CAPSTONE PROJECT (PART I) REPORT

(Project Term August-December, 2012)

(PEDAL POWERED ELECTRICITY GENERATOR)

(Mechanical Engineering)

(MEC-491)

Submitted by

(Preetom Deb )
(Shivam Jaiswal )
(Manoj Saikia )
(Lalit Bhola)
(Gagan Rai)

Registration Number: 10906717

Registration Number:-10905593
Registration Number:- 10906756
Registration Number:- 10906370
Registration Number:-10906718

Under the Guidance of

(S. Nagaraju, Assistant Professor)

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Lovely Professional University, Phagwara
August to December, 2012

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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DECLARATION

We hereby declare that the project work entitled Pedal powered electricity generator is an
authentic record of our own work carried out as requirements of Capstone Project (Part-I) for the
award of degree of B.Tech in Mechanical engineering from Lovely Professional University,

Phagwara, under the guidance of (S.NAGARAJU), during August to December, 2012).

Name of Student 1: Preetom Deb

Registration Number: 10906717

Name of student2:-Shivam Jaiswal

Registration Number:-10905593

Name of Student 3: Manoj Saikia

Name of Student 4:-Lalit Bhola

Registration Number: 10906756

Registration Number:-10906370

Name of Student 5:- Gagan Rai

Registration Number:-10906718

SIGNATURE:Preetom Deb

Manoj Saikia

Shivam Jaiswal

Lalit Bhola

Gagan Rai

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the declaration statement made by this group of students is
correct to the Best of my knowledge and belief. The Capstone Project Proposal based
on the technology /tool learnt is fit for the submission and partial fulfilment of the
conditions for the award of B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from (Lovely

Professional University, Phagwara.)

NAME : S.NAGARAJU.
U.I.D :14688
DESIGNATION : ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Signature of Faculty Mentor

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To many individuals we are indebted good counsel and assistance in various
ways in this respect one of my sincerest thanks to MR. S. Nagaraju , Sir of
Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, for their kind cooperation and able
guidance. We owe a deep sense of ineptness of our pureness that has been
source of inspiration in every work of our life.
We deeply express our ineptness and thanks to all my faculty member and
friends for there in valuable, guidance which enable me to bring out this project
in a presentable manner.

SHIVAM JAISWAL
LALIT BHOLA
PREETOM DEB
GAGAN RAI
MANOJ SAIKIA.

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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CONTENTS CHAPTER 1
1. ABSTRACT------------------------------------------------------ 6
2. INTRODUCTION:---------------------------------------------- 7
3. LITERATURE REVIEW:-------------------------------------- 8
3.1 FIGURE 1------------------------------------------------------8
3.2 FIGURE .2-----------------------------------------------------9
3.3 FIGURE.3------------------------------------------------------10

CHAPTER 2:
1. SCOPE OF PROJECT---------------------------------------------------- 11
2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY :----------------------------------------- 11 - 13
3. METHDOLOGY----------------------------------------------------------- 1314
3.1 FIGURE 4 ------------------------------------------------------------- 14
4. COMPLETE WORK PLAN---------------------------------------------- 15 - 16
5. EXPECTED OUTCOMES ------------------------------------------------ 16

CHAPTER 3:
1. EXPERIMENTAL WORK DONE-------------------------------------- 16 - 24
1.1 FRAME (FIGURE 5.)---------------------------------------------- 17
1.2 TYRE (FIGURE 6)-------------------------------------------------- 18
1.3 PADELLE ( FIGURE 7)------------------------------------------- 18
1.4 ASSEMBLY( FRONT VIEW (FIGURE-8)---------------------- 19
1.5 ASSEMBLY( SIDE VIEW) (FIGURE-9 )----------------------- 19
1.6 STAND DESIGN---------------------------------------------------- 20
1.7 ALTERNATOR------------------------------------------------------ 21 - 22
1.8 ANYLASIS----------------------------------------------------------- 23 - 24
1.8.1 FIG -11 ANALYSIS OF MAIN FRAME---------------- 23
1.8.2 FIG -12 GRAPH PLOT ------------------------------------- 24

CHAPTER 4:
1. CONCLUSION------------------------------------------------------------ 24
2. REFERENCES ------------------------------------------------------------ 25
3. APPROVAL LETTER---------------------------------------------------- 26

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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ABSTRACT:
Our goal for this project is to design and implement a bicycle power generator for the DC
House Project. The DC House Project is an initiative to bring safe and reliable power to the
billions of people around the world without electricity. This goal will be accomplished by
designing a safe and sturdy human powered stationary bicycle that produces DC energy. The
DC power generated can be stored via batteries and used by the local population to use for
lights and other utilities that many take for granted on a daily basis.

