Dept. of Energy News- EPA, DOE Announce New Steps to Strengthen ENERGY STAR March 19, 2010
- DOE Releases New Report on Benefits of Recovery Act for Small Businesses in Clean Energy, Environmental Management Sectors March 17, 2010
- Secretary Chu Op-Ed on Energy Efficiency from the World Economic Forum March 16, 2010
- Department of Energy Issues Requests for Applications for Nuclear-Related Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships March 12, 2010
- NREL News
- Tool That Tracks Solar Installations is Open to All March 12, 2010
- High-Speed Pipeline Revs Up Biomass Analysis March 8, 2010
- Light Inspires Energy Efficient Building Design March 1, 2010
- Making Wind Turbines Builds Career Interest February 22, 2010
Current and future renewable energy topics explained and discussed.
Free Bicycle Generator Plans
Do you want to get some exercise while putting that energy to good use? How about having an emergency supply of electricity that is inexpensive, easy, and can power pretty much anything? Well, a bicycle powered generator is the perfect thing for you. Bicycle generators are very easy to build, all you need are the right components.
Below you’ll find bicycle generator construction plans in an easy to follow visual format, some discussion on just how much electricity a human can generate by riding a bicycle, and a parts list and price total if you purchase the items used in this example from Amazon.com. Feel free to buy a larger or smaller inverter, different battery (12v Deep Cycle though!), etc. Once you understand the basics you should be able to build one of these in your sleep.
There are a few basic components that will allow you to build a bicycle generator. Let’s cover these parts and what they do.
These parts fit together to form a bike generator for electricity. The stand listed below and most stands come with a method of providing resistance which can easily be removed. Then the DC generator can attach in its place and be connected to the bike by resting it against the wheel or removing the wheel and using a rubber pulley. The DC generator connects to the charge controller which connects to the battery. This setup now allows you to charge the battery. However, to run consumer electronics or other electrical devices from the battery you’ll need to connect it to the inverter. Then from the inverter you can plug devices in directly.
Now let’s cover how useful it can be to generate electricity from a bike generator.
There are two different ways the electricity from the bike can be used. The first is using it directly to power a device. The average rider can produce 150 to 200 Watts when going at a moderate pace. Some professional riders can generate 300 to 500 Watts. You can power a device that uses under the produced wattage directly with pedaling. The other way to use the bicycle generator would be charging batteries which would allow you to power larger devices after you’ve built up a charge. Multiple batteries can be connected and charged in unison to build up enough to power devices for a very long time.
Keep in mind that the numbers listed below are a best scenario situation. It doesn’t account for efficiency of the electronics involved. For example, inverters are usually around 80% efficient when converting DC to AC. This means you lose 20% just in the conversion. There are a lot of ways this setup can be changed which will provide better or worse performance from the system. The generator might have more or less amperage which also means more or less resistance. The charge controller will be rated for a maximum amperage so can be more or less depending on how many amps your generator will be creating. The battery will vary in voltage and amp hour capacity but should always be deep cycle since they will be fully drained often. The inverter will be rated for a maximum wattage. This will need to be higher or lower depending on the maximum Wattage (Amps * Volts) of the device being powered by the batteries.
How long could you power something on batteries from the electricity generated by the bicycle generator?
A laptop computer might draw around 90W every hour. This number is voltage * amps which is written you can find on any electric device. So, to figure out how many hours our bike generator could power a 90W laptop we’ll use the following formula.
175W * 1 hour = 90W * hours
…which results in…
Hours = 175/90 hours = 1.9 hours
This means that you could power a 90W laptop for 1.9 hours for 1 hour of pedaling. Not a bad return on your work but this is simply theory. In reality there will be some loss and 175W is for someone of average size in good shape. However, even when allowing for loss and variation in rider size this is a pretty good return on something you might be doing anyway for exercise.
Decide you want to build your very own bicycle generator?
Well, there are a few different ways you should consider doing it based on what you want/need and how much you want to spend. Below the list of configurations you’ll find a list of parts you can purchase on Amazon.com.
Cheapest option, no energy storage:
* Training Stand
* 400 Watt Inverter
* DC Permanent Magnet Generator
Total Cost: $346
Energy storage, no safety on charging:
* Training Stand
* 400 Watt Inverter
* 12V 33 Amp Deep Cycle Battery
* DC Permanent Magnet Generator
Total Cost: $401.29
Safest option & energy storage:
* Training Stand
* 400 Watt Inverter
* 12V 33 Amp Deep Cycle Battery
* 12V 30 Amp Charge Controller
* DC Permanent Magnet Generator
Total Cost: $485