EUROBIKE, 28 August 2014. Lectures on Digital Drive Systems within the LEV Components Special Exhibition. Synergy between the human engine and the bike itself. Downloads now available.
 

 
There is a truism in the bicycle world which states: ‘The most effective power transmission is a chain-drive’! But as often with a truism, reality may nonetheless be different: That the earth is not flat but round was once considered to be impossible... but today, we are able to accept it.

The lecturers for this session helped to dispel the ‘chain = highest efficiency’ truism with facts which can not be denied.

Dr. Andreas Fuchs: "If the motor is running, the electricity from the generator goes into the motor. The series hybrid is an integrated digital drive system. As it has no mechanical gear, you can have more dynamical riding. Gear range is 0 to infinite. Starting is very dynamical, if someone is not competent in changing gears, you can come very fast into the optimum human load point when starting. When it comes to efficiency, human is most important. How about weight? The sum of the weight of the drive is about the same as of a chain drive and E-Bike drive. In the future, the series hybrid will be less expensive than a normal pedelec. I think a digital bike is beatiful, because it is sort of simpel on the mechanical side with new design possibilities."

>> Download (PDF)

Prof. Sergio Matteo Savaresi, Professor in Automatic Control at Politecnico di Milano: "The Digital Drive used on modern pedelecs turns a bike - that is in fact a cold combustion engine vehicle - in what we call PLUG-IN parallel hybrid vehicle. Zehus BIKE+ all in one creates the first NON-PLUG-IN parallel hybrid muscular vehicle in the history of bicycle. The benefit of this architecture has been scientifically proven. Fatigue reduction is up to 30 - 40 % while the battery does not need to be recharged (it is NON PLUG-IN). This solution is very interesting  especially for bike-sharing initiatives, but also for regular people using the bike within cities every day. A second product which is going to get in production is the ZEHUS parallel hybrid vehicle "senza". Production start will be in 2015. The emphasis of this architecture is the synergy between the human engine and the bike itself.
In my perspective the main technology challenges will be: Human synergy with the electric powertrain, seamless human machine interface and letting pedelecs become part of what is called Internet of Things (IoT). To achieve these big challenges,  two key technologies must be developed: physical sensing (slope, torque, road, etc.) or SW-sensing and control algorithms (energy, force feedback, body parameters, vehicle dynamics). My personal view about the possibilities of pedelec development is that: 1) The technology-portfolio of pedal-assisted vehicles still has some gaps to be filled in. 2) Main technologies must be developed to fill these gaps."

>> ZEHUS (PDF)

>> e-Bikes: present and future of high-tech solutions (PDF)

For further information, please visit:

>> move.dei.polimi.it

Impressions of LEV Components Special Exhibition at EUROBIKE 2014:

>> Photo gallery (flickr)

LEV Components Special Exhibition at EUROBIKE on Facebook:

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Text and picture: ExtraEnergy Services GmbH & Co. KG
Picture: Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH

28 July 2014

Last update: 19 September 2014 2014