Bicycle Power Generators are not a new idea, with many created by hobbyist for residential
use with small scale energy in mind, to charge batteries in case of a power outage or natural
disaster. We are looking to expand upon these designs and build a DC generator that will
convert human power into electrical power. The objective is to build a device that is safer and
more power efficient and to bring the cycle close to commercial level and ready to mass
production and use. If our product design were to be built and shipped to people across the
globe, it would be imperative that it meets all the safety specifications that any national
commercial product.

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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INTRODUCTION:
In todays modern society, most people just flip a switch or push a button, and everything we
depend on is readily available. Cell phones, computers, televisions, heated water, lights, and
so much more, are all the backbone of any modern societys functionality. The electricity
powering all these systems is something most people rarely think about until the power is no
longer available for use. The extensive system that allows for an instant and near constant
supply of conditioned power is referred to as the grid. This grid is usually supported by
government and/or private in developed countries; a government must have enough financial
resources to establish and support a significant investment to provide the service electricity.
With this idea in mind, it may be hard to believe that nearly 80% of all people living in third
world countries have no access to electricity. That is an estimated 1.5 Billion people with no
electricity. As the electrical grids get older in developed countries, and the cost and demand
for energy gets higher worldwide, it is likely the people who are left out are the ones in
developing and third world countries. Grids are a large expense, even for the wealthiest
countries, and the amount of transmission losses in large grid would only compound the
energy crisis. So a grid of energy for less fortunate countries is out of the question. Without
the grid to support these people, a standalone system is the only solution.

There is only one way to create a standalone system, and this is with a generator. The type of
generator to select is our main concern. The typical solution is to use a fossil fuelled
generator that produces AC or DC energy from fossil fuels. This solution is less than ideal as
fossil fuelled generators are bulky and expensive, plus the ever-rising costs of fossil fuels and
the negative impacts on the environment due to emissions.
Additionally, more regulations regarding emissions are starting to limit the burning of
harsher fuel. Clean energy technology development has increased to combat the cost of rising
fuel costs and provide an alternative to fossil fuel. This alternative is to use more sustainable
means of power generation. These means include solar, wind, water, and human powered
generators that produce clean energy. Not only would the energy be clean and sustainable,
but we have only begun to scratch the surface of the amount of energy production possible
with renewable energy.

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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LITERATURE REVIEW:
There are many models of

pedal power generations

available in the vicinity but the

commercialization and optimisation are not done in large scale.

Although the pedal power generator systems are manufactured by some companies such as
pedal power generation .com are manufacturing but its is not available in india as well as it
is costlier .
We aims at preparing a good and cheaper pedal power generator and to reach at level of
commercialization.
MODELS IN INDIA
Industrial design department of Indian Institute Of Technology ,Mumbai under the
guidance of professor V.P Bapat and his team has proposed three models of the pedal power
generation.
FIRST PROTOTYPE.

The first prototype was developed using a car alternator. A used 40 Amp car alternator was
used. The speed needed to get an output of 6 amps was over 90 rpm (at pedals). It was felt
after use for about a month that this speed was pretty high and could not be maintained. A
reclining chair was used for sitting. Therefore other design changes were considered.
Limitations were found to be the design of generator and lighting system.

Figure -1 model 1

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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SECOND PROTOTYPE:
The second prototype was developed using a reclining chair but a low rpm DC motor that
was originally developed for an electric bicycle. A 15-ampere diode was connected so that
the battery would not drive the motor when the pedalling stopped. Pedalling speed required to
achieve 6 amps output was brought down to 70 rpm. The frame was made of mild steel
angles and square channels. A 40 Amp-hour battery was used to store the electricity. Two 11watt compact fluorescent lamps were used for lighting.
This model was installed in the Narmada valley and used for a year and feedback obtained.

The reclining chair was not found to be most appropriate because it did not permit
totally free movement of the legs.

Students also found the load on legs irregular during pedalling, which in turn made
people tired quicker.

An indicator for battery state of charge was also felt necessary.

Another feedback was that if the pedalling speed was reduced further then people
could pedal longer.

Figure 2 Model 2:

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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THIRD MODEL:
A Third model was made to include all the feedback received for the second prototype. The
seat was changed to a standard bicycle seat and basic frame of a bicycle was used to
manufacture the machine. An LED bar indicator and an ampere metre were added for state of
battery and rate of charging indicator respectively. Them ratios were changed so that
pedalling speed was brought down to 40-60 rpm. Various experiments were done with
varying sizes of flywheels and finally a flywheel was attached on the generator to balance the
irregularity of pedalling force.

