December 16, 2009 at 11:21Bicycle wheel with KERS system
At an environmental conference in Copenhagen, SENSEable City Lab engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed a curious development: an “intelligent” disc for the Copenhagen Wheel , which with the help of cheap electronics turns any bike into a real mobile gadget.
Firstly, a small electric motor and a charger for it were inserted into the wheel. Unlike the primitive charger, which generates current from any rotation of the wheel, this one is activated only when braking, that is, it does not complicate the ride at all. A simple sensor measures the pressure from the chain to the fork and, accordingly, the effort of the cyclist. If the pressure is higher than usual, the turbo mode automatically turns on and the engine adds traction (for example, on a steep climb or during rapid acceleration after a traffic light). This system completely repeats the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) technology from Formula 1.
Secondly, an iPhone application is included with the wheel, which allows you to establish a direct connection with the bicycle via Bluetooth via headphones and during driving to find out speed, direction of travel, distance traveled. The program monitors the weather forecast according to your coordinates, checks traffic jams along the route and reports the appearance of friends nearby (obviously, with the same bicycles).
One of the SENSEable City Lab project managers said at the presentation that their development is in line with the general trend of introducing intellectual functionality into all familiar objects around us. Here is such a cyberpunk today.
In principle, an “intelligent” disk can be put on any wheel, because all the electronics are mounted inside the disk. Actually, it was designed specifically with this aim in mind, and MIT engineers even made a upgrade kit. The disc should go to retail within a year at a price of $ 500 to $ 1,000.
You can expect that this gadget will inspire the designer and in the sale of new bicycles that look like an iPod on wheels in appearance
via Cutting Edge
Firstly, a small electric motor and a charger for it were inserted into the wheel. Unlike the primitive charger, which generates current from any rotation of the wheel, this one is activated only when braking, that is, it does not complicate the ride at all. A simple sensor measures the pressure from the chain to the fork and, accordingly, the effort of the cyclist. If the pressure is higher than usual, the turbo mode automatically turns on and the engine adds traction (for example, on a steep climb or during rapid acceleration after a traffic light). This system completely repeats the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) technology from Formula 1.
Secondly, an iPhone application is included with the wheel, which allows you to establish a direct connection with the bicycle via Bluetooth via headphones and during driving to find out speed, direction of travel, distance traveled. The program monitors the weather forecast according to your coordinates, checks traffic jams along the route and reports the appearance of friends nearby (obviously, with the same bicycles).
One of the SENSEable City Lab project managers said at the presentation that their development is in line with the general trend of introducing intellectual functionality into all familiar objects around us. Here is such a cyberpunk today.
In principle, an “intelligent” disk can be put on any wheel, because all the electronics are mounted inside the disk. Actually, it was designed specifically with this aim in mind, and MIT engineers even made a upgrade kit. The disc should go to retail within a year at a price of $ 500 to $ 1,000.
You can expect that this gadget will inspire the designer and in the sale of new bicycles that look like an iPod on wheels in appearance
via Cutting Edge