MOEPED3 is ready to hit the road

MOEPED3 (MObile Experimental Physics Educational Demonstrator #3) is ready
to hit the road.

MOEPED1 was a Derbi DS 50. MOEPED 2 was and remains my Peugeot mountain bike
but the modifications have been removed. It's a great exercise bike.

MOEPED3 is a 2004 Lightning Cycle Dynamics Thunderbolt recumbent bicycle,
their base model, with a 16 inch nominal front wheel and 26 inch nominal
rear wheel. The steering is above-seat, like a chopper-style motor cycle.
Over the four years I have been working on MOEPED 2 and 3, there has never
been a formal declaration of the project's purpose; it's just sort of grown:
electric flywheel, heavy cast iron flywheel, ultracapacitor energy storage,
various lighting concepts including fluorescent, 110 VAC onboard power, the
use of the Pocket PC and GPS, the use of TOPO software by DeLorme, a Mathcad
routine taking profiles generated by TOPO and converting them to estimates
of transit time over terrain using Mathcad's fourth order solver, a Mathcad
worksheet comparing simulated bicycles equipped with electric flywheels,
conventional flywheels, and batteries, measurements in the CoCo physics lab
of the "stiffness" of a coupled motor/battery combination in watts/rpm, and
now, a constant speed electric motor driven by the road wheel powered
generator that provides incentive, of all the silly things, for the rider to
pedal while heading *downhill*!

Not far away is a seated AC generating system using a self-excited induction
motor as a generator and an ESGE dual leg kickstand combined with an
optional wooden brace to clear the rear wheel during seated pedaling. A
capacitor in parallel with one motor coil provides a reactive current path.
It's not the most efficient generator, but it's extraordinarily reliable.

What I accomplished today, what got me jumping up and down in joy, hilarity,
and excitement, was the culmination of months of persistence in the face of
a distracting move to new quarters purchased 2004-11-24 with Teri Newbery,
and four years of experimentation mostly on the Peugeot platform to see what
might be possible. Today I got the newly chamfered and polished 8 tooth
pinion cog on the Ametek 900 rpm 30 VDC 12 A servo motor lined up with the
48 tooth cog mounted on the rear disc brake hub using the Big Cheese BMX
spider I had bored out, and got the chain tensioned right, and found the
drive quiet and stable. I connected the cigarette lighter socket I'd crimped
pins to into the Molex socket I'd wired onto the motor long ago when it was
only a spare. I switched on the inverter. There was a terrible drag on the
system. I checked the polarity with the voltmeter and clip leads. Somehow, I
managed to get it wrong!

After struggling with this for a while, and wondering if I'd ruined the 140
watt inverter, which is clipped underneath the Expedition rack with a formed
bit of Lexan strip, I got the polarity right and installed the polarizing
shell. I switched on the inverter and plugged in a desk lamp with 20 watt
fluorescent bulb. I clamped the lamp to the back of the seat and spun the
pedals. It worked! Then I tried a Bicycle Lighting Systems front headlight
with a cigarette lighter plug, into the socket, right off of the generator.
That worked, too. Then I went for the real test; I plugged the AC
motor/generator with its split-phase capacitor, which is in use as a drive
train tune up aid, and will be used as a generator one day, and pedaled like
crazy in third gear, and it worked! I could feel the inverter drawing power,
energizing the motor, and losing power as the draw became too much. On road,
the momentum of the bicycle will smooth this action.

My plan for the future is to momentarily pole the AC generator, if needed,
with a pulse of DC to initiate generation. This can be done on road, or, if
the kickstand is properly braced to resist wear, while seated and
stationary. I may use high-rider spokes to the rear of the chain stays to
secure the stand, and 2-56 wingnuts to tighten the spokes. They'd run
through holes drilled through the legs, near the ground. That kind of stuff
is not easy but I've been trained for it. This generator theory with the
phasors and rotating fields, reactive current paths, residual magnetization
and switching supplies that work between 80 and 240 VAC is a little
confusing but I used to do it in high school....

Why am I doing this? 1: Because I can. 2: Because one day, we'll all be
riding bikes. 3: More Power!

Yours,

Doug Goncz
Replikon Research
Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394

And Where, might I ask, are the pictures?????

We want Pictures.

Details are for engineers

Pictures are for dilletants

Miles of Smiles,
Tom

FANTASTIC! Projects like this and what I see daily on TV (Monster
Nation, American Chopper, etc.) should be more common in my opinion. I
am not one to go along with the "pied piper" lookalike vehicle.
Congrats!

Chris Jordan
Santa Cruz, CA.

generator that provides incentive, of all the silly things, for the rider
to
pedal while heading *downhill*!

Why am I doing this? 1: Because I can. 2: Because one day, we'll all be
riding bikes. 3: More Power!


Those of us that already ride bikes want to know how much your creation
weighs, and how much power is produced (IOW, what type of hill will it climb
and for how long). BTW, REAL cyclists always pedal down hill!

Regards,

Peter

Hey, gang.

I got *out there* this morning!

I got up at 4:15 AM and had ice cold coffee left over from yesterday, my
glucosamine and other supplements and medications, a pint of Cheerios and
milk, then turned on the radio, reviewed this thread and had my regular pint
of hot coffee.

Around 5:30 some lady came by beeping the horn on her car asking for the
neighbor, Marivel.

Just before 6 I left and went over (it's only a block) to fire up the
system. I plugged in the motor first and felt _some_ turning of the pedals
as I coasted down Greenwood Drive. I couldn't read the speedo; it was too
dark.

