Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol. 3, No.

1, February 2015
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Bike-Powered Electricity Generator

ŞTEFAN MOCANU1, ADRIAN UNGUREANU2, RADU VARBANESCU
1
Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science, Department of Automatic Control and Industrial
Informatics, University „Politehnica” of Bucharest, Romania
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Date Received: November 29, 2014; Date Revised: February 10, 2015

Abstract – Finding new energy sources is an important challenge of our times. A lot of research
focuses on identifying such sources that can also be exploited with relatively simple and efficient
systems. These sources can be either new materials that can be used to generate energy, or solutions
to scavenge already existing forms of energy. Part of the latter class of solutions, the system presented
in this paper converts the energy consumed by many people in gyms (or even at home, during
exercise) into electric energy. This energy exists anyway, because people want to be healthier or to
look better. Currently, this significant (in our opinion) amount of energy is actually wasted and
transformed into heat. Instead, in this study, a prototype scavenging system (dedicated to
fitness/stationary bikes) to collect and (re)use this energy is presented. Specifically, we depict the
design of a low-budget system that uses existing, discrete components and is able to scavenge some of
the energy spent by the biker. The experimental results show that the system is functional, but its
efficiency is limited by (mechanical) losses before the collection.

Keywords – bicycle, electrical brake, energy conversion, scavenged energy.

INTRODUCTION determine the amount of energy available for

Picture this: a gym with a lot of cardio devices and conversion. This energy has two components: one for
equipment, including many stationary bikes, and low work level used to rotate the wheel in a normal
people training hard to improve their physical way, and one for high work level, for more difficult
condition. This picture shows a great amount of exercises, such as virtual hill climbing. Because the
energy being consumed. All these cardio devices have first category is expected to give little benefits
different levels of difficulty that allow users to adjust (Glaskin, 2013) we focus on estimating the energy
their effort using mechanical or electro-magnetic available for collection in the high-work regime.
brakes. By increasing the brake power, more energy Data for 24 people, aged from 16 to 61 years old,
must be generated by the users and further
riding a bicycle for 17 km (10 miles) were recorded
transformed into heat - in case of mechanical brakes.
and analyzed. During data logging procedure the
In other words, it is simply wasted. What if we can
average power of a biker varied between 215W to
design a system that can play the role of an electro-
magnetic brake which would convert the physical 375W. The graph in Fig. 1 shows the maximum
energy of the user into electric energy instead of just duration of human effort for different levels of power.
dissipating it ?Define abbreviations and acronyms the From this graph one can observe that “healthy
first time they are used in the text, even after they humans” can sustain approximately 75W (0.1hp) for a
have already been defined in the abstract. full 8-hour period, while “first class athletes” can
Stationary bikes seem to be the most convenient sustain approximately 300W (0.4hp). And that is for a
devices to be transformed in electric generators due to single (stationary) bike; they are 20 times larger for a
the compatibility of the rotation movement needed for medium-sized gym with 20 bikes. We believe these
engaging the generator. Therefore the design of a numbers are promising and justify an attempt to
system that replaces bike's mechanical brakes with harvest (part of) this energy efficiently.
electric ones is aimed. First, we have to investigate
how much energy a user consumes, in order to
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A. Mechanical Block – has the role to transfer
the rotation movement of the pedals and adapt it to the
generator requirements.
B. Electric Block – has the role to convert the
energy provided by the mechanical block into electric
energy.

