Technology Description

The innovation is a new extendable pedal-crank system that can be mounted on a bicycle, tricycle or other human powered vehicle.

Manually driven vehicles move by the torque generated out of the force exerted by the leg of the driver on the pedal. The magnitude of torque is equal to the force multiplied by the perpendicular distance i.e. the length of the crank. Increasing the crank length makes driving difficult. The present innovation is a means to increase the length to about two times the length of an average crank without increasing or altering the radius of the circular path through which the legs of the driver move compared to that of a traditional crank system.

The effective length of the cranks in this innovation extends up to two times that of a traditional crank as they slide while rotating during the active part of the movement (when force is exerted by leg) and shrinks to nearly zero during the passive movement. Therefore the torque active phase of the pedal movement is twice that generated in a traditional crank. The torque generated in this crank is two times that of a traditional crank giving increased power to the driver which can be used to increase comfort of drive, increase the speed as also increase payload without extra effort.

This is very useful for a sports bicycle, bicycle for ladies, bicycle for elderly people and bicycle for everybody, manually driven vehicle for physically challenged people. It is useful to rickshaw (tricycle), flatbed (trolley), boat with a propeller (paddle boats), lawnmower, tiller, digger and several other implements that derive power from manually driven pedal-crank. With the increased torque an improved version of bicycle i.e. a new micro-personal utility vehicle in the form of a tricycle for short distant travel perhaps with a co-passenger is a reality with the present crank. Several implements have been already conceived which had not been thought feasible earlier.

Potential Benefits of The Technology

This pedal crank assembly amplifies the power output of manually powered vehicles by as much as 100% under the same exertion of physical force using a mechanical advantage. This increased power output could serve to eliminate the need for expensive electric motor assistance, and could even improve the quality of life of manually powered vehicle drivers.

Contact details:

Manoj Kumar Mondal
IIT Kharagpur
Email: saosric@adm.iitkgp.ernet.in, manojkmondal@gmail.com