Ramin Khajeh proposes a design for an automatic continuous variable transmission (CVT) for bicycles. The design uses two cones and a friction belt, with the pedals providing input to one cone. As pedaling force increases when going up hills, the tension in the belt increases, pushing the cones apart to engage the smaller diameter portions and lower the gear ratio. When force decreases such as going downhill, the cones move closer together to engage the larger diameter portions and raise the gear ratio. This automatic system aims to provide a constant torque input by adapting the gear ratio to the needs of the rider and terrain. The proposed design seeks to improve on traditional fixed gear and interval-based systems by offering
Ramin Khajeh proposes a design for an automatic continuous variable transmission (CVT) for bicycles. The design uses two cones and a friction belt, with the pedals providing input to one cone. As pedaling force increases when going up hills, the tension in the belt increases, pushing the cones apart to engage the smaller diameter portions and lower the gear ratio. When force decreases such as going downhill, the cones move closer together to engage the larger diameter portions and raise the gear ratio. This automatic system aims to provide a constant torque input by adapting the gear ratio to the needs of the rider and terrain. The proposed design seeks to improve on traditional fixed gear and interval-based systems by offering
Ramin Khajeh proposes a design for an automatic continuous variable transmission (CVT) for bicycles. The design uses two cones and a friction belt, with the pedals providing input to one cone. As pedaling force increases when going up hills, the tension in the belt increases, pushing the cones apart to engage the smaller diameter portions and lower the gear ratio. When force decreases such as going downhill, the cones move closer together to engage the larger diameter portions and raise the gear ratio. This automatic system aims to provide a constant torque input by adapting the gear ratio to the needs of the rider and terrain. The proposed design seeks to improve on traditional fixed gear and interval-based systems by offering
Ramin Khajeh proposes a design for an automatic continuous variable transmission (CVT) for bicycles. The design uses two cones and a friction belt, with the pedals providing input to one cone. As pedaling force increases when going up hills, the tension in the belt increases, pushing the cones apart to engage the smaller diameter portions and lower the gear ratio. When force decreases such as going downhill, the cones move closer together to engage the larger diameter portions and raise the gear ratio. This automatic system aims to provide a constant torque input by adapting the gear ratio to the needs of the rider and terrain. The proposed design seeks to improve on traditional fixed gear and interval-based systems by offering
Summary of the Design: The motivation of the design I have in mind arose from my intense interest in bicycles. When encountering a steep hill, I noticed that I had to change the speed (the gearing ratio in fact) beforehand. Otherwise, it is nearly impossible to adjust the gearing ratio while riding up the hill. The cyclist should be exerting a lot of force to maintain a same velocity on pedals if the speed is not well-adjusted. Besides, regular bikes manual transmission and interval-based gearing system (where gearing ratios are fixed) have a smaller durability and accuracy in the shifting process. Therefore, the goal of this design is to eliminate the interval-based gearing system in bicycles, and create an automatic continuous variable transmission, thus maintaining a constant torque input on the pedals. This problem is approached by using two cones and a friction belt that derives the cone as input and ultimately the wheel as the output. When riding up a hill, for example, a smaller diameter portion of the cone is desirable that rotates more for each revolution of the tire. The diagram below depicts the idea mentioned:
FIGURE 1: FRONT VIEW OF THE CONTINUOUS VARIABLE TRANSMISSION INSTALLED ON THE PEDAL (AS INPUT) WITH 3 STAGES SHOWN. AS THE FORCE ON THE PEDALS INCREASES, THE BELT PUSHES THE MOVABLE CONE (HELD ATTACHED BY SPRINGS) AWAY FROM THE FIXED CONE, THUS AUTOMATICALLY RUNNING THE BELT ON THE SMALLER DIAMETER PORTION OF THE CONES. 1 2 3 As moving up a hill Ramin Khajeh The following figure shows the entire system:
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to eliminate the interval-based gearing shift in bicycles and to create an automatic and continuous change in gearing ratios, hence providing a constant torque input (or force on the pedals) for the cyclist. In conventional gearing systems, factors such as temperature can change the tension in wires, thus desynchronizing the wires pull and the position of the chain on a fixed gear. This creates problems such as uncontrolled shift of the speed. The design I explain in this report easily avoids this problem. Here is how it works: As shown in Figure 2, the pulley attached to the wheel is fixed in size and position. The double-cone (Auto CVT) provides different gearing ratios. When riding up a hill, the cyclist would pedal more for each turn of the wheel but with less force. That is, a low gearing ratio is desirable, and the belt should have contact with the smaller diameter portion of the cones. When encountering a hill, the cyclist should pedal harder, with a greater force, to maintain the same angular speed of the pedal. Therefore, the tension in the belt is increased, and the cones are pushed apart. Hence, the belt is automatically pulled inward (toward the center of the cones) which provides a low gearing ratio, just as desired for riding up a hill. On the other hand, when riding downhill, a high gearing ratio is needed because the cyclist would want to pedal less for each turn of the wheel. When the bike has a considerable speed, the force that cyclist should exert on the pedal decreases. The force of the spring now overcomes the pull of the belt and pushed the cones closer FIGURE 2: SIDE WAY VIEW. THE DOUBLE-CONE SYSTEM ACTS AS THE ADJUSTR OF THE GEARING RATIO BASED ON THE FORCE INPUT. THE BELT FROM PEDAL TO THE CONE SYSTEM IS SHOWN IN TWO POSITOINS. THE DOTTED BELT IS FOR WHEN THE GEARING RATIO IS HIGHER, AND THE SOLID BLACK BELT IS FOR WHEN RIDING UP A HILL (LOWER GEARING RATIO). Ramin Khajeh together. The belt is, therefore, automatically adjusted to the higher diameter portion of the cones which provides a high gearing ratio, just as desired for riding down a hill. The belt tensioner or a derailleur (that only needs to provide vertical tension and not any sideway movement as in conventional bikes) is used to keep the slack out of the belt, as it is positioned on different diameter portion of the cones. Existing Ideas: There has been CVT (continuous variable transmission) used on motorcycles, cars, and other machinery, yet it has not been used widely and prevalently on bicycles. Moreover, the design shown above is automatic which is what makes it unique compared to other manual CVTs. This designs application on bikes with a smooth, continuous, automatic transmission is what I am aiming to see as the result of this project. Potential Problems: The added weight (due to the mass of the cones mainly), and the width of system are the potential problems of this design. Cones can be made of aluminum, for instance, to decrease the mass optimally. Because the cones are allowed to move relative to each other, the systems width might not fit easily on the pedals of a regular bike. Therefore, I have thought of another alternative to the setup (but not the fundamental design) that is shown in the following diagram:
The alternative shown above is, however, heavier than the main set up shown in Figure 2 because more parts are added to the system. Yet there seem to be no significant installation (space) problem.
Figure 3: The alternative set up. Only the position of the double-cone system is altered in compare to Figure 2. Ramin Khajeh Skills/Motivations for This Project: Because of my involvement in robotics and other engineering related activities, I have acquired technical skills to build this project. I would like to make exact measurements, do calculations about the torque and the Physics behind this project, and show them in AutoCAD. As far as I can remember, as a child I enjoyed fixing my bike and making my own headlights. It was my Fascination of the functionality of bikes that led me to think about ways of improving its gearing system. Besides, the adventurous experience of long bike rides is so gratifying that every day I look forward to nothing more than cruising the roads on my most prized possession.