Figure 3: model 3

INFERENCES( from literarture review)

From this studies we came to know about the normal working and challenges that the
persons who made it the major challenges are.
Challenges_-1. A charge controller to prevent overcharging and overuse of battery needs to be added,
especially because the battery is the most expensive single part of the machine.
2. Variable speed drives would be an advantage where people of different age groups use the
machines.
3. In the long run, alternative energy storage solutions would need to be designed because
batteries are not the right solution, especially since they use toxic substances. Novel ways of
energy storage need to be thought, without losing too much energy in transformation.

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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SCOPE OF PEDAL POWERED GENERATOR

(PROBLEM STATEMENT)
India is the second most populous nation in the world. Like many other countries where
agriculture is the main activity, biomass and other non-commercial fuels constitute around
40percent of energy requirements in India. Around 85.49 percent of Indian villages are
electrified. Many will not be electrified for considerable time. Many schools in rural India are
residential schools (including primary schools). Children and staff live within the school
campus. Evening hours is the time when the students do homework and other reading
activities. Most of the schools use kerosene lamps for lighting during evening hours. This is
an inefficient way of lighting and does not provide enough light anyway. There are not many
other ways of lighting left for these schools, as generators are too expensive and difficult to
maintain. Most of the times fuel is too far away and difficult to carry over terrains, and often
there are no roads to reach the schools. These schools typically need light for about four
hours every evening and about one-two hours every mornings. The light needed is mainly for
reading. These schools have between 40 to100 children. They also have 3 or 4 staff families.
Civil society organisations often work in areas that have no electricity. They hold meetings
and programmes where electricity is needed for talks or for audio-visual equipment or for
other miscellaneous purposes.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY :This project focuses on a human powered bicycle generation. We will design a simple and
efficient bicycle stand to support a cycle which will be integrated with an alternator. Most
likely the bike will be connected to a motor that generates energy to be used directly or stored
in batteries for later use. While solar, wind, and water generated energy are also sustainable,
our human powered energy has a few unique properties related. The first is that human power
is the only truly independent form of power generation. Wind, water, and solar energy are all
at the will of nature; however, our system will always be available to produce energy if an
able body is around. This on-demand energy will always be available to provide energy for
an item in an emergency situation, if all the other generators fail to provide energy. Another
great aspect of the human powered generator is the awareness it could instil in the users, as
Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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they will be able to observe and appreciate the energy they are making for themselves. This
could help create a future of energy conscious individuals in developing countries as opposed
to the energy wasting that has been created in other developed countries.
The projects main goal is simply to charge a battery array with a produced 24VDC from the
bicycle design; however, for this project design to be considered successful, a list of
primary and secondary objectives has been determined.
Primary objectives include:

Low Production Cost

High Safety

Secondary objectives include:

High Energy Efficiency

Low Upkeep
High Product Durability

1) The first two major objectives were identified for their obvious necessities. With the
majority of people without energy being at or below the poverty line, and with minimal
expected financing and donation, it is imperative that the product design be at its absolute
minimum cost to any users. Our system will look to use more common items such as wood
for the stand, and reused motors from other products. These items will be engineered to
afford the most power output for the least amount of money.

2) Safety is another major factor, because the safety of the consumers, no matter who or
where, is always of the utmost importance. The DC House is to help improve the life of the
users, so we do not want them being injured from our product. For the aspects of safety,
nothing will be overlooked and the product will be held to standards equivalent to any
national electrical product. These include following mandates:

Conform to the National Electrical Code (NEC)

Conform to IEEE code 1547

These regulations required the obvious safety precautions. These precautions include no
exposed wires or components in order to prevent electrocution, and rated electrical equipment
to protect the system and users for electrical shorts and overloads. Once these two objectives
have been sufficiently met, the focus can be turned to the secondary objectives. A product
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with high efficiency will guarantee the maximum usefulness for the inhabitants of the DC
House. We want our bicycle generator to be able to power the most utilities for the longest
possible time. For this objective, we constructed multiple designs to verify the most efficient
setup. These various designs are explained in the design section. All designs are tested and
their results are compared in the design section as well. Tests include comparing produced
kilowatts per hour versus the bicycle wheels revolutions per minute and produced volts DC
Output versus the loaded output resistances, etc. for the various designs. The idea of low
upkeep and high durability coincided with the factor of cost. Just as it must be low cost for
the affordability of the DC House, the product must last for a long period of time, as the
inhabitants may not be able to afford the necessary equipment or labour to maintain or fix
the product if something should fail. We hope to do this by keeping the components of the
product simple and commonly available. This includes a standard, stand-alone bicycle, a
simply constructed bicycle stand, and standard electrical components for any energy
conversation. Secondary components such as DC-DC converters could add more cost and
complexity, but should be designed as purely optional.

