Design analysis and fabrication of foldable bicycle

Abstract

Petrol In the present day lifestyle man is not able to dedicate specific time for his health, importance is least given to exercise and body fitness due to time shortage and stressful life. To cope with time deficit, we can utilize the time spent on commuting efficiently to exercise by using bicycles, thereby also contributing to pollution control. But regular bicycles occupy sufficient space to park, are not easy to carry around and are probable to theft. Transport has been one of the most important issues to be dealt with in the present day situation as commuting from place to place within the city has become a tedious and an expensive task. It is very difficult to reach the nearest public transport facility and in many cases the destination will be very far from the main roads where the public transport might not be able to commute or it might be very expensive. To overcome a common problem faced by the society, an idea is conceptualized to design and fabricate a foldable bicycle. We already have seen many foldable bicycles in the global market but the main idea of this project is to provide a foldable bicycle which is light & sleek yet rigid & safe, easy to handle and easy to maintain. Unlike the conventional cycles, this bicycle will occupy very less space and also is very easy to be carried around. The main objective is to design and develop a foldable bicycle which is comfortable to ride and economical. Regarding to the point that some people for solving this problem use bicycles as a transportation .We decided to design a bicycle that is folding design. It can be folded when is needed. In this way it can be placed in a small bag .Another important point about it: Doesn’t need for any external electrical supply and fossil fuel. This report is aimed for our client which came to ask us to make a remodeled version of the folding bike with the most important difference, which is: a lower production costs (approximate 75%).successful design of folding bicycle should take into account the function, material properties, and fabrication process. There are some other factors that should be considered in anticipating the behavior of materials for folding bicycle. In order to understand the relationship between material properties and design of a folding bicycle and also for the future direction in new materials with new design, a comprehensive study on the design under different conditions are essential. Therefore, a systematic study on the relationship between material properties and design for folding bicycle has been performed. The advantages and disadvantages matrix between conventional bicycle and folding bicycle is presented for better understanding of the materials properties and design. It was found that the materials properties of the folding bicycle frame such as fatigue and tensile strength are the important properties for the better performance of the frame. The relationship between materials properties and design is not straight forward because the behavior of the material in the finished product could be different from that of the raw material. The swing hinge technique could be a better technique in the design for the folding bicycle