OVERVIEW

Project abstract: Seven students in the course 1.102 designed and built a bicycle powered laptop by retrofitting an existing exercise bicycle to charge a battery, which runs the laptop computer. The bike is currently available for use in the Wang Fitness Center in the Stata Center.

Contact: 1102bike@mit.edu

Website: http://mv.ezproxy.com.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/Bicycle_Power

Current status: Maintenance and promotion

DETAILS

Funding sources:

  • Material and construction costs: 1.102 course budget
  • Poster Printing: Stata gym

Data sources:

  • N/A

Documentation:

Recommendations for future work:

  • Advertising and promoting the use of the bike
  • Exploring the commercial potential

IMPACT

Number of students involved:

  • Spring 2007: 7
  • Fall 2007: 2
  • Spring 2008: 3
  • Fall 2008: 3

Campus footprint:

  • At least one student checks her e-mail on it every day for 30 minutes
  • This results in a minimum of: 63 watt-hours per week

Other impact:

  • N/A

LESSONS FOR FUTURE PROJECTS

Organizational Lessons:

  • The DAPER facilities staff are very interested in green fitness and supportive of student efforts
  • Getting people to use the bike has been harder than anticipated

Technical Lessons:

  • The laptop adaptor draws about 1 watt even when the laptop is off, which drained the battery. We ended up implementing a wind-up switch that would shut off automatically in case the user forgot to shut it off
  • With an Athena machine, the power up and shut down process is rather slow, which makes it less user-friendly
  • The three technical problems encountered since implementation are: the chain falling off (requires opening casing and putting it back on), the battery draining too low (requires pedaling for 15 minutes, or, if too completely drained, replacing the battery), and connections getting pulled loose during transport.