PROJECT METHODS:This project has various different design paths to complete our product while meeting the
majority objectives. This means we will have to implement and compare our different designs
to insure the best product based on our set of objectives. These paths have changed as we
progressed through our project, and there were a few fore seen methods that we expand upon
in the design section.
The basic design for the bicycle powered generator is to have a bicycle on a fixed
stand, and then when the bicycle is pedalled, the spinning motion of the rear tire is used to
produce mechanical energy directly into a DC voltage. If an AC voltage is produced, a full
bridge rectifier will be necessary to produce the DC voltage. This DC voltage can then be
used immediately or stored via a battery array. If a constant DC voltage is required by the
user a DC-DC converter may be necessary to change the varying DC voltages produced from
the varying bike speed to a constant DC voltage for certain utilities or battery array. The first
decision is selecting a bill of materials for each design path. This will help determine the
ultimate product affordability. We must decide whether to use an alternator or dynamo to
Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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convert the bicycles mechanical energy to AC or DC, respectively. While an alternator is

easier to find and purchase with many functioning units available in scrap yards, they also
tend to be less efficient in the output of DC power compared to a dynamo. Another design
factor that must be implemented and compared is the coupling of the bicycle wheel to either
the alternator or dynamo rotor. One option is to use two contacting wheels to connect the two
components. This option is a bit simpler to implement and take very little upkeep to maintain;
however, the efficiency of the contact is relatively low due to slippage losses and frictional
losses. A more efficient yet expensive design would be to have the wheel and the
alternator/dynamo be connected via a rotary belt, similar to a car belt system. There are
bound to be various other obstacle sand design methods to be implemented as the project
progresses, and will be observed and recorded as they occur.

Figure 4 : System Chart

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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COMPLETE WORK PLAN:

Gantt chart part-1 ( work done)--

PROJECT STEPS

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

Ist IInd IIIrd IVth Ist IInd IIIrd IVth Ist IInd IIIrd IVth
Preparation & Planning
Develop Project Proposal
Approve Project Proposal
Assign Work
Collecting Relevant Data
Problem Study
Component Sketching
Calculation Of
Components Specification
ProE Designing
Cost Estimation
Writing Tentative Report

Gantt chart part- 2 continues ( work to be done

tentative).
PROJECT STEPS

DECEMBER
Ist IInd IIIrd IVth

JANUARY
Ist

FEBUARARY

IInd IIIrd IVth Ist IInd IIIrd IVth

Report presentation
Construction of cycle
frames
Alternator purchase
and tuning
Stand prepartation
Assembly work

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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PROJECT STEPS

MARCH
Ist

IInd

IIIrd

APRIL
IVth

Ist

IInd

IIIrd

IVth

Working test
Problem detection
And correction
Drawing characteristics
Of alternator
Collecting Relevant Data
Final report

EXPECTED OUTCOMES
To produce sufficient amount of energy to light up the appliances .
To draw current and rpm relationship in alternator.
And to form a system which is ergonomically feasible and comfortable.

PRELIMINARY RESEARCH/EXPERIMENTAL WORK DONE

THE CYCLE:A bicycle is designed to convert human energy into mechanical energy for transportation
purposes. The mechanical energy is then translated into electrical energy through the use of a
drive train turning a motor.
To maximize the efficiency of both conversions is essential to obtaining the maximum power
output. The first conversion is from human energy or muscle energy into mechanical energy.
The bicycle is an efficient and robust method to convert between the two types of energy.
We have designed an ergonomic design of cycle in PRO-ENGINEER SOFTWARE.

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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THE FOLLOWING ARE OUR PRELIMINARY WORKS-

Figure 5 Designing Of Cycle Frame

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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FIGURE 6TYRE OF RADIUS-54cm

FIGURE 7 PADELLE SPINDLE AND SPROCKET

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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FIGURE-8 ASSEMBLY( FRONT VIEW)

FIGURE -9 ASSEMBLY ( SIDE VIEW)

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CYCLE STAND:The second step in designing a bicycle generator is building the stand for the bicycle. A
bicycle being an important transportation device, we tried to design a stand that would not
damage the original intention of the bicycle. Our stands design could not render the bicycle
useless for traditional transportation. A permanent attachment to the stand would also void
transportation. Welding and other permanent methods were thus eliminated from design
choices. For the stand, we opted to construct it using wood, instead of buying or constructing
a stand from metal. This was an easy choice to make as wood is much back wheel cheaper
than steel in most locations around the world. The negative aspect of a wood frame is the
issues of breakability and corrosion from the user or the environment or both. These factors
can be reduced with a proper stand design and protective coatings. For the stand to be able to
handle the vertical and lateral motions of the users, a wide and solid base is necessary. The
bike to be mounted on the frame is intended to have pegs on the back wheel.

