[D&E] Nile Valley Bikes!

 It is now time for the final Action Project of my Design and Engineering class! We have been learning a lot about bikes and everything that comes with them. We learned about energy, both kinetic and potential, as that is generated when a bike moves. We also learned about circles and wheels, and how to calculate volume, circumference, area, and surface area. We also learned about momentum, work, velocity, and speed. For this Action Project, we have been given a person who lives in a city somewhere. They are having an issue with getting to school and we have been tasked with creating one for them. We had to take into account all of their problems and try and solve as many of them. I worked with P.C. and here is our project!

P.C., Model of Bike, 2022

The person we are trying to serve is a 15-year-old boy living in Cairo, Egypt. He lives 3.25 miles away from school and has to deal with dirty conditions, cramped storage spaces, traffic, and poverty. We aimed to create a bike that would solve these issues and I believe we have! A Biker I know said "I like and dislike how my bike is a mountain bike. I like it when I take it to Wisconsin and ride on trails that become gravel or dirt and its an easier ride than my dad who has a road bike." This is one example of a solution to the dirt and sand, to make a bike with wider wheels. This is a diagram of our bike:

P.C., Diagram of Bike, 2022

As you can see, our bike has many additions that would benefit our client. For the issue of traffic, we have many things to allow our client to see cars, like the sensors and mirrors, as well as many things for the cars to see our client, like blinkers and reflectors. Additionally, we have a gear cover and wheel cover to protect our client and his bike from the sand and dust. This also makes the bike easier to maintain, because the gears won't get clogged with sand and dust. Additionally, our bike is single-speed as the elevation is fairly flat on his travels, so our gear ratio is 2:1, the most common gear ratio for single-speed bikes. Being single-speed alson makes it easier to maintain. Finally, the handles turn 90 degrees for ease of storage and transport. All of these things come together to create the perfect bike for my client.

L.H., Side View of Bike, 2022

Calculations:

Our persona lives 3.25 miles away from their school and it takes them ~15 minutes to get to school via bike (not accounting traffic). 

Speed - 15mph*1609/3600=6.7mps

Wheel measurements - D=25in R=12.5in

C=2*pi*12.5=78.5398163397in

Wheel rotations - (3.25*5280*12)=221760/78.5=2623 rotations

Scale - 2.7in/27in or 1:10

Kinetic energy - ½*70kg*6.7mps^2=525J

Momentum - 70kg*6.7mps=469.29 kg m/s

And that wraps up my Design and Engineering course! I wish I got to experience this project more but unfortunately, I was out sick for most of the week. Fortunately for my grades, my partner supported me and helped me through but I wish I would have been able to be here more. I'm really proud of my partner because of how nicely all of the physical portions of this project turned out. Other than that, this has been a very fun course! Stay tuned for next term where I may or may not be writing about my internship!