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1999 Velomobile Seminar 'Assisted Human Powered Vehicles' Date: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 (during the HPV World Championships 1999) Time: 8:30 - 18:00 Location: Aula Interlaken, Interlaken, Switzerland See www.futurebike.ch for details. Questions concerning the seminar are invited at: andreas.fuchs@bluewin.ch Topics Why not only pure but also assisted Human Power? Theo Schmidt from Future Bike Switzerland gives some arguments to this question. As the official opening of the Velomobile Seminar 1999, Martin Pulfer from the Swiss Federal Agency of Energy, Berne, Switzerland, explains the reasons for the agency's support of R&D and field testing of lightweight vehicles such as assisted human powered vehicles. As the first official speaker, Hannes Neupert from Extra Energy, Tanna, Germany, author of the book ‘Das Powerbike’, talks about the prospects of combining human powered vehicles with (electrical) assist-drives. In the Health and Power-block, Dr. Allan V. Abbott, USA, founding president of the IHPVA, talks about health benefits of various types of exercise. Then, Zamparo, Capelli and Cencigh, University of Udine, Italy, discuss the first measurements of the efficiency of a four wheel human powered recumbent vehicle and the energy cost riding it. Finally, Dr. Carl Georg Rasmussen, Leitra ApS, Denmark, tells the audience who needs power assistance and who doesn't! Drive-Trains. Knowing that the way human- and assist-power are combined is ergonomically essential, Prof. Hans-Peter Barbey, Fachhochschule Bielefeld, Germany, and Dr. Andreas Fuchs, Hochschule für Technik und Architektur Bern, Switzerland, talk about novel drive-trains, one being the first functional chainless, electrical human power transmission which will be demonstrated at the seminar. Not only the energy-density of batteries is important for the performance of assisted human powered vehicles, but also good Aerodynamics, properly balanced versus Weight: Stefan König, Germany, compares the performance of recumbents and velomobiles in practical use. Nickolas Hein, USA, discusses the weight versus wind-resistance tradeoff. Michael Saari, USA, demonstrates that good aerodynamics are equally important as powerful batteries. He also suggests a method of how to define range to assure fair comparisons of assisted human powered vehicles. Power for assists may come from Combustion: Based on his longtime experience with his two-stroke-internal combustion engine-assist, John Tetz, USA, derives the critical upper limits for the mass of small up-hill assist-units. Dr. Israel Urieli and Andy Ross, USA, explain how to use an external combustion Stirling-engine range extender to propel an electrically assisted hpv. Comfort of riding an assisted human powered vehicle is enhanced if the rider is shielded from too many road-induced vibrations: Therefore, M. Wächter and N. Zacharias, University of Oldenburg, Germany, demonstrate their SimBike-software, a development-tool for suspension systems. Concepts or new vehicles are shown in the block Vehicle Concepts and Design: Harald Kutzke, ecomotion, Bonn, Germany, presents the ‘Scooter Bike’ as an optimal two-wheeled application of a fully electrical human power transmission. An other candidate for this type of transmission is the urban single-seater-quadracycle of Prof. Luc Bergeron and Laurent Clement, Industrial Design, Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, Switzerland. John Jostins, London, presents the double-seater ‘millenium rickshaw’ Greenheart. ‘PedalLine’ is a concept for a multi-passenger taxi by Charles Henry, Urs Michel and Theo Schmidt, Switzerland. Practical and proved Vehicles are discussed and demonstrated by Bob Stuart (Car-Cycle X-4) from the USA, by Ian Sims (Greenspeed tricycles) from Australia, by Prof. Eberhardt Scharnowski (Half), Hochschule für Kunst und Design, Halle/Saale, Germany, Ralph Schnyder and Peter Zeller (Twike), Switzerland, and Mario Chiaffrino (Pedalosolarus Rex), Germany. The chapter on Marketing and Transportation deals with how to bring these vehicles onto the street: Ed Benjamin (Idaho, USA) describes factors that influence sales of Pedelecs (pedal-electric bicycles) in the US market. German Eslava from cabbike (Germany and Italy) reports the experiences with assisted human powered vehicles in the European Union supported field test in Modena, Italy. Dr. Stefan Gloger, Darmstadt, Germany, discusses the criteria that influence the selection of traffic-modes by individuals. In the final Boats-chapter, Theo Schmidt, Steffisburg, Switzerland, describes practical examples of extra energy from assists on the water including the amphibious vehicles of Olli Kuusisto and Matthias Wegmann. back to the index |
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