6.+Mechanical+Aspects+of+the+Bicycles


 * MECHANICAL ASPECTS OF THE BICYCLES **

 To charge the battery attached to the bike, a dynamo similar to the ones found in hand cranked flash lights will be used. These are cheap to manufacture and easy to install on the bike, as they already have dynamos which power lights on bikes. The dynamo will be turned by the wheel of the bike, and the electricity generated will be fed to the battery for storage. The battery will then be used to power street lights in villages, these streetlights will use LED light bulbs similar to those in flash lights to maximize energy efficiency.

 Dynamo attached to a bike powering lights:  []

 Example of such a device to be scaled up: "The battery has a nominal capacity of 100mAh, which doesn't seem like much, but the LEDs probably only draw about 20mA, so on the low setting and with a fully-charged battery, it could theorhetically last about 5 hours. The charging specs indicate a max charging current of 100mA and 4.2V. It seems to me that the generator must be supplying more current than that to the battery in order for one minute of cranking to provide 30 minutes of light. Assuming the LEDs are only using 20mA and the generator is providing 100mA of charging current, that's a 5:1 ratio and so it would be more like 1 minute of cranking would provide 5 minutes of light. Something to look into... Another important thing to note on that spec sheet is the cycle life. It's rated at 500, which means an average battery can be charged and discharged 500 times before failing (or at least getting worse)." []


 * SUMMARY **

- A dynamo and a battery will be attached to each bicycle. - Dynamos will generate electricity. - Batteries will store the charge. - Batteries can then be used to power LED streetlights.