Then I started fooling around with the desk lamp and its 20 W fluorescent
reflector bulb. I clipped it to the seat frame and it lit up first pedaling,
then coasting downhill. I said hello to Wally, out on her daily
constitutional. She lost her husband of 40 years in August a year and a half
ago. After about a half a year she would speak of him with joy in her eyes,
not sadness. That's how people deal with ****. It's actually really healthy
to reach such acceptance in only half a year. My mother is still depressed.
We lost my Dad last September, 2003. I digress....but this whole project
started when Linda died.

I'd installed a #14 cork in the derailer mount tube after drilling it on the
Unimat One. Then I glued and screwed in a broom hanger bracket I got in the
dollar section at Shopper's Warehouse to form a steering column retainer to
keep the front end from flopping around when parked. So I clipped the desk
lamp to that thing but the clamp was closed nearly all the way and it wasn't
holding well. What to do?

I tried padding it with a rain poncho in a baggie, the kind you use once and
then can never repack correctly. Too slippery. Then I figured, why not bet
the bank, and put my key case under the clamp. Just right. You use what
works.

With the clamp secured, as soon as I hit a bump, the lamp fell to be
supported against the AC motor. No problem. It lit up right away and
remained lit as I climbed the sidewalk to the end of Greenwood Drive and
descended. Closer to the ground, it might make a decent light for navigating
terrain. I figured I'd end on a high note.

I took a pic of the lamp on the bike. Then I took snaps indoors of all the
major compnents, but there was a lot of visual clutter. I'll upload them
soon and post links. In our new quarter, we'll work at keeping down the
background noise. I pulled a hanging halogen torchiere fixture out of my
trash boxes yesterday. That will help a lot. I have a lamp stand, too, which
provides better lighting than the flash on the camera. It's more
predictable.

I did not notice any impairment in coasting speed with the 20 W bulb on or
off. It seems like I could ride all night. There's a little chain
instability at the large cog. I'm considering a 10-32 shoulder screw in the
generator shaft and a derailer arm on a spring to damp it.

I do feel drag when I pedal with the wooden support under the dual leg
kickstand and the light on, but then I am pedaling by hand, not with my
legs. I haven't got the kickstand leg braces in yet. You can sit and pedal
as is, but the stand is cam-actuated, and without a brace, it wiggles and
wears very quickly. I've worn one out with less than an hour of seated
pedaling. It's on the Peugeot mountain bike now. The kickstand legs are
square and to drill them correctly they need to be chucked four jaw on a
really big lathe with the stand opened, or maybe sleeved, to make them round
so they can be drilled at the right angle to put in spokes which will not
*bend* when the wingnuts are tightened to secure the stand. It won't be
easy. The camera will help.

Please check both groups for two posts made with the AOL newsreader, which
does not cross post. I'll use Outlook Express from now on.

Yours,

Doug Goncz
Replikon Research
Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394

Hey. Nice weather. Cold and clear.

The system really pumped some power today.

I admit I was scared. Putting around 100 watts into a chain drive I built
myself and a motor mount made out of plastic pipe at speeds sufficient to
generate that much power, after the chain drop problems I have had, was a
concern. As it turned out, the bevled pinion teeth did their job for around
three miles.

I navigated Greenwood Drive in ZIP code 22044 to the sidewalk on Patrick
Henry Drive and headed out along the Long Branch on the grass next to Brook
Drive where the road is interrupted. This isn't shown on any map I have
seen. On Brook Drive, I made a left on Olin Drive, then another right onto
Brook Drive down hill, and took my feet off the pedals. The motor worked!

There's a little rise there so I pedaled up and over, then it gets steeper,
so I tried it again, and noticed that 120 VAC 1 A does put some drag on the
bike.

I crested the hill at Lebanon Drive, ran the motor again around the curve on
Brook Drive, and headed back.

The motor seems to have changed positions somehow. I can't shift into high
front gear. We'll see what that is about later.

I am considering mounting my fog light.... I still haven't tried
self-excitation mode. I need to brace the kickstand.

--Doug

DGoncz 22044-0394 wrote:

...
I am considering mounting my fog light.... I still haven't tried
self-excitation mode....

That is rumored to harm your vision!

--
Tom Sherman - Rock Island County Illinois
Tetrahedral carbon lattices are not forever.

Tried self-excitation mode today. Not *that* kind, Tom! That was Wednesday
night! And I did not go blind...

I only got 0.1 VAC output, so I went for a ride.

It was very cold and sunny. I headed out along the grassy area by the Long
Branch of Four Mile Run, took Brook Drive to Glen Carlyn Drive, Manchester
Street across Arlington Boulevard, and entered Bluemont Park the back way. I
paused to put up my hood, which I'd left down so I could hear traffic. My
fingers hurt.

A runner was in the park below. There weren't many people out. The chain
drive was quiet. The AC generator drive made more noise than the DC
generator drive. I followed the Four Mile Run Trail to the W&OD Trail over
the bridge, then took the W&OD under the bridge under Wilson Boulevard. Now,
what's that parallel trail called? Not Custis. Hm. Along Four Mile Run Drive
to Ohio Drive, then across Ohio where a driver paused for me politely, up
11th, a steep hill, to my new discovery: Potomac Street.

Potomac Street climbs away from Ohio Drive, yields to I think it is
Quintana, and then you follow Quintana or whatever downhill to 11th. It's a
loop. Brother Jeff and I have been riding Brook Drive and Olin Drive in
laps. This is, I think, a more challenging lap, and it's more accessible to
W&OD riders. In any case, it's right hand turns with no stop signs the whole
way, very rare in this urban area. I returned almost the same way.

Anyway, I need to write to someone whose email address I have lost to get
help with the AC generator, or take MET 350 at ODU, or check with Dr.
Majewski at NVCC before the 16th, the end of the term.

--Doug