[Closed] Bicycle Wind Turbine

is it on a conveyor belt?

there was a mini wind turbine powered light on dragons den. They didn't invest....

The wind turbine will increase the drag of you and your bike as a whole and thus more chemical energy (food) will be required to move the bike from A to B than without it, if chemical energy is classed as the only energy input.

If you live at the top of a hill, and cycle to work at the bottom, and get the train home, then gravity (potential energy) (and I guess the train fuel's chemical energy) is doing the work for you by providing the energy for the wind turbine with the trade off of reduced top downhill speed, so all good there.

I would say the inefficiency of the wind turbine, and looking like a pillock, will make the dynamo a more preferable alternative.

You could get carried away and include arguments about cross winds too...

totally inefficient, what is wrong with a wheel hub dynamo for that job?

i have one cant recall the make and you can charge phones from it etc. It does not look like it could power lights as live tbh but is good for what i bought it for. On long tours you can charge your phone and your GPS
I dont notice the resistance when removed but I assume if it was huge you would

and get the train home

ah, but that's not free energy. Your mass on the train will require additional fuel in the locomotive to lift you and your bike up the hill to restore your potential energy.

ah, but that's not free energy. Your mass on the train will require additional fuel in the locomotive to lift you and your bike up the hill to restore your potential energy.

yeah I had edited probably as you were typing. I wasn't sure if the idea was to cost the rider no loss in energy or overall. I wonder where you draw the line though, whatever makes the turbine spin (ie wind, or cyclist input) will be removing kinetic energy from the air mass, and turning it into chemical energy in the battery, so at some point you have to define when the energy becomes 'saved', and what is a 'free source'.

So, your doing say 15mph with a 15mph tailwind......ah, i forsee a problem.

I think as Junkyard says ,it's more about 'topping up' rather than replacing an energy source.

I thought about rigging something up when I did LeJog,to save taking different chargers, but never got round to it.

Am I the first person to wonder about the quality of work done at low carbon energy research institutes if they need help answering such basic questions?

http://www.fasterthanthewind.org/

just to confuse yous

If the bike is stored outside then some form of roll-up / fold away solar charger would be more use I reckon.

Bugger, there goes my IP... 😕

probably consume more carbon building the mill, than it will ever save!!

A small one has been on the market for ages:

[url= http://www.hymini.com/html/HYmini.html ]http://www.hymini.com/html/HYmini.html[/url]

Not great, but charging some batteries over a long distance might almost be worth the manufacture, cost and inefficiencies of the whole system.

takisawa - why a fold-out one?

[url= http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cateye/el020-solar-battery-hybrid-front-light-ec019836 ]http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cateye/el020-solar-battery-hybrid-front-light-ec019836[/url]

aracer - Member
Am I the first person to wonder about the quality of work done at low carbon energy research institutes if they need help answering such basic questions?

+1

A small one has been on the market for ages:

http://www.hymini.com/html/HYmini.html

probably consume more carbon building the mill, than it will ever save!!

Yes, but it's getting that energy into batteries where the problem is. Think about it, a unit of lecy is ~15p, an AA battery is ~50p,

1 unit of lecy = 1 kwh
1 AA battery = 0.003kwh

Most of that cost is the energy required to get that tiny ammount of energy to stay in the battery!

I'd have though PV cells would make more sense mounted on the bike; they could be drip charging a battery while the bike is locked up, Suplimented with a Dynamo hub you could probably have your "Free" energy source for some commuting lights...

Either that or if you have the space and budget you could setup a little charging station station like you often see for those illuminated speed signs; with a mini wind turbine and some solar cells, and just plug in your batteries when you get home each day, then at least you don't have the inefficiency of carrying both the device, it's battery and a means of charging it all the bike at once...
Less mass = less work... Right?

that is the one i have and it works pretty well it spins whatever direction the wind is as there is always resitance in front of you and air forced through it
no idea how much is done by the wall charger as i have never used that bit tbh.

So, your doing say 15mph with a 15mph tailwind......ah, i forsee a problem.

silly turbine stuff aside...

riding on a country road at the exact same speed as a tailwind and then realising you are moving in still air is one of the little pleasures of cycling..

you could setup a little charging station station like you often see for those illuminated speed signs; with a mini wind turbine and some solar cells, and just plug in your batteries when you get home each day

Or you could do something far less complicated and cheaper - solar battery charger and two sets of batteries?

Or you could do something far less complicated and cheaper - [s]solar[/s] mains powered battery charger and two sets of batteries?

that is the one i have and it works pretty well it spins whatever direction the wind is as there is always resitance in front of you and air forced through it

FTFY - I'm less than convinced that tiny renewable installations to charge small batteries is at all an efficient way to do things.

Well that was what I was sort of driving at, proven existing technologies for getting the leccy juice into a battery, I suppose it comes down to how much charge is required over what period and the performance of your charging station in "variable" UK weather conditions...

But then how efficient is mounting the charging equipment on the bike?

Jumping back to the OP, why would you mount a wind turbine on the back of your bike?
If it's mounted on the bars like the HyMini the wind would be hitting the rider anyway so surely the diference in drag wouldn't be noticeable?
I've got both the HyMini & also a Freeloader Globetrotter set. Both are great at reducing the rate at which your phone drains it's battery when using GPS allowing you to use your tech for longer.

surely the diference in drag wouldn't be noticeable?

[i]riding on a country road at the exact same speed as a tailwind and then realising you are moving in still air is one of the little pleasures of cycling..[/i]

It is but a more common experience for me seems to be doing a pretty much circular route and riding into a headwind the whole time.

probably a better use of the wind

[img] [/img]

is it on a conveyor belt?

is it on a conveyor belt?