2.1. Mechanical block

The mechanical block was designed starting from

the following assumptions:
1. Use available components that should not
change their functionality. In other words, every part
of the mechanical block is an independent device, that
can be further replaced with better or cheaper
versions.
2. Use recycled and refurbished components.
The "age" of the components does not matter as long
Figure 1. Human effort time vs Sustained power; the as their initial functionality is not altered or damaged.
3. Use low-budget equipment. Assuming that the
maximum duration of human effort for different levels
system will be replicated for many fitness devices, its
of power (Glaskin, 2013)
cost should be as low as possible.
4. Individual components must allow fast and
Various scenarios for using the scavenged energy safe connectivity and operation
can be imagined. For example, at home or in fitness
centers, the harvested electric energy can flow into the In Fig. 2 the physical system is presented. The
local power network or can be stored locally for future mechanical block consists of:
consumption. 1. Fitness bicycle: a regular road bicycle with dr
Thinking bigger, the scavenging system can be part of = 71 cm (28 inch) wheels and equipped with front and
a generating system delivering the energy in the rear derailleurs was used for the experiments. The
regional power network. Integration of small, local front derailleur moves the chain across two chain
energy suppliers into local or regional powers systems rings having c1 = 47 and c2 = 52 teeth respectively.
is discussed in (Dumitrache et al., 2008) and other The rear derailleur moves the chain across six
authors. sprockets which have s1 = 14, s2 = 17, s3 = 20, s4 = 22,
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: s5 = 24 and s6 = 26 teeth respectively.
Section 2 presents the architecture and Section 3 2. Home trainer: supports the weight of the
presents the functionality of a system that harvests the bicycle and the user and also plays the role of a
energy spent on stationary bikes. Section 4 presents multiplicative system. The rear wheel of the bicycle
the possible integration into an energy system. Section connects to the cylinder of the trainer, which has a
5 presents experimental results and Section 6 and 7 diameter dc = 3 cm, multiplying the cylinder speed
present related work, conclusions and future plans to with a factor of 23. This multiplication is needed due
to the generator requirements. Movement (rotation) is
improve the current solution.
transferred between the wheel and the cylinder only
based on the friction between them. The home trainer
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE can be used with virtually any type of bicycle
The main goal was to develop a simple and extending the latter's functionality (from road bicycle
modular system that can be used both in gyms and at to indoor fitness bicycle) so the user will no longer
home without special mechanical or electrical skills. need two different equipments this way saving both
The basic idea is to connect a bicycle to a static money and depositing space.
system capable of transforming the rotation of the 3. Transmission module: a pulley was installed
pedals into electric energy. on the cylinder of the trainer, which is connected with
The system that converts mechanical energy into the pulley of the generator through a transmission belt.
electric energy consists of two blocks: The diameters of the pulleys are the same and the
transmission ratio is 1.

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2. The connections between the components
should be very simple.
3. Embedded regulator into alternator chassis
would be preferred since it may help save space,
reduce wiring demands and the system would be less
susceptible to mechanical damages due to error in
handling or even during regular use.
The generator (G) that meets all the above
requirements is the automotive alternator with
integrated voltage regulator. The availability on the
market, the variety of shapes, sizes and outputs have
been other advantages that have been taken into
consideration when choosing this unit for prototype
implementation. Furthermore, the working principle
Figure 2. Bike-powered electricity generator; was validated, over many years, by the automotive
scavenging system – mechanical block and electric industry, where more severe challenges (extreme
block temperatures, humidity, high revs) are met.
To temporarily store the harvested energy a group
of 12V lead – acid batteries (B) was used. In order to
2.2. Electric block deliver the stored energy into the (local or regional)
power network we also use a 300W, 12Vcc/220Vca
The electric block is presented in Figure. 3. inverter (I).
The voltmeter (V) and the ammeter (A) have a
double significance: they are used during the
experimental stage but they are replaced with
transducers for the batteries management in the final
solution.

SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY
The equation that calculates the generator pulley
speed, as a result of pedals rotation movement is:

N(t) = Nped(t) ∙ m1 ∙ m2 ∙ m3 (1)

Figure. 3. Electric block diagram with:
m1 = ci / sj; m2 = dr / dc; m3 = dpt / dg (2)
where: where:
G – generator N – generator pulley speed [RPM]
B – group of lead–acid rechargeable batteries Nped – pedals speed [RPM]
I – inverter ci – chain ring dimension [teeth]
A – ammeter sj – sprocket dimension [teeth]
V – voltmeter dr – rear wheel diameter [cm]
K – switch dc – home trainer cylinder diameter [cm]
There were three options for choosing the dpt – pulley home trainer diameter [cm]
generator: car alternator with an integrated voltage dg – pulley generator diameter [cm]
regulator, car alternator with an external voltage
regulator and a permanent magnet alternator. Table I presents the "theoretical" values of the
generator speed and the values of the output current,
The three criteria used in choosing the generator
considering the output voltage rather constant and the
were: mechanical block power much bigger than the
1. The generator output voltage should comply generator power. The output current values Ig were
with the battery charging conditions. For this reason, taken from the alternator characteristic Ig = f(N)
the output voltage should be between 14.2V and (Delco Remy, 2008).
14.8V.

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Table 1. Theoretical values of the generator speed and Ig(t) – generated current [A]
the values of the output current UD – diode rectifier voltage [V]
N(t) – generator pulley speed [RPM]
m1 m2 Nped N Ig k - constant
c1 / s6 = 46 /
2441 50 The connection of the two blocks reveals the first
26
c1 / s5 = 46 / problem we have encountered. The generator requires
2645 54 a minimum (threshold) speed (see Fig. 9). To solve
24
c1 / s4 = 46 / this problem we have introduced the switch K in the
2885 60 electric block. The switch remains in the state „open”
22
c1 / s3 = 46 / until N(t) exceeds the threshold speed of the
3174 64 generator. The period of time with K in the state
20
c1 / s2 = 46 / „open” means a small effort for the user and can
3734 71 represent a „warming up” stage.
17
c1 / s1 = 46 / Once the speed exceeds the threshold and the user
4534 76 decides to increase the difficulty of the exercise, the
14
23 60 switch is manually closed and the generator becomes
c2 / s6 = 52 /
2760 56 an electric brake (the breaking intensity depending on
26
c2 / s5 = 52 / the load connected to the generator). From this
2990 61 moment, the physical exercise intensity is directly
24
c2 / s4 = 52 / related to the generator load (the bigger the load, the
3261 65 more difficult the exercise becomes). At the same
22
c2 / s3 = 52 / time, the user should be able to choose the level of
3588 70 effort he wants to be subject to. Implementing an
20
c2 / s2 = 52 / electric brake for different levels of effort means, by
4221 74 default, choosing between different levels of load.
17
c2 / s1 = 52 / These different levels of effort (brake power) can be
5125 77 created using either more consumers (bulbs, radio,
14
laptop etc.) or some storage capacities (batteries).
The energy produced by the user while using the Because, for now, we couldn’t connect our system to a
bike is harvested and transformed into electric energy smart grid, or other local or regional power system,
using the generator described in the previous section the energy had to be consumed or stored into batteries.
The amount of harvested energy is time variable
and then stored into batteries.
This solution may sound simple and somehow depending on a lot of factors: the number of users, the
intuitive but its' implementation posed quite some time of the day, the intensity of the exercises and so
design and engineering challenges for interconnecting on. This means that the amount of energy is almost
the blocks and for actually harvesting the energy for always different (bigger or smaller) than the amount
future re-use. of energy required by the consumers. Therefore, an
In the electric block, the generator transforms the energy buffer that can be able to "moderate" between
mechanical energy, produced by the user, into electric the energy produced by the generator and the energy
energy. The equation used to model the dynamic required by the consumers must be introduced. The
parameters of the alternator (Danciu, 1999) is: batteries play the role of this buffer but they are also
mandatory for the alternator excitation (Danciu,
Ig(t) = [ω(t)∙ k ∙ Iex(t) - UG - UD ] / ZG(t) (3) 1999).
If the batteries are the only load of the generator,
with ω(t) = [2 ∙ π ∙ N(t)] / 60. the charging current (and by this the user’s effort) is
where: linearly dependent on the storage capacity and on the
UG – alternator output voltage [V] state of charge of the battery (Kiehne, 2003). Fig. 4
ω(t) – alternator pulley speed [rad/s] presents the three-stage charging profile of lead–acid
Iex(t) – excitation current [A] batteries.
ZG(t) – alternator impedance [ohm]
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2. After the users’ training, the stored energy
should be converted (from 12V to 220V with the aid
of the inverter) and injected into the power network.
Because the storing capacity of the batteries is
small and it takes a lot of time until the scavenged
energy is going to be delivered into the power
network, we decided to add a third battery (named
secondary battery) with a storage capacity at least
twice bigger than the primary batteries capacity. This
battery has to insure the interface with the network.
Figure. 5 presents the algorithm of energy transfer
during training while Figure 6 presents the energy
transfer flowchart at the end of the training.
Figure 4. Three-stage charging profile of a lead-acid
battery.

