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First human powered flight of a helicopter on a modified bike wins $250,000
http://rt.com/news/first-human-powered-helicopter-069/
http://www.youtube.com/embed/syJq10EQkog The world’s first human-powered helicopter by a Canadian engineer has won the Sikorsky Prize after performing a minute-long flight at an altitude of 3.3 meters – fueled only by the pilot’s pedaling of a modified bicycle. I wonder what the gear ratio on that bike was? |
That's a grade of "infinity" percent...
Metafilter had a discussion of this ride. (There's a lot of confusion in some of the comments, though. Non-cyclists don't know much about bike rider power.) The wheel seems to be just used as a flywheel to even out the power to the rotors. See the cranks at 1:14 in the video. There's 4 spools, one for each rotor. The cyclist winds up the cables (and unwinds the rotor end). So the flight is limited in time. Pretty ingenious: it's way lighter than a chain and much simpler than a loop of cable to each rotor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quoted from the team: The problem, of course, is that the human body can produce, at best, about 1 horsepower for a one-minute flight. This is about half the power that it takes to run a good hair dryer! Is it even possible to build a helicopter that can lift so much weight on so little power? It turns out that it is, but the aircraft will have to be absolutely enormous, possibly even bigger than 30 meters across. As far as the aerodynamics are concerned, it's more efficient to push very lightly on a large mass of air than to push hard on a very small mass of air. So bigger is better. But bigger means heavier, and with human-powered aircraft, weight is the biggest enemy. A viable Sikorsky Prize helicopter would have to be in the range of 100 pounds or less. For something the size of a Boeing 737, this is a pretty steep challenge! |
That's pretty awesome!
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Just to be clear this was NOT the first human powered helicopter flight; most recently, Univ. of Maryland's Gamera craft met duration and height requirements, but lacking a flight control system, was unable to remain within the flight boundaries stipulated by the Sikorsky prize, and so was not awarded.
Other human powered copters have included the Yuri 1 and Da Vinci III, and though obviously less successful, they did achieve human powered flight. I'd also point out that neither Atlas nor any of the others were 'modified bicycles,' and that it's much more accurate and appropriate to say they were powered by pedaling. |
I was glad to see the explanation for leaving the rear wheel on, which I was questioning myself - as a flywheel! I was under the impression that flywheels for storing power were forbidden by the challenge rules but I guess a bike wheel doesn't count, which is a pretty clever design. Like the rest of it, ingenious!
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I wonder what the gear ratio on that bike was? It was a capstan winding up kevlar cordage that actually turned the Rotary wings. front wheel less so not really a Bi ke, was hanging from more cordage.. |
There was a thread about this started two days ago- http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...e-has-been-won
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Originally Posted by rm -rf
(Post 15848791)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quoted from the team: A viable Sikorsky Prize helicopter would have to be in the range of 100 pounds or less. For something the size of a Boeing 737, this is a pretty steep challenge![/INDENT] |
Originally Posted by wphamilton
(Post 15849561)
I was glad to see the explanation for leaving the rear wheel on, which I was questioning myself - as a flywheel! I was under the impression that flywheels for storing power were forbidden by the challenge rules but I guess a bike wheel doesn't count, which is a pretty clever design. Like the rest of it, ingenious!
Well, the wheel didn't store any power since it was stopped when the rotors were not moving. Had there been a clutch that allowed the rider to spin up the wheel before starting the rotors, then it would have violated the rules. As I said in the other thread, the wheel is there to modulate power inputs, avoiding unnecessary strain to the cables and various drive fittings. |
Originally Posted by Jeff Wills
(Post 15850571)
Well, the wheel didn't store any power since it was stopped when the rotors were not moving. Had there been a clutch that allowed the rider to spin up the wheel before starting the rotors, then it would have violated the rules. As I said in the other thread, the wheel is there to modulate power inputs, avoiding unnecessary strain to the cables and various drive fittings.
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