Design and development of drivetrain for fully faired hybrid recumbent bicycle
Siddharth GARG, Rhythm AGGARWAL, Priyanshu SINHA, Vaibhav KUMAR, Raghvendra GAUTAM
Abstract. Due to the rapid consumption of fossil fuels, the effects of climate change have become very rampant in recent years. Harvesting human and electric energy in the form of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is a cleaner and more economical solution to the problem of urban mobility. Fully faired recumbent bicycles, also called velomobiles, while retaining all the good features of bicycles (eco-friendly, small frontal area), also incorporate the beneficial features of cars (protection from weather and crashes, extra added stability). This study examines the three drivetrains possible for velomobiles (fully electric, fully human-powered, and hybrid, the latter of which incorporates both human and electric energy). It compares them on the parameters of maximum speed, acceleration, range, and driving power needed. The simulations were designed in MATLAB Simulink, and the results were verified by actual human testing performed under suitable conditions. The testing revealed that the hybrid drivetrain model is the most efficient to use and to satisfy all the desired benchmarks of ASME e-HPVC.
Keywords
Recumbent Bicycle, Velomobile, Hybrid Drivetrain, MATLAB, HEV
Published online 3/1/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Siddharth GARG, Rhythm AGGARWAL, Priyanshu SINHA, Vaibhav KUMAR, Raghvendra GAUTAM, Design and development of drivetrain for fully faired hybrid recumbent bicycle, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 49, pp 350-359, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903438-35
The article was published as article 35 of the book Mechanical Engineering for Sustainable Development
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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