This is the Senior Design project for Team 8 in the Mechanical Engineering program at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
The project's scope is to redesign the classic method of power generation on a bicycle, in order increase power generation and reduce stress on the rider's joints.
Team 8's final HANSCycle prototype can be seen in the figure above.
Gordon Hansen, the HANSCycle sponsor, believes his redesign of the traditional bicycle will lead to a new age of bicycling. He has redesigned the traditional bicycle in an effort to maximize efficiency and ease stress on the user’s joints. He believes that the two “dead spots” on a traditional bicycle mechanism cause joint harm and are unconducive to an efficient ascent uphill. He believes that the short crank arms on traditional bikes require more work from the bicycle rider, and has therefore patented his redesign. The new design consists of an RLT mechanism that makes bicycling more efficient and less stress-inducing to the rider.
The RLT that is used in this design incorporates crankarms that move dependent to one another. The benefit of having dependent pedals is that as one is pushed down, the other pedal will return up to your foot. Substantially more torque is created with each stroke of the pedals, due to the much longer crank arms. Below is the PRO-E exploded view of the RLT. One can see the inner bevel gears, output shaft, and outer casing.
Newly machined 1018 and 4130 Steel Crank Arms
Testing of the HANSCycle
Old output shaft (top) Newly machined 4340 300M alloy steel output shaft (bottom)
Zoomed in output shaft Hexagonal mating surface
Nick Khayata
Team Leader
Nick is from Cooper City, FL. He will graduate in April 2017 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He has been a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers for 3 years and is currently the Vice President for the 2016-2017 season.
Darren Beckford
Financial Advisor
Darren is a senior Mechanical Engineering student from Miami Fl. His main role of the group is to manage the budget, as well as follow up with the procurement forms. He will graduate in the spring of 2017 with his B.S in mechanical engineering.
Kyle Roddenberry
Lead Mechanical Engineer
Kyle is currently a Mechanical Engineering student at the Famu/FSU college of engineering. He is a Tallahassee local, who graduated from Wakulla High School. In addition to studying, Kyle works full time at Werner Hyundai as a Sales and Leasing Consultant. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, his wife Amy, and loves the outdoors.
Ali Pustelniac
Organizational Lead/WebMaster
Ali is From Pembroke Pines, FL. She is a member of Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and will graduate in spring of 2017 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
Gordon Hansen
Sponsor
Gordon (gordon.hansen@me.com) is currently studying bicycle infrastructure improvements and intergenerational neighborhood planning, following four decades of private and public sector work in urban planning and design. US Patent 8,763,481 (https://www.google.com/patents/US8763481) was issued to Gordon for a Reciprocating Lever Transmission (RLT) intended to serve as an alternative to electric assisted bicycles, and to serve as a foundation for a new class of bicycles. The RLT allows the use of long pedal crank arms intended to generate significantly increased power, potentially decrease pedaling related knee injuries, and provide rehabilitation applications. Gordon previously sponsored Team 20 in 2016, whose RLT work was judged the "Best Innovation in Design”. Gordon is pleased to sponsor the Team 08 of 2017 in their work to further improve upon the earlier RLT design work.
