Bicycle light generator

From DDL Wiki

About

Bicycle light generators are used to power battery-less safety lights mounted on bicycles. Safety lights are important to bicycle enthusiasts alike as they provide the necessary lighting to traverse a road as well as inform auto drivers of the bikers presence at night. The generator converts the energy put into the bicycle in the form of a pedaling motion into an electric current through the friction developed by the generator’s contact with the wheel of the bicycle.

The purpose of the bicycle light generator project is to dissect and understand the design processes behind this product. Our goal is to study this product thoroughly in order to engineer a modification that will result in an improvement in its functionality.

In our preliminary observation, we have noticed that current generator powered bicycle light sets do not have a means of storing power. As a result, these generator powered bicycle lights do not operate when the bicyclist is not pedaling and could be hazardous when the stopped at a traffic light.

In an attempt to incorporate a power storing functionality, we will also be studying a hand-crank generator powered flashlight. Using the same principles as a generator powered bicycle lights, these flashlights also have a rechargeable battery pack that is able to store power; thus, allowing the user to operate a light without having to input energy at the same moment.