FIGURE -10 STAND DESIGN

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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ALTERNATOR
The practical option to implement for the bicycle system was to use a standard car alternator.
This seems to be the most reasonable motor for the design, as car alternators are widely
available worldwide for relatively low costs when purchased as a used part. Finding donated
alternators would also be an easier task to reduce the projects overall cost. There are some
difficulties however with an alternator as opposed to other motor options. The first issue is
the power loss due to conversion from AC to DC voltage. Most alternators automatically
convert AC to DC in the regulator of the part; however,
here is still the power loss in the alternator that will reduce the efficiency of the product and
waste some of the energy exerted by the user. Another major issue when using an alternator
occurs at the speed at which the part is operated. When a car is idling, the rpm of the motor
can be seen in the odometer. This value is usually around 600-700 rmps.

FIGURE -10 ALTERNATOR

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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The finger poles on the rotor actually bend the magnetic field of the rotor around the shaft in
order to obtain the electromagnetic induction between the rotor and stator that produce the
electrical power. This process produces a voltage across a conductor moving through a
magnetic field. Once the finger poles and shaft are removed, the coil of the rotor can be re
wound with thinner wire more times. From Faradays equation,

we find that as N (number of turns) increases, (electromagnetic force) increases

proportionally With the higher EMF, we produce more power from less rotor rotations. In
other words, with a rewrapped rotor we can produce more power with lower RPMs; however,
this will not give the alternator any more power efficiency. While more current will be
produced at lower RPMs this is because the EMF is much bigger, which in turn will give the
users another problem, the EMF-produced resistance. An EMF in a motor is not a problem
until you are the one actually supplying the rotation of the shaft. A higher EMF means the
user will experience a higher resistance in their pedalling. This inductance hump of
starting to pedal will tire the user greatly if a full field is being produced by the stator. To
resolve this issue a few different ideas were implemented to reduce the pedalling resistance in
the alternator. Formula is given by.

MOTOR R.P.M X PULLEY RATIO== ALTERNATOR R.P.M

FIGURE 10EXPECTED SYSTEM DESIGN

Dpt. of mechanical Engineering ,L.P.U.

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ANYLASIS OF MAIN FRAME

STATIC ANYLASIS
The anylasis is done in pro engineer software details are as followsSTATIC LOAD 1000 N (101.933 kg) at the point of seating .
STATIC LOAD 600 N (61.16 kg) at point of handle-

Result are

FIG -11 ANALYSIS OF MAIN FRAME---

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FIGURE -12 ANALYSIS GRAPH

These are preliminary work we had done till now.

CONCLUSION
Through research and testing, this project aimed to design and implement a first phase of
sustainable energy resources for the DC House Project. The project goal is to supply a
battery array with a maximum amount of volt DC output. This goal had to be met within the
constraints of a low production cost and high safety. The project had to offer a durable
product with relatively good efficiency. We believe we accomplished this goal.
The project results will be conclusive with the alternator as an energy provider. Alternators
are great tool when running at a high RPM, but less efficient when running at a lower RPM.
There are many other options to explore to find the most efficient way of producing
DCpower from a bicycle, but we believe modifying an alternator is the most cost effective
way to reach that goal. The bike stand and coupling between bike and motor have room for
improvement as well like to reduce torque and tension to the stand and reduce slippage
between the belt coupling. Further stress tests over a longer period of time would also be
beneficial in order to determine the actual average lifetime of our product, and if the cost of
production is worth .

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REFERENCES
1.http://www.pedalpowergenerator.com/

2.http://libarynth.org/_media/pedalpower-ppg2-3-1.pdf

3. http://www.windstreampower.com/Human_Power_Generator.php

4. http://www.calpoly.edu/~taufik/dchouse/download/GoguelyHayes.pdf.

5. http://www.appropedia.org/Rowan's_portable_pedal_power_generator

6. http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicyle-Power-for-Your-Television,-Laptop,-or-Cell-/

7. http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/human-powered/pedal-power/.

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