stable three-wheeled platform to carry such a large panel. I figured the panel would need to be that big because I read that a cyclist uses 100 to 200 watts of energy while pedaling and I imagined being able to cruise all day without getting tired. I have since figured out that I don't need a 200 watt panel but that I do need a battery. The panel placement and design have undergone a least a hundred changes since the start of this project. Eventually, I may build a custom bike using carbon fiber composite construction to make it lighter.
How fast can it go?

* 52 mph (84 km/h) top speed coasting downhill
* 15-30 mph (24-48 km/h) pedaling with power assist on flat ground
* 20 mph (32 km/h) batteries driving motor, flat ground, no pedaling (this is the legal limit in California)
* 8 mph (13 km/h) projected top speed on solar power alone in full sun, no batteries, no pedaling


The shading problem with silicon PV panels is that a shaded cell behaves like a resistor. In informal tests on my first bike panel, shading one half of one cell out of 36 cut the whole panel's output in half. Shading one whole cell cut power output by 80-90%. The problem can be partly mitigated by using bypass diodes. A typical 12 volt panel with 36 cells may have 2 bypass diodes (each connected to 18 cells) so if a few cells are shaded, you still get some power but at only half the voltage. Depending on your setup (charge controller's minimum voltage, number of panels in your array, etc), this may or may not be helpful. Look for panels that are marketed as "shade tolerant" and consider using 2 or 4 smaller panels instead of 1 big one. You may also be able to minimize the power loss by orienting the panels so that your primary obstructions, such as the mast, cast shadows across columns of cells that share the same bypass diode as opposed to rows of cells spanning several bypass diodes.

Not sure if this is clear enough. It's late and I'm getting sleepy. Shoot me an email (solarblog@havran.com) and I'll try to send a less muddled explanation in a few days when I'm more rested.

Oscillating Water Column sounds cool. Maybe your project can be the subject of a future Home Power article?



Vitamix is about 10-15 amps so I think they are 1500 watts. You could never alone successfully direct power that unit. You would need a car battery, charge it for 15 minutes for every 1 minute of usage. Batteries are tricky to tell how much is stored charge and what you just put in. A large capacitor is an option but not really, just short bursts. Buy 5 (7ah) small ups back up lead acid, parallel connection to 1500 peak 2500 inverter. THICK DC WIRING

10 amp 120v=100 amp+ 12v