Yorkshireman
New Member
- Location
- North Hykekam, Lincoln.
Wait till Shimano get hold of this 
...
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...__40kmph/articleshow/msid-3319246,curpg-1.cms
NEW DELHI: India could soon take pride for reinventing the wheel and
leading the global green movement! An innovation by a senior
administrator at IIT-Kharagpur is helping him ride the humble bicycle at
40 km an hour and pedalling past motor vehicles on busy roads without
much effort. And you could be next - cycle manufacturers are planning to
launch these hot wheels commercially, very soon.
Manoj Mondal is the inventor of the crank pedal-he successfully tweaked
the pedal of a bicycle to an extent that it generates almost double the
torque (force multiplied by the distance from the centre) than in normal
circumstances . In other words, the speed of the bicycle increases from,
say, 20 km/hr to 40 km/hr.
His feat has already made him the toast of incubators , the green lobby
and a host of companies which are coming forward to adapt Mondal's
technology commercially. While the invention ushers in revolutionary
intra-city commute, it cocks a snook at the fuel brigade as the inventor
apprehends auto majors may just gang up to disembark his plans.
"I want to first launch the product in the ladies' and sports bicycle
categories since speed is critical here," says Mondal, who has initiated
talks with cycle brands like Atlas, TI Cycles and Hero. There's more.
"Tweaking the pedal to generate more torque can create 700 watts of
electricity per unit," says Mondal.
Now that's enough to light up 10 neons. Next, he's working on a
prototype where pedalling on a stationary cycle has the potential to dig
a bore deep enough to make a drain, and construction major Escorts seems
to have shown interest in the new technology, says Mondal. Besides,
Mondal's invention is slated to benefit rickshaw-pullers as the Centre
for Rural Development has shown keenness to convert 10,000 rickshaws
into the crank pedal mode this year.
Though power companies haven't lined up yet, bicycle makers seem to have
grasped the next wave. "I'm awaiting the final prototype (from Mondal)
and then intend to take it to the dealers en route the market," says R K
Kapur, chief general manager of technology at Atlas Cycles. Vasant
Devaji of TI Cycles claims that a meeting with Mondal is scheduled next
month to take the project forward.
For the time being , the marketing muscle is being provided by the
Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme that was launched in
March last year jointly by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (Ficci) and the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas. This
year, Mondal's crank pedal won the silver at the Lockheed Martin India
Innovation Growth Programme.
"We are helping Mondal to tie up with the Hero Group and are also in
touch with the Ministry of Rural Development to roll out his invention,"
says Nirankar Saxena, additional director at Ficci. "As stewardship of
the environment takes on an ever-increasing importance for the global
community, we have seen great promise for such inventions to increase
energy efficiency, save precious resources, and reduce pollution," says
Ray O. Johnson , CTO of Lockheed Martin.
...http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...__40kmph/articleshow/msid-3319246,curpg-1.cms
NEW DELHI: India could soon take pride for reinventing the wheel and
leading the global green movement! An innovation by a senior
administrator at IIT-Kharagpur is helping him ride the humble bicycle at
40 km an hour and pedalling past motor vehicles on busy roads without
much effort. And you could be next - cycle manufacturers are planning to
launch these hot wheels commercially, very soon.
Manoj Mondal is the inventor of the crank pedal-he successfully tweaked
the pedal of a bicycle to an extent that it generates almost double the
torque (force multiplied by the distance from the centre) than in normal
circumstances . In other words, the speed of the bicycle increases from,
say, 20 km/hr to 40 km/hr.
His feat has already made him the toast of incubators , the green lobby
and a host of companies which are coming forward to adapt Mondal's
technology commercially. While the invention ushers in revolutionary
intra-city commute, it cocks a snook at the fuel brigade as the inventor
apprehends auto majors may just gang up to disembark his plans.
"I want to first launch the product in the ladies' and sports bicycle
categories since speed is critical here," says Mondal, who has initiated
talks with cycle brands like Atlas, TI Cycles and Hero. There's more.
"Tweaking the pedal to generate more torque can create 700 watts of
electricity per unit," says Mondal.
Now that's enough to light up 10 neons. Next, he's working on a
prototype where pedalling on a stationary cycle has the potential to dig
a bore deep enough to make a drain, and construction major Escorts seems
to have shown interest in the new technology, says Mondal. Besides,
Mondal's invention is slated to benefit rickshaw-pullers as the Centre
for Rural Development has shown keenness to convert 10,000 rickshaws
into the crank pedal mode this year.
Though power companies haven't lined up yet, bicycle makers seem to have
grasped the next wave. "I'm awaiting the final prototype (from Mondal)
and then intend to take it to the dealers en route the market," says R K
Kapur, chief general manager of technology at Atlas Cycles. Vasant
Devaji of TI Cycles claims that a meeting with Mondal is scheduled next
month to take the project forward.
For the time being , the marketing muscle is being provided by the
Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme that was launched in
March last year jointly by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (Ficci) and the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas. This
year, Mondal's crank pedal won the silver at the Lockheed Martin India
Innovation Growth Programme.
"We are helping Mondal to tie up with the Hero Group and are also in
touch with the Ministry of Rural Development to roll out his invention,"
says Nirankar Saxena, additional director at Ficci. "As stewardship of
the environment takes on an ever-increasing importance for the global
community, we have seen great promise for such inventions to increase
energy efficiency, save precious resources, and reduce pollution," says
Ray O. Johnson , CTO of Lockheed Martin.
