Spiral Spring..

Certainly sounds interesting...you should be able to easily control the release of stored energy in the spring through gearing to achieve the power you require. The more complicated part may be the clutch to engage the spring at the appropriate times.

Some alternatives you could look into would be a hydraulic or pneumatic accumulator. Valving may make the "clutch" issue simpler, but the equipment required could get heavy. They're performing some minor miracles with plactic-body valves these days, though. Have fun!

Can anyone make suggestions regarding clutch i can use to engage the coil,
is there any standard friction clutch available thats small enough for my purpose...

I would have to go with CSM engineer with regard to the hydraulic accumulator. No clutch required. Simply some valves to control the pump that could be on the wheel. I would think it would be much more efficient and cleaner system but would require a knowledge of hydraulics.

some clue to the viability of this idea can be found in the large number of vehicles currently made that are wound up overnight by slave labor to allow the master smooth effortless driving for the next day. Note how they build extra strong spring cases in case of accident...

Since the energy stored in a spring is less than 1% of that stored in a battery of the same weight, and the battery stores about 5-10% of the energy equivalent weight of gasoline, I think springs can be dismissed as aviable motive source.

Good point and it probably applies to hydraulic accumulators since it is really just a fancy spring.

Yes, hydraulic accumulators can be used to store and deliver high energy densities in time, much like capacitors, but they cannot store large numbers of kilowatt hours as gasoline or modern lithium or silver zinc batteries can.

Silver zinc batteries are limited by the price of silver aand the fact that they short out after 40-50 charge cycles due to dendrite growth on recharge cycles where a minor irregularity draws preferential deposition on charge, but does not preferentially erode on discharge. This leads to dendrites that grow and short the battery.

It is hard to beat good old gasoline. I sure am going to miss it when its gone! But I'll probably be gone before then.

booze will win the day. They are hard at work creating mehods to produce alcohol from waste cellulose (straw, stems,bark etc). This biomass is 100 times as large as the current food grain fermentation process, which is already driving up the prices of food for the poor as grain gets diverted for alcohol via subsidies.

Current work uses tethered enzymes on a permeable bed that are derived from wood fungus and high temperature hot spring bacteria. This is a non living system and can be used to make a far higher % alcohol before distillation to the combustable form. I think that 20 years will see this in volume use. This is capable is using the existing gasoline station systems for cars etc. Alcohol is fine for diesels as well

It will certainly enable the collection of solar energy on a tremendously larger yet low tech scale than the more direct methods such as wind and photovoltaic. And all the better if it can employ land that is otherwise inadequate for food production. Anything that competes with food production has a point of catastrophic convergence with the goal of survival at some point.

yes, newer cells are under development that might be very cheap at 20% efficiency. There are also experimentakl three layer ones that are above 40%, but costly. The 20% ones might take the market on low cost alone.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19369/

Drunk in charge of a bicycle? Hmmm...............

but would the energy from braking alone be enough to recharge the battery..

The more limiting question is would the battery accept the rate of charge generated by the braking. A better approach if only intended for recouping braking energy might be to use a super cap instead of a battery.

a motor operated as generator is well suited to capture some of the energy due to change of velocity, but only a portion. You will not be able to lock the wheels and get anything as that energy will end up as heat at the road rubber interface. Regeneratice braking with ABS controls is probably capable of getting ~50% of this energy, maybe more is some cases where extreme braking is avoided to stay away from areas of irreversability. super caps can indeed absorb surges. Can you make the motors large enough to produce max G non skid braking?? If you can do that you will also be able to burn rubber at all 4 wheels = a sporty car indeed. It might be regenerative braking will be limited by design to a slowing of the car at high efficiency and if you need to stop fast then friction based brakes will be used.

This is in fact what is now done. A light touch = regenerative and hard braking pressure on the pedal brings friction brakes into play.

No. In a perfect world, the energy from one stop will get you back up to the speed before the stop (and the losses are not too great, if the stop is not too dramatic). In an efficient hybrid, the energy lost to heat can be as little as 10% or so. But once you are back up to speed, you need energy to sustain that speed. Quite a lot of of it, if you have a long way to go.

Sorry to think Negatively-but:

• There must be a downhill.
• There should be an uphill to negotiate,
• And the Bicycle should weigh maximum 20Kg-all loaded.

Keep us posted on the success. We will all be delighted to hear of any.

MM

We are delibratly distroying the very essence of the bicycle that is human powered i don`t no why we people engage to such claims battries ,motors ,hydrallics, regenerative braking ,hybridisation, clutches , gears , cvt , etc etc . the human world is getting fatter & fatter day by day we have enough energy stored within ,lets burn it save little fuel & spare the planet be healthy.

We already discussed lots about battery oppereted vehicles ,hybrids ,alternative power etc in specific threads , the topic of discussion is adding a spring to bicycle to conserve little energy that can be innovative even though this is not efficient compared to battries , gasoline or so.but little steps can create wonders , may be metellurgical science can get some ideas.whatever it is . my point is to leave bicycle alone from other forms of additives or it may not be called as a bicycle at all.

Basically bicycle should be extreamly light as possible,well performing gears(set of 3 / 5gears not 10/12 gears) , comfortable driving (riding),adding light weight springs(if available tension to wieght ratio coil-recoil travel should be specified, coupling sprocket to spring with control within one unit) to ease uphill driving or start stop riding is good idea. if possible i will go with flywheel technique that is directly coupled mechanically not electrically one even though weight may increase considerebly

I agree that it seems impractical however your comments seem based on the assumption that all riders are created equal. If there were a means, for example, of making it easier or possible for older people to enjoy ridding longer would it be pointless then? They might not think so. Something doesn't have to have universal appeal to have value.

Thank you sir for reply

I agree all riders are not equal , older people ,physically disabled, or such cannot enjoy long rides due to stamina or un conditioned roads or so , my point is to segment the bicycle or other human powered devices differently , but there are other modes of transport we have battery operated vehicles (some are already like bicycle with adons?) gasoline powered scooters as alternatives that too are cheap to own and operate ,even though bicycle is not considered a long distance commuting medium for regular travel ,it is a medium of short travel ,excersizing , economy ,even we travel up hill but we come back again ie down hill ,we do utilise energy conserved , people spend huge sums on sofisticated excersizing machinery to burn out fats & even older people do utilise such machines , how on earth they travel so long and why

It is our will to encourage clean energy , way of energy conservation , energy recovery , and not to make complex exixtence

It will never work! You are wasting your time! What a stupid idea!

Just some encouragement!

Make it so number 1.

cr3

It would be nice if possible. I am 63 and like to bike (normal pain frame with 12 gears to the front).

What I have found lately is that whatever road I am taking seems to be climbing. and it is also climbing on the way back.

Maybe I am accumulating elevation.