Design

Flying Heavenwards 

At the very beginning of this bold project, which was in the autumn 2011, we came up with an idea of a marketing campaign. The objective of such a campaign was to design an attractive and practicable product and create its prototype with the assistance of modern 3D/PLM software tools by Dassault Systèmes, in particular the latest  PLM 2.0 V6 platform tools.

Originally, the practicable product should have been a timeless high-tech electric bicycle, e-bike for short. However, it was found to be a too earthly target for our imagination – an insufficient challenge, in fact. The original modest idea was given wings. Thus, on a dreamy day the e-bike lifted off and changed into a flying bike.

We were thinking hard about how to carry out such an idea in a smart way to make it work, mainly to make it fly, or at least, to make it take off. The first studies and drafts brought the initial conception of a bike in the form of a so called multicopter. The main force necessary for the bike to take off would not come from the upward lift on the wings like in case of an ordinary aircraft (this is how Jan Tleskac, the legendary hero of a Czech children`s book, flew his bike at one time), but from the static thrust of several horizontal propellers.

This conceptual solution should allow a coordinated and safe vertical takeoff from a random place. On the other hand, it is necessary to solve a lot of conceptual and technical problems that increase the demands on the design and generally speaking make the whole project more complicated.

We will keep you informed about how the realisation team will manage to accomplish the challenges one after another.

 

f-bike 18042012_3DVC

 

The Basic Parameters of the Flying Bike 

  • total performance: 50 kW
  • drive:  4× main motor 10 kW, placed in opposed pairs at the front and at the back in a longitudinal axis; 2× stabilisation motor 3,5 kW, placed on revolving consoles at the sides of the bike
  • propellers: the main propeller for static thrust, diameter 1300 mm, maximum revs 2500/min, stabilisation propeller, diameter 650 mm, the propellers are surrounded by composite casings
  • energy: set of Li-Pol accumulators with total capacity 50 Ah
  • frame of the bike: welded part made of light alloy (duralumin)
  • bike components: purchased in a standard way
  • dimensions: approx. 3500 mm (length) × 2500 mm (width) × 1200 mm (height)
  • weight: 85 kg without a pilot
  • maximum laden weight: 170 kg
  • supposed flight time: 3 – 5 minutes
  • supposed riding time: 30 – 50 minutes
  • maximum speed limit: 50 km/hour

 

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