An important characteristic of the charging process is

the initial charging current of the battery. The second
problem that was encountered is the trade-off between
initial charging current and effort. At the beginning of
the process, the internal resistance of the battery has a
small value. Because of this, the charging current has
an overshoot (about 30% from the maximum current
that specifies the battery capacity) for a short period of
time (Kiehne, 2003; Pang et al, 2001). This
phenomenon and the low inertia of the mechanical
block will lead to a sudden increase in user effort in
the time interval immediately after the switch is
closed. Another drawback is represented by the
possible loss of friction between the bicycle wheel and
the metallic cylinder of the home trainer on one hand
and the pulleys and the rubber belt, on the other.
Because we have to provide a seamless transition
between levels of effort, we have to reduce the initial
charging current and to use batteries with low storage
capacities. This way, the user will feel a smoother
operational shock when activating the switch.
The harvested energy is stored, for this prototype,
in two batteries with the same capacity. Using such a
structure, it was possible to implement an electric
brake through dynamic switching. The criterion used
for transition between different levels of effort is the
battery charging current Ich.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT
The batteries of the scavenging system have
to meet the following conditions:
1. The voltage measured at the battery terminals Figure. 5. Energy transfer flowchart during training,
has to be always greater than the minimum allowed
showing how the primary (B1,B2) and secondary (B3)
value. Otherwise, excitation for the alternator will not
batteries connect.
ensure it's functionality.

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consumption ("green" bulbs, LED based bulbs or
"economic" bulbs), the harvested energy can be
enough to power up to ore even more than10 bulbs for
one hour. Since 2 bulbs are more than enough for
having a regular room (15-24 m2) illuminated, thins
means the scavenged energy is enough for about 4-5
hours.
The block diagram in Figure 7 presents a method
to connect the system into the local power network.
The switch has the role to connect the scavenging
system, so that the energy, stored in the secondary
battery, can be delivered into the lighting network.

Figure 6. Energy transfer flowchart at the end of the

training, showing how the primary (B1-B2) and
secondary (B3) batteries connect.

where:
B1,2 – primary batteries
B3 – secondary battery
U1,2,3 – primary and secondary batteries measured
voltage
Imin – charging current during the float stage (see Figure 7. Local power connection block diagram. The
Fig. 4) scavenging system is connected into the lighting
Umax – 12.6V, the voltage of the 90% charged network, in parallel with the Local Network
battery
The switch has to choose between the two sources
For the moment this algorithm is implemented using a like this:
programmable logic controller. 1. If the secondary battery voltage will be
The secondary battery works as follows: greater than a maximum threshold (Umax), the
1. The energy from the primary batteries will be scavenged energy will be delivered to the load.
delivered into the secondary battery using an active 2. If the secondary battery voltage is lower than
balancing method. a minimum threshold (Umin), the battery is going to be
2. The energy accumulated in the secondary charged with the stored energy from the primary
battery should be delivered into the network at the batteries and the energy will be delivered by the local
end of the training session. As we discussed in network. Fig. 8 presents the switching process.
Section I, there are two possible destinations: the
local power network or the regional power
network.

