What about the "spark" ?


Why do they need a spark?


I'm not an electrician of any kind, but could they use the spark to charge the supercaps, with high voltage?
And slowly funnel this back in low voltage to the engine?


( Sorry if this not makes sense )

Hi Stephan,
I usually do not comment this kind of news, but in this particular case I think I know what happened as i myself work in and with the media

This is my theory:
A young journalist from reuters is in mexico, and found this story. She probably was there for something else but found the subject interesting.
She goes to the place and talks to the people at the university.
Her spanish is probably not perfect and the people are enthousiastic and... exagerate a little bit.

Example:  this bike's wheels might  turn at 2000 rpm.. but i really doubt you can "cruise" at 60 km/h with those small wheels.. there would be the smallest stone on the road you would fly meters away.
He probably meant it has an autonomy of 60km...  (in spanish he probably said: you can go 60km) and the journalist thought he meant 60km per hour...

doing 60 km with one 12 volts lead acid battery is extremely efficient...

What also struck me is what the guys are saying.

Let me quote:


VICTOR GARCIA, SAYING:

“The project is a prototype that generates its own energy as it goes along: As it goes faster and covers longer distances,
it generates more energy. In that way, you don’t have to charge the battery every 6-8 hours.”

OK.. but he does NOT say you dont have to charge it at all!!!

Garcia calls the process “auto-sustainability.”
IMHO this is the translation mistake. He probably means something like: "it produces energy that is reinjected into the system"


RAUL GRAJALES, SAYING:

“With this, we have reduced the use of 200 batteries a day and seventy percent of pollution, because it does not contaminate and has zero emissions and we use one battery every 5-10 years.”

200 batteries !!!?!?!? a day!?!?!? not realistic..
he probably meant: we have reduced the battery use by 200% a day... and have reduced the pollution by  70%.

This would be far more realistic specially as they call it themselves:  "the eco-friendly motorbike"


But if a reputated news agency like reuters writes this article, hundreds of other newspapers or news sites will take it one to one, without even checking.


So i personally think that those guys invented an electric motor bicycle that uses 2 times less energy than an ordinary one.. thats all..
but again.. I could be wrong 

Luc

PS: they won the prize with it.. because it has probably a very low energy consumption...

Agree.
If here be selfrunning bicycle, then in all word say about it.
Here probarly translation errors or not understanding errors, that they students wants to say.
With that small tires and how fast he riding in video, not seems, that this bike, can run 60 km\h. Students probarly say 60 km distance. But I think, that they not meashure that distance, but gues, so in reality it is much smaller.

They could ride the thing downhill to charge it, and then push it back up hill to preserve the charge.

Or with bus can transport uphill, because it small.

Were you read about spark?

initial post of Stephan at page 1
"A battery is used to spark ignition, and afterwards without using any combustion the vehicle can carry up to 110 kilograms
and travel at more than 60 kilometers per hour."

another translation-error I guess

...and what about these two strange silver exhaust-pipes ?

Kator01

Did some more searching and found something interesting.
The pictures we have seen so far may not have shown the full configuration of the bike.
Besides the generator and super caps, they also sometimes attach what appears to be
solar cell disks to the front of the bike. With the generator and the solar cells and with Mexico
being a very sunny place, possibly they are able to make the bike self sustaining that way. I still don't know whether
the generator is configured only as regenerative braking or if they have it generating full time while the bike
is moving. Maybe this bike is not such a mystery after all. Do these look like solar cells?
Park the bike outside in the sun when you are not using it and the battery would be charging back
up the whole time.

might be to recharge the headlights only as they seem to be missing on other photos
Kind Regards

Yes, could be. Taking a closer look, the solar cells are actually quite small, so they may well be just for charging the head light batteries.
All the best...

Hello All

"Este prototipo obtuvo la medalla de oro otorgado por el jurado del Torneo Internacional de Robótica, realizado en la ciudad de Barcelona, España, en la categoría de proyecto innovador"

"This prototype received the Gold Medal in the innovative project category, awarded by the judges of the International Robotics Contest, which was held in the City of Barcelona, Spain."

"lograron desarrollar un prototipo con energía renovable utilizando la propia velocidad para generarla. "Llevamos 5 meses con la batería sin descargar, eso quiere decir que el prototipo funciona",

They managed to develop a prototype using renewable energy that capitalizes on the vehicle's own 'speed' to generate it.  " We have gone 5 months now without DISCHARGING the battery, this means that the prototype is working"

 "La pérdida es de 0.3 voltios entre la generación y el uso ",

"The loss between the generator and the use (motor) is only 0.3 volts"

I read the entire Spanish transcript and there is *not* any tech. info. presented.  The above qoute is the only reference to any type of efficiency.


I live in Southern Mexico and I speak fluent Spanish.............  No problem with the translation.

take care, peace
lost_bro