U of T Engineering alumni set fastest human-powered vehicle record — again

lavende4 — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 15:46:13 +0000

lavende4 Mon, 09/26/2016 - 11:46

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The Aerovelo team with Eta (Photo by Anupam Singhal)

Kevin Soobrian

Author legacy

Kevin Soobrian

Topic

Global Lens

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Aerovelo

On September 14, 2016, a team founded by U of T Engineering alumni broke their own world record for fastest human-powered vehicle on earth when their bullet-shaped bike reached 142.04 kilometres per hour at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain, Nevada. Three days later, they surpassed themselves once again, setting a new record of 144.19 km/h.

For comparison, the cycling sprint gold medalist at the 2016 Olympic games finished with an average speed of 75 km/h.

Read about the new record in Popular Mechanics

The record-setting vehicle, named Eta after the Greek letter used to denote efficiency in engineering equations, was the same 25-kilogram bike they raced to establish their record last year, with some significant upgrades.

“We made a few focused changes to the bike this year, including a new ventilation scoop, upgrades to the wheels and improved chain waxing methods,” said Aerovelo co-founder and Eta pilot Todd Reichert (EngSci 0T5, UTIAS PhD 1T1). “The training regime changes every year as well, as we get more data on how my body reacts to specific types of workouts.”

Aerovelo co-founders Reichert and Cameron Robertson (EngSci 0T8, UTIAS MASc 0T9) have been setting human-powered vehicle records since building the first human-powered ornithopter in 2010. In 2013, they went a step further and became the first to achieve sustained flight using a human-powered helicopter.

Eta was originally the product of a long-standing collaboration between Aerovelo and U of T Engineering’s Human Powered Vehicle Design Team (HPVDT), who also participated in this year’s challenge with two vehicles: the Eta Prime and Vortex.

Eta Prime was cut from the same mold as the original Eta, but has a fully redesigned interior. The Vortex was a bicycle built exclusively for the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in 2011. It was raced for the hundredth time this year, making it the most raced vehicle at Battle Mountain according to HPVDT faculty advisor and official timekeeper of the competition, Professor Jun Nogami (MSE).

While Reichert and Robertson have turned Aerovelo into a competitive entrepreneurial venture, Nogami sees the HPVDT and competition as a great opportunity for engineering students todevelop practical competencies.

“I think that any design team where engineering students actually make things with their hands, work toward a deadline as a team and compete against other universities gives invaluable experience,” said Nogami. “I’m very hopeful that with the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship and the maker spaces available within, more students will acquire the hands-on skills needed to build and design good products.”

Never content to stay still for long, the ever-ambitious Aerovelo team already has their eyes fixed on the next set of records they aim to break.

“We hope to set the one-hour distance record with Eta in the late fall, and of course return to the World Human Powered Speed Challenge next year,” says Robertson. “Future projects will likely include a human-powered aircraft to fly a marathon in one hour, or potentially an even faster bike.”

U of T cycle speeds to victory as fastest human-powered vehicle

sgupta — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 13:56:43 +0000

U of T cycle speeds to victory as fastest human-powered vehicle sgupta Thu, 09/24/2015 - 09:56

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Tomek Bartczak , Alex Selwa, Victor Ragusila, Todd Reichert, Cameron Robertson, Trefor Evans. (photo courtesy Aerovelo)

Tyler Irving

Author legacy

Tyler Irving

Features

World Human Powered Speed Challenge

Eta

Aerovelo

Subheadline

"Eta" takes checked flag at competition in Nevada

A team of U of T Engineering alumni and students has created the world’s fastest human-powered vehicle: a bicycle that reached 139.45 kilometres per hour (86.65 miles per hour) at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain, Nevada.

The 25-kilogram speed bike, named Eta after the Greek letter used to denote efficiency in engineering equations, broke the previous 200-metre world record of 133.8 km/h (83.13 m.p.h.) on Sept. 17. It then broke its own record twice over the following two days, clocking its final mark on Sept 19.

The bike was piloted by Todd Reichert (EngSci 0T5, UTIAS PhD 1T1). Reichert and fellow Engineering alumnus Cameron Robertson (EngSci 0T8, UTIAS MASc 0T9) are the founders of Aerovelo, a company that designs and builds human-powered vehicles.

“We knew Eta was the fastest bike we’ve ever built, but the course at Battle Mountain is so unique, that this was the first time we really saw the bike perform to its full potential,” Reichert said. “I’m really proud of the work we’ve done.”

About a dozen teams competed in the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, which has been held annually for 16 years. While a few of the teams represented engineering faculties at other universities, most were simply dedicated enthusiasts of pedal power.

Reichert and Robertson are no strangers to world records. The duo are also well known for winning the Igor I. Sikorsky Human-Powered Helicopter Prize for the first-ever sustained flight of a human-powered helicopter in 2013 and for building the world’s first human-powered ornithopter in 2010, a machine that flies by flapping its wings like a bird.

Eta was created at the University of Toronto and is the result of a long-standing partnership between Aerovelo and U of T Engineering’s Human Powered Vehicle Design Team (HPVDT).

“Both teams benefit from [the partnership],” said Calvin Moes (EngSci 1T5, MSE MASc Candidate), captain of the HPVDT. “They get experienced people to help them, and a workshop here at U of T, while we get the benefit of the research they do.”

Other HPVDT members who worked on Eta include Alex Selwa (EngSci 1T5), Trefor Evans (EngSci 1T4) and Victor Ragusila (EngSci 0T8, AeroE PhD candidate). HPVDT also fielded its own bike in this year’s competition. Called Bluenose, the vehicle was built for the 2012 World Human Powered Speed Challenge, and raced by Aerovelo in 2013. Bluenose (pictured, left) also raced at this year’s competition. (Photo: AeroVelo)

Making high-speed bicycles is all about minimizing the loss of energy to road friction and air resistance. “On a regular road bike, you hit that kind of break-even point where you’re losing as much as you’re putting in at about 30 or 40 kilometres per hour, mostly because of the air resistance, “ said Moes. “We get rid of that almost entirely.”

This is done by surrounding the bike in a carbon fibre shell, known as a fairing, which helps it slice through the air. Windshields are a problem. Transparent materials are more expensive and harder to work with than carbon fibre, and anything with that much curvature would distort the light so much that it would be hard to see out of anyway. For that reason, riders in both Eta and Bluenose navigate by watching a small screen connected to a tiny camera in the tail fin.

Other innovations involve super-hard tires that don’t stick to the road and a gearshift designed to minimize any energy loss to friction, heat or even sound. That doesn’t mean the ride is quiet though. “Because the shell is so thick, it resonates with the road,” said Moes. “At full speed, it sounds like a jet engine in there.”

Professor Jun Nogami of the department of materials science and engineering is the faculty advisor for HPVDT. He posted updates from Battle Mountain in real time on his blog. “It’s always a great experience for our students to be involved in building and racing these bikes,” he said. “They also get the opportunity to work with and to be inspired by graduates such as Todd and Cam. Competing at Battle Mountain is the icing on the cake, where we meet and learn from like-minded people from all over the world.”

Aerovelo and the HPVDT have much to be proud of. “This has been a dream of ours for years, but we took a different approach this year to breaking the record and spent more time preparing and testing,” said Robertson. “It feels incredible to have all that preparation pay off.”

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