4.1 Using the local power network

In most countries country, the power installation in

buildings is usually split in two: lighting installation
and power socket installation. Since our system, at
least at this moment, can produce up to 150Wh, the
only eligible component is the lighting installation
(because the power needed for a fridge or a washing
Figure 8. The switching process: the secondary battery
machine is much larger). Due to latest technologies
and innovations involved in reducing lightning energy behavior depending on the switch logic state (on/off)
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4.2 Using the regional power network speed, and a heart-rate monitor chest strap to measure
the user’s heart rate during exercise.
In this case, we talk about the concept of a smart The steps of the experiment were:
grid (Hamid & Reza, 2011). In this scenario, the end - The bike's pedals are rotated with the highest
user can play to roles: consumer and producer. Every speed possible (for a biker); theoretically we have a
consumer that has the capability to produce electric value of speed N close to the maximum;
energy using solar panels, wind turbines, or other - A number of bulbs connected as load to the
modern technologies, can become a producer. The inverter terminals turn on;
electric energy produced by the scavenging system - Nped is decreased until the bulbs turn off, the
can be delivered into the power grid using special values Ig and rear wheel speed are logged and N is
equipment and safety devices to protect the grid calculated;
components in case of faults. Another very important - We increase the load and repeat the above
issue is represented by the control of electrical power steps.
Figure 9 presents the resulting experimental
systems, this problem is presented in (Dumitrache et
characteristic (the dotted line) and the alternator
al., 2008).
theoretical characteristic (Delco Remy, 2008) (the
solid line). The two characteristics should be similar,
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
meaning that similar values of the alternator pulley
The main goal of this study is to demonstrate that
speed should determine the same output current
the energy from stationary bikes is worth scavenging
values.
by showing that the energy produced is not negligible.
Therefore, we aim to determine the characteristic of
the generated energy versus the generator speed
(determined by the pedals speed) as a functional
characteristic of the system.
Due to the linear dependence of energy with Ig
(considering the voltage UG rather constant), the
generated current (Ig) can be used as a measure of the
energy produced by the system. The measuring
process consists of two indirect procedures: calculus
of the generator speed and evaluation of the produced
energy. We calculate the generator speed using
equation (1), starting from the speed of the rear wheel
measured with a bike computer.
The produced energy is evaluated using a set of
bulbs (having different powers - 8W, 15W, 25W,
40W, 75W) as the generator load. We have used an
increasing load, determining the values of speed
corresponding to each load value: we increase the
speed until p bulbs (totalizing P watts) light up, and Figure 9. Experimental vs. theoretical characteristic
we log the data point as the speed necessary to
generate P watt. In Figure 9, however, there is a big difference
During the experiments, the following conditions between the theoretical characteristic and the
were enforced: determined one: the experimental characteristic
1. The batteries were fully charged to minimize associates current values with speed values much
the charging current and to deliver the whole amount bigger than the expected ones according to the
of harvested energy to the consumers. theoretical characteristics. This indicates that the
2. The user’s heart rate was normal for this kind pulley speed differs from the calculated one since the
of exercise because the system is dedicated to
current “is generated” by the pulley speed and the
„healthy humans”.
pulley's speed is determined indirectly from the
For measurements, we used a 4-digit multimeter to
wheel's speed. The difference represents a loss of
measure the charging current and primary batteries
speed that can reach 75% of the calculated speed: we
voltage, a bike computer to measure the rear wheel
have expected a speed of 5000 RPM, and we have
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only about 1220 RPM at the generator pulley. This losses do not appear in professional gym equipment
means that the calculated generator speed is much but need to be addressed for home-use systems like
bigger than the actual one - i.e., we have been the one proposed in this paper. Minor improvements
optimistic in Equation (1), where we did not account at the mechanical block (as indicated above) should
for any loss transfer of the speed from the wheel to the increase the generator's speed and, consequently, the
generator, and we had therefore overestimated the output current.
expected energy output.
The generator's pulley speed difference can be Table 2. Experimental values
explained if we carefully analyze the mechanical N Nalternator Ig
block of the scavenging system presented in Fig.1. 2111 1084 0.65
First problem is generated by the "connection" 2322 1097 1.25
between the rear wheel of the bicycle and metallic 2856 1122 2.08
cylinder of the home trainer. Low friction coefficient 2980 1129 2.75
leads to a gliding connection which could not be 3187 1386 3.35
compensated by varying the pressure of the tire. 3676 1146 4.58
Despite initial expectations, by overinflating the tire
4160 1180 5.41
the situation did not improve. Instead, severe damages 4901 1213 6.25
were observed at the tire's exterior walls. A possible
where:
solution for this problem may be represented by a
Nalternator – actual generator pulley speed [RPM]
ribbed metallic cylinder (of the home trainer).
N – calculated generator pulley speed [RPM]
The second problem is generated by the
Ig – generated current [A]
transmission module, also presented in Fig. 1.
Although the solution is widely and successfully used
in automotive industry, the length and the rigidity of
the rubber transmission belt have a serious impact
over the system's functionality. If the belt is too tight,
it generates a high mechanical resistance due to low
material deformation at small distances and angles. If
the belt is too lose, the friction between itself and the
pulleys decreases and which means the generator gets
even lower than the one we estimated and calculated
based on the bike's rear wheel speed. A possible
solution for this problem may be represented by the
use of a synchronous belt (or toothed belt) and timing
pulleys (teeth pulleys). The timing chain may be an
alternative solution by this will lead to an increase of
weight and inertia. At his point, this does not seem a
valid approach. Figure 10. Actual system characteristic
Further analyzing the data, we could still determine
the system functional characteristic starting from the EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
generated current values, knowing that theoretical There have been previous attempts to estimate the
characteristic of the generator is unique. Therefore, we potential to generate electric energy using a
built the pairs (Ig, Nalternator) presented in Table 2; the stationary/fitness bicycle. For example, Michael
resulting characteristic is presented in Fig. 10. Bluejay has proposed in (Bluejay, 2013) an estimate
One can observe that the measured characteristic is of the efficiency of generated electric energy by
in fact the first part (marked with a circle in Fig. 9), of humans using a bicycle. His conclusions are that
the „theoretical” characteristic. humans consume more energy than they produce
Overall, our results show that the designed system when using bicycles, and therefore such a system is
is capable to scavenge (some of) the energy produced not efficient. However, while we agree with his
by the biker on a stationary bike but the collected calculations, we focus on a case where his premises
energy heavily depends on the losses in the system are wrong: we scavenge energy already spent by
before reaching the collection point. Some of these
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people exercising, and not building a sustainable man- various losses in the system, which needs to be
bike-powered electric generator. addressed in its future generations.
Similarly, a calculation of the loss of energy in a In the next steps of this research, we plan to
pedal powered generator is presented in (De Decker enhance and refine the design and test new solutions
and Joubert, 2011). The generator and the batteries we (e.g., use other types of batteries, such as lithium–ion,
have chosen increase this efficiency up to 48%. At or a different type of generator such as an alternator
the same time, because the system described in (De with permanent magnets) and we are going to create a
Decker and Joubert, 2011) is being viewed as a new strategy for the problems discussed so far. As
sustainable generator, the calculated costs are wrong. soon as all the above mentioned options will be
When we are talking about return of investment, the explored and the efficiency of the system will be
energy delivered should not cover the price of the satisfactory we aim to start working on a prototype to
whole system. Because it is a scavenging system, the be built at industrial scale.
only components that should be taken into account are
the generator and the batteries, the rest being REFERENCES
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components, the system is affordable, costing about /hpv.html
400$. All the components can still be used separately. Pang, S., Farrell, J., Du, J., Barth, M. (2001). Battery
The results obtained so far show that the prototype state-of-charge estimation, in Proceedings of the
is functional. Its efficiency is, however, limited by American Control Conference Arlington, pp. 1644-
1649.
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 Